La 70: Medellín's most honest party street
No velvet ropes, no dress codes, no tourist pricing — Carrera 70 is where Medellín actually goes out. Here's how to do it right.
What it is: La 70 — officially Carrera 70, affectionately La Setenta — is the strip running near the Atanasio Girardot stadium through the edge of Laureles, packed with hundreds of restaurants, bars, cantinas and fondas. Where Poblado's Parque Lleras performs nightlife for visitors, La 70 just is nightlife, for everyone: families eating early, viejos dancing tango-vallenato crossovers, students, and yes, you.
La 70 by day
Daytime is the underrated shift: lunch institutions serving bandeja paisa and mondongo (this is Mondongo's territory), fruit stands, and football shirts everywhere. It's calm, cheap and very photogenic — brick towers, palm rows and green-and-white Nacional flags.
La 70 by night
From late afternoon the tables spill onto the sidewalk and every second doorway becomes a speaker. The music is gloriously chaotic — salsa into reggaetón into vallenato into crossover — and moving between spots is the whole point: nurse a beer here, split a media de aguardiente there, follow whichever floor looks alive. For a proper salsa floor, Son Havana is steps away.
Match nights: the main event
When Atlético Nacional or DIM play at home, La 70 becomes the pre-game and post-game for tens of thousands of fans. It's one of South America's great football atmospheres — green or red rivers of shirts, chants, fireworks. Go early, eat on the strip, and even without a ticket the street itself is the show. (Wear neutral colors if you're not picking a side.)
How to do it right
- Start at the Primer Parque end and drift toward the stadium — the energy builds that direction.
- Eat first, drink second: the food institutions close earlier than the bars.
- Order like a local: beers come in buckets, aguardiente comes in medias (half bottles) for the table.
- Weeknights ≠ weekends: Tuesday is relaxed dinner; Friday–Saturday runs until dawn.
- Phone in pocket, drinks in sight — standard night rules apply, and ride-hailing home is the move after midnight.
Thinking of staying on La 70 for the convenience? Read the noise warning in Where to Stay in Laureles first. Visit the party; don't sleep inside it.
Quick answers
What is La 70 in Medellín?
La 70 (Carrera 70, "La Setenta") is the famous strip near the Atanasio Girardot stadium on the edge of Laureles — hundreds of restaurants, bars, cantinas and fondas, and the city's most local party street.
Is La 70 safe at night?
Yes, on the busy strip itself with normal precautions: phone put away, drinks in sight, and ride-hailing home after midnight.
When is La 70 busiest?
Friday and Saturday nights, running until dawn — and any evening Atlético Nacional or DIM play at home.
Make a night of it
Pair La 70 with the rest of the neighborhood: the full guide to things to do in Laureles.