Four departures here are sold to your party alone: a vehicle, a guide and a start time you agree rather than accept. They run from four to twelve hours and from $104 to $299, and they go to four different farms in four different directions. This is what private actually buys, and when it is worth the difference.
Only your group travels, and that changes three things. The vehicle carries nobody else. The guide's attention is not divided. And the start time is negotiated with the operator instead of printed on the ticket.
What it does not change is the farm. These four visit family smallholdings of the same kind the shared days go to — south at Sabaneta, north above Copacabana, northwest into the Antioquia coffee country, and three hours south to Jardín.
Shared departures leave between eight and half past nine, and that is that. On a private booking you agree the hour, which matters if you want to be on the slope before it warms up or if you are fitting the morning around a flight.
One of these collects anywhere in El Poblado, Laureles, Sabaneta or Envigado and says that if your building is not on the list you can type in the address. That is unusually flexible, and it suits apartments rather than hotels.
No waiting for a group to reassemble, no minimum numbers, and as long as you like at the fermentation tank if that is where your questions are. On a two-hour farm visit that is worth more than it sounds.
The Jardín run is twelve hours to southwest Antioquia, and no shared departure here goes anywhere near it. If the village is the point, this is the only way to do it as a day trip.
Shared caps here run from seven to seventy. On a private booking the number is however many of you there are.
The honest comparison, because for two people the gap is smaller than it looks and for four it is not.
| Private | Shared | |
|---|---|---|
| Who travels | Your party only | Up to 7, 8, 15, 19, 20 or 70 |
| Start time | Agreed with the operator | Fixed, 8:00–9:30am |
| Pickup | Door to door, four neighbourhoods | Door to door or a metro station |
| Price basis | Per person, except one quoted per group | Per person |
| Price | $104–$299 | $55–$103 |
| Lunch | Included on two of the four | Included on the countryside days |
| Length | 4–12 hours | 1.5–6 hours |
| Best for | Couples, families, and anyone on a schedule | Solo travellers and anyone counting the fare |
The plantation tour page covers the shared countryside days, and the cost guide takes every band apart.
Included across these four: a private vehicle, a driver or driver-guide, the farm visit and the coffee. Two include lunch, one includes an insurance policy, and one includes unlimited tasting.
Not included: lunch on the two half-days, gratuities on two of them, and on one listing the face masks it says it does not supply. Coffee to take home is on sale at the farm rather than in the fare.
One to read carefully: the Copacabana departure quotes its fare per group rather than per person. Its meeting point is your own accommodation, so confirm the collection arrangement with the operator when you book.
If you are travelling alone, the maths rarely works. A shared countryside day gives you the same farm, the same chain and a lunch for less than half, and the group is usually part of the fun.
If price is the deciding factor, the Comuna 8 city farm gives you three hours on a working finca for $55. The urban coffee tour page covers it.
If you want a cupping table and a commercial roaster, none of these four has one. The shared farm-and-roastery half day is the only product here that does.
If twelve hours sounds long, it is. The Jardín day spends six of them driving, and it is a day trip to a mountain village with a farm inside it rather than a coffee tour with a long transfer.
Per person on three of the four. The Copacabana departure quotes per group and prints that beside the fare, so read the unit before comparing two numbers that look similar.
On the half-days, yes — that is one of the main things you are buying. The twelve-hour Jardín run leaves at seven because of the distance.
From your accommodation. One covers El Poblado, Laureles, Sabaneta and Envigado and lets you type in an address if your building is not listed; the others collect from hotels, hostels and apartments across the city.
It is different rather than better. The farms and the chain are the same; what you buy is exclusivity, a start time and a pace. For a couple it is a modest premium and for a group of four it is not.
Two of the four do. The two half-days exclude it, which is reasonable given they finish around one, and the Jardín day includes a mountain-restaurant meal.
The Jardín day, three hours south into the coffee municipalities of southwest Antioquia. It pairs a working farm with the village itself and a cable car up the valley side.
The Jardín day is. The other three are not, and the reason is the ground on a planted slope rather than the vehicle.
Four to five hours, collected from El Poblado, Laureles, Sabaneta or Envigado, at a start time you set. Two hours on a family farm at Sabaneta covering picking, drying, roasting and a home-made snack.
From $104 per person
A driver-guide, a private car and three unhurried hours with a grower northwest of the city. Lunch, coffee and an insurance policy are in the fare, and only your group travels.
From $198 per person
Six hours at a certified organic farm above Copacabana, five of them on the plantation itself, with an hour afterwards in a specialist coffee shop in town. Private air-conditioned transport throughout, and the fare is quoted per group.
From $220 per group
Twelve hours south to Jardin with a private bilingual guide: a working coffee farm, the painted balconies of the village and a cable car to a mountain restaurant. Unlimited tasting and lunch included, and it is the one private departure here with wheelchair access.
From $299 per person
best coffee tour Medellin of every other kind are compared alongside these on Medellin Coffee Tours, with the price, the rating and the hours on the farm shown for each.