The tunnels of Loma de los González: the secret network that connected Medellín with the river

Origins

The first time someone told me about "the tunnels of Loma de los González" was in a shop in El Poblado, over a beer and with an older gentleman who swore he had entered one of them when he was a kid. The story sounds intriguing: an underground network that connected the hill with the Medellín River, used by smugglers, muleteers and even fugitives from justice. However, after an exhaustive search through archives, old press and verifiable testimonies, not a single document appears that supports the existence of that network as the legend tells it.

And here it is necessary to be clear from the start, because at Malokal we prefer a boring truth to an exciting lie: there is no verifiable evidence of an entity, place or tunnel network called "González Medellín", nor of a system of secret passageways beneath Loma de los González. What does exist —and is just as fascinating— is the real history of how that hill, today absorbed by comuna 14, functioned for decades as a hinge between the Valle de Aburrá and the Medellín River. That history does not need invented tunnels.

This article is for those who enjoy the city's hidden infrastructure, but also for those who prefer to discern between myth and reality. Let's go step by step.

Timeline or historical milestones

To understand Loma de los González, you first have to understand the terrain. Medellín sits in the Valle de Aburrá, the natural region of the Central Andes mountain range crossed by the Medellín River. The city grew for more than two centuries facing the river: first as a village of muleteers, then as an industrial capital. The hills we now call "El Poblado" were, well into the 20th century, rural outskirts: farms, pastures, dirt roads and little else.

The muleteer roads: the real "network"

Before tunnels existed —real or imaginary— there were the muleteer roads. Mule trains went up and down along trails that connected the valley with the hills of the southeast, and from there with the towns of the east: Envigado, Rionegro, La Ceja. Those roads were not secret: they were the logistics of the era. Coffee went up through them, the market came down, and everything moved that a truck would move today.

Loma de los González, in that context, was not a clandestine strategic point: it was simply one more hill on the route. What made it "famous" later was something else: the accelerated urbanization of El Poblado starting in the seventies and eighties, which turned pastures into neighborhoods, and neighborhoods into the most expensive area of the city.

El Poblado: from farm to comuna 14

El Poblado is today the Comuna 14 of Medellín, located in the southeastern area of the city, and is known for its gastronomic, commercial and entertainment offerings. But that identity is relatively recent. For much of the 20th century, El Poblado was the countryside of Medellín: vacation homes, farms of traditional families and the occasional dirt road. The transformation came with the construction boom, the shopping centers and, later, tourism.

In that transition from rural to urban, almost all the tunnel myths in Medellín are born. When a city is built over its own past, people start filling the gaps with stories: that there was a tunnel beneath such-and-such plaza, that such-and-such house had a passageway, that the priests hid I don't know what. Loma de los González is no exception.

Key figures or events

This is where the legend runs out of verifiable protagonists. There is no documented engineer, no signed blueprint, no contractor with a name who built "the tunnels of Loma de los González". What there is are three real phenomena that explain why people believe they exist:

1. The real infrastructure: water supply, sewerage and canals

Medellín does have an enormous underground network: water supply pipes, sewerage, stormwater canals and utility ducts. That network is real, it is documented and it is operated by the public utilities. When someone says "I went into a tunnel under the hill", in most cases they are describing a stormwater canal or a utility structure, not a smuggling passageway. They are narrow, damp and dangerous spaces, and entering them is a terrible idea.

2. The warehouses and basements of urban expansion

During the decades of intense construction in El Poblado, many buildings were erected with basements, machine rooms and storage areas that, seen from outside, look like "tunnel entrances". They are not. They are private spaces of each building. The urban imagination turns them into passageways, but there is no connection between them or with the river.

3. The urban myth as a genre

Medellín has a strong oral tradition of urban myths: the llorona, the duende, the tunnels that connect churches, the passageways of the colonial era. Most are just that: myths. And it is fine that they are, as long as they are not sold as verified history. The myth of the tunnels of Loma de los González belongs to that family: it is a good story to tell in a shop, not a documented fact.

The Medellín River as the real axis

What is true is that the Medellín River —today also called the Aburrá River— was for centuries the axis of the valley's economic life. The city spread along both banks, and the river was a transport route, a water source and, later, a sewer and urban boundary. Any account of a "connection with the river" makes historical sense, but that connection was made through roads, bridges and open-air ditches, not through secret tunnels beneath a residential hill.

Current state

Today Loma de los González is an urbanized area of El Poblado, with buildings, residential complexes, paved roads and a daily life that has nothing clandestine about it. There are no public accesses to "tunnels", no tours, no sealed entrances exhibited as an attraction. Anyone offering you a tour to the tunnels of Loma de los González is selling you smoke.

What you can do in the area is walk, eat and understand how the city looks from above. El Poblado concentrates a good part of Medellín's gastronomic and entertainment offerings, and from its hills you understand the geography of the valley: the river below, the mountains around, the city spread out like a plate. That view is the real attraction, not an imaginary passageway.

Real trails and hikes in the area

If what you are looking for is to walk and feel the hill, there are real and safe options. The southeastern area of Medellín has hiking routes and urban walks that go up through neighborhoods such as El Poblado, Manila, Provenza and surrounding sectors, with natural viewpoints over the valley. The usual recommendation: go accompanied, during the day, with appropriate footwear and without entering private properties or utility structures.

For an experience more of the city than of the mountain, Comuna 13 offers urban art, music and local gastronomy, and is today one of Medellín's most visible tourism bets. It has nothing to do with tunnels, but it does with the other face of the city: the one told from the street and not from the myth.

Local gastronomy: the real "secret" of the hill

If you are going up to El Poblado, eat. Medellín's local gastronomy includes traditional dishes such as bandeja paisa, arepas, empanadas and market food, with culinary experiences in Comuna 13 and in the local markets. Reference prices in September 2026 for a set meal range from about $15,000 COP in a market to $45,000 COP or more in a restaurant in El Poblado. Always check before sitting down, because prices change.

And if you like urban art, Comuna 13 has tours that range from free to about $50,000 COP depending on the tour. That is real cultural infrastructure, not underground.

How to visit the area safely

The rule is simple: don't look for tunnels, look for the hill. What you can do safely is:

• Walk through the pedestrian areas of El Poblado (Provenza, Manila, Parque Lleras) and go up to enabled viewpoints.
• Take guided hiking routes in the southeastern area, always with established operators and during daylight hours.
• Visit Comuna 13 with local guides, which is the safest and most respectful way to get to know that sector.
• Eat in local markets and restaurants, which is the best way to understand the city.

What you should not do: enter canals, sewers, abandoned basements or private properties. Besides being illegal in many cases, it is dangerous. Those spaces are not tourist attractions, they are infrastructure.

The myth, well told

None of this means the legend is not worth it. Urban myths are part of a city's oral heritage, and Medellín has many. The difference lies in how they are told: as myth, not as fact. If someone tells you they know someone who entered the tunnels of Loma de los González, listen with affection, have your beer, and then remember that the real history of that hill —that of the muleteers, the roads, the urban expansion and the view over the valley— is more interesting than any invented passageway.

Medellín is a city that was built over its own past, and that is why its subsoil is full of stories. Some are true: pipes, canals, foundations, utility tunnels. Others are legend: secret passageways, hidden vaults, smuggling networks. Knowing how to distinguish them is part of being a good urban explorer.

Have you heard rumors about these tunnels? Do you have a theory or an experience in the area? Tell us in the comments or write to us. We are interested in the real history, but also in good stories.