Feria de las Flores

Since 1957, Medellín, the 'City of Eternal Spring', has marked the first two weeks of August with the Feria de las Flores, a ten-day celebration that has become one of the largest flower festivals anywhere in the world, drawing more than two million visitors annually. While flowers are the festival's namesake, food, music and Paisa regional traditions run through every part of it.

The centrepiece is the Desfile de los Silleteros, in which flower growers from the surrounding hills carry enormous, intricately arranged floral displays on their backs through the city streets — a tradition tracing back to when workers once carried people up steep hills before flowers took over the role. Alongside the parade, the festival features an antique car show, horse parades featuring Colombia's famous paso fino horses, and free outdoor concerts closing each night, all set against a backdrop of traditional Antioquian food and drink.

Most ubiquitous among the food on offer is the arepa, and visitors can expect a full spread of Paisa specialities, including bandeja paisa, the enormous regional dish combining beans, rice, meat, plantain and more that has become one of Colombia's best-known culinary exports.