Netflix · 2015–2017 · made in Colombia
City inside the word: choose one of the four. Go to the wall
Parque Inflexión · El Poblado, Medellín · opened 20 December 2019
Where Escobar’s Monaco building stood, Medellín built a park for the people killed. At its centre is a wall with 46,612 openings, one for each life lost in the city between 1983 and 1994, made so that visitors could leave a flower, a light, a ribbon or a message. Leave something in an opening below. Each one remembers someone killed in the story the series tells, and opens the place where they are remembered.
The wall, its 46,612 openings and the years they stand for; the opening night.
El Colombiano: Así fue la inauguración del parque Inflexión en Medellín (20 December 2019)Telemedellín: Parque Memorial “Inflexión” será construido para las 46.612 víctimas (23 February 2019)
Flowers, lights, ribbons or messages.
Las2orillas: El bosque que rescribirá la historia de Medellín (7 March 2019)
Choose what to leave, then choose an opening.
0 of 8 remembered here · 46,612 in the real wall
El Poblado, Medellín · 1980s to now
The Monaco: built in the mid-1980s in El Poblado, owned by Pablo Escobar.
The building, its owner, the car bomb, the empty years and the implosion.
Radio Nacional de Colombia: Así fue la implosión del edificio Mónaco en Medellín (22 February 2019)
The morning after: no structure left standing; 5,000 square metres; the three parts; names, not aliases.
The Forest of Resilience.
Las2orillas: El bosque que rescribirá la historia de Medellín (7 March 2019)
El Poblado · the park
El Poblado, Medellín, where the Monaco building stood
The park stands where the Monaco building stood. At its centre is a wall with 46,612 openings, one for each life lost in Medellín between 1983 and 1994.
The wall was designed so visitors could leave flowers, lights, ribbons or messages in its openings.
A public park. Leave a flower in the wall if you like; people do. The photograph shows a street in El Poblado, not the park.
Parque Bicentenario · the museum
Calle 51 #36-66, Parque Bicentenario, Medellín
Medellín’s museum of the memory of the armed conflict, and of violence and resistance in the city.
It grew out of the city’s programme for victims, begun in 2006.
Entry is free.
Free. Tuesday to Friday 9am to 6pm; weekends and holidays 10am to 4pm.
Parque Bicentenario, Medellín · Free · Tuesday to Friday 9am–6pm · weekends and holidays 10am–4pm
Medellín’s museum of the memory of its conflict, in Parque Bicentenario. Free to enter.
Plan a visit
Bogotá and Soacha
Most of Narcos was made in the capital. When Rolling Stone Brasil visited in 2016, the studio was in an old industrial district near the centre, dressed so that viewers would take it for Medellín. Bogotá and Soacha, just south-west, also carry their own losses in the story: a court, a candidate and an aeroplane.
The Bogotá studio dressed as Medellín.
Rolling Stone Brasil: Exclusivo: visitamos o set de Narcos (2 September 2016)
Bogotá’s film commission names Narcos, made by Dynamo and Gaumont, among the city’s productions.
La Candelaria · playing Medellín
The old centre of Bogotá, east of Plaza de Bolívar
A 2017 location guide says early scenes were filmed here, including the kidnapping of Marta Nieves Ochoa.
In the series she is taken in Medellín, in season one’s second episode.
Walk it by day. The photograph shows a church door on Calle 11.
Plaza de Bolívar · 1985
Plaza de Bolívar, La Candelaria, Bogotá
On 6 and 7 November 1985 M-19 guerrillas seized the Palace of Justice on the north side of the square. 101 people died, among them 11 of the 25 Supreme Court justices.
Season one’s fourth episode, The Palace in Flames, tells it. Whether Escobar paid for the raid is still disputed.
The palace was destroyed and later rebuilt; the square is the city’s main one.
An open square. The Palace of Justice is on its north side; the courts are not open to tourists.
Carrera 7 · the president’s house
Carrera 7, La Candelaria, Bogotá
The presidential palace was built from 1906 to 1908 to designs by Gastón Lelarge and Julián Lombana.
A 2017 location guide says several scenes were shot here, as President César Gaviria’s house.
The 37th Infantry Battalion mounts the guard on the Plaza de Armas; the public can watch on some days.
The president’s house. Watch the guard from Carrera 7 and the Plaza de Armas.
Calle 26 · Galán’s grave
Calle 26, Los Mártires, Bogotá
Luis Carlos Galán is buried here.
The cemetery opened in 1836 and was declared a national monument in 1984.
A 2017 location guide says the series filmed Galán’s funeral here.
An open cemetery and a national monument. The photograph shows Galán’s tomb in 2010.
Soacha · 1989
Plaza principal, in front of the Alcaldía, Soacha
On 18 August 1989 the presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán was shot on a stage in this square. Councillor Julio César Peñaloza Sánchez and bodyguard Santiago Cuervo Jiménez were killed too.
A monument was put up on the spot in 2014; in 2022, with his family’s agreement, it moved to the entrance of the municipal stadium.
On 27 November 1989 Avianca Flight 203 was bombed after leaving Bogotá and came down near Soacha. 107 people aboard and 3 on the ground were killed.
The series dramatises both.
Soacha’s main square, south-west of Bogotá. Galán’s monument now stands at the municipal stadium.
Bogotá
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Envigado · Puerto Triunfo
Two of the story’s most famous places have been given other lives. The prison on the hill is a monastery and a home for older people, with a memorial to the cartel’s victims. The estate in the Magdalena valley is a water park, and the hippos brought there in 1981 have spread along the Magdalena River.
Envigado · seen from below
On the hill above Envigado, south of Medellín
The prison opened in 1991 under Escobar’s surrender deal and closed in July 1992, when he walked out.
Benedictine monks arrived in 2007, made it a monastery and built a memorial to the cartel’s victims.
It is now the Hogar San Benito Abad, a home for older people. Tourists are not allowed in.
A 2017 location guide says the series did not film here.
A home for older people. Tourists are not let in; the grounds can only be seen from a distance.
Puerto Triunfo · a theme park
Doradal, Puerto Triunfo, beside Highway 60
The estate is about 101 km east of Medellín and covers about 20 square kilometres. The state won it after 1993; the town of Puerto Triunfo manages it.
Since 2014 it has been the Parque Temático Hacienda Nápoles, with a water park and a safari.
Four hippos were brought here in 1981. About 200 now live along the Magdalena River, and in April 2026 the environment ministry approved culling more than 80.
A 2017 location guide says the series filmed its Nápoles at a property near Villavicencio.
Now a theme park with a water park and safari. About 101 km east of Medellín as the crow flies.
Medellín
Live marketplace results for city walks in Medellín. We searched for the city, not for Escobar.
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Compare toursSeason three · 2017
Season three left Escobar behind for the Cali cartel. Its first scenes were filmed in Cali; in February it went to Cartagena, where the old town played Curaçao and the city asked not to be named.
Cartagena · playing Curaçao
The walled old town, Cartagena
In February 2017 season three filmed in the old town’s streets, among them Calle del Colegio, Calle de la Chichería and Callejón de los Estribos.
Cartagena played Curaçao. The producers agreed not to use the city’s name, its walls or the Clock Tower.
Pedro Pascal was filming on the first day.
Public streets in the old town. The photograph shows another street nearby.
Calle de la Universidad, Cartagena · Rates for your dates on the hotel’s booking page
Three old houses in the walled town, made into a hotel of 20 rooms and 11 suites, a few streets from Calle del Colegio. The photograph shows another old-town street.
See the roomsCali · playing itself
Central Cali
Season three’s first scenes were filmed in Cali.
A 2017 location guide names the centre around Plaza de Caycedo among the exteriors.
The square is named after Joaquín de Cayzedo y Cuero, a leader of independence; the Palacio Nacional and the cathedral of San Pedro face it.
Cali’s main square, with the cathedral on one side.
The people · during the run, and the two who were there
Chris Brancato, Carlo Bernard and Doug Miro created it; José Padilha directed the first two episodes. Netflix released it from 28 August 2015 to 1 September 2017: 3 seasons, 30 episodes. Wagner Moura studied Spanish in Medellín before filming. Boyd Holbrook, who played Murphy, said that filming there showed him Escobar was still treated almost as a myth, with tours of his places.
The real Steve Murphy and Javier Peña worked on the series as consultants and appear in season two’s last episode.
Creators, dates, seasons, episodes, cast and roles.
Season one’s directors.
Moura’s Spanish; Holbrook on Medellín.
Rolling Stone Brasil: Exclusivo: visitamos o set de Narcos (2 September 2016)
Murphy and Peña as consultants and in the season two finale.
11 places you can visit: four in Medellín and Antioquia, five in Bogotá and Soacha, and two on the coast and in Cali. Private homes are left out.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A public park. Leave a flower in the wall if you like; people do. The photograph shows a street in El Poblado, not the park.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Free. Tuesday to Friday 9am to 6pm; weekends and holidays 10am to 4pm.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A home for older people. Tourists are not let in; the grounds can only be seen from a distance.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Now a theme park with a water park and safari. About 101 km east of Medellín as the crow flies.
El Poblado, Medellín, where the Monaco building stood
The park stands where the Monaco building stood. At its centre is a wall with 46,612 openings, one for each life lost in Medellín between 1983 and 1994.
A public park. Leave a flower in the wall if you like; people do. The photograph shows a street in El Poblado, not the park.
Calle 51 #36-66, Parque Bicentenario, Medellín
Medellín’s museum of the memory of the armed conflict, and of violence and resistance in the city.
Free. Tuesday to Friday 9am to 6pm; weekends and holidays 10am to 4pm.
On the hill above Envigado, south of Medellín
The prison opened in 1991 under Escobar’s surrender deal and closed in July 1992, when he walked out.
A home for older people. Tourists are not let in; the grounds can only be seen from a distance.
Doradal, Puerto Triunfo, beside Highway 60
The estate is about 101 km east of Medellín and covers about 20 square kilometres. The state won it after 1993; the town of Puerto Triunfo manages it.
Now a theme park with a water park and safari. About 101 km east of Medellín as the crow flies.
Stay
A hotel a few streets from where season three played Curaçao.
Calle de la Universidad, Cartagena · Rates for your dates on the hotel’s booking page
Three old houses in the walled town, made into a hotel of 20 rooms and 11 suites, a few streets from Calle del Colegio. The photograph shows another old-town street.
See the roomsGo there
Marketplace walks in the two cities. We do not link tours about Escobar.
Bogotá
Live marketplace results for walks and tours in Bogotá, from La Candelaria to Monserrate.
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Compare toursMedellín
Live marketplace results for city walks in Medellín. We searched for the city, not for Escobar.
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Compare toursWhat’s on
Free, six days a week, in Parque Bicentenario.
Parque Bicentenario, Medellín · Free · Tuesday to Friday 9am–6pm · weekends and holidays 10am–4pm
Medellín’s museum of the memory of its conflict, in Parque Bicentenario. Free to enter.
Plan a visitTake it home
The agents’ own account, García Márquez’s reportage and the season one soundtrack.
Steve Murphy and Javier Peña
The two DEA agents’ own account, St. Martin’s Press, 2019.
Find the bookGabriel García Márquez
Gabriel García Márquez’s reportage, in the Vintage International edition of 2008.
Find the bookPedro Bromfman · CD, 2015
Pedro Bromfman’s score for season one.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
11 of 11 places · 15 of 15 Moments
El Poblado, Medellín, where the Monaco building stood
A car bomb hits the Monaco building in the war between the Cali and Medellín cartels.
The Monaco is imploded at 11.54am on 22 February 2019.
Parque Inflexión opens; flowers are left in the wall and its 46,612 lights come on.
Calle 51 #36-66, Parque Bicentenario, Medellín
Medellín keeps the memory of its conflict in a free museum in Parque Bicentenario.
On the hill above Envigado, south of Medellín
Escobar is held above Envigado under his surrender deal, then walks out; season one ends with the escape.
Benedictine monks take over the prison and build a memorial to the cartel’s victims.
Doradal, Puerto Triunfo, beside Highway 60
The series builds its Nápoles near Villavicencio; the real estate is a theme park.
Plaza de Bolívar, La Candelaria, Bogotá
Season one tells the siege of the Palace of Justice, in which 101 people died.
Carrera 7, La Candelaria, Bogotá
Scenes are shot at Casa de Nariño as President Gaviria’s house.
The old centre of Bogotá, east of Plaza de Bolívar
La Candelaria stands in for Medellín for the kidnapping of Marta Nieves Ochoa.
Calle 26, Los Mártires, Bogotá
The series films Galán’s funeral at the cemetery where he is buried.
Plaza principal, in front of the Alcaldía, Soacha
Luis Carlos Galán, Julio César Peñaloza Sánchez and Santiago Cuervo Jiménez are killed at a rally in Soacha.
Avianca Flight 203 is bombed and comes down near Soacha; 110 people are killed.
The walled old town, Cartagena
Season three films Curaçao in Cartagena’s old-town streets, without naming the city.
Central Cali
Season three’s first scenes are filmed in Cali, the city of the cartel it follows.
