Christmas lights

During Christmas time in Medellin, Colombia, the city lights up with millions of Christmas lights. This traditional event is known as the “Lighting” or the EPM Lights, sponsored by the city’s public utilities company, Empresas Públicas de Medellin (EPM).

The event includes light shows and other cultural festivities, and has expanded to over one hundred locations around the city. The main locations of the lights are on and around the Medellin River and La Playa Avenue. The event usually starts from early December and lasts until the beginning of January. The event attracts numerous tourists every year and has grown consistently since the 1990s. While the event used to begin on December 7th, the Day of the Little Candles and the unofficial start of the Christmas season in Colombia, in recent years, it has begun earlier to accommodate the increase in tourism.

As part of the celebration, all recreational parks and museums offer free entry to children under 12 years old, and the Museum of Antioquia admission is free for everyone. In 2012, the Lighting of Medellin was listed among the top ten cities to view holiday lights by the National Geographic website.

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