Things to do in Cartagena
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Cartagena
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Dry season, the best window: least rain, trade winds, clearest Rosario water, but peak prices late December to mid January and at Semana Santa.
Shoulder: short heavy rain bursts, humidity climbs, crowds and prices drop, a smart value window with flex days for boats.
Rainy season, wettest September to November and peaking in October, the worst month for weather, with softer prices and best availability.
Best months overall: February to early March is dry, breezy and post peak. Late November to early December is also a strong window.
What's on
- Festival Internacional de Musica Clasica January
World class concerts in colonial churches.
- Hay Festival Cartagena late January
A major literature and ideas festival, in the most culturally rich month.
- FICCI Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena March/April
The oldest film festival in Latin America, with screenings across the Walled City.
- Semana Santa March/April
Processions and religious pageantry in a full city, with some businesses closed on holy days.
- Fiestas de la Independencia around 11 November
Cartagena's own independence celebrations, comparsas and street parties in Getsemani, the most local big festival.
- New Year in the Walled City 31 December
Street tables and fireworks over the bay, at peak of peak prices and crowds.
Worth the trip for
Best things to do in Cartagena
Las Murallas de Cartagena
Eleven kilometres of ramparts and the best free sunset walk in the city, ending with the sun dropping into the Caribbean.
Plaza de la Trinidad
Getsemani's living room at night, with murals on the walk in, food carts, buskers and families filling the plaza.
Castillo San Felipe de Barajas
The largest Spanish fortress in the Americas, with tunnels and the best panoramic view of old and new Cartagena.
Mercado Bazurto
Cartagena's real market and its most authentic food experience, best done on a small guided morning tour.
San Basilio de Palenque
The first free African town in the Americas, with its own creole language, drum traditions and community guides.
Alquímico
A three floor mansion bar building each floor around Colombian ingredients, ferments and regional spirits.
Café Havana
The salsa institution in Getsemani, a room that is about the live Cuban band, not the decor.
Convento de La Popa
A 17th century convent on the city's highest hill with the widest view in Cartagena, reached by taxi.
Where to stay in Cartagena
Walled City (Centro Historico and San Diego)
first trip, all-round base
Colonial streets, the best restaurants and hotels and everything walkable, with San Diego the quieter quarter.
Getsemaní
best value, energy and nightlife
Murals, boutique hotels and the Trinidad plaza scene, a five minute walk from the Clock Tower, on the central grid.
Bocagrande / El Laguito / Castillogrande
resort-style rooms and big-hotel amenities
Modern high rises on a grey sand city beach, ten minutes by taxi from the walls, safest feeling for some travellers.
Manga
second trip or long stay, local base
A quiet residential island of republican mansions with good local restaurants and bigger rooms for the money.
Think twice about
- Streets around Bazurto Market and east and south of Getsemani (Torices, Canapote)
Working districts with higher street crime rates and no visitor infrastructure. Visit Bazurto on a morning tour and sleep elsewhere.
- Far southern and eastern residential districts (El Pozon)
Distance alone kills a trip and safety compounds it, despite ultra cheap listings.
Best restaurants in Cartagena
Celele
A contemporary tasting menu built on Colombian Caribbean biodiversity, ferments and coastal plants.
Carmen Cartagena
The polished tasting menu, contemporary Colombian cooking on national biodiversity in a courtyard setting.
Alma
Caribbean Colombian cooking in one of the city's prettiest courtyards, the splurge without a tasting menu commitment.
La Vitrola
Cartagena's old guard night out, white jackets, live Cuban son and a room unchanged for decades.
Candé
Cartagenera cooking as celebration, the regional canon in an elegant room with live music and dancers.
La Cevichería
The famous little ceviche room, Colombian style ceviche, octopus and seafood rice, worth the queue at opening.
Buena Vida Marisquería
An upscale marisqueria with a rooftop that locals recommend when La Cevicheria's queue is an hour deep.
La Cocina de Pepina
Home style costeno lunch in a yellow colonial house, soups, stews and fresh juices, no reservations taken.
Outdoor things to do in Cartagena
Bona Vida Catamaran
The best shared boat day to the Rosarios, a large sailing catamaran with snorkel stops and lunch on board.
Rosario Islands
A private boat on your own route for groups of four plus, snorkelling first and a quiet beach club for lunch.
Diving Planet
Small group two tank diving on the Rosario and Baru reefs, for certified divers and beginners alike.
La Boquilla
Cartagena's kite beach by a fishing village, with consistent trade winds and IKO certified schools in season.
Volcán del Totumo
A silly, memorable half day floating in warm buoyant mud, then rinsing in the lagoon and eating fried fish.
Aviario Nacional de Colombia
Colombia's national aviary with around 2,000 birds in large immersion aviaries, the best family excursion from the city.
La Boquilla mangrove
A quiet dugout canoe through mangrove tunnels with local fishermen, cast nets, birds and a fried fish lunch.
TPC Cartagena at Karibana
Nicklaus designed 18 holes through forest and lakes and along the Caribbean, best played at an early tee time.
Best hotels in Cartagena
Hotel Casa San Agustín
Three colonial houses around a courtyard pool in Centro, the special occasion address, home to Alma.
Sofitel Legend Santa Clara Cartagena
A 1621 convent turned grande dame hotel with a cloistered garden and the calmest luxury in the walls.
Hotel Charleston Santa Teresa Cartagena
Another convent conversion at the southern wall, with a rooftop pool over the bay.
Hotel Boutique Casa del Coliseo
A small boutique in Centro with a plunge pool, at roughly half the grande dame price.
Viajero Cartagena Centro
The budget bed inside the walls, dorms and privates with social programming and hostel polish.
Hotel Capellán de Getsemaní
A restored colonial house with pool and spa on Getsemani's edge, in a romantic register.
Casa La Factoria
A small, well run boutique in the heart of Getsemani, the mid range default for the barrio.
Viajero Cartagena Getsemaní
A social hostel on Calle Larga with a pool, bar and evening programming, leaning adults only in feel.
Is Cartagena expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | COP 150,000 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | COP 275,000 a person |
| Splurge | COP 600,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Mercado Bazurto: a few days ahead
- San Basilio de Palenque: a few days ahead
- Cartagena street-food tour: a few days ahead
- Bona Vida Catamaran: a few days ahead
- Rosario Islands: weeks ahead
- Diving Planet: a few days ahead
- Volcán del Totumo: a few days ahead
- Aviario Nacional de Colombia: a few days ahead
- Celele weeks ahead, Carmen and Alma days to weeks in season, and any good Rosario boat, before flying in for December to January or Semana Santa.
- Boats leave Muelle de La Bodeguita around 8am and the port tax is cash, so carry small COP notes.
Is Cartagena safe?
- Live by no dar papaya: phone away at street edges, no flashy jewellery, ATMs only inside banks or malls, small cash split up.
- Never leave drinks unattended or accept drinks, food or cigarettes from strangers, given drink spiking and scopolamine robbery reports. Run a buddy system.
- Book boats and tours only at official Muelle de La Bodeguita booths, your hotel or reviewed platforms. Taxi to La Popa, do not walk the hill road. Emergency 123.
- Check your government's current travel advice before you go.
Cartagena travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Cholon party anchorage overcharges, the 5 island speedboat marathon, and Playa Blanca as sold, with vendor pressure and never free samples.
- Cafe del Mar prices drinks as a cover charge for the wall view, horse drawn carriages price by negotiation after the ride, and Bocagrande beach is not the Caribbean beach you pictured.
- Agree the amount before palenquera photos and street rapper performances, or decline clearly with a firm no gracias.
Getting around Cartagena: public transport and more
- Walk the Walled City and Getsemani. Yellow taxis have no meters, so agree the fare first, or use InDrive, Cabify or Uber.
- The airport is only about 15 to 20 minutes from the walls. Never rent a car for the city itself.
Who Cartagena suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Great |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Great |
Make Cartagena your trip
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