Highlights

• Walk on the old town walls and around the Old town
• Visit some of the forts around the city
• Fort of Las Tenezas
• Las Bóvedas shops in the yellow arcade
• Museo de Cartagena de Indias– most information in Spanish but nice museum of history and art
• Museo de Arte Moderno Cartagena
• Letras de Cartagena sign at beach
• Playa Marbella
• Playa Boca Grande and city skyline
• La Serrezuela mall (the old bull ring)
• Plaza de San Diego
• Food street vendors for fresh arepas de huevos (fried bread with eggs)
• Plaza de Bolivar
• Barrio Getsemaní street art
• Catedral de Santa Catalina de Alejandría
• Palacio de la Proclamación
• Plaza de la Aduana with Columbus statue
• Church of Santo Domingo
• San Felipe de Barajas Fort

Before you go

• Cartagena is located on the Caribbean coast
• Cartagena is expensive compared to other regions because it is touristy
• Be aware of Old Town street vendors as they can try to overcharge you
• Beaches close to the city aren’t the most beautiful so a friend recommends a day trip to the all-inclusive hotel Decameron in Baru
• Boca Grande is the downtown area with high rises and it’s nice to look around but not a must see area
• The post offices on GoogleMaps are more like delivery services so don’t have any stamps
• Christmas lights are up well into January, and they are amazing!
• Weather is warm throughout the year, and dry season is December to April
• Some museums do not have air conditioning so can be hot inside
• Most places took credit card except small museums and street vendors

Transport

• Rafael Núñez International Airport is located just 20 minutes, without traffic, east of the main part of the city.
• Taxis from the airport are regulated and you can print a price estimate from a machine as you exit arrivals. There is also usually someone to help direct you to official taxis.
• Traffic can be bad so allow some extra time to get places by car.
• Around the old town, walking is the easiest way to get around. If you would like to try it, there are also horse-drawn carriages. Taxis tend to spend a lot of time stuck in traffic
• I went running along the beach path and seemed to be the only person doing that. It was safe enough, though the waves do go over the path

Accommodation

• I definitely recommend to stay in the old town area, so you can walk out and easily see the main sights. Hotel Santa Catalina had a fantastic location in the centre, and somehow still managed to be calm inside.
• My room was spacious and relatively quiet. The bathroom was huge and my only complaint was the water only got lukewarm. Air conditioning worked well and there was a fridge, coffee machine and hair dryer.
• Breakfast was a buffet and you could order eggs or similar so I had an arepa with eggs Florentine. Delicious!
• Staff were very friendly and helpful
• As usual I recommend checking reviews on Google Reviews or using AirBnB

Food

Snacks and desserts

Gelateria Tramonti and Helados D’Fruta Cartagena both had a great variety of gelato flavours. They were nice, refreshing snacks in the hot weather.

Fritos La Mona is the go to street vendor for the local specialty, arepas de huevo (fried dough with an egg inside). They were so busy and it was chaos, but somehow they tried to serve the people who had been waiting the longest. It was incredible watching how efficient the ladies were with preparing the fried foods in a vat of hot oil on the street.

Starbucks in the La Serrezuela mall has a great view, so it is a nice cafe to have a break.

Restaurants

Restaurante Porton de San Sebastián was the first place I dined and I enjoyed a fantastic dinner and friendly service. Luckily I was able to get a table, because it is small and it was packed!

My main order was for Cazuela de mariscos (seafood soup) with fried plantains and coconut rice. However, they also gave me bread with a flavoured mayonnaise dip. And I had a shot of the local Colombian rum. Delicious!

Buena Vida Marisquería is a casual restaurant with rooftop seating, and I was able to get a table without booking. The shrimp bowl was delicious and came with two types of plantains, avocado and cheese. And the tamarind Michelada was perfect, and they made that especially for me with Tequila instead of Mezcal.

Andrés Carne de Res Cartagena was a restaurant recommended to me, but I did not get a chance to try it. The menu has a variety including meat (carne), as the name suggests. They also seem to have music and entertainment.

Restaurante Candé looked amazing for the seafood, rice and soups. However, I also did not get a chance to try this one.