Editor’s note: I loved Cartagena after spending two full weeks there in 2024. Colonial history, beauty, and stunning coffee made it a destination absolutely worthwhile. You can read my guide here. I am so glad Sam also enjoyed his time! For more of Sam Spector’s awesome writing, click here to visit his index page.
I will confess, my introduction to the Colombian coastal city of Cartagena was not the most positive one; the city actually first got my attention when then-President Barack Obama was attending a summit there and his Secret Service officer got into a fight with the pimps of prostitutes they had engaged with and not paid all the while having top security documents out in the open, leading to an embarrassing scandal of Americans behaving badly abroad. As I watched the news, I was surprised to see what looked like a beautiful coastal colonial city and became intrigued.
To be clear, when I made it to Cartagena, the city did indeed have a seedy side to it; prostitution, brothels, and strip clubs were rampant in the Old Town. However, I still felt safe walking around in this highly touristy area. I was surprised to discover that Cartagena is a large city with nearly a million residents, the fifth largest Colombian city, and that it has both a dark and inspiring past. In the Plaza de Bolivar, there is the Palacio de Inquisicion, where people were tortured during the Inquisition, and Cartagena was one of the largest slave trading hubs in the Americas, where over 1.1 million enslaved people entered the continent. However, one of the reasons the city rose to prominence was that in nearby San Basilio de Palenque, the first free town in the Americas as a sanctuary for formerly enslaved people was established in 1619. In 1691, the Spanish crown recognized this area as an autonomous, slave-free region.
While most of the tourism of Colombia’s most visited city revolves around the walled Old Town, a great place to start your orientation of Cartagena is La Popa Hill. This 150 meter hill overlooks both modern Cartagena and the Caribbean port and harbor that put the town on the map as a center for shipping gold and emeralds back to Spain and today brings cruise ships. At the top of the hill is a 17th century monastery called Santa Cruz, which is famous for its image of the Virgin of La Candelaria. Spend some time walking around the courtyard of the monastery and also getting the best panoramic views of the city.
At the bottom of the hill is another staple of Cartagena’s history, the Castillo of San Felipe de Barajas. Built between 1639 and 1657, this imposing stone fortress was designed to keep Caribbean pirates at bay and was built by African slave labor. The castle is one of the most impressive in the Americas and was listed, along with the Old Town, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. The castle once held 200 soldiers in it; while today you have to use your imagination as there is little signage, you can still watch a video at the visitor center and explore the vast castle and see its many cannons pointed out at the Caribbean.
Only a 15 minute walk from the Castillo de San Felipe are the Murallas, the historic walls of the Old Town. These coral stone walls were built between the 16th and 18th centuries to keep pirates out of the town. Locals and visitors alike enjoy sitting on the edge of them and watching the sunset while having a drink, but be careful, as they are over 20 feet in height from the steep drop to the ground below. The walls stretch 11 kilometers around the Old Town and are up to 17 meters thick at their base.
Upon entering the Old Town, hang out in one of the squares such as Plaza de la Trinidad or Plaza de la Aduana and enjoy the people watching and atmosphere. My favorite people to watch were the Afro-Caribbean women in their brightly colored dresses selling fruit. The main entrance to the Old Town is through the yellow-painted Clock Tower Gate, which dates back to the 18th century and separates the Plaza de Independencia and the Plaza de los Coches, as well as the Old Town and the Getsemani neighborhood. With spectacular street art, murals, a rich culture, and fantastic restaurants, make sure to spend an afternoon and evening at Getsemani, which was likely my favorite part of the city.
In the Old Town itself are many brightly colored (especially yellow) colonial buildings and cobblestone streets, and there are charming balconies and flowers everywhere. Throughout the Old Town, you will see its most famous landmark, the yellow cathedral with its red dome. The cathedral was built between 1577 and 1612, and what you see today is largely what it has looked like for the past nearly half millennium. The Old Town has great shopping, a gold museum, and emerald museum, which despite being a tourist trap, is neat to see a bit of the history of how Colombia became the world’s largest emerald producer. In Cartagena, the best thing to do is walk around, enjoy the bars and cafes and all the street art, many of which pays homage to the nation’s most famous artists and writers like Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Fernando Botero, with one of his famous full-figured nude women sculpted in the Old Town. A word of caution about the Old Town, there is not much drainage and while exploring we went from great weather to waist-high water from flash flooding!
If you are looking to get out and adventure from Cartagena, there are several good options. I already wrote about how you can take a boat to the Rosario Islands, my favorite place in Colombia, but also you can take an easy daytrip to the Volcan del Totumo. This active volcano is only 15 meters high and is a mud volcano that emerges straight out of the earth. With the help of an attendant, about 10 to 15 people at a time can go into the volcano and bathe in a relaxing, warm mud bath, the chemicals in which have healing properties that will detoxify and exfoliate your skin.
While other cities have more to do, if you want a charming colonial city where you can sit and enjoy a perfect Colombian coffee in the morning, and a fantastic cocktail while surrounded by the best street art you have seen anywhere in the evening, all while taking in a sunrise or sunset over the Caribbean, then head to Cartagena!
Like it? Pin it!
