3 Day Cartagena Itinerary – Colorful, Vibrant, Colonial

For many, a mention of Colombia will bring one of two things to mind: a country known for its coffee exports or the infamous drug wars. While you would be justified in thinking either of these, Colombia is hard at work and well on its way to kicking that perception. However, Cartagena is a city that doesn’t fall into either of these stereotypes. This city is full of colorful buildings, a vibrant culture, and tons of colonial charm. The Caribbean beachy climate also makes this a great stop on a Colombian trip. The following is a 3 day itinerary for exploring the best that Cartagena has to offer.

This is the second part of a three-part Colombia Itinerary. For the other portions of the Colombia Itinerary, visit the main itinerary page or the city-specific pages below:

1. Bogotá – The Colombian Capital City
2. Cartagena – Colorful, Vibrant, Colonial (this post)
3. Medellín – Coffee and Drug War History

Day 4

Barrio Getsemani

After arriving in Cartagena last night, travelers will immediately notice a completely different feel to this city than what was felt in Bogotá. Cartagena has a coastal, colonial, and colorful feel. It is much less metropolitan and urban than Bogotá. Two neighborhoods more than any others are popular for the coastal feeling. One of these is the barrio of Getsemani.

This neighborhood is located immediately outside the original walls of the city of Cartagena (although it is now encompassed by walls due to the city’s expansion). Getsemani originally housed those deemed “unfit” to live in the original walled city including the poor and slaves. Today, numerous highly-rated cafés, restaurants, and bars anchor the neighborhood. However, even more so the neighborhood has become synonymous with brightly painted buildings, artistic street coverings, and murals.

An early morning stroll of the Getsemani neighborhood is the best. During almost all times of the year, Cartagena gets hot. While no itinerary will completely avoid the heat, doing more of the neighborhood strolls in the morning will lead to a more enjoyable experience. There are definitely don’t miss streets in the area (Calle San Adres, Calle Tripita, Calle Media, Calle de la Sierpe, and Calle San Juan). However, I think the best way to explore the neighborhood is to start on one side and stroll through as many of the streets as you can. While the don’t miss streets have things like colorful umbrellas and pennants, all the streets have brightly painted buildings and street art.

Castillo San Felipe de Barajas

San Felipe de Barajas Castle (as it is known in English) is one of the many fortifications located in and around Cartagena. The Spanish constructed the castle as part of the original system of fortifications when Colombia was one of their colonies. Originally constructed in 1536, the castle sits atop a hill overlooking the city of Cartagena and the ocean. Despite there being a whole system of fortifications around Cartagena, this castle is the most popular to visit. This is primarily due to the castle’s size and position close to the city.

A visit to the castle begins at the base of the hill after purchasing an entrance ticket. Near the entrance, guides offer personal tours of the castle for an additional cost. While there isn’t a lot of information throughout, I didn’t feel the need to do a guided tour. If you are primarily going to see the castle or get great views of Cartagena, I would go without the guided tour. However, if you are very interested in Colombia’s history or the construction of the castle, the guided tour would probably be worth the extra cost. All visitors should negotiate the cost for a personal guided tour if you choose to take one.

After entering, visitors must climb the long ramps to get up to the castle. In addition, the pathways through the castle include many large staircases, narrow passageways, and low ceilings. Visitors definitely need to be mobile to experience the whole castle; however, the first level of the castle, including some battlements, is accessible to the less mobile.

While the castle is somewhat plain, the grand scale and colonial feel are what make it worth a visit. The castle also provides great views in all directions from the many spires, battlements, and walkways. Cartagena is at heart a colonial city. The Castillo San Felipe de Barajas is a great way to get a little of this feeling while looking out over the colonial and modern portions of the city.

As noted previously, Cartagena is very hot. Unfortunately, the castle offers little in the way of shade. I recommend bringing a hat and water to come prepared for this. There is a shop at the top of the castle that sells water bottles, but otherwise, there is no water provided throughout the castle.

Iglesia de San Pedro Claver

The Church of San Pedro Claver is a famous Catholic church in the old Centro area of Cartagena. The church is named after Saint Peter Claver. Saint Claver was a Spanish Jesuit priest who became well-known for his works with the slave community in Colombia. He baptized, held confession for, and ministered to the subjugated people. In somewhat of a rare sight, the church also serves as the final resting place for Saint Claver. Visitors can see his clear casket in the church at the base of the altar.

There are two distinct parts to any visit at Iglesia de San Pedro Claver. The first and most obvious thing to visit is the namesake church. The building was first constructed in 1580 by the Spanish colonial settlers to the area. While the church building is nothing ornate on the likes of European cathedrals, it still possesses history and beauty. The stone exterior structure is reminiscent of its colonial history and fits in well with the nearby city wall. Inside, the church is still stately with a high ceiling, grand columns, and a large altar centerpiece. The dome features ornate paintings when compared with much of the rest of the church.

The second part to visit is the museum of Saint Claver located next to the church. The cost of the ticket to enter the church also includes entrance to the museum. Portions of this museum recreate the living spaces of the priests in the colonial era. In these rooms, you are able to view how they lived and worked. The simple appointments of the rooms and the demonstrated lifestyle are hard to believe today. Finally, the museum provides a few different art exhibits. The first is owned by the cloister and includes its own historical works. The second is a rotating exhibit that often showcases more modern pieces from Colombia’s current art culture.

Museo del Caribe

The Museo del Caribe can be an interesting visit, but it needs some advanced preparation. So much of Cartagena’s history was formed in and around the Caribbean Sea. This history includes the colonial explorers, Caribbean pirates, and naval conflicts with other European powers. The Museo del Caribe has a lot of information about all the above including an extensive history of Colombia’s navy. One of the downsides of the museum is that many of the exhibits are dated. While there is a lot of information, the presentation could do with a facelift. However, perhaps the biggest drawback is that almost all of the museum is in Spanish.

For those visitors who don’t speak Spanish, an all-Spanish museum is obviously not ideal. Therefore, there are a couple of options that can make the museum experience better for English speakers. The best option is to hire an English-speaking guide to take you through the museum. A guide will be able to highlight the different exhibits and translate the all-Spanish museum. Additionally, guides are helpful to ask questions about everything you see. Most of the time, guides can be hired for about 50,000 COP or less. If you don’t want to hire a guide, apps like Google Translate can be useful for getting the gist of each of the displays. You will likely miss some of the details; however, if you’re not super interested in naval history this isn’t a bad option.

Finally, if naval history isn’t that important to you, this is probably a museum that can be skipped. At this point in the day, you will have walked for a while. Due to the Cartagena weather, you are also likely to be fairly hot. A great option is to spend some time relaxing at a café, bar, shop, or go back to your hotel to refresh.

Day 5

Rosario Islands

If you go to a Caribbean city, the beach is seldom far away. Cartagena isn’t any different in this regard. The city has many beaches within the city limits where you can enjoy the warm weather and the Caribbean sea. However, I don’t recommend going to any of the beaches close to the city. First, the beaches near Cartagena tend to be smaller and rockier than other Caribbean beaches. Also, you won’t find white lush sand here. Second, due to the accessibility, beachgoers near Cartagena tend to have peddlers constantly coming up to them attempting to sell items. While I understand that some people make a living this way, it doesn’t create a relaxing environment for people trying to enjoy the beach. Finally, the close proximity to the city and city noises doesn’t provide the ideal Caribbean escape.

For all of the above reasons, I recommend that visitors enjoy a day trip to one of the Rosario Islands. This set of islands, located an approximate 30 – 40 minute boat ride from Cartagena, are vastly different from Cartagena beaches. Many of the islands offer private beaches or at the very least less accessible beaches. This helps create a more remote and relaxing environment. It also has the added benefit of limiting merchants and peddlers. The islands also tend to have white sand beaches. While the beaches of the US Gulf Coast and many Caribbean islands are larger, the Rosario Islands have sufficient beach to enjoy a relaxing day.

The obvious question should be how do visitors get to the Rosario Islands. The most popular option and the option that I recommend is to book a day trip with one of the resorts on an island or with a tour company. These tour companies and resorts generally pick up visitors in a speedboat from the Muelle de la Bodeguita marina. The majority of the speedboats seat around 30 people and depart for the islands around 9:00 AM.

All of the resorts generally offer a spot on a beach, beach loungers, a pool, and a bar. A restaurant on the island or resort generally offers a lunch option to guests as well. Many resorts and tour groups offer additional activities like snorkeling, scuba diving, or visiting the Rosario Aquarium. Given that your time is limited on the beach, I generally advise against these extra activities as they are short-lived. If you want to do one of them, book a half or full-day trip from Cartagena to do them. That way you get your money’s worth on both the activity and the beach.

The vast majority of the day trips to the Rosario Islands start to wrap up between 2:30 – 3:00 PM. If you read many reviews on the day trips to the Rosario Islands, it will be impossible to avoid reviews commenting on the roughness of the boat trip back to Cartagena. Almost year-round, the Caribbean Sea gets choppier in the afternoon. Be prepared to cover your electronics and valuables with waterproof bags. If you are especially sensitive to rough motions, it may be good to take precautions. However, I don’t believe any of these are reasons to avoid the day trip.

Sunset from the City Wall

While a day trip to the Rosario Islands will take the majority of the day, visitors will still return in the mid-afternoon. A great option for the later afternoon is to walk the walls of the old city. Old colonial walls surround the Centro area of Cartagena. There are various ramps and stairwells around the city where anyone can get to the top of the walls. Once on top of the walls, visitors can almost walk completely around the old portion of Cartagena (there is a small portion where the walls have been removed). While any part of the wall is nice to walk, near sunset the north and west-facing walls are particularly popular. These walls face out over the Caribbean Sea where a magnificent sunset can be seen.

A particularly popular, though expensive, spot is the Café del Mar. This restaurant and drinks spot is a large group of tables set up on one of the points in the city walls. While the views from this point are really good, the drinks are fairly expensive. Most of the time, this café will be packed starting several hours before sunset. Service can be pretty slow due to the number of people. My recommendation is just to walk along the wall to see the sunset. If you want to have drinks, go to a bar afterward to get the best of both worlds.

Salsa Dancing

Local experiences are some of the best ways to enjoy new places. Therefore, I encourage all visitors to try something like salsa dancing. Colombia is well known for salsa dancing (so where better to try your hand at this dance style). There are several places to experience this so look around at what might be of most interest to you. These range from a semi-professional teaching environment to semi-private beginner classes on a rooftop to just watching and learning at bars.

If you are new to salsa dancing and aren’t close to fluent in Spanish, I recommend an Airbnb experience designed for English and Spanish speakers. This class is taught in a great rooftop environment and caters to people very new to salsa dancing. The experience includes a glass of wine and teaches the basic steps and turns in salsa. This class is only taught on some nights, so make sure it works with your schedule. If it doesn’t fit, there are other options like the Salsa class at Caffé Lunático on Thursday nights.

Day 6

Colombian Cooking Workshop

I often state that so much of an international culture can be experienced through local food. While visitors will undoubtedly get to experience the local food during meals, it takes it to another level to go to a cooking class. If you have never done a cooking class before, they are a great experience. They teach cooking skills, they expose participants to new foods and ingredients, and they are generally a shared activity with a group. Most cooking classes provide a helper who is cleaning dishes and getting everything set up for the participants. That way everyone gets to experience the fun side of cooking without any of the downsides.

During my research, I was drawn to a cooking experience at a demonstration kitchen next to Caffé Lunático in Getsemani The demonstration kitchens were well-constructed and had plenty of room to experience a cooking class. They were also in a great location with sweeping views overlooking the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas.

The cooking experience rotates through a couple of different menus based on the day of the week. These menus include items like seabass ceviche, topside beef, coconut rice, patacones, and shrimp and snail cocktail. Each of these menus features traditional Colombian dishes that immerse the participant in the local cuisine. Throughout the class, the chef provides cooking tips and information about the ingredients being used. Everyone gets to take a turn cooking and enjoying their own creations.

Last Hours in Cartagena/Relax

The conclusion of the cooking class marks the end of scheduled activities in Cartagena. A flight to the final city on the itinerary, Medellín, will occur later tonight. The last few hours in the city make a great opportunity to see sections of the city that you didn’t have enough time for previously. Alternately, you can spend the extra time shopping or relaxing by a pool. Personally, I would recommend taking some time for relaxation. Oftentimes, culturally immersive vacations lack relaxation. It’s important to get some time for this between seeing, doing, and experiencing everything in a new country.

Travel to Medellín

The conclusion of day three in Cartagena brings closure to the time on the Caribbean coast. This evening’s flight will take travelers to the final destination on this itinerary, Medellín. A few notes and tips for traveling out of Cartagena:

• Cartagena’s airport is quite small – There is one big room from which all the planes board. Therefore, make sure you keep track of where your flight is leaving from.
• All planes load using stairs – Multiple planes load at the same time, and the lines sometimes mix. Look at the signs closely to make sure you get on the right flight.
• Rush hour traffic can be bad – Rush hour traffic to the airport can be bad. Give yourself plenty of time to arrive when leaving around this time.