City of Cartagena

It’s fairly obvious what has made Cartagena Colombia’s number one tourist destination. An air of romance and fantasy is palpable throughout the city’s enchanting colonial streets. This is a city whose beauty and history could well be taken straight from the pages of a novel - just ask Gabriel Garcia Marquez, whose Love in the Time of Cholera is a sly love-letter to this magical place. 

Cartagena’s population is approaching 1 million people, making it the fifth-largest city in Colombia. This, of course, doesn’t count the 6.5 million tourists that venture here annually to enjoy the near-constant sunshine, incredible nearby beaches and indescribable atmosphere that makes Cartagena what it is.

Cartagena wears its rich history proudly on its sleeve, and visitors can find out about the city’s swashbuckling past in one of the city’s many museums.  The Museum of Modern Art showcases an impressive collection of the best that contemporary Colombian artists have to offer, while the Gold Museum demonstrates the richness and glory of the region’s indigenous peoples. A little gorier, perhaps, but also glorious and oddly fascinating, is the seventeenth-century Inquisition Palace, where the instruments of the feared Court of the Holy Office are still on display. 

The city itself was built to ward off an endless pack of ravenous pirates and centuries in the making, the Old Town’s walls and other imposing fortifications are the most extensive and important in the New World, a fact UNESCO didn’t fail to point out when giving them World Heritage status. The lynchpin of the 11 kilometres of walls is the San Felipe Castle, a hilltop bastion oft-times tested, but never bested. This masterpiece of engineering is just outside the Old Town – make sure you inspect the part of the network of ingenious tunnels open to the public.

The best view of the city, however, is at the top of La Popa, where the beautiful old convent perches, Cartagena’s panorama sweeping beneath it. In the Old Town, the Wall is impressive in itself, encircling the beautiful colonial architecture within which you will find gorgeous accommodation, cafes and restaurants. Dungeons intended for military use at the Wall now offer quality souvenirs to much more welcome visitors.

Different tastes and styles abound also when it comes to the choice of bars and clubs around Cartagena: from the more refined and relaxed bars in the old city, to the more boisterous Arsenal street in Gethsemani, and the class of Bocagrande.

Cartagena is often referred to as the jewel in Colombia’s crown, but it’s no stretch to say that the whole of South America is neatly topped off by this fascinating, unforgettable city that, like Colombia itself, is full of life, surprise and alegría.