5 Days In Cartagena, Up On The Ramparts Before The Heat

I went to Cartagena for the food and stayed for the noise. That is the truth of it. Five days, almost all of them on foot inside the walls, with two escapes out to the water because you cannot sit in that heat for a week without swimming.

What follows is the exact order I did it in. Old town first, then the fort and Getsemani, then islands, then the gritty side with Bazurto market, then a slower last day with a bookshop and a long dinner. I booked the big restaurants ahead. I did not book the boats ahead and that cost me a morning of negotiating on a dock.

Fair warning. Cartagena is loud, hot, and full of people selling things. I liked it anyway.

Day 1, The Walled City and Its Plazas

Day one is the old town and nothing else. You walk through the clock tower gate and you basically do not leave until you fall into bed. Plazas, ceviche, a stretch of wall at sunset, then dinner with live music and a cocktail bar that people fly in for.

Wear something you can sweat in. The cobbles are uneven and the heat does not break until after dark.

Monumento Torre del Reloj

Morning one, and I walked in through the clock tower gate with coffee still in my hand. It is the main door to the walled city, the spot where the drawbridge used to be, and everyone arrives here whether they plan to or not. Which means vendors. Plenty of them, and some are pushy. A firm no gracias works.

Behind the gate there is a craft market, and above you there is the wall itself with cannons still pointed out to sea. Go up. People told me to come back at sunset and they were right, the light on the stone is a different thing entirely. Half an hour is enough in the morning.

One practical note from a former travel agent brain. If a cruise ship is in port, this whole area swells. Check and come early if you can.

From the gate, walk straight up into the centre. Plaza de Santo Domingo is about eight minutes on the cobbles.

Plaza de Santo Domingo

By mid-morning the plaza is already working. Musicians setting up, a woman selling hairbands who seems to be an institution, horse carriages waiting on the corner of Calle 35. Botero’s bronze Gertrudis sits there taking a thousand hands a day because touching her is supposed to bring luck in love.

I sat with a gelato and watched for twenty minutes. There is a good coffee roaster on the square too if you want to swap the ice cream for a tinto.

Honest take. It is the most touristed square in the old city and prices on the terraces reflect that. Sit anyway, but order one thing, not four. Forty minutes and you have had the whole experience.

Lunch is close. La Cevicheria is a six or seven minute walk over toward the Santa Clara hotel.

La Cevicheria

Lunchtime, and there was a queue. Of course there was. Everyone in Cartagena tells you to come here and they are not wrong, but go at peak and you are waiting half an hour on Calle Stuart in full sun.

I had the ceviche colombiano with shrimp. A mountain of it, ringed with mango and plantain in a sweet berry sauce, which sounds like too much and absolutely is not. The house hot sauce is hot in a way that made me sit up. You can only get it there, so use it.

Sit inside. I know the street tables look better in photos, but the performers across the way are loud and the table-to-table selling is constant. Indoors is cosy and the kitchen is right there.

Skip the shrimp hot dog. Regulars say the same.

From here it is a short walk, maybe ten minutes, out to the wall at El Baluarte for the late afternoon.

El Baluarte

Late afternoon on the ramparts with a breeze coming off the sea, which after a day in the old town feels like a reward. El Baluarte sits right up on the wall on Carrera 2 and the whole point is the sunset. I ordered a Paloma. Soft, a little weak, but the music was good and the view did the heavy lifting.

Food wise, manage it. The empanaditas are genuinely good. Reviewers are blunt about the rest and one memorably complained about mayonnaise turning up in the ceviche. Come for a drink and the sky. That is the honest version.

Service is slow. Order your second round when the first arrives or you will be waiting. An hour here, timed so you are seated before the light goes.

Dinner is almost next door. Four minutes along the wall to La Vitrola.

La Vitrola Restaurante

Dinner, and there is a dress code, so no shorts. One man told the story of buying Colombian jeans at a mall just to get in and I believe him completely. I had packed one proper dress for exactly this.

Inside it looks like it has not changed since the fifties and that is the charm. A live band in the corner, ceiling fans going, white jackets on the waiters. I had the tuna tartar and the ropa vieja habanera, and I asked for coconut rice as the side because two separate regulars insisted. Correct call. The coconut pie at the end is the thing people write home about.

It is expensive and it is not flawless. The food gets mixed reports. But the room is worth the money on its own.

Nightcap next. Alquimico is a five minute walk over to Calle del Colegio.

Alquimico

After dark, and the queue outside told me what I needed to know. No reservations here, first come first served, so arrive earlier than you think. Three floors. Ground floor is all Colombian ingredients, some grown on their own farm in the coffee region. Second floor does world classics with a twist. Rooftop for the view.

They pour half cocktails, which is a genuinely brilliant idea. I had a half Guayaba Agria and then a full one because it was the best thing I drank all week. The food is entirely vegetarian and reviews on it swing wildly. The fried costeño cheese with plantain was good. Skip the rest.

Before closing they hand out small cups of soup. The security team walk you through the safest way out and will tell you to take an Uber. I did.

And that was day one. I walked back to San Diego in a damp dress, very happy.

Day 2, Forts, Views and Getsemani

Two climbs in the morning while it is still bearable, then the whole afternoon and evening across in Getsemani. The neighbourhood is the real point of this day. Murals, umbrella alleys, a plaza that fills up at night and does not empty.

Dinner is the splurge. Book it weeks out.

San Felipe de Barajas Fort

I was at the gate before eight, which is the single best piece of advice I can give you about this place. The air is still cool, the ramps are empty, and by ten it is an oven with no shade and no water for sale inside. Bring your own bottle and a hat.

It is the biggest fortress the Spanish built in the Americas, up on San Lazaro hill, and the tunnels are the fun part. Steep stairs, cool air, almost no signage. There is nothing in English, so either hire a guide at the entrance or read up first. I did it self guided and felt the gap.

From the top you get the whole thing. Walled city on one side, high rises on the other, Caribbean in front. An hour covers every route. Two if you linger.

Next, a taxi up to La Popa. Ten minutes of switchbacks.

Convent of Santa Cruz de la Popa

The road up is a series of switchbacks and you should not walk it. I took an Uber, no queue at the top, straight in.

Highest point in the city, and the view is the best one going. Bay, islands, the whole grid of Cartagena laid out. Inside there is a courtyard, a small museum, and a woman running a liquor shop who was delighted to chat. Signage is Spanish only but easy enough to translate on your phone.

One warning worth repeating. There is a man near the top who speaks English and offers motorbike rides back down. Several travellers have had unpleasant money disputes with him and his friends. Book your own ride down.

Forty five minutes felt right. Then a taxi down to Getsemani for lunch, fifteen minutes.

La Cocina de Pepina

Lunch on Calle Larga in Getsemani, and this was the meal I thought about on the plane home. Small place, unassuming from the street, tables close together at the back. Getting a table at lunchtime is a genuine fight.

The Sopa Caribe is why you come. Fish and shrimp in a coconut broth, and one reviewer called it the best seafood stew of their lifetime, which is a big claim that I will happily co-sign. I also had the posta cartagenera, the slow cooked beef, so tender it fell apart under the fork. Drink the corozo juice, tart palm fruit, cold and sharp.

Portions are modest for the price and there were no locals in the room when I was there. Worth knowing. Worth going anyway.

Plan an hour. Then it is a four minute walk to Callejon Angosto.

Callejón Angosto

Umbrellas strung overhead, wing murals on the walls, graffiti blooming over every surface. The residents of the alley maintain it themselves, which you can feel in how cared for it is.

Actually, let me be straight. It is smaller and more crowded than the photos suggest, and the vendors here work hard. I went through in the late afternoon and still got approached three times in a hundred metres. Walk it, take your photos, keep moving. Twenty minutes is plenty.

If you want a drink nearby, sit inside rather than on the patio. Cocktails in this corner of Getsemani are cheap and surprisingly well made.

Two minutes on foot to Plaza de la Trinidad. You will hear it before you see it.

Plaza de la Trinidad

This is where Getsemani does its thing. I turned up as the light went and the square was already filling. Food stalls, dancers, speakers, people spilling off the church steps with beers from the corner shop. Side alleys with plastic tables and chairs put out for the evening.

I ate arepas standing up and talked to two Colombians who handed me a wristband for no reason at all. The sellers here are relaxed in a way they are not in the old town. That alone makes it a better hang.

It does not wind down. Come back at one in the morning and there will still be a crowd. Give it an hour before dinner and come back after if you have the legs.

Watch the stray dogs, a couple were nippy.

Dinner is three minutes away on Calle del Espiritu Santo.

Celele

Dinner, booked six weeks ahead, and the only reservation on this trip I would call non negotiable. Chef Jaime Rodriguez built the menu out of years of research into Caribbean Colombian ingredients and it shows in dishes you have simply not eaten before.

I did the tasting menu. Ten courses, two hours, paced so well it felt shorter. The Caribbean flower salad came with flowers grown in the neighbourhood, fermented cashews and tahini. The hen confit was simple and intense. The crab arepa is creamy and good enough to order on its own.

Not everyone loves it. A fair criticism I read more than once is that the flowers look better than they taste, and the price is high for Colombia. Both true. I still thought it was the most interesting food in the city.

Book it. Three hours if you want to do it properly. I walked back through Getsemani with the plaza still going.

Day 3, Out to the Rosario Islands

A boat day. You leave early from the city docks, bounce out to the Rosario Islands, and come back salty and sunburnt. Expect port fees on top of the boat price and a ride that is not gentle.

Manage expectations and you will have a great time. Arrive expecting a brochure and you will not.

Isla Larga

Boat out early, around eight, from the city docks. Port fees are separate from the boat fare, so budget both. The ride is not smooth and the way back was worse, bumping hard enough that I held the rail the whole way. If your back is delicate, sit at the stern.

Here is the honest version of Isla Larga. The famous white sand is one short strip and it gets packed by mid-morning. There is construction, there is rubbish in places. But walk inland past the resort beach, there are no roads and no signs, and you find small coves with nobody in them. Nativa beach was mine for an hour.

There is an enchanted lagoon that people genuinely rave about, and snorkelling around a sunken plane once owned by Escobar.

Three hours here. Then the boat hops over to the Oceanarium, twenty minutes.

Oceanarium Rosario Islands

Late morning, and you arrive at an aquarium sitting in the middle of the ocean on Isla San Martin de Pajarales. Access is only by boat, which is part of the oddness of it.

It is small. Turtles, sharks, manatees, dolphins, rescued pelicans and herons standing around at arm’s length. Presentations are in Spanish only, so if you do not speak it you will be guessing. You can swim with the dolphins for an extra fee, five minutes in the water, and reviewers say the dolphins come right up.

I will be honest, the enclosures bothered me. Several visitors have said the same and I understand why. Decide for yourself before you buy a ticket.

Forty five minutes is plenty. If you do want the dolphins, go straight there first or you run out of time.

Boat on to Baru, roughly thirty minutes.

Baru Playa Blanca

Afternoon on the Baru peninsula, and the water here is the real thing. Properly white sand, properly clear, nothing like the brown water back at the city beaches.

The catch is everything that is not the water. Someone approaches every few minutes with jet skis, massages, braids, sunglasses, lobster. A clear no gracias mostly works. The jet skis run close to swimmers and leave the smell of petrol in the water, which is as annoying as it sounds.

Go midweek. I was there on a Wednesday and it was nowhere near full. Walk away from the loungers and restaurants, down the beach, and it thins out fast. Do not accept drinks without agreeing a price first. People have been handed eye watering bills for two coffees.

Give it a few hours. Boats back to Cartagena mostly leave around three, and after that the wind picks up. I was back in the old town by five, sunburnt in one specific stripe, asleep by ten.

Day 4, Bazurto, Bocagrande and Back to Church

The day I liked most, honestly. Morning at the real market, where nothing is curated for anyone. Then over to the Bocagrande peninsula for beaches and the best Arabic food I ate in Colombia.

It ends quietly, back in the old town, inside a church with a very heavy history.

Bazurto Market

Morning one of day four, and I went to Bazurto around eleven because the food stalls are properly going by then. Go late afternoon and the food is gone and the smell is at its worst.

It is dirty, loud, chaotic and I loved it. Haircuts happening next to card games next to a man selling cassava next to a dance class. Fresh fish, mountains of fruit, electronics, shoes, everything. I ate at Restaurante Dona Ceci and it was one of the best plates of the week for a fraction of old town prices.

Real talk for women travelling alone. I got looked at and called at. I went with a guide and was glad of it. Take small cash, leave the documents and the jewellery at the hotel, keep your phone in a pocket.

An hour and a half, tops. Then a taxi over to Bocagrande, about fifteen minutes.

Playa De Bocagrande

By lunchtime I was standing on Bocagrande beach wondering why I had bothered. Here is my opinion and I will not dress it up. It is the weakest thing on this itinerary. The water is warm and the waves are fun, but the sand blows, there is construction, and the selling is relentless in a way the island beaches are not.

If you do go, do not buy a seat on the beach and do not run a tab. Agree the price upfront, in pesos, in writing if you have to, because the dollar conversion games here are well documented. Bring your own towel and your own water from a shop on Carrera 1.

The sunset genuinely is lovely. That is the redeeming feature.

Thirty minutes was enough for me. Lunch is a short walk inland, about eight minutes, to Carrera 3.

Restaurante Árabe Internacional

The best meal I did not expect in Cartagena. Arabic food, in Bocagrande, on Carrera 3, and it is excellent. There is a real Middle Eastern community on this coast and you taste the history in it.

I had the small mixed tray, which gives you a bit of everything and is the right order for one person. Then the pistachio ice cream, which people come back for specifically. One woman in the reviews refused to leave Cartagena without it and I understand her completely.

It is pricier than the local places around it and the music is modern rather than Arabic, which one purist found unforgivable. I did not mind. Inside is spacious, clean and properly cool, which after a morning at Bazurto was its own luxury.

An hour. Then a ten minute walk around the peninsula to Playa Castillo Grande.

Playa Castillo Grande

Mid afternoon, and this is the Bocagrande beach I should have gone to in the first place. Round on Carrera 7 by the Club Cartagena, much quieter, calmer water, fewer people selling.

No turquoise. The water is not postcard material and there is some trash if you look. But it is smooth sand, there are lifeguards, and a man walks past with ice cream every so often rather than every thirty seconds. I was there on a weekday afternoon and it was almost peaceful.

Umbrellas and chairs run around ten dollars according to the regulars, though one visitor paid fifty thousand pesos for the cheapest set and was unimpressed. Ask the price first. Always, in this city, ask the price first.

An hour and a swim. Then a taxi back into the walled city, fifteen minutes.

Santuario de San Pedro Claver

Late afternoon, and I came in off the plaza expecting a quick look. Stayed an hour.

The exterior is plain and worn. Inside, white walls and the artwork and icons standing out hard against them. The Jesuits built it between 1580 and 1654, and it was renamed for Pedro Claver, the priest who spent his life caring for enslaved Africans arriving in Cartagena and who is buried in a glass coffin under the main altar. The attached museum covers the slave trade and his work, and it is heavy going in the right way.

There is a courtyard full of tropical plants that is the quietest place I found inside the walls. Bring cash for the museum fee. The guided tour costs extra, which I thought was a shame.

Dress modestly, allow forty five minutes to an hour. I walked out into the plaza at dusk, bought a beer from a cart, and called it a day.

Day 5, Slow Morning, Gold, Books and One Last Dinner

Last day. No fortresses, no boats. A long Cartagenera lunch with live music, a tiny free gold museum with air conditioning, a bookshop that saved my afternoon, and souvenir shopping in old dungeon arches.

Then the best meal of the trip to finish.

Restaurante Candé

Day five started slow and late, with a long lunch at Cande on Calle de la Serrezuela in San Diego. One hundred percent Cartagenera cooking, two floors, and live musicians who move through the rooms in traditional dress. It is a show and it knows it is a show.

I had the seafood ceviche served in a coconut shell, then the seafood rice loaded with lobster, shrimp, calamari and mussels. The papa rellena is apparently one of the best in the country and I believe the man who said it. Everything arrives fast and the operation is slick.

Drinks are the weak spot. Beautifully presented, inconsistently made. Order a corozo juice instead and you lose nothing.

Ninety minutes with the music. Then a six minute walk down to Plaza de Bolivar for the gold museum.

Museo del Oro Zenú

Free entry, air conditioning, and about nine hundred artifacts. Those three facts together make this the best value thirty minutes in the walled city.

It is small and it is serious. Zenu goldwork and ceramics, bilingual signage that actually explains things, good lighting, and short films scattered through. One explains how the Zenu may have communicated with birds using flutes, which they call The Blowing of the Universe. I watched it twice.

There is a free English tour at eleven each morning if you want more. I turned up on my own and still got chatting to a guide who told me things no panel could.

Thirty minutes. An emerald museum sits a block away if you have energy.

Abaco is a three minute walk, over on Calle 36.

Ábaco Libros y Café

Arched ceilings, shelves to the roof, and a tiny coffee bar at the back with a siphon setup. Abaco is a proper independent bookshop in a part of town full of souvenir stands, which makes it feel like a small act of defiance.

There is a whole section for Garcia Marquez. I bought El amor en los tiempos del colera in Spanish, which was optimistic of me, and drank a macchiato with a chocolate croissant while the fans turned overhead. The music is low, the staff know their stock, and there are field guides and books on the city’s fortifications alongside the bestsellers.

Seating is limited. The small front patio is the best spot if it is free. Honestly an hour goes fast here.

Las Bovedas is a seven minute walk north through San Diego.

Las Bóvedas

Late afternoon, souvenir duty. Twenty three arched vaults built into the city wall in the late 1700s, originally for storing military supplies, later used as cells. Standing inside one while buying a linen shirt is a strange feeling and you should let it be strange.

The shops inside have better quality than the vendors outside, particularly the shirts. Look for the stall marked Diaspora, handmade work by local artists with cards explaining each piece. That is where I spent my money.

There is a path up the side that puts you on top of the structure. Great breeze, great view over to the sea, absolutely blazing in direct sun. Go up anyway.

Forty five minutes. Dinner is a five minute walk back down Calle del Santisimo.

Restaurante Carmen Cartagena

Last dinner, and I saved the best for it. Carmen sits on Calle del Santisimo in San Diego, in a courtyard that is tropical and elegant without being smug about it.

I did the seven course tasting with the wine pairing. Shrimp with pickled watermelon. Agnolotti with coffee, which should not work and completely does. Sea bass that was the single best thing I ate in Colombia. The ceviche comes with leche de tigre frozen into something like ice cream. Portions on the tasting are generous enough that I left genuinely full, which almost never happens.

Ask for Beethoven if he is working. He talks you through every plate and switches languages mid sentence without blinking.

Two warnings. It is expensive for Cartagena, and the air conditioning is temperamental, so the courtyard gets warm when the room fills. Neither stopped me.

I walked back along the wall afterwards, humid air, lights on the water. A good way to end five days.

Five days felt right. Three would have been rushed and seven would have had me sitting in air conditioning by the end. If you only take one thing from this, book Celele and Carmen before you fly and leave the beach decisions until you have seen the water for yourself.

If you have been and I missed something, tell me. I still owe myself a proper night at Alquimico where I make it to the rooftop before closing.