Cartagena Colombia is a city with a sordid and colourful history. From the pre-Colombian settlement to the Spanish conquistadors who capitalised on the gold, silver and slave trade thus attracting pirates. While the forts and tall city walls built to protect the city remain, architecturally, it is the Spanish colonial houses with flower-covered balconies that captured my attention as images of 
We had a wish list of top sites and hired a private driver at the port, as our visit to Colombia was a stop on our way to cruise through the Panama Canal. Our driver’s name is Pedro, and his command of English was good, but not great. His slow, deliberate manner, mixed with my basic understanding of Spanish made him a good choice.
Pedro made a point that Cartagena is safe and the drug cartels are located in the capital – Bogata as well as in Calle and Medellin. Then he turned a corner, pointing out the window, he identified Pablo Escobar’s old house, giggling as he added he now lives in a much smaller space – in the cemetery.
Here are the highlights of our day in Cartagena Colombia:
Pablo Escobar’s former house in Cartagena Colombia
Standing on Pasta Rillo fort wall overlooking the sea.
More of the wall, and the escape route used at the end of Romancing the Stone.
Castillo de San Felipe De Barajas is the largest Spanish fort built in the New World.
Overlooking Cartagena
The old boots (Botas Viejas) statue
La Popa is an active monastery 150 metres above sea level built in the early seventeenth century.
Once a prison, Las Bovedas is now a tourist shopping area featuring 24 shops.
Woman carrying a fruit basket on her head.
Atlanta Square, home of the Cartagena mayor’s office. We are not sure why these protesting men have chained themselves to the columns.
Statue of Christopher Columbus in Atlanta Square in Cartagena.
A local street
St. Peter Claver church in the old city of Cartagena.
Interesting street art.
I don’t know what type of bird this is. Do you?
One of many beaches
Of course, we stopped for some Colombian coffee in Plaza Santo Domingo. Here we also found the bronze “La Gordita” (the Fat Lady) statue. Her “shiny bits” are those that are most often touched by often by those passing by. The statue was a gift to the city in 2000.
“La Gordita” (the Fat Lady) statue in Plaza Santo Domingo
Practical information on seeing the highlights of Cartagena:
- Cartagena is similar in population size to Auckland, with a population of 1.2 million.
- American dollars are in demand and accepted just about everywhere.
- Colombian coffee is wonderful.
- Tipping in restaurants and coffee shops is customary and done from the heart.
- Tickets to the Castillo de San Felipe De Barajas (the Fort) are $10 each. If you ask, they will give two tickets for the price of one.
- Allow a bit of time to enjoy the free animal enclosures located on the port grounds. You walk right past it when you arrive via cruise ship.
- The cost of a taxi from the port to the old city is $20. We hired a driver for the day from inside the dock. The prices appear regulated, and our driver had us pay his “boss” when we returned. Importantly, we pre-select what we wanted to see using the
- If you prefer a pre-arranged tour, Viator offers shore excursion tours. They even offer a worry-free shore excursion guarantee in Cartagena.
- If you are thinking about cruising, check out the deals from Princess Cruises.
Have you been to Cartagena? Is this how you imagined the city?
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Hi Rhonda – I love your photos of Cartagena. It seems like you had a wonderful time. I´ve lived here for 2 years now and just wanted to clarify some things!
A taxi from the airport to the centre costs $12.000 COP – around $4 USD.
Maybe in some places – like jewellery shops that sell emeralds – they accept USD, but Colombian Pesos are the main form of currency. If you pay for something with USD you are most likely to be paying double or triple what it really costs.
And Pablo Escobar is, for the majority of Colombians, a national shame and nothing to
Hi Beth. Thanks for the insight. Sometimes our guides don’t always give us the best information. As for US dollars, we don’t have any, as we live in New Zealand. Clearly, our currency isn’t accepted anywhere around the world (except the Cook Islands). So, we can only go by what we were told on the ship, and by our guide.
Great post! We will be there in April. Do you recall how much was the driver for the day? Thanks!!
I think we paid about $75 USD for the day. We arrived via cruise ship and picked up our driver at the port. We paid less than the published price they had on the sign and probably could have gotten a better deal outside the port, but we really liked the driver and his English was excellent – important to us as hubby doesn’t speak any Spanish.
Sounds like you had a great time Rhonda! I’m really looking forward to traveling to Colombia at some point, and Cartagena would definitely be on the list. I’ve heard Medellin is quite lovely too, and that the whole country is now very safe though just suffering from the bad reputation of it’s past 🙂
I can’t wait to go back next year and really explore South America.
Beautiful city! My boyfriend and I have been talking about going to Colombia. I’ll have to show him your photos!
I can’t wait to go back. One day was not enough.