Cartagena is Colombia’s most sensuous city. And by “sensuous” I mean there’s a new sight, sound or taste around almost every corner. Brightly colored colonial buildings gleam in the tropical sun. Caribbean rhythms reverberate through the streets day and night. Street vendors sell plastic cups full of juices squeezed from fresh local fruits.

Despite the city’s sensory delights, it’s also possible to be a cynic and hate on Cartagena. The old town is thoroughly gentrified; the old Spanish mansions and customs houses are now upmarket Airbnbs and fancy clothing shops. Cartagena is that one city in Colombia your conservative aunt went to for a destination wedding. Some might argue it’s a bit of a Spanish colonial Disneyland.

Yet, despite all that, Cartagena remains a really fun place to visit.

What to Know Before Visiting Cartagena

Cartagena is probably Colombia’s most well-known tourist destination. In fact, when you picture traveling to Colombia, you probably have some version of Cartagena in your head, with its colorful streets and tropical palm trees.

The city was a major port during the Spanish Colonial era. Gold and silver and other valuables stolen from the interior of South America were shipped down the Magdalena River to Cartagena where they were packed up and sent back to Spain. Cartagena was also one of the New World’s most important slave markets. It’s still a major center of Afro-Colombian culture today.

While the city suffered a steep economic decline post-independence, Cartagena became a major tourist destination starting in the late 20^th century. For whatever reason, Cartagena managed to avoid the worst of the violence during Colombia’s decades long civil war. This relative peacefulness, combined with the gorgeous colonial center and tropical beaches, led to Cartagena becoming the tourist magnet it is today.

The Dark Side of Cartagena

Of course, there’s another side to Cartagena’s place as a premier travel destination. As you can probably guess, the money that flows in from the thousands of tourists who visit Cartagena every year doesn’t flow to everyone. The city suffers from massive income inequality. And for many, the city walls that surround Cartagena’s old town have come to symbolize the divide between the relatively wealthy tourists who visit and the impoverished locals.

Take, for example, those colorfully dressed women who are ubiquitous on Cartagena’s streets. They are known as “palenqueras” and make their living posing with visiting tourists. They’ve become a symbol of the city, but you might recognize them from the logo of the evil Chiquita Banana company.

These women are from the nearby town of Palenque, a settlement founded by freed slaves who fought off the Spanish empire for centuries. The women used to come into the city to sell fruit, but after the tourism boom, realized they could make money by charging for photos. However, they work long hours under the hot sun and the amount they make is barely enough to get by.

Other local women have turned to the world’s oldest profession to make a living. Sadly, the prostitution industry is thriving in Cartagena, due to sex tourism from Europe and North America. Many of the women involved are trafficked, that is, they’re basically sex slaves. It’s awful.

I’m not trying to be a buzzkill, but I think it’s important that we as travelers understand the socio-economic issues going on in the places we visit. Especially when those issues are so intertwined with the tourism industry. The BBC has a fascinating documentary on the dark side of Cartagena’s tourism industry although I believe it’s only available in Spanish.

Obviously, traveling ethically means not participating in any form of sex tourism. It also means being kind to the people asking for money or selling things in the street. They’re just trying to get by. If you don’t want to buy what they’re selling, a polite “No, gracias” at the very least.

Is Cartagena Safe?

Now, you might be reading all this stuff about poverty and prostitution and feel the fur on the back of your neck rise and your tail get bushy. You might be asking yourself, is Cartagena even safe? Rest assured, for the average tourist Cartagena is a completely and utterly safe place to travel.

That reassurance of safety comes with a couple caveats. First, if you are looking for sex or drugs, you’re inevitably going to find yourself mixing with some shady characters. Cartagena is a big city and you can find trouble if you go looking for it.

Second, we were warned by a local to avoid the neighborhoods outside of the city wall and on the other side of the canal. There are gangs, and they are fighting among each other, sometimes violently. While they aren’t targeting tourists, a gang war is not something you want to get caught in the middle of.

That being said, I found the historic center of Cartagena to be perfectly safe and secure. Even at night. This is despite the numerous other tourists who warned us about the city. They said the street vendors, including the palenqueras, were persistent to the point of being aggressive. They felt they had to be on their guard the whole time. But this wasn’t our experience at all.

In fact, a group of palenqueras tried to rescue me from a shady money changer. As I was walking down the street, a sketchy dude approached me asking if I wanted to exchange money. As I was about to tell him “No, gracias,” a group of these women in their bright, flowing dresses surrounded us and just about pushed the man away. They then lectured me, “Never change money in the street.” Thanks, ladies, but I wasn’t born yesterday.

Still, despite their sometimes condescending tone, I got the impression that those palenqueras as well as most of the locals in Cartagena felt protective of tourists. The people there want you to be safe and enjoy their city. My wife and I never once felt threatened or unsafe.

Where to Stay in Cartagena

Cartagena is a big city of nearly a million people. Most tourists, however, will likely concentrate themselves in a few districts. El Centro is, well, the center. This is where you’ll find the city’s most elegant old buildings filled with the most elegant Airbnbs in all their majesty. You probably can’t afford to stay here.

Next is San Diego, which kind of blurs into El Centro. The buildings are still very old, although they tend to be a little less imposing and magnificent. I believe this is modern day Cartagena’s hip, yuppie kind of place. There are some nice restaurants, though, if you want to treat yourself.

Stretching out on a long strip of land from the old city center lies modern Bocagrande. You can see the towering high-rises of this district from pretty much anywhere else in the city. It’s reminiscent of Miami or Panama City. I’m sure it’s nice, but we didn’t even set foot in Bocagrande. If you’ve seen one towering high-rise you’ve seen them all.  

Finally, my favorite part of Cartagena: Getsemaní. Getsemaní is just south of the old city wall, but still filled with fantastic old colonial buildings. This was where the working class eked out a living in colonial times. Today, the walls are covered in murals and at night bars set out chairs in the street and the neighborhood comes out to party. Amazingly, Getsemaní has avoided complete gentrification. It’s still mostly a local area, but this might change as it becomes more popular.

We stayed at Mi Llave Hostel which was adequate but not great. To be honest, there were party buses cruising the street just outside our window every night. And there was a nightclub right next door. If you choose to book Mi Llave Hostel, be sure to bring good earplugs.

Otherwise, feel free to do your own search. Cartagena has no shortage of places to stay. A little time on Booking and I’m sure you’ll find a fantastic hotel or hostel. If you choose to book using one of the links on this site, I’ll get a small commission at no extra cost to you.

On one of the most fun, but also most stressful, aspects of travel is finding and booking places to stay. These days you have options ranging from dirt cheap hostel dorms to luxurious White Lotus style resorts. Thankfully, the internet is here to make finding accommodation easier.

Hostelworld is the go to app for finding hostels. For everything else, there’s Booking.com. If you book through either of the previous links, I’ll gain a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Things to Do in Cartagena

There’s a lot to do in Cartagena, but the best thing is to pick a direction and walk until your feet ache and your ankles grow stiff. The city’s old colonial and republican architecture is really impressive and very gorgeous. There are some side streets where you can almost forget you’re in the modern world and lose yourself in memories of bygone days. Or you can just beef up your Instagram account.

The truly wonderful thing about Cartagena, though, is that it’s more than just old buildings. While El Centro might be all Airbnbs and fancy shops, the city still feels lived in. You’ll find something interesting to see or hear almost anywhere you turn.

The palenqueras twirl their brightly colored skirts. Dancers in traditional costumes perform in the squares. Maybe a group of local families fly kites from the top of the old city wall. Best of all, groups of teenagers wander the streets rapping at tourists for money. Like, literally walking up with a boombox and making up rhymes about the person.

Cartagena is so much more than its old buildings.

Take a Free Walking Tour

If during your wanderings you feel like you’d like a little more context and information about those old buildings, I’d really suggest taking a free walking tour. If you haven’t done one before, these tours aren’t actually free. You tip the guide at the end based on how much you liked their tour. Or, if you’re American, how guilty you feel about your personal economic position relative to theirs.

We went with Beyond Colombia and had a great time. Our guide was very friendly, but also knew a heck of a lot about the city. I appreciate that he didn’t gloss over the rougher parts of Cartagena’s history, like the slave trade or the inquisition. Afterall, ignoring it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. I’d definitely recommend Beyond Colombia’s free walking tour.

Party with the Locals in Getsemaní

Our guide was originally from Getsemaní, he even pointed out the house he grew up in on the tour. This old neighborhood was by far my favorite part of Cartagena. While the buildings aren’t quite as impressive as the ones in El Centro, it’s a much more dynamic, vibrant and happening place. And that’s just during the day.

At night, certain streets in Getsemaní fill up with chairs and streetside bars serve alcohol to whoever wants to stop by. Cumbia and hip-hop blast from unseen speakers and the bass makes ripples in your drink of choice if you leave it on the table. You rub elbows not only with other tourists, but also the local Colombians who come here to wind down after a hard day’s work. All the while, the local children scream and chase each other and dodge between the legs of the waitstaff.

At some point the action moves to Plaza de la Trinidad, an unassuming, centuries old, square in front of a yellow colonial church. The plaza is pretty in the day, but at night people crowd around to watch the street performers do their thing. We saw both break dancers and drag queens, but sadly, no breakdancing drag queens.

I’m usually not big on nights out on the town anymore, but the nights I spent out in Getsemaní were some of the most fun nights out I’ve ever had.

Explore the San Felipe Fort

You may be too hungover to do much after your evening partying in Getsemaní, but visiting the largest Spanish fort in the Americas is good motivation to get up and get going. Afterall, what cures a hangover better than sweating it out under the hot tropical sun?

The San Felipe Fort, also known as Castillo San Felipe de Barajas, is truly an impressive structure on the outside. The fort really is massive. Underneath, a maze of tunnels hides below the fort’s outer bricks, although only a few are accessible to visitors. The fort was completed in the mid 1600s and helped defend Cartagena from both pirates and the British during the swashbuckling days of yore.

The San Felipe Fort is located just outside of Cartagena’s old town. It’s probably easiest to take a taxi. Wear a hat and bring water, because there’s no shade.

Also, we had numerous locals recommend the boot statue to us. It’s just a statue of a boot that’s nearby the fort. Why is it special? I have no idea, but we saw a ton of people taking pictures of it. So, there’s that.

You can find more information about the fort at the official website.

Visit the Naval Museum

If Castillo San Felipe has piqued your interest about Cartagena’s many historic naval battles, you should definitely visit the Naval Museum. This small museum contains information about both the Spanish colonial navy, as well as a bit about the modern Colombian navy.

I’m not that into navies, to be honest. I am, however, willing to regress to a state of childlike wonder when talking about pirates. The coolest part of the naval museum is its reproductions of old Spanish ships from back during the golden age of piracy.

The naval museum is located in the old town. You can find more information on their official website.  

Visit the Museum of the Spanish Inquisition

Somewhat less fun and whimsical than pirates and glorious naval battles is the Spanish Inquisition. I’m sure you’ve heard of the Inquisition, or at least are familiar with the Monty Python sketch. Either way, the Museum of the Spanish Inquisition is definitely a must-see in Cartagena.

Cartagena used to be the headquarters of the Spanish Inquisition in the Americas. The museum details the rise of the Inquisition, and displays include examples of banned books and plenty of horrible torture devices. You can also see the window where people could anonymously accuse their neighbors of witchcraft or heresy.

I’d always known the Spanish Inquisition was fucked up, but I never really appreciated what a horrendous stain on humanity’s past it really was until visiting this museum. No, it’s not a happy museum, but still an important piece of history and very interesting. Don’t miss it.

There’s more information (en Español) on the official website: https://www.muhca.gov.co/visita

Other Things to Do in Cartagena that We Didn’t Do but Might Have Been Fun

Cartagena has a whole bunch more things to do than what I’ve listed above. Honestly, we just got so caught up wandering around that we really didn’t have that much time for much else.

A lot of people go to the beach in Cartagena. I’ve heard the beaches in Bocagrande are a bit brown and drab, but there are tours to nearby tropical islands that are supposed to be quite lovely.

The big thing I regret not doing in Cartagena, though, was taking a day trip to Palenque. As I mentioned before, Palenque is a town that was established by former African slaves during the colonial era. They fought off the Spanish, until eventually the Spanish decided to just leave them alone as long as they agreed to let them build a Catholic church in town.

Today, Palenque is home to a unique Afro-Colombian culture. They have their own language that’s a mix of Spanish and various African dialects, and keep a lot of religious and cultural traditions alive. It seems like a fascinating place. Unfortunately, I didn’t learn about how interesting it was until we were already miles from Cartagena in Medellin. Life is full of regrets. Maybe next time.

I usually like to travel and do activities independently, but sometimes you want to relax and let someone else take over. For those times, I suggest using Get Your Guide. Prices are reasonable and they have numerous tours available. Click here to explore options in Colombia. Tours booked through these links help support this blog at no extra cost to you.

Final Thoughts on Cartagena

I really wasn’t sure what to expect from Cartagena before we visited. I was worried it would just be a giant tourist trap with no soul. While it’s definitely touristy, the city still has a lot of soul. It’s a popular tourist destination for good reason.

I don’t want to downplay the negatives of Cartagena’s tourism boom. The wealth definitely has not been shared, and people are being pushed out of their homes because hotel and short-term rental developers are buying up the properties. Not to mention the creeps who come for sex tourism.

However, I try to remain optimistic. Despite the tourism development, it really does feel like a lot of the locals in Cartagena have managed to hold on to the things that make Cartagena unique. Let’s hope the government finds a way to ensure the money from tourism benefits everyone.

Cartagena is so much more than its colonial history, it’s bright buildings or even the thumping music and party buses. Yes, all those noisy, vibrant things were a lot of fun. But there were also the people. From our jovial walking tour guide to the palenqueras who chased off the sketchy money changer and everyone in between. These people are really what made Cartagena such a great place to visit and a highlight of our travels in Colombia.

Planning a trip to Colombia? Check out our country guide here: Covering Ground in Colombia: A Travel Guide to One of the World’s Most Magical Countries