OCTOBER 2019/UPDATED 2022
I was super excited to go to Cartagena (Colombia) as it is described as a cleaned up version of Havana, that does have Havana’s old charm. Cartagena is a quick 2,5 hour flight from Miami, but because the immigration line was very long it still took us quite some time to get into town. Cartagena’s airport is located very closely to the old town, which is where we would be staying. Hielke gifted me a charming boutique hotel in the heart of the old town for my birthday, to make sure we would have the best experience in Cartagena, which had been on my bucket list for a long time! We combined our stay in Cartagena with two nights on the Rosario Islands, which are about an hour away by boat. This combination was the perfect introduction into our travels in Colombia! We are curious if our next destinations will live up to our experience in Cartagena & the Rosario Islands.
Our hotel
Cartagena consists of several neighborhoods, of which the old town & Getsemani are the most interesting to tourists. Hielke booked us a hotel in the old town, which I was very happy about! When you stay in the old town all the sights are within walking distance and even the little harbor and airport of Cartagena are nearby. When staying in Cartagena I would absolutely recommend staying in a boutique hotel. These are smaller hotels, which feel very intimate and the staff is always there to help you. Our hotel only had 6 rooms and had an a la carte breakfast menu. It also featured a little pool in a patio style and a rooftop jacuzzi, where we could take a refreshing dip after a hot day in the city.
Old town Cartagena
The old town of Cartagena is very touristy, you will find people trying to sell you things on every street corner (hats and drinks being the most popular items). What is very interesting is that Cartagena is not crowded in October at all. Peak season in Cartagena is from December- April and apparently it gets busy in the city in those months, but I loved that we didn’t need to make any dinner reservations and that it felt like we had the city to ourselves when visiting around 10AM. Visiting in October does mean that it is very hot in Cartagena.. I had to wear my hair up most days and that says something… October is also rainy season, but we didn’t have any troubles with the rain, it sometimes rained for 30 minutes but the sun immediately started shining afterwards.
Cartagena feels like a true paradise, it has latin charmes, colorful houses, amazing salsa music blasted everywhere, it is relatively safe, you can drink water from the tap, it has bougainvillea growing everywhere and an amazing food scene! Some typical Colombian dishes are ceviche with shrimps and other seafood and we loved the coconut rice that we received with many meals. As Cartagena is quite touristy you can have food almost everywhere without getting sick 🙂 And they even had choice in lactose free ice cream.
As Cartagena has direct access to the Caribbean Sea, there are many good spots to watch the sunset. The old town is located within historic city walls. It is a lot of fun to take a walk on these city walls during sunset. You can have drinks at Cafe Del Mar which is located upon the city walls or buy some drinks from the local street vendors. Our favorite place to watch the sunset is from the rooftop bar at Hotel Movich. This hotel was conveniently located one block down from our hotel and it boasts amazing views of the old town of Cartagena, with the Caribbean Sea in the background. The hotel also has an amazing rooftop pool, but you can only use it if you stay in the very, expensive hotel. Regarding expenses, we found Cartagena surprisingly affordable, even though we heard that it is the most expensive destination in Colombia. In normal restaurants beers cost 1-2 euro, ceviche 6 euro and a main dish 8 euros. We like to switch it up every now and then and had a more fancy dinner as well as an empanada lunch with empanadas costing 1 euro each.
Getsemani
Another cool area in Cartagena is Getsemani. Getsemani is located closely to the old town, you just have to pass the square with the clock tower. Getsemani is also touristy and safe but feels a little more rough around the edges. In Getsemani you will see a lot of street art and the area is less perfectly curated than the old town. Getsemani is more colorful than the old town, in the old town you will see many pastel colors, while in Getsemani you will see really bright colors. The famous umbrella alleyway is also located in Getsemani. It is a little more playful but also less clean. When we returned from our two nights in the Rosario Islands, we stayed in Getsemani before we traveled to Medellin.
Rosario Islands
Unfortunately the beaches surrounding Cartagena do not have the bluest waters. If you want to see bounty beaches you have to take a boat to one of the nearby islands. The Rosario Islands are an archipel that consists of many islands. Playa Blanca/Baru is the most famous and easy to get to from Cartagena. We heard that Playa Blanca would have a party atmosphere and that the beach is filled with plastic beach chairs and day tourists. This is why we decided to go to Isla Grande and stay there for two nights. As it is off-season for the islands as well, it wasn’t crowded at Isla Grande at all, and to be honest I don’t expect there to be many crowds at the other islands as well.
We arranged our boat tickets (1 hour boat ride) with our hostel, but I would recommend arranging the tickets yourselves in the harbor, as it is really easy to do. What is important to know is that most of the hotels in the Rosario Islands are “eco” which basically means they are off the grid.. with no electricity during the day, no plumbing, no hot water and no wifi. We stayed in a hostel in the center of the island for € 30 per night including breakfast, which is really cheap for the Rosario Islands. Even though our stay was comfortable enough given that it was off the grid, I would recommend to book a hotel that is located directly at the beach and check for hotels with decent beach chairs. The whole island gets pitch black at 6PM and you are kind of stuck in the hotel you have chosen. The island only has dirt roads and I didn’t feel super comfortable getting around at night.
We booked two tours during our stay. We did a bioluminescence and a kajak tour. I found the bioluminescence tour a bit underwhelming. In some waters in the island there is plankton that lights up when it is dark enough outside, I think my fantasy went a bit in overdrive with that prospect. I expected the whole lagoon to light up from afar, but in reality you will see some “glitter” surrounding you when you move around in the water. We did really like our kayak tour, even though our guide at first couldn’t find his kayak 😉 We kayaked in a lagoon, on the sea and through the mangroves where we did some birdwatching. Our guide brought it us to a deserted beach which was super cool and you really got a hint of paradise.
In the end, we did really like our visit to the Rosario Islands, the water and the beaches truly are heavenly. But, a stay of two nights was sufficient for us, as we were looking forward to a proper shower! I think our stay would have been a little more special had we stayed in a seaside hotel, but on the other hand we were really glad that we got to see the real Colombia. The main village of Isla Grande is really basic and poor, and the people were continuously greeting us very kindly. The hosts of our hostel knew everybody on the island and it was fun to see them interact and hustle! This did make our visit to the island feel really authentic.
