I wanted to visit Colombia since I read my fist Gabriel Marquez novel. This summer I was able to add a blitz tour there to the back of Marina’s and mine beach vacation in Turks and Caicos. We flew to Miami first and then connected to two hours long American Airlines direct flight to Cartagena. The flight was full. Since the security situation significantly improved, the country became a popular destination for foreign tourists.
Day 1.
Cartagena is a large port on Colombian Caribbean coast but the visitors mostly attracted by its well preserved colonial old city and to some degree adjacent beach resorts. Its proximity to major US airports makes Cartagena a logical point to start a country tour. Arrival formalities did not take long. Airport taxis were readily available and regulated to charge a fixed rate to any locations in the downtown. For the first day stay, we booked Bovedas de Santa Clara.
The hotel is the dependence of the posh Sofitel just across the street and in my opinion, is a smart choice for the right value place in the old city. You pay half the price than in Sofitel but can use all its facilities. The boutique property itself is incredibly lovely, located in a renovated colonial house.
We arrived in the early afternoon, and our room was not ready yet. We left the luggage with a concierge and went to explore the old city. The heat was on, but it was bearable, especially if you moved to the shaded side of a street. Just one block away was Plaza de San Diego – a busy square with a few cute boutique shops and restaurants.
Notably, Juan del Mar is an excellent seafood place (or so we’ve heard – the restaurant is usually booked and requires a reservation). We just dropped in and were told to wait two hours for a table and decided to pass. Cuba 1940 is also famous but is more a bar with live Cuban jazz at night time. We ate lunch at Santo Toribio, which was around a corner from Juan del Mar. The menu had a good choice of meats and seafood, the service was excellent, and the bill was reasonable.
The food scene in Cartagena is superb with plenty of unique options around.
We finished lunch and returned to the hotel where our room was ready. We got a two-level suite with a sea view and watched an astonishing sunset later that evening.
We dropped the luggage and went back to further explore the old town. Per basic geopolitics – Colombia is our amigo while neighboring Venezuela is no mas. Nevertheless, the main town thoroughfare is called Avenida Venezuela. While in Colombia, we saw quite a few Venezuelan refugees on the streets asking for donations.
The old center is very compact – it took us less than half an hour to walk via Avenida from one side to another. Iglesia San Pedro and adjacent Plaza Santo Domingo is the main town happening place with a colorful mix of tourists and locals doing souvenir shopping, taking pictures or just watching people.
There are peddlers there too.
The city was established in the 16th century as a walled bastion to protect Spanish possession against British pirates, and the sea, of course, is a big part of local life. The maritime museum is in the area and worth a visit if you are interested in the details. However, we skipped the museum and headed to Plaza de Bolivar. The old Inquisition House there still looks creepy.
Then we turned north to the shore, reached the medieval city gate, and climbed the wall there. The wall is well preserved and flanks the city from the seaside. You can walk it to the old Spanish castle that is just outside the town, but we went only to our hotel that was about a halfway there. It was a time for a beautiful sunset which we watched right from our suite window.
Young locals in dressy clothes posed for pictures in the dramatic sunset colors. It was quite a scene – the professional photographers worked with whole crews that set the location and the light and directed the amateur models how to pose. We figured the pictures then been posted on Instagram that probably makes its Colombian domain quite a stardom. Per a concierge recommendation, we had dinner at Cande restaurant.
It was in the center of the old town and about 15 minutes walk from our hotel. The sun came down, and a fresh breeze was flowing from the sea. The plazas filled with people, the live music was playing in just about every café or restaurant, and the delicious smell from the kitchens awoke our appetite in an instant.
We arrived at the restaurant, ready for a feast. The concierge advice did not disappoint. The place had a unique kitchen where the chef-prepared meals appeared literally in the middle of the dining room.
The ambiance was very nice, the service attentive and there was a live folk dance show while we were dining. The food was delicious too.
We finished dinner around midnight and walked back to the streets that became even more vibrant. It felt like the nightlife fiesta in Cartagena has just started, but we had enough excitement for the first day and just retired to our room.
Day 2.
As I have mentioned, staying at Bovedas granted a privilege to use the facilities of neighboring Sofitel since both hotels had the same owner. We started our next day with a visit to that luxury property to take a look and just because we could. Originally built as a convent in 1621, it was transformed into a luxury hotel and looked posh. It had two inner courts, one hosting an outdoor restaurant and another – a large pool. It also had a terrace with a beautiful view of the sea and the castle.
We hung around a bit, and then continued. In the morning hours, the town was much quieter, with only early riser tourists on the streets. For many of us, a day starts with a cup of Colombian coffee, but surprisingly this drink is not a big thing at the origin, at least not in Cartagena. Yes, there were a few coffee shops in the old city but those mostly catered to foreign tourists. We had a mediocre cappuccino in one of such places and wondered what a drink of choice is for locals here.
We made another round of the old city and checked open boutique shops. Cartagena is an excellent place to shop if you are looking for something stylish and original. By noon the sun was at its highest, and the street heat was almost unbearable. We returned to the hotel, checked out, and call a cab to move to our next place. Undoubtedly, the colonial center is the Cartagena’s main gem. However, this is the large city that also has industrial and residential parts as well as beach resort areas, namely Bocagrande and La Boquilla.
Both have small boutique and high rise hotels facing the sea. But if you want a crystal clear water and a white sand beach you need to take a 40-minute boat trip to Punta Arenas or Castillogrande islands. The beaches within the city are not that great. We moved even farther and spent our second and third day at Conrad Cartagena resort about half an hour drive east on a highway to Barranquilla.
Conrad Cartagena is an astonishing beautiful property, but the name is misleading as it is located in the middle of nowhere and far from the city. With no public transportation option and if you don’t rent a car, the only possibility to get to downtown is taking a hotel shuttle that runs a few times per day. Otherwise, you are stuck, which could be a good thing if you are looking for a quiet and tranquil place to relax away from Cartagena’s hustle and bustle. This vast property at a remote location is rarely fully booked. Even more so in a hot season when an adjacent golf course is empty. It was easy to get an upgrade. Thanks to Marina’s Hilton Diamond status, we got a huge corner suite with a beautiful panoramic sea view.
For lunch, we had snapper at the hotel outdoor restaurant. It was fried, fresh, and tasty.
After lunch, Marina had a good massage at the spa. The rest of the day, we relaxed by the pool and then watched another fantastic sunset from our suite balcony.
Day 3.
Conrad Cartagena does not have an executive lounge, so breakfast for elite members was served in a common restaurant. The breakfast was just ok with a standard food choice. We spent the morning at the beach club, which was about half a mile from the hotel complex. To get there, you can call a cart at a concierge desk or walk via a golf course.
The beach club was nice – large, clean, and not crowded. It had all the amenities to spend a whole day there with no need to return to the hotel – a bar, a pool, a restaurant, showers, and towels service, etc.
We just wished the beach sand was whiter and the sea water clearer.
A fishermen boat was floating nearby. I went to a swim and almost got caught into a net. A catch was quite good – locals came to buy some fresh fish and haggled with a chief fisherman in charge of negotiations. The scene was fascinating to watch. The deal was reached quickly. We understood that catch would be later on a lunch and dinner menu. The fishermen finally departed. We stayed at the beach a bit longer. The water was shallow and not that appealing to swim, so by noon, we returned to the hotel. That evening we had to fly to Bogota. As I have mentioned, Conrad was far from been booked, so getting a late checkout was not a problem.
We cooled down in our suite, then had another tasty seafood lunch, and chilled by the pool until a late afternoon when we had to leave for an airport. The drive was not long – about half an hour via a no-man country until we reached the city. To summarize the visit – it was good at it was, i.e., a few days to relax after an intense Colombia tour. The resort was very nice, but it should not be the only place to stay on your visit to Cartagena. If you want to explore the area in-depth or if you are Gabriel Marques fan you may stay there longer and take day trips to Barranquilla, Santa Marta or Magdalena River. For us, one day was enough. Finally, we arrived at the local airport. It was named after Rafael Nunez – the 19th-century Conservative party president who had to flee the capital due to political circumstances and ruled the country from Cartagena for some time. The check-in and security were fast. The airport had a lounge that was accessible for Priority Pass holders; the flight to Bogota took about an hour and was on time. Upon landing, we saw local passengers dressing up in warm clothes and realized that it was a different climate here. As we stepped outside the terminal and took a taxi to the hotel, it did not feel that cold. However, been higher in the mountain, Bogota climate was indeed different from the Caribbean coast. The ride was short. We booked the Radisson hotel that was conveniently located halfway from an airport to downtown, so we did not hit the city traffic. We checked in and rested for a night before our last day in Colombia.
Day 4.
Radisson Bogota is a lovely modern hotel but more oriented to business travelers. It is located close to an airport and US Embassy and relatively far from few tourist attractions Bogota can offer.
We had a half a day to spare and needed to decide either to visit the observation point on the top of Monserrate Mountain or Museo del Oro in the downtown. To get a ride in Bogota was easy – we took a taxi at the hotel lobby that was at our disposal for half a day at a flat fee of $30. To get around was another story. The weather was bright and sunny, so we decided to go to the mountain. It was the right choice.
From above Bogota looked pretty. There was a funicular to ride to the top, and the alternative was to walk. We took a funicular.
It is 90 years old but still running. The ride was fun, and the view was beautiful.
On the top, the observation point was a whole village with cafes, restaurants, souvenir shops, greens and markets, and yes the promenade with the astonishing view to the city and surrounding Andes Mountains.
There was a large catholic church there used for messes and various ceremonies like baptisms and weddings.
Monserrate Mountain is probably the best tourist attraction in Bogota, but you should not visit it on Sundays or holidays when local crowds totally occupy the place. There is also no point going there in cloudy weather.
We spent a couple of hours on the top, then descended and found our driver. We still had time left before we had to head to the airport. It was not enough for the museum visit but adequate to drive around the downtown. The central Bogota was dusty and chaotic, and the traffic was horrendous.
We could not reach the main Plaza Bolivar but took a look at the theater and art district and the market, then just turned around and drove to the airport. Just a few blocks from the center the landscape changed. The streets became larger the buildings newer, the cars flashier. We rolled along Avenida El Dorado via the city prestigious quarters, the University camp, and the villas of well to do Colombians. Bogota airport was sparkling and modern and also named after a politician – this time a Liberal. Luis Carlos Galan was not a president but a prominent political figure in the 1980th that fought drug cartels and was assassinated in 1989. The security at the terminal was strict – Marina’s tweezers were extradited from her purse and confiscated. The Priority Pass members could use Avianca lounge but only after a particular time. It left us only 30 minutes between the moment we were allowed in, and the flight boarding started. Just as a matter of principle, we went in and had a coffee but then almost ran to the gate.
Avianca airlines experience was a mixed bag, but overall positive. Its airplanes are not the newest in the world, and the service is well “Latin-American.” On the other hand, the airline allows choosing seats in advance free of charge – even in the exit row and has generous free luggage allowances. For an extra couple hundred dollars, it was possible to upgrade to a business class, but we did not bother. We got duo seats and extra legroom for free, and that was adequate for a 5 hour-long flight. Interesting to mention – Avianca is one of the oldest airlines in the world continuously operating under the same name since year 1919. Onboard we had time to reflect on our trip. We liked Colombia but felt that four days was enough time for an introductory visit and probably won’t go back anytime soon.