All about Cartagena, Colombia

Travel Guide Cartagena

Cartagena

In this travel guide you will find everything about Cartagena de Indias, the capital of the department of Bolivar on the Caribbean coast. The addition “de Indias,” is to distinguish the city from the other Cartagena, in Spain. During the Spanish colonial period, the port city was one of the most important cities in South America. Its forts, castles, city walls and historic center, have been named a World Heritage Site by Unesco. The city with over 1 million inhabitants, is the most touristic city in Colombia. Cartagena is so much more than its historic center alone. The city is a fascinating mix of old and new, touristy and local. Cartagena is a convenient starting or ending point of a tour of Colombia’s north coast, where you can travel to Tayrona National Park, Minca, Ciudad Perdida, Santa Marta and La Guajira. Look here for travel itinerary tips and quickly read on about what to do in Cartagena + tips on transportation and the nicest hotels and restaurants.

All about Cartagena

How to get there
What to do
Hotels and hostels
Transportation in Cartagena
Food & drink
Practical info
Frequently asked questions Cartagena
Cities near Cartagena
Shopping in Cartagena
Cheap Flight Tickets

Street Food Tour Cartagena

Travel Guide Cartagena, Travel Stories

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In search of cartagena’s best snacks

At one of the busiest stalls, two ladies made arepa con huevo, a specialty in Cartagena. The arepa is filled with meat and an egg is added before frying.

A tour where you taste Cartagena’s tastiest snacks -with lots of cheese- AND get introduced to the city? That seemed like a perfect idea for foodies like us!

Chocolate Museum
The tour with Cartagena Connections began at the Chocolate Museum at Plaza Fernandez de Madrid in San Diego. Since we were early, we were able to look around the museum and taste some chocolate. From the Chocolate Museum, the walk headed toward Getsemaní with our German guide Jan. He has lived in Cartagena for years and knew many interesting facts about the city. Along the way we stopped at stalls, where Jan bought us snacks and where we could see people at work.

Queso, Queso y Queso
We watched the preparation of Deditos de queso (cheese fingers) and tasted Patacones con queso, green banana “cookies” with cheese. One of our favorite snacks was the Bocadillo con queso, Guava with a piece of white cheese.

Cartagena specialty
At one of the busiest stalls, two ladies made arepa con huevo, a specialty in Cartagena. The arepa is filled with meat and an egg is added before frying. What makes arepas extra tasty are the sauces, such as the sweet salsa de piña (pineapple sauce) and salsa picante.

Mango with salt
We tasted Buñuelos, small balls made of corn and cheese, and Mango Biche, green mango with salt. Fruit combined with salt didn’t sound very appealing at first, but it was a fresh change from all the cheese snacks.

Corozo ice cream
We ate Arepas de choclo, made with sweet corn and at the end of the tour we had an ice cream made from Corozo. This is a red-purple fruit that grows high on the palm trees on the coast. We never knew this fruit was edible! The fruit resembles a berry and has a deep purple color.

Café del Mural
The tour ended at Café del Mural in Getsemaní, a café that is located among colorful murals. With an old-fashioned jug of brewed coffee, we ended this tasty and interesting tour on our first day in Cartagena.

Written by Jeanette
Travel date September 2019

#ColombiaMyWay tips
(Updated September 2025)

  • Take the tour at the beginning of your stay in Cartagena. It’s a fun way to get acquainted with the city, and you’ll get tips for great restaurants along the way.
  • Don’t plan an big dinner on the day of the tour. If you want to sample all the snacks, it’s pretty filling
  • At the chocolate museum, say clearly that you are coming for the street food tour and not for the chocolate workshop. Apparently we were not clear because the chocolatier was already coming to pick us up for the workshop!
  • We saved over 4$ per person by paying with COP instead of US$
  • We did the tour with Cartagena Connections. Check here all street food tours in Cartagena.

For more info check out our Cartagena travel guide and our article about the best food of Cartagena.

We do not accept direct payments from touroperators or hotels for our reviews and we pay for our own stay and tours. Every recommendation is based solely on our own experiences and honest opinions. However, some of our links are affiliate links, which means we earn a small commission if you book through them. This commission comes at no extra cost to you and helps us maintain our website.

Jeanette and Shelly

Writers and Travelers, Colombia My Way

Dine at Interno restaurant

Travel Guide Cartagena, Travel Stories

Dining at Restaurante Interno, Cartagena

Because of the cozy ambiance, we almost forgot we were in a prison….until we saw the bars in front of the kitchen!

Restaurant Interno, is a restaurant in la Cárcel de Mujeres de San Diego, Cartagena’s women’s prison. Interno’s cooks have been trained by professional chefs, and the waitresses have also received professional training. The project was created with the motto: “Segundas oportunidades.” Here the inmates are given a second chance and will soon be able to reintegrate better into society. Through training and experience gained, the cooks often have jobs even before they leave prison. With the proceeds from the restaurant, living conditions in prison are improved.

Dinner
From the moment we walked into Restaurante Interno, the atmosphere was nice; serene, a cozy setting and quiet Latin music. Because of this ambiance, we almost forgot we were in a prison. Until we saw the bars in front of the kitchen! It was a strange idea to eat in a prison, but it was also nice that we could make a small contribution to improving the living conditions of the women.

Star chefs
We chose an appetizer of Ceviche in coconut milk, a main course of -Cartagena-style steak with coconut rice and a dessert with 3 preparations of coconut. We could indeed tell that the cooks were trained by Michelin “star chefs,” because the food was beautifully prepared and tasted delicious.

The lady in the service was friendly, but somewhat shy, so it did not come to a chat. Because the food was served quickly, we were done in an hour. Afterwards, we thought it would have been helpful to say we wanted to take it easy and allow time between the courses.

After dinner,  we took a taxi back to Getsemaní. Here we ended the evening on the cozy Plaza de Trinidad, with a glass of wine and some people watching, while we thougt of the women in the prison and their untold stories.

#ColombiaMyWay tips and information

  • By Colombian standards, Interno is an expensive restaurant. We paid COP90,000/$22.50 for a 3-course menu. If you want a bottle of wine to go with it, you pay about COP120,000/$30 extra
  • Reservations are required. We did so via WhatsApp and we quickly received confirmation
  • Restaurante Interno is easily accessible by taxi and Uber

Click on these links for more information: Website Restaurante Interno


Written by Jeanette
Travel date September 2019
Updated September 2025

September 2020 update: Restaurant Interno closed end end 2019/beginning 2020. Update September 2025:  Restaurant Interno is permanently closed. According to information on the internet, the future of the restaurant already became uncertain in june 2019, because the San Diego prison was slated for relocation to a new facility in Turbaco. This move was mandated by a 2009 Constitutional Court ruling citing poor infrastructure and health risks within the prison, not because of problems with the restaurant itself.

Want to know more about Cartagena? Then check out our travel guide Cartagena.

We do not accept direct payments from touroperators or hotels for our reviews and we pay for our own stay and tours. Every recommendation is based solely on our own experiences and honest opinions. However, some of our links are affiliate links, which means we earn a small commission if you book through them. This commission comes at no extra cost to you and helps us maintain our website.

Jeanette and Shelly

Writers and Travelers, Colombia My Way

Celebrating Christmas in Cartagena

Travel Guide Cartagena, Travel Stories

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Christmas in Cartagena

All week we saw Colombians going to the manicure, pedicure and to the hairdresser, or having their eyebrows touched up in a chair on the street. Streets were lit up and everywhere you could hear Christmas songs coming out of the speakers.

Christmas spirit in the tropics
If you are normally used to Christmas in Europe or North America, the Christmas feeling in 30 degrees is at far away at first. But, fortunately, Christmas in Colombia is celebrated big, but really big. Families get together, hours are spent in the kitchen and there are many gifts. All week we saw Colombians going to the manicure, pedicure and to the hairdresser, or having their eyebrows touched up in a chair on the street. Streets are lit up and everywhere you can hear Christmas songs coming out of the speakers.

Christmas church service
We kicked off Christmas Eve by going to Mass at 5 p.m. at Santo Domingo Church. Although the Spanish was most of the times too fast for us, it was special to experience. Christmas in Colombia kicked off!

Christmas Eve at hostel
We were lucky enough to be in the Viajero hostel with many other backpackers and the hostel hosted a dinner on Christmas Eve. After Mass, we arrived at the festively decorated patio, where there were long tables. (OK with plastic chairs, but ignore that fact for a moment) Candles and a live band completed the atmosphere. Although the food was not extraordinary, it was nice to spend Christmas together. Lots of snacks & drinks, new people and new friends!

Christmas Day at the beach
For Christmas Day we had arranged to meet up with some British and Australian backpackers we met before in Minca. Christmas on the beach while playing lots of games is defenitely different from Christmas in the snow (or rain). For the evening we had a reservation with the group at a chic restaurant, because the British love Christmas even more than we Dutch do and they wanted to celebrate big!

Mashed potatoes with Colombian sausage
Boxing Day we were slightly hungover and it was time to facetime with the home front. Then we decided to bring Holland to Colombia: it was time for a typical Dutch stew with Colombian sausage.

Christmas ended in style with a cocktail during sunset at Café del Mar.

Feliz Navidad!

By Mellijn
Travel date December 2017

#ColombiaMyWay Tips:

  • Find a hostel where you are among people, which means you don’t have to spend Christmas alone. We stayed at Viajero hostel Cartagena
  • Visit the church service at the Santo Domingo Church. (In the old town, near Plaza Santo Domingo)
  • Book restaurants during Christmas early in advance
  • Update Sepember 2025: Café del Mar Cartagena is closed to the public. The café was officially shut down on September 2, 2024, following a court ruling that determined the venue was operating on public land that should remain accessible to all. The court found that the business had effectively privatized a section of the historic city walls, which are protected as public heritage sites.
  • Want to know more about Cartagena? Then check out our travel guide Cartagena.

Updated september 2025

We do not accept direct payments from touroperators or hotels for our reviews and we pay for our own stay and tours. Every recommendation is based solely on our own experiences and honest opinions. However, some of our links are affiliate links, which means we earn a small commission if you book through them. This commission comes at no extra cost to you and helps us maintain our website.

Jeanette and Shelly

Writers and Travelers, Colombia My Way

Behind the scenes at Mercado Bazurto

Travel Guide Cartagena, Travel Stories

Cartagena off the beaten path

During the tour, interaction was key: We learned to dance a few steps on Champeta music, while attracting a lot of attention from the locals -:) Afterwards, we were able to cool off with a Costeñita beer and chat with the CD salesman. We even got to take home a CD of Champeta music.

 

The tour to Mercado Bazurto was appealing for us, because it would allow us to see Cartagena outside the touristic highlights. We wanted to wander around this local market and experience the daily “hustle and bustle.”

The tour
The guide picked us up at the hotel in Getsemaní, after which we walked to the other participants’ hotel and boarded the local bus together. At a shopping mall, a final sanitary stop was made before we walked towards the market. The guide told us about the former Chinese neighborhood in which the market is located. At a store, she bought bottles of water, which would later be used to make fruit smoothies.

Strong stomach
We learned the story behind the vendors and saw the conditions people have to work in: the heat, puddles of dirty water, garbage and a meat and fish market, which requires a strong stomach.

Pans and more…
The boss of the metal workshop proudly showed us his workshop and explained that his store fulfills an important function. Among other things, people can come to him to have pans repaired. A little further on, “Runner” made advertising banners and he also made one especially for us. We were allowed to make up the text ourselves.

Dancing to Champeta music
During the tour, interaction was key: we learned a few steps dancing to Champeta music, while attracting a lot of attention from the locals. Actually, we were the real attraction on the market hahaha. After the dancing, we were able to cool off with a (miniscule) Costeñita beer and chat with the CD seller. We were even given a CD of Champeta music to take home.

Tropical fruit
We sampled delicious fruit smoothies and tropical fruits such as Lulo and Guanabana. We feasted our eyes on the market with spices, clothing, household items and fish and meat.

Restaurante Cecilia’s
At the end of the tour, it was time for lunch at Cecilia’s. Cecilia’s has become famous because culinary TV personality Anthony Boudain once filmed here for his TV show. We ate specialties of the coastal region: Sopa de mote, (soup with chunks of cheese) Pescado con arroz de coco, (fish with coconut rice) and fried banana.

Surprise
After the heat at the market, it was a surprise that we did not have to walk back to the bus stop, but were picked up by a minivan. In the air conditioning we were able to let the experiences of the day sink in, before we were dropped off near our hotel.

Written by Jeanette
Travel date September 2019

Information and tips
(Updated September 2025)

  • We found it helpful to visit Mercado Bazurto with a local guide. The market is hectic and so big that it’s easy to get lost if you don’t know your way around. Plus, with a guide, you can easily get into conversation with the people in the market.
  • There are several tour operators that offer this tour. On this trip to Cartagena, we did the tour with Cartagena Insider by FEM. Part of the proceeds go to charity, such as education projects.
  • We were hesitant about this tour beforehand, regarding the hygiene of the market. After having experienced the tour, it turned out to be unnecessary. The guide bought bottles of water for the fruit smoothies and the small restaurant where we ate was fine.
  • Tip: wear shoes instead of flip flops, due to the puddles of (dirty) water
  • Do you want to do this too? Book the Mercado Bazurto tour here

Want to know more about Cartagena? Then check out our Cartagena travel guide + the nicest hostels and hostels in Cartagena.+our article about the food in Cartagena.

We do not accept direct payments from touroperators or hotels for our reviews and we pay for our own stay and tours. Every recommendation is based solely on our own experiences and honest opinions. However, some of our links are affiliate links, which means we earn a small commission if you book through them. This commission comes at no extra cost to you and helps us maintain our website.

Jeanette and Shelly

Writers and Travelers, Colombia My Way