From one city to another, Medellín to Cartagena. On Colombia’s northern coast, Cartagena is an extremely photogenic and attractive city; especially the old town and Getsemani neighbourhood which have colourful, flower filled streets perfect for wandering, snapping photos and soaking up the vibe.
This post is going to be short writing wise and include a lot of photos! After all, I spent my two days in Cartagena doing exactly the above!
Good to know: Cartagena gets really hot! A hostel with good air conditioning and even a pool go a long way! Walking around the streets I was seriously sweating and had to retreat back to the hostel to cool off. Best to wander around in the morning or late afternoon.
Food and drink
In the day, Plaza Trinidade is very quiet but in the evening, when it’s cooler, it comes alive with performances, street vendors and people. There’s a great street food stall there which does yummy burgers (for 8000COP – £2 approx!). Also, down one of the streets off the square there is a bar that does cocktails for 10,000COP (£2.50 approx). The mojito was good!!
On my wanders and needing something refreshing, I found a great juice place! It’s one of the stalls in Parque de la Flores. Under a tree, there’s lots of locals milling around for lunch. I had a lulo juice with milk and wow was it yum and so cold!!! I went back the next day for another! It was 3000COP (£0.70!) for a juice and they were big – could be shared between two!!
How to get to Cartagena
Cartagena is on Colombia’s Caribbean and northern coast. Being a popular tourist destination and a main Colombian city, it is well connected via flights and buses to the rest of Colombia.
By plane
As it’s a popular start point for those travelling Colombia’s northern coast, many flights that arrive to Cartagena’s airport are international. I didn’t realise this! So you could definitely start or end a trip there!
Reaching Cartagena on a domestic flight (for example from Bogota, Cali, Medellin) is also a good option and budget airlines, Viva Air and Wingo, have cheap flights that will save on the travel time. I flew from Medellin to Cartagena (1hr) and it cost £30 for a ticket, which is pretty much the same as the long bus journey.
By bus
Colombia’s bus network is pretty good and connects many places. Given the country’s size, long journeys are common and often night buses are the best option. If you’re already in Colombia, here are a few places you might be coming from…
Santa Marta
If you’re coming from Palomino, Costeño beach, Tayrona National Park, Minca, Cabo de la Vela, you’ll need to return to Santa Marta for onward travel to Cartagena.
The bus journey takes around 5hrs and costs 30,000COP (£7 approx). You can also take a shuttle bus, with Mar e Sol or Berlinas. It does cost more than a bus but when factoring in the taxi to the bus station price, which is far out the city, there’s not a huge difference.
We went from Cartagena to Santa Marta with Berlinas. Shuttles leave every 20 minutes from just outside the old town and cost 44,000COP (£11 approx).
Bucaramanga
If you’ve been in San Gil and/or Barichara, then you’ll need to get a 3hr colectivo to Bucaramanga (costing 18,000COP approx) and then a bus to Cartagena. It’s a long journey – 12/13hrs – so a night bus is probably your best bet. The bus companies: Copetran, Expreso Brasilia, Berlinas drive the route.
Medellín
From one city to another, the bus from Medellín to Cartagena is a long one. The journey in theory takes 10hrs, however I’ve heard people recently saying it’s more like 15/16hrs. If it’s that long, it’s worth looking into a flight which you can find for £20 sometimes!
If you’re travelling by bus and coming from Guatape, Jardin or Salento you’ll need to first get to Medellín and then connect onwards to Cartagena.
Cali
You could also be coming from Colombia’s salsa city in the south. Heads up – it’s an extremely long journey. Estimated time is over 24hrs and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s longer. Again, perhaps look into flights!
There’s also lots of worthwhile places to explore between Cali and Cartagena, such as Salento, the Pacific coast, Medellín, Jardín, San Gil, Barichara to name a few. So unless you’re really tight on time, I wouldn’t recommend skipping out the middle of the country!
Final thoughts
I really enjoyed my visit to Cartagena. I’d passed through really quickly on Phoebe and I’s way back from Providencia, on our way to Palomino and Cabo de la Vela. It was nice to return and explore with more time.
As a place, yes it’s touristy! It’s a city with a beautiful old town on the northern coast, it’s of course going to attract tourists. That said, I didn’t find it overly so. I loved walking the old town’s streets and the Getsemani neighbourhood! Really charming!!
Cartagena was my final stop in Colombia and brought to a close 7.5 fantastic weeks travelling around the country.
I’m now flying to Panama to start the Central America leg of my journey! It’s especially exciting as Central America wasn’t originally part of my travel plan. I was going to fly home from Colombia after six months in South America. I’ve now extended and I’m seeing anything I do now as an added bonus! That’s the idea!
