In short
Cartagena de Indias is a fortified colonial city on Colombia's Caribbean coast. Its walls, several kilometres long, were built to protect the port from which gold left for Spain — and they were used.
La Ciudad Amurallada, the walled town, holds the houses with flowered balconies and the squares. Getsemaní, just outside, was the working-class quarter; it has become the district of murals, hostels and nightlife. Bocagrande is the peninsula of modern blocks and hotels.
Arriving and getting around
Rafael Núñez airport is a few kilometres from the centre.
The old town and Getsemaní are covered entirely on foot. Taxis are not metered: agree the price before getting in.
The Rosario Islands are reached by boat from the Bodeguita jetty, in about an hour. It is a marine national park.
What it really costs
Cartagena is markedly more expensive than the rest of Colombia, and the walled town dearer than Getsemaní a few hundred metres away.
Cruise calls raise both crowds and prices on certain days.
When to come
December–April is the dry season, the pleasantest and the busiest.
It is hot and humid all year: the temperature varies little, around thirty degrees, with permanently high humidity. There is no cool season.
The rainy season, August to November, brings short, heavy downpours.
What nobody tells you
The palenqueras, the women in colourful dresses carrying fruit on their heads, charge for photographs. It is their declared trade: agreeing the amount before you shoot avoids the misunderstanding. They come from San Basilio de Palenque, the first village of freed slaves in the Americas, whose creole language is inscribed on UNESCO's intangible heritage list.
The castle of San Felipe de Barajas is the largest Spanish fortress in the Americas, with a network of tunnels designed to carry the sound of attackers' footsteps.
Gabriel García Márquez lived and worked here; the city appears, transposed, in several of his novels.
The city's own beaches are poor and often murky: it is towards the islands that you go for clear water.