The walled city
Eleven kilometres of ramparts around streets of wooden balconies and bougainvillea.
Duration
2 hrs 30 min – 5 hrs
Best time
Late afternoon
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
The walls were built over nearly two centuries from 1586, after repeated sackings by privateers — Francis Drake held the city to ransom in 1586. Eleven kilometres of wall, most of it still standing.
Inside, narrow streets are lined with colonial houses whose wooden balconies overflow with bougainvillea, painted in strong colours. You can walk up onto the walls freely, at roof height: the stretch between the Clock Gate and the Santo Domingo bastion is the one to walk at sunset.
Getting there
The historic centre is entirely walkable. Fifteen minutes by taxi from the airport.
Rules on site
Heat and humidity are heavy all year: visit early in the morning or after four. Street vendors and costumed photographers ask for payment afterwards — agree a price first, or decline.
Other places in Cartagena
- GetsemaníThe old working quarter outside the walls, its murals and its square full of musicians in the evening.
- Castillo San Felipe de BarajasThe largest Spanish fortress in the Americas, with its network of tunnels.
- Rosario IslandsA coral archipelago an hour away by boat, clear water and white beaches.
- El Totumo mud volcanoA crater filled with warm mud where you float without sinking.