We went to Cartagena, Colombia for New Year’s Eve 2019 to ring in the new decade with some wonderful friends! We wanted to do something really fun to welcome the New Year and one of our friends did some research and Cartagena was on quite a few lists of the best places to spend New Years Eve. We teetered between the trip happening and not happening at all, and by the time all the flights and hotels were booked, we went in a group of fourteen people! We stayed in Boca Grande which is the strip of beach hotels outside the walled city. We pulled the trigger on the trip a little before the end of October, and the hotels in the walled city were already heavily booked out by the time we were looking for a place to stay. New Years, like any other destination inflates heavily.
Cartagena is home to some fresh seafood including delicious whole fried snapper and seafood paellas, delicious coffee, restaurants with courtyard- like ambiances and live music, coconut lemonade, coca leaf mojitos, emeralds, a lively nightlife, and boating activities. We were there for about a week and there is so much to drink, eat, see and experience. To skip the blog for some quick tiles to pin to save ideas for your trip with my favorites, scroll to the bottom.
We actually enjoyed our hotel in Boca Grande and walking the coast. We went to a restaurant called San Marino three times and had a pretty consistently good experience eating the whole fried red snapper. There are “cuter” restaurants within a couple blocks of San Marino including the one I’m pictured at with a beer at, but as we were walking from our friends’ hotel to our own, we wanted a snack and this one had a lively ambience and quite a few patrons every time we passed it. The other’s were relatively empty. The ambience was great and they had live music depending on the time of day.
We stayed in Hotel Almirante and we would probably stay there again. Our friends stayed at the Hyatt which is closer to Ciudad Amurallada, or “The Walled City” end of Boca Grande. Another group of friends rented an Air BnB and we were all just blocks apart which was nice. We live in a city and have made walking part of our life, and both hotels were comfortable for us to walk. However, a taxi ride to the walled city was inexpensive. The sidewalks are not the most consistent if mobility is an issue for you but there are a lot of other pedestrians. There’s one part just outside the walled city that’s not super pedestrian friendly and has no real shade (which just a few minutes in the sun can be really aggressive on our skin but we crossed it frequently with no problems.
Crepes and Waffles is another restaurant we frequented multiple times and is a small chain in Cartagena. It worked well with our group. The smoothies, juices and food were all fantastic. One negative was that the location near us didn’t open until noon. There were several mornings as a group we wanted to go and get a juice or waffle and just had to wait.
Another chain we liked was Juan Valdez coffee, the Starbucks of Cartagena. I wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way for it; but if you’re a person who really wants a coffee and if you’re wondering if the chain sucks or not, it was great (and had almond milk and soy milk which is why I add the recommendation because I sometimes struggle finding these outside the states).
We had intended to go the Inquisition Historical Museum because our friend from Colombia had recommended it, but unfortunately everything was being renovated and they had a temporary “History of Cartagena” exhibit set up.
We got so many Coca Leaf Mojitos from Época, and conveniently, you can get them to-go. It’s a popular breakfast spot, cafe and bar and was packed every time we went in because it’s a snug place that’s not appropriate for our large group (or half our group even). I think next time we come back we’ll have to try the food there.
We got Gooseberry drinks, both cocktails and smoothies, almost everywhere. I’m definitely a fan. I’ve always seen them at our farmer’s market but I’ve never really had them before.
One restaurant that accommodated our group with a reservation was Juan Del Mar. Part of it is a restaurant with awesome seafood dishes and the other part of the restaurant is a pizzeria. Two dishes that really stuck out were the black squid ink, and the lobster paellas. Since all fourteen of us were there, we tried almost everything and these were the crowd favorites. If you’re a seafood fan, I’d actually say the overall flavor of the squid ink paella was even more liked, than the lobster one, even though just looking at the pictures on tripadvisor, I ordered the lobster one.
We went to Cafe Del Mar for New Years at the recommendation of more than one friend. We made reservations (which note, during New Years I highly recommend, especially if you’re with a large group or just in general.) Thankfully, my friend let us know that on New Years, it’s not really a “dinner” reservation. They had a great limited menu with charcuterie platters and other appetizer type dishes, and one full dinner option. So if variety is what you want, eat before arriving. It’s more a snacks with drinks experience.
The pictures will never do it justice. The location on top of the wall, with a view of the ocean, Boca Grande hotels, and the city with the perfect cool breeze to complement the warm evening air, awesome live music with a couple dance floors, performers/ dancers with acts, and our group of fourteen amazing friends was a perfect New Years experience as the fireworks went off at midnight…right out of a movie.
The big thing about Cartagena is the party in the streets. I didn’t quite understand it until I saw it with my own eyes, but the entire walled city on New Years turns into a huge party. The parks throughout the walled city have stages with live entertainment. Restaurants, shop owners and local restaurants set up tables, and chairs, fully decorated like for a wedding with balloons, flowers, and streamers in every street and alleyway. The restaurants and streets are filled with people for this amazing city wide celebration. There’s no shortage of other experiences in the city and being outdoors in Cartagena for the New Years ring in, is the coolest part. We almost made the mistake of making a reservation inside a club before midnight.
As far as night life goes, Alquímico was recommended to us and we went. The drinks and ambience was great, but being New Years week, it was totally packed. I went with a friend to the bathroom downstairs from the second floor and we never made it back up the stairs passed the throng of people trying to get past the security guard. After leaving the bar, we were able to get a good local recommendation and we ended up at Delirium which we ended up going out to twice.
So before coming to Cartagena, we heard so much about the islands and the water and sand is better than Boca Grande beaches. We heard that the boats are really a taxi between the islands so while we were there we decided to forgo our original plan to rent a yacht, to rent an offshore speedboat to spend more time on the islands than on the water.
We rented snorkels and stopped at one location. It’s not the best snorkeling we’ve done, sadly. We stopped at Cholon. We got Pina Coladas, not blended because there were no blenders/ power for many of the stands selling food/ drinks. I’m also certain we got really light food poisoning from the pictured crab.
Also, we bought five lobsters, which were to be cooked at the restaurant at one of the Islands, and only three came out. We don’t know what happened with the other two. Disclaimer, we were also pretty lit by this point in the day. We also lost most of our day at the restaurant…I’m talking, three to four hours, waiting for the three lobsters to get cooked. We never made it to another island or snorkeling stop. On one hand we were glad we didn’t spend more on the boat, and on the other hand we wondered if we just splurged on a yacht, considering the size of the bills at each island, we would have had an overall better experience.
We had one of the best, most memorable days with our friends on the water. When you’re booking a boat trip, there are options that either “include everything” including staff, snacks, water, drinks, and other fees, and then there are some without that and you get charged after. There are yachts and speedboats. In our case the cost of the islands stops added up, and we might have spent the same money and gotten a nicer experience. It’s hard to say. We didn’t have a “bad” experience with the company we used but I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend them. So hopefully, if anything, this will help you select the right fit for what you’re looking for with all those things to take into consideration.
This story brings me to something else. The service, overall, at every coffee shop, restaurant, and bar was painfully slow in Cartagena whether our entire fourteen person group was waiting for food for three hours, or if just my husband and I were in an average Starbucks size line for coffee or cocktails, which would take 45 minutes to an hour. Apparently, after talking about it with friends who went not in a large group, or not during New Years, the Colombian coast runs on a little bit of an ‘island time’ kind of speed.
I mention this for itinerary purposes, so that you plan enough time between activities and meals, and maybe help you make better island hopping decisions than me, and to keep this in mind when reading reviews. You’ll notice a lot of the reviews that are negative mention the speed of service and that’s been our experience everywhere and not specific to certain restaurants. Quite a few places we enjoyed have bad reviews based on service.
Lastly, the Getsemani neighborhood in the walled city is an area I wish I spent more time in. I never got a chance to try the famous Cartagena coconut lemonade but I did get arepas, and fresh fruit from street vendors. The bougainvillea was beautiful and Getsemani is known as the “hipster” neighborhood. Here you’ll find the decorated alleyways Cartagena is known for, yummy restaurants and plenty of murals! A lot of the restaurants opened in the afternoon and we walked the neighborhood in the morning so we didn’t try too many places. It’s definitely a part of town I can’t wait to explore on our next trip.
Hope these help! Please subscribe to my mailing list!
