Hi there,
After Bogotá and Medellín seemed horrible to us, I just wanted to catch a plane and leave that country in terror. Since Diego was visiting Colombia for the first time, it was a shame that he left without seeing the coastal area, especially since we were never going to return to that country again.
We were between visiting Santa Marta and Cartagena and in the end, we decided to go only to Cartagena because Santa Marta didn’t even have normal accommodations for a long stay.
The area in which we stayed in theory is the best in Cartagena, but the streets and sidewalks were all broken, there was garbage everywhere, insecurity and a lot of homelessness.
Starting from the fact that the beaches of Cartagena are ugly, the idea was to see the Walled City.
The first thing I should highlight is that the pollution in Cartagena is the same as in Bogotá and Medellín, the only thing that improves is the temperature.
Let me explain you the experience by points:
Carelessness and dirt
Since we arrived, we noticed that the city was just as neglected and dirty. There was no street or sidewalk that was not full of holes. In addition to going out and breathing smoke all the time, you came home with legs black from the dirt on the streets.
In addition, all of Cartagena smells like pee; it’s like the whole city is a public toilet. Really, it’s amazing that there isn’t a corner that doesn’t smell like this. In fact, the San Felipe de Barajas Castle, which is a closed tourist place with surveillance, had many parts that smelled the same. We even found a drunk sleeping inside.
Unsafety
I have never felt so insecure in my life in any other country. I was hoping that Cartagena would be different due to the large influx of tourists they have, but no.
In fact, to walk up to the Santa Cruz de la Popa Convent, we had to ask the police to accompany us after 6 locals told us not to go alone because we were going to get robbed.
Prices
Accommodations in Cartagena are absurdly expensive considering the poor quality, the ugly beaches, the dilapidated state of everything and the great insecurity.
The accommodation we booked was $800 a week, but I saw normal apartments that cost $6,000 and $8,000 a month, and we’re not talking about luxury.
Tour prices are also quite expensive.
Harassment of the tourist
At every corner and every step you take, you are harassed by vendors. They yell at you, they chase you, they pull your arm; nor in Vietnam and Cambodia was it so extreme. Luckily, we made the visits very early because during the afternoon and at night it is much worse. In fact, in all the reviews I read, they complained about the same thing.
Junk tourism
Tourism in Cartagena is like that of the Mexican Caribbean: alcohol, drugs, and sex. Starting from here, you can already imagine the kind of people that visit the city and the state in which everything is.
There are many famous tours that you must do by boat, and we ruled them out because on the dock there were only marginal people with loud music and endless cases of beer and bottles of alcohol. Many people arrived already drunk at 9am.
Noise
Bogotá and Medellín were already very noisy, but Cartagena took the biggest prize.
The first thing is that everyone is honking the horn on the street even if there is no traffic. In addition, taxis and motorcycle taxis go all the time honking horns in case someone calls them. So, we are not talking about a normal noise of cars driving.
To this we must add the loud music that is in most places and the party buses that pass throughout the city.
Think that we were on a 28th floor with good quality windows that insulated the noise well and it was still unbearable.
Beaches and accessibility
As I have already been telling you in other posts, in Colombia you cannot do anything on your own. In other words, you cannot walk anywhere, you cannot rent a car to visit more distant places, you cannot go hiking alone in the mountains, because this will result in being robbed or killed.
There are islands that can only be reached by boat, but the absurd thing is that the most famous beaches that are not islands must also be visited by boat.
We started searching on Google Maps to see if we could go to one by taxi. As you can see on the map, the little road that there is leads to a kind of town that seemed to be a slum and then there was no way to go from there to the beach area.
I mean, you can’t access the beautiful beaches by land because not even Google knows the state of those roads and because they will surely kill you trying. You can look for Playa Blanca and Playa Barú on the map and you will understand what I am telling you.
We also saw all the photos of the most famous beaches and that also discouraged us from visiting any of them because they seem to be in the same state as the beaches of the Mexican Caribbean. The beaches that we saw near our accommodation were already disgusting.
In fact, one of the most important beaches in Cartagena is Playa de Bocagrande and it is the most horrible, dirty, and crowded thing you can imagine. To this we must add the innumerable jet skis, boats and other “water sports”.
In general, Cartagena is not a worthwhile destination because of the type of tourism it has, because of the decaying state of everything and because of the insecurity. If you like tranquility, nature, cleanliness and doing things on your own, this is not the place for you.
It’s a shame because the Walled City could be beautiful if it were well cared for and clean. The walls are impressive and very well preserved. Getsemaní is an area that I loved because it is the only bit of Cartagena that was clean, cared for, and without vendors. I had good memories of when I was there, but the decline is very noticeable.
Also, if you go to Cartagena, you are completely limited, you can only stay in the tourist area, and you cannot leave there unless it is with a tour or a taxi.
In terms of time, a week was a lot. If you go only for tourism, two days are more than enough to see the most important things. Even so, Cartagena was the best thing we saw in Colombia.
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