Things to Do in Cartagena: Islands, Sunsets and the Getsemaní Streets
The Cartagena tours worth booking: Rosario Islands and Tierra Bomba beach clubs compared, sunset sails, walking tours, San Felipe, cooking classes and the mud volcano.
Cartagena is a city where the walled old town does the postcard work and almost everything you actually book happens on the water or just outside the walls. I have already mapped out where to sleep in my where to stay in Cartagena guide; this is the other half, the days themselves. I have not filmed Cartagena yet, but the recent traveler reports converge fast on what is worth the money and what is a tourist trap, and a couple of things changed in 2025 that most older guides still get wrong, starting with the sunset. This is the version of the trip I would book from what visitors keep saying through 2025 and 2026.
Out on the water: islands and beach clubs
The single thing to understand about Cartagena is that its city beaches are grey and vendor-heavy, so the clear turquoise water everyone pictures is reached by boat. There are three ways to get it, and the reports rate them very differently.
Three things worth booking
The clear waterRosario Islands beach-club day
A day pass to a fixed beach club on the Rosario archipelago, boat and lunch included, instead of a rushed island-hop. Pick a specific club over a dock-tout party boat, and bring cash for the park tax.
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Closest escapeTierra Bomba beach club
Only 10 to 20 minutes across the bay, clubs like Fénix and Blue Apple give you clean water, a pool and the old-city skyline without the long Rosario boat ride. The easy half-day beach fix.
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Golden hourSunset sail on the bay
Ninety minutes past the skyline and the walls as the light goes gold, most boats with an open bar. The one reliably cool hour of the day, turned into the evening's main event.
Book thisThe Rosario Islands are the headline, a national-park archipelago about 45 minutes to an hour offshore where the water finally turns clear. The market splits into loud party boats that hop five islands and end at the Cholón floating party, calmer catamarans, and fixed beach-club day passes at named clubs like Bora Bora, Isla del Encanto and Gente de Mar. Recent travelers overwhelmingly prefer picking one beach club over the cheapest dock tour, which is where the hidden-fee and oversold-boat complaints cluster. Whatever you book, everyone pays a national park tax in cash at the dock or a floating checkpoint, and the exact figure keeps changing between sources, so carry around 45,000 pesos in small bills and expect it not to be included. Boats leave the Muelle de la Bodeguita between about 8 and 9am and have to turn back by roughly 3pm when the afternoon swell builds.
For a shorter day, Tierra Bomba is the trend the 2026 reports keep flagging: an island just 10 to 20 minutes across the bay, where beach clubs like Fénix and Blue Apple sell day passes with the boat, a welcome drink and lunch, and you look back at the old-city skyline while you swim. It is the antidote to Playa Blanca on Barú, which recent visitors increasingly warn against for its crowds, aggressive vendors and overcharging. If you do go to Playa Blanca for the cheap white sand, go before 9:30am or after 3pm and agree every price first.
The walled city and Getsemaní
Back on land, the old town is best on foot, and the two neighborhoods reward different walks. The walled city, Centro and San Diego, is the colonial showpiece; Getsemaní, just outside, is the street-art and plaza-life quarter that has become the heart of the city's evenings.
Three ways to see the old city
First-morning moveGetsemaní walking tour
The murals, the umbrella streets and the history of the barrio, on foot. Tip-based free tours run daily and book up; do this early to make sense of the rest of the trip, then wander back after dark.
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Go at openingCastillo San Felipe fortress
The largest fort Spain built in the Americas, with tunnels you can walk. Come right at opening or after 4pm; the ramps have zero shade and the midday climb is punishing. Bring cash for entry.
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Go guidedBazurto market food tour
The real, chaotic market where the city eats, best seen with a guide who navigates the maze and orders for you. Solo visitors consistently report feeling overwhelmed; a tour turns it into the trip's best meal.
Book thisWalking tours are the efficient first move, and the tip-based free tours of Getsemaní, run by outfits gathering under colored umbrellas near the Camellón de los Mártires, are genuinely good; budget 30,000 to 50,000 pesos per person as a tip. The Castillo San Felipe de Barajas is the other must, the biggest Spanish fort in the Americas, and the tactical advice is unanimous: go at opening or late afternoon because the stone holds no shade, and duck into the tunnels to cool off. Entry has hovered around 33,000 to 36,000 pesos, though some 2026 reports say it rose, so bring about 50,000 in cash.
One thing worth knowing before you plan your evenings: the famous Café del Mar on the walls closed in September 2024, and the bastion reopened in May 2025 as Baluarte de la Gente, a heritage-training project with free public access from 4 to 11pm. Every older guide still tells you to pay its cover charge; you no longer can, and the wall is effectively open again for a free sunset. The photogenic palenqueras, the women in fruit-basket dresses around Plaza de la Proclamación, now ask around 20,000 pesos per person for a photo, so agree the price and how many of them are in the frame before you shoot.
Eat, cook and dance the city
The food is a real reason to come, and coming from a Japanese family I care a lot about how a place handles its seafood; the citrus-cured Caribbean ceviche here is its own tradition, worth comparing back to back with the Peruvian school. A guided street-food tour is the efficient way to learn the map on your first evening, walking between stalls for arepa de huevo, patacón con suero, fresh fruit and cold Kola Román, and the recurring named operators run small groups for around 30 to 50 dollars. If you would rather make it yourself, a cooking class in the old city is one of the highest-rated experiences in town, several set on Getsemaní rooftops facing the walls. And if the champeta and salsa spilling out of the plazas gets you, a dance class with a school like Crazy Salsa turns an hour of it into something you can actually do.
The half-day novelties, honestly
Two trips split opinion, and both come down to expectations. The El Totumo mud volcano, 45 to 60 minutes north, is a genuine novelty: you climb a wooden ladder into a warm mud crater and float. Inside there is a tip economy for photos, a "massage" and the rinse-off in the lagoon, and the queue at peak can hit half an hour. Recent visitors who framed it as a fun, slightly absurd morning enjoyed it; those expecting authenticity did not. Newer 2025 and 2026 tours pair El Totumo with the Galerazamba pink salt flats to make the drive earn its place, which is the version I would book if I did it at all. Bazurto market, covered in the picks above, is the other one: extraordinary with a guide, overwhelming without.
Where to base yourself, and the scams to sidestep
Where you sleep shapes how easily you reach all of this, and I have broken the neighborhoods down in full in the where to stay in Cartagena guide: the short version is that a walled-city or Getsemaní base puts the walking tours, the sunset walls and the island docks within reach on foot. A few warnings recur across recent reports, worth internalizing before you book anything. Skip the street and dock touts selling sub-25-dollar island tours, which is where the hidden fees and no-shows live. At the airport, insist on pesos, since a common trick is agreeing "30" and then demanding 30 US dollars against a fare that should be around 45,000 pesos; use Uber or InDrive or the posted zone fares. In Getsemaní at night, the main corridors are fine until around midnight but the constant low-level drug offers end with a firm "no gracias." And in bars and beach shacks, photograph the menu and ask for an itemized bill, because verbal-quote inflation is the oldest game in town.
A simple two-day plan
Day one is the old city on foot before the heat: a morning Getsemaní walking tour, a long lunch, a siesta through the worst of the afternoon, then the Castillo San Felipe near closing and the free sunset from Baluarte de la Gente on the walls, with a street-food crawl after dark. Day two is the water: a beach-club day out to the Rosario Islands or a shorter hop to Tierra Bomba, back by late afternoon, and a sunset sail on the bay to close it. If you have a third day, add a cooking class or the mud-volcano-and-salt-flats combo, or start moving on: Cartagena pairs naturally with the mountains, and I have covered where to stay in Medellín for the next leg.
Practical notes I would tell a friend
- Book a specific Rosario beach club or a small catamaran, not a dock-tout party boat, and carry about 45,000 pesos cash for the park tax.
- For a shorter beach day, cross to Tierra Bomba instead of committing to the full Rosario trip or the crowded Playa Blanca.
- Do the Castillo San Felipe at opening or after 4pm, and use the tunnels to escape the heat.
- Watch the sunset free from Baluarte de la Gente on the walls; Café del Mar is closed and you no longer need to pay a cover.
- Agree the palenquera photo price, and how many women are in the frame, before you take the shot.
- See Bazurto market with a guide, not solo, and treat a street-food tour as your first-night orientation.
- Insist on peso prices with airport taxis, and photograph bar and beach menus before you order.
I have leaned entirely on recent travelers for this one, and Cartagena changes fast, with beach clubs, tour operators and even the sunset spots shifting season to season. If you have been more recently and something here has moved, tell me and I will update it. But if you are booking now: pick one island or beach club rather than the cheapest boat, walk the old city early, and let the free sunset on the walls be the reward for surviving the afternoon heat. For where to sleep, the full breakdown is in my where to stay in Cartagena guide.
Frequently asked
What are the best things to do in Cartagena?
A boat day to the Rosario Islands or a Tierra Bomba beach club, a walking tour of the walled city and Getsemaní, sunset from the old city walls, and the Castillo San Felipe fortress. Add a Bazurto market food tour or a cooking class if you care about the food, and the El Totumo mud volcano if you want a novelty half-day. The islands and the sunset are the two most people remember.
Are the Rosario Islands worth it, and which tour should I take?
Yes, because the clear Caribbean water Cartagena's own beaches lack is out there. Skip the cheapest dock-tout party boats and pick a specific beach club day pass or a small catamaran, roughly 60 to 130 dollars including the boat and lunch. Bring around 45,000 pesos in cash for the park tax, which is almost never included, and know that boats have to head back by about 3pm.
What is the closest beach to Cartagena worth visiting?
Tierra Bomba, a 10 to 20 minute boat ride from the city, has become the go-to alternative to the crowded Playa Blanca. Beach clubs like Fénix and Blue Apple sell day passes around 55 to 75 dollars including the boat, a welcome drink and lunch, with the old-city skyline across the water. It is the easiest clean-water day if you don't want the full Rosario Islands commitment.
Where is the best sunset in Cartagena now that Café del Mar closed?
Café del Mar on the walls closed in September 2024. The bastion it sat on reopened in May 2025 as Baluarte de la Gente, a heritage project with free public access from 4 to 11pm, so you can now watch the sunset from that stretch of wall without a cover charge. A sunset sail on the bay is the paid alternative, and the walls near Las Bóvedas are free anywhere.
How much does the Castillo San Felipe cost and when should I go?
Foreign adult entry has been around 33,000 to 36,000 pesos, though some 2026 reports say it has risen, so bring about 50,000 pesos in cash. Go right at opening in the morning or after about 4pm: the stone ramps have no shade and the midday heat is brutal, while the tunnels are the cool escape. An audio guide or a guided tour costs extra.
Is the El Totumo mud volcano worth it?
It depends on your mindset. It is a novelty, a 45 to 60 minute drive north where you climb into a warm mud crater, and inside there is a tip economy for photos, a massage and a rinse-off. Recent visitors who enjoyed it went in expecting a fun, slightly absurd half-day; those expecting something authentic were disappointed. Newer tours pair it with the Galerazamba pink salt flats to make the drive worthwhile.
Do you need to book Cartagena tours in advance?
Book the popular island day passes, sunset sails and cooking classes ahead in high season, when Cartagena fills up. Avoid the street and dock touts selling cheap island tours; recent travelers report hidden fees, oversold boats and occasional no-shows. Booking online or through your hotel is the reliable route, and free walking tours require signing up in advance too.
