Cartagena, Colombia Cruise Port

This port caught us totally by surprise because it wasn't what we were expecting at all. It's a little Miami in the new town - all white condo buildings and sky scrapers. And in the old town, the walled city is a must see! There was so much history to hear about see. The only downfall was the unrelenting vendors trying to sell us hats and everything else, they never stopped! But upon return to the cruise ship terminal, there's a free small zoo and Juan Valdez store and they were so nice to go through before getting back on the ship - macaws, peacocks, black swans, pink flamingos!

Visited: Apr 08, 2018

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I booked a tour with a local company - Dora de Zubiria http://www.cartagenatour.com and they were fabulous. Four of us did the tour and we had a driver and guide. We were only in port for a short day so had a 4 hour tour of this amazing city. Starting at the Convent of Santa Cruz which is on the highest hill, we were able to see the whole city, including where the ship was. We had a short stop at the Castillo de San Filipe de Barajas, a huge fortress built in the 16th century. Then on to markets before arriving at the Old Town. We had a walking tour here which was brilliant. The buildings are all painted in amazing colours and bougainvillea flows over walls adding to the splendour. You can take a horse drawn carriage tour here. We went in a number of buildings and finished on the top of the wall that surrounds the city.

Visited: Apr 20, 2014

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Exclusion with Dora the Explorer is great. City tour hits all the city highlights and is expertly run by a experienced guide. Cheaper than ship tour.

We did not take tour because we heard that the locals were extremely harassing and the tours were expensive. We did leave ship and went to the terminals where they had a great free wild animal sanctuary where there all kinds of birds, peacocks, deer and different kinds of monkeys. It was really great! The store there also had a great variety of items for sale and very reasonable.

Visited: Apr 19, 2018

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The old city was wonderful....lots of good bargains, friendly people! Emerald factory, Caribe, was amazing and reasonable!

Visited: Mar 08, 2017

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