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The Best Hotels to Book in Cartagena, Colombia

Cartagena, Colombia, is a vibrant fusion of colonial history and modern, cool culture
Cartagena, Colombia, is a vibrant fusion of colonial history and modern, cool culture | © Jesse Kraft / Alamy Stock Photo

With so much to do and see in this Colombian city, you’ll need a good place to rest your head while staying in Cartagena. From budget to high-end, here’s our list of the top hotels in the city.

Interested in visiting Cartagena but not sure where to stay or what to do? Consider joining Culture Trip’s specially curated eight-day Colombian Caribbean adventure, which includes four nights at a delightful hotel in the heart of the Walled City – and much more.

Casa India Catalina

Boutique Hotel

A hotel room with carved wood headboard and tiled floor.
 Courtesy of Casa India Catalina / Booking.com

A former private house with atmospheric decor, Casa India Catalina is located in Cartagena’s historic center. The house was remodelled into a Cartagena hotel Colombian artist Fernando Botero and his first wife, Gloria de Zea. This hotel has a wonderful intimate ambience as it only has 23 bedrooms, all featuring air conditioning, cable TV, free wifi and a minibar. All the rooms were given an incredible refit by the owners’ daughter, Lina, in 2013.

Casa del Coliseo Boutique Hotel

Boutique Hotel

A twin room with vaulted ceiling in a Cartagena hotel.
 Courtesy of Hotel Boutique Casa del Coliseo / Booking.com

Old school Cartagena elements met Miami modern style when interior designer Juan Carlos Arcila Duque renovated this 12-bedroom colonial house into a trendy boutique hotel in Cartagena. Located in a corner of Cartagena’s historic center, Casa del Coliseo functions as a private house and hotel, so if you came with a large party you could rent the whole property. Vintage and luxurious designs dominate the building, and all the while the hotel maintains an authentic feel. Split into apartments and rooms, the apartments have access to a rooftop pool and BBQ area.

Bantu Boutique Hotel

Boutique Hotel

A simple hotel room in rustic style in Cartagena.
 Courtesy of Bantu Hotel By Faranda Boutique / Booking.com

An extremely elegant five-star luxury hotel in Cartagena, the Bantu is housed in an 18th-century building located within the walled city. Large, spacious rooms have an edgy-yet-elegant feel with exposed bricks contrasting with traditional mosaic tiles and light marble bathrooms. Guests can relax in the impressive outdoor pool on the hotel’s roof terrace, a perfect place to kick back and escape the city’s activity. In the middle of the hotel there is a plant-filled courtyard, a solarium and a hot tub. Additionally, the hotel’s restaurant serves up authentic Colombian dishes.

Casa Blanca

Hotel

A modern hotel, Casa Blanca offers elegant rooms with beautiful antique furniture and granite bathrooms, showcasing a wonderful mix of old and new set in a huge colonial house. Boasting not one but two outdoor pools, and a rooftop bar with superb views of the city, guests can also escape the heat in the shady courtyard. The hotel terrace features a BBQ grill, and spa treatments and a laundry service are available on site.

Tcherassi Hotel & Spa

Boutique Hotel

Not only grand but also achingly cool, this hotel and spa is one of the hottest, trendiest and best places to stay in Cartagena. The hotel’s sleek interior design contrasts the original features of the building against contemporary elements. The rooms are equipped with all the mod-cons, and the hotel has its very own award-winning restaurant which serves delicious fusion cuisine.

Casa La Fe

Hotel

A simple hotel room in rustic style with shutter doors opening to a terrace.
 Courtesy of Casa La Fe by BespokeColombia / Expedia

Casa La Fe is a lovely four-star hotel run by a British-Colombian pair. This boutique hotel has a relaxed and friendly vibe, and boasts an exotic, plant-filled interior courtyard and a spacious rooftop with its very own hot tub. Stay at one of the slightly higher-priced rooms and you’ll be treated to a balcony overlooking Plaza Fernandez de Madrid. The hotel offers free bike hire for those brave enough to endure the city’s heat.

Centro Hotel

Hotel

A bed in a hotel room with a side table with a phone on it and a wall-mounted lamp.
 Courtesy of Centro Hotel / Expedia

This is not a luxurious hotel but doesn’t claim to be, and when it comes to a good location, Centro Hotel has just about the best in town. A simple and clean hotel, Centro Hotel is perfectly located just a few steps from Plaza de Bolívar, one of the main squares within the walled city. The well-maintained rooms feature beautiful tiled floors, and each room forms part of a circle around an old courtyard which serves as the center of the house. Prices for the rooms include a continental-style buffet breakfast, which includes some traditional Colombian dishes.

Sofitel Legend Santa Clara

Hotel

A chic, rustic four poster bed in a contemporary hotel room in Cartagena.
 Courtesy of Sofitel Legend Santa Clara Cartagena / Booking.com
If you’re looking to stay in the finest hotel in Cartagena, try Sofitel Santa Clara. Located in the old town’s most iconic square, this hotel was once a convent and has now been transformed into a five-star hotel featuring four bars and the largest pool in the city’s old town. Luxurious yet effortlessly classy, this hotel provides an outstanding accommodation experience. While it isn’t cheap, this is a hotel like no other in Cartagena, offering a perfect blend between colonial architecture and modern comforts. Come and enjoy their first-class spa.

A Tres Pasos de la Havana

Boutique Hotel, Hotel

A modern hotel room with traditional tiled walls and floors and modern furniture.
 Courtesy of A Tres Pasos de la Havana / Expedia
Owned by Bogotá-based designers Meteoro Studio, it is no surprise that this hotel is stylish, yet this semi-secret boutique hotel in Cartagena is so much more than just aesthetically pleasing. A 200-year-old building contrasts with modern furniture and bright and colorful floral designs in a fusion of old and new that gives this hotel a unique air. Located just a few paces from the famous salsa club Café Havana (hence the name), the hotel has its roots in the colorful and fun barrio of Getsemani, ensuring that guests staying here have no shortage of places to eat, drink and dance all on its doorstep.

Casa San Agustin

Luxury, Boutique Hotel

A chic, contemporary hotel room with wood beamed ceiling and large bed.
 Courtesy of Hotel Casa San Agustin / Booking.com

This game-changing, luxury boutique hotel in the heart of Cartagena’s historic Centro has put superior service and a designer flourish at the heart of its award-winning formula to stand out from Cartagena’s many rivals. Central to its colonial charm is the impressive up-lit, L-shaped swimming pool that flows through a towering 300-year-old aqueduct and the lingering scent of jasmine piped through the property.

Alfiz Hotel Boutique

Boutique Hotel

A hotel room with contemporary style and an exposed stone wall.
 Courtesy of Alfiz Hotel Boutique / Expedia

Located in the heart of the historic walled city, each of Alfiz Hotel Boutique’s affordable suites reflects a different period from Cartagena’s glorious past. It may not be as salubrious as some of the luxury hotels that followed in its old town footsteps, but it achieves a level of authenticity that few of the newer boutique retreats can match. The hotel’s Colombian-Swedish owners scoured the city’s antique stores for original period furniture to make it the old town’s most bona fide gateway to the past.

Blue Apple Beach House

Guesthouse

A contemporary hotel room with a blue wall and bold modern artwork and a stone tiled floor.
 Courtesy of Blue Apple Beach House / Expedia

This tasteful, 10-room boutique on the beach in Tierra Bomba is leading Cartagena’s island resorts towards a more regenerative approach to travel. With an organic veggie patch and an award-winning recycling and social-impact program, there are plenty of reasons to feel good about staying in one of the hotel’s designer cabins. Not least, the ability to opt out of the hotel’s party vibe with a soak in your private hot tub, paired with one of Blue Apple’s sensational cocktails (try the Cartagena mule), and the best beachfront menu in the city.

Casa Cochera del Gobernador

Hotel, Boutique Hotel

A chic and contemporary hotel room with an arched brick ceiling, armchair and a large bed with button-tufted headboard.
 Courtesy of Casa Cochera del Gobernador / Expedia

One of a handful of hotels in Cartagena operated by the OXO hotels group, this 12-bedroom boutique hotel in the heart of Cartagena’s historic center blends serene white rooms with dreamy full-length curtains and high ceilings. It’s all very modern, but touches of the old world remain in the occasional exposed brick wall, wood beam and pitted cave-like ensuite. Like many Cartagena hotels, it’s centred around a courtyard: here, doubling as the Don Blas bar and bursting with tropical plants. Elsewhere, there’s also a small rooftop pool and spa.

Casa Pizarro Hotel Boutique

Boutique Hotel, Budget Hotel

A twin hotel room with brightly striped bed spreads.
 Courtesy of Casa Pizarro Hotel Boutique / Expedia

Perfectly placed in a leafy corner of hip and happening Getsemani, Casa Pizarro is an unfussy colonial-era treat. Enriched by the buzz of local life in Colombia’s coolest neighbourhood, Casa Pizarro delivers plenty of bang for your buck – especially if you bag one of the suites with a hot tub at the back of the house. A small pool, panoramic terrace, massages and rooftop Jacuzzi with views of the city up the indulgence even further.

Charleston Santa Teresa

Hotel

Washed blue walls and contemporary furniture make a glamorous hotel suite at this Cartagena hotel
 Courtesy of Charleston Santa Teresa / Expedia

From breakfast in Charleston Santa Teresa’s expansive, colonial courtyard to a sunset soak in a rooftop infinity pool – with winning views of the city’s cupolas – this landmark property offers plenty of old-town allure without the need to stray too far from your four-poster bed. With the most spacious spa in the old town, this converted police station will keep you chained to the city’s charming clutches.

Sophia Hotel

Hotel

A simple hotel room with contemporary dark wood furniture and a large bed.
 Courtesy of Sophia Hotel / Expedia

Sundowners at the picture-perfect rooftop pool are the secret sauce that make this petite property in Cartagena’s historic center so popular with both business travelers and honeymooners. As well as the lounger-lined rooftop spot, there’s also Vinoteca Aduana, a bottle-adorned wine bar and restaurant, where grilled pulpo with paprika and pesto-topped balls of buffalo mozzarella are chased back with regional tipples.

Additional reporting by Eve Bidmead
Looking for more great places to stay in Colombia? Check out our pick of the best hotels in Colombia for every traveler, bookable on Culture Trip.

About the author

UK-born Rainbow fell in love with Latin America in his early 20s and is now based in Cartagena, Colombia. He's since become part of the city's time-worn, tirelessly pretty furniture, founding two travel companies that put Colombia's colonial charms on the map. In between travelling the length and breadth of South America – interviewing presidents, sports stars, footballers, designers and film directors – he's also the author of The Memory of Pablo Escobar,, a producer of documentaries and an in-the-know destination specialist for Culture Trip.

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