Fashionably Full's Guide to Cartagena Colombia
/Cartagena March 2019
I traveled to Cartagena to celebrate my BFF Veronica @Veronica.Victoriaa ‘s 30thbirthday! She planned a great girls trip with 3 of her best friends centered around exploring a new city and lots of delicious seafood. The old city was a colorful and lively city built within the historic remains of the walls that surrounded and guarded it. Cartagena played a major part in Colombia’s history protecting the country from invasions due to the large walls that encompassed its old city.
The Hotel:
We stayed at Casa Claver a beautiful boutique hotel located in the old city. The location was perfect and about a 10 minute walk to every place we wanted to go to within the walls of the old city. The hotel looks over the Dama’s Street, San Pedro Claver, Amagura, Landrinal and Old City.
The hotel was homey and warm we stayed in the Deluxe Loft 201, which was a two-bedroom apartment with two bathrooms, a laundry room and full kitchen. It was more than enough space for the 4 of us and felt like home. The hotel came with wifi and the best part was that breakfast was provided every morning! You had to order the night before from a breakfast menu and every day I ordered egg whites with a home made arepa with cheese. The meal was the perfect combo of healthy and indulgent.
The hotel had two pools, one on the first floor and one on a gorgeous rooftop. The rooftop pool was always sunny and had lounge chairs and some shade. Overall I would stay here again and highly recommend checking out Casa Claver if you are considering a trip to Cartagena!
The Food:
I ate such fresh sea bass & octopus every day! The food was fresh and light and I always left the meal feeling satisfied and not overly stuffed. One tip we did not realize is that you need a reservation for every restaurant! The hot spots rarely accept walk ins .
Below is in order of preference
Cuzco:This was my favorite meal. It was Peruvian food and absolutely delicious. The restaurant had live music and this was one of the best orders of octopus I had. I also had grilled artichokes and tomato’s and left very happy!
Blue Apple Beach: the cutest island hotel that offered an amazing meal that came with coconut rice and made to order blended drinks as well as a full coconut to stay hydrated! I ordered a grilled seabass with rice and plantains and I started with grilled artichokes with cheese.
Alma: Alma was delicious! It was more of an Americanized meal but had great options. I started with a spinach salad, which was amazing to get some veggies in, and then an amazing grilled octopus that came over truffle potato foam.
Maria: Maria was on a lively street next to many popular restaurants. Veronica and I ordered grilled octopus and sea bass to split and also had an amazing empanada. The restaurant was cozy but modern and had a great crowd,
Juan Del Mar: Another seafood restaurant located in the old city. I thought it was good but nothing amazing. Again I ordered octopus and of course ate the entire thing but the vibe of restaurant was not my favorite.
Carmen:We had lunch at Carmen and let me say I was not really impressed. I ordered another grilled octopus but it was not my favorite. It is known for its tasting menu and we decided to order a la carte so did not get to enjoy the full benefit of the restaurant.
Islands:
We spent 2 days out of the city. The first day we rented a private boat that took us to the Islands of Baru, Playa Blanca and a bunch of private islands where you could snorkel. At the island of Baru we had lunch where the menu was fresh fish and very plain.
We also spent the day at Blue Apple beach club and it was beautiful! Blue Apple is a private beach club that you needed to book in advance. It is a 30 minute boat ride from Cartagena and the perfect way to spend your day relaxing on the beach. There was a minimum spend of $100,000 COP for food and round trip boat was $85,000 COP. Overall I recommend looking into this as an option!
