A city that always celebrates its present and does not fail to remember its past. A city accredited as World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1984. Cartagena de Indias is Colombia’s main tourist resort and leading port on the Caribbean Sea, as well as the foremost site for international gatherings at any level within the meeting industry, may they be summits, conventions, congresses, ambassadorial, governmental, industrial or businesses engagements.
Cartagena de Indias, valuating its imposing Spanish Colonial Architecture, has been able to magically combine its historical sites with the needs of contemporary existence, offering visitors a unique setting within the Caribbean Area. Behind the walls of Cartagena peacefulness, romanticism, history and enjoyment may be inhaled. It is also an unparalleled environment for businesses, that due to its location, it has been conventionally reassigned into a strategic meeting point.
History
Founded in 1533 by the Spanish Conqueror Don Pedro de Heredia, Cartagena became the starting and finishing point of the route of the galleons between the Iberian Peninsula and the New World. To defend it from corsair and buccaneer attacks, the most imposing fortified stronghold in the Americas was built, an encirclement conformed by 21 bastions, walls with a length of 11 kilometers, 7 forts, 13 military batteries, 3 breakwater ramparts, 14 cloisters, churches, colonial convents, 7 museums, as well as 15 parks and historical squares. It was accredited as World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1984.
Nature
But Cartagena’s attractiveness is not only due to its history. The city proffers 50 exotic islands within a range of 40 minutes by boat, 6 ecological reservations and 18,000 hectares of maritime and sub-maritime natural parks, in addition to its extensive beaches. It is a delight to explore the rich Caribbean flora at the Botanical Garden, to visit some of the crocodile and alligator farms, or to take pleasure in the healthy effects of mud at the Gourd Volcano.
Gastronomy and night life
Cartagena de Indias is a unique experience with regards to gastronomy. Visitors may enjoy a wide variety of fusion cuisine at restaurants and coffee venues featured by Bay Shore, in open-air Colonial Squares, at a fort’s tower or at the contemporary town. From dishes inspired by a maritime tradition, melted with the Caribbean coconut, mango or plantains, to meals with Arab influence, are some of the delicacies proffered by Cartagena.
Bars and discos located on ruins, bastions and historical squares, are the venues to have fun all night and to stare at the spectacular day-breaks that take place in Cartagena.
Sports
Cartagena proffers tennis, golf and mini-golf, as well as nautical sports such as fishing, scuba diving, water skiing and windsurfing. It also provides family activities, such as visits to Rosario Islands, an exotic archipelago located only at a 40 minutes boat ride from Cartagena, where marvels of the sea-world may be witnessed, as well as an impressive show at the aquarium with dolphins and sharks.
Shopping
At Bocagrande and El Laguito areas, or within the old city, visitors may come across all kind of stores to fall into temptations. Along the streets individuals might find from colorful regional handicrafts to international designer’s sophisticated attires, as well of course, as to the emblematic products of Colombia: coffee and emeralds.
History
Nature
Gastronomy and night life
Sports