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Cartagena is one of those Spanish Colonial cities that seems to be built with the traveler in mind. Behind the fortress walls are narrow streets, large plazas, 17th-century churches, and row after of charming restaurants, boutique shops, and salsa dance clubs. The fortress reminded me of Old San Juan while the streets of Old Town Cartagena felt similar to the French Quarter of New Orleans. I loved strolling and taking photos of the colorful adobe-like homes and the lush tropical foliage like bougainvillea flowing from the terraces. An added bonus to Cartagena is the long stretch of beach and warm waters to swim. You can choose to stay in the Old Town at the historic Sofitel Cartagena Santa Clara<\/a> or the smaller boutique property, Movich Cartagena<\/a>, with its glorious views of the city at night from its rooftop bar and pool. But I wanted to be right on the beach, so instead chose to stay at the Intercontinental Cartagena de Indias<\/a> in the newer Bocagrande section of the city. I loved waking up to their breakfast buffet (juicy mangoes were in season when I was there in early June) and going to the outdoor terrace to look out over the expanse of water. It was also a joy to return to the hotel after a day of sightseeing (the Old Town is only a 5-minute Uber or Taxi) and sip mojitos in the infinity pool, with those same breathtaking views. The temperatures were much hotter and more humid than Medellin since you’re back at sea level, ideal for a winter or late fall getaway. <\/p>\n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Allure of Cartagena - Active Travels<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Allure of Cartagena - Active Travels\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cartagena is one of those Spanish Colonial cities that seems to be built with the traveler in mind. Behind the fortress walls are narrow streets, large plazas, 17th-century churches, and row after of charming restaurants, boutique shops, and salsa dance clubs. The fortress reminded me of Old San Juan while the streets of Old Town...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/activetravels.ibec.me\/archives\/6426\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Active Travels\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/activetravels\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-20T11:00:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/activetravels.ibec.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Home-Page-Top-Photo-add-Let-us-take-you-there-heading.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1536\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Jermanok\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Jermanok\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/activetravels.ibec.me\/archives\/6426#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/activetravels.ibec.me\/archives\/6426\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Steve Jermanok\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/activetravels.ibec.me\/#\/schema\/person\/77b14e74586df26d3c691dca9cebca4b\"},\"headline\":\"The Allure of Cartagena\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-20T11:00:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-20T11:00:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/activetravels.ibec.me\/archives\/6426\"},\"wordCount\":270,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/activetravels.ibec.me\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/activetravels.ibec.me\/archives\/6426#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"articleSection\":[\"ActiveTravels | get up & go!\",\"Urban Adventure\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/activetravels.ibec.me\/archives\/6426#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/activetravels.ibec.me\/archives\/6426\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/activetravels.ibec.me\/archives\/6426\",\"name\":\"The Allure of Cartagena - 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Cartagena is one of those Spanish Colonial cities that seems to be built with the traveler in mind. Behind the fortress walls are narrow streets, large plazas, 17th-century churches, and row after of charming restaurants, boutique shops, and salsa dance clubs. The fortress reminded me of Old San Juan while the streets of Old Town…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-default-site","category-urban-adventure"],"yoast_head":"\n