Cartagena Walking Tour – My Experience

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Even though I lived there for over a decade, I actually had never done a formal walking tour in Cartagena.

So, I wanted to make sure I did one on our recent visit in the summer of 2024 to determine if doing a Cartagena walking tour is in fact worth recommending on this site.

I would say yes, doing a walking tour in Cartagena, Colombia is definitely worth it, and I would recommend it.

I thought my tour was well done and informative. I even learned a few new things despite considering myself pretty well versed in Cartagena’s history.

So, I definitely encourage you to include a Cartagena, Colombia walking tour on your agenda during a visit. In this post, I’ll share what I enjoyed about the Cartagena walking tour I did and also share some alternative options if you want to shop around.

Why Do a Cartagena Walking Tour?

I’ll be honest, I used to think doing things like walking tours were cheesy, tourist trap activities.

The truth is I like to take my time stopping for photos or looking at things sometimes However, I can get impatient waiting for others to do the same. In other words, I tend to like to go at my own pace.

I also enjoy reading about a place’s history and culture before visiting and visiting museums on my own so I can take my time to read and look at everything I want.

For those reasons, I thought I wouldn’t get much out of walking tours of Cartagena or eslewhere. In fact, I usually avoided guided tours in general.

However, I’ve lived and learned, and well, probably just grown up a little bit.

We did some walking tours in New York, Mexico, and elsewhere, and I became a bigger fan of doing them.

They are really good ways to get introduced to a place and pick up facts and tips you might not get on your own, even when you have a wife who indulges you reading everything in the museums.

So, I think doing a Cartagena walking tour is absolutely worth it!

It’s a great way to get your bearings and learn the major landmarks, learn some history and culture, and get a few tips on other things to do.

The Cartagena Walking Tour I Did

I booked the Cartagena: Historic Center and Getsemaní Shared Walking Tour via GetYourGuide.

You can also book it on Viator.

It is a combined Cartagena Old City walking tour and Getsemaní walking tour, so it really gives you a very good introduction to the main areas of the city where you’ll probably spend most of your time.

I did the morning tour, but they also offer an afternoon tour.

The same company also operates a well regarded street food tour.

Alternative Walking Tours in Cartagena

If you want something that goes at your own pace, you can also book a private walking tour with my partner travel agency.

They also offer a complete private Cartagena City Tour, which includes transportation and entry fees to the Castillo San Felipe and Popa Monastery as well as a walking tour of the Walled City, a great way to pack a lot into half a day. If you do that tour, you might consider adding a separate walking tour of Getsemaní on with it or you could combine Getsemaní with the Bazurto City Market.

Use the code ExploreColombia20 to get 20% off either of those and any other tour in their catalog.

Here are a few more Cartagena walking tour options if you want to compare:

• Private Tour with the Same Company I Did My Tour With on GetYourGuide
• Private Tour with the Same Company on Viator
• Shared Walking Tour of Walled City and Getsemaní on GetYourGuide

Are There Any Cartagena Free Walking Tours?

There are free walking tours in Cartagena.

In fact, the tour I did is technically a free Cartagena walking tour. I booked online and paid, but basically I was prepaying my tip.

I thought doing that was more convenient, and the price I prepaid was very reasonable, so much that I still gave my guides another small tip after my tour. Honestly, booking this paid version was still cheaper than the other shared tours I considered.

I’ll go into more details below, but I really enjoyed it, thought it was a good value, liked that ability to prepay and definitely recommend it.

Again you can book it via GetYourGuide or via Viator.

There are some other free walking tours in Cartagena too. I have not done them to compare, so I can’t say for sure what the best free walking tour in Cartagena is, but I was more than satisfied with mine, and I really liked the ability to pre-tip.

You can reserve a spot on this free Cartagena Walled City walking tour or on this free Getsemaní walking tour online ahead of time.

My Experience Doing a Walking Tour in Cartagena

I met up with my tour group on the Camellón de los Martires, just outside the Clocktower just before 10 am.

They check everyone in, and divide into separate groups for Spanish tour and the Cartagena walking tour in English.

There are always vendors out here selling water, and hats, both of which they say are necessary. I would agree with them on the water thing. So, if you didn’t bring some with you, you might want to pick some up. There are plenty of other vendors along the of of this Cartagena Old Town walking tour’s route too.

There were two guides in our group, a main guide who led the tour and did all the speaking, and another who brought up the rear and made sure no one got left behind.

Our main guide and tour leader was Dani, a Cartagena native. Her English was great, she was very knowledgeable, and I could tell she was passionate about sharing Cartagena’s history and culture.

Dani started our tour off with some basics about Cartagena and Colombia, including a mini-crash course in Spanish with some common Colombian slang and a few phrases particular to the Caribbean costeñol Spanish of Cartagena.

We then began our our walking tour of Cartagena’s Walled City, passing through the historic gates under the clocktower and into the Plaza de los Coches to learn more about the city’s founding and conquest of the indigenous peoples while looking at the statue of conquistador Pedro de Heredía.

We made a stop at the Portal de los Dulces, where we all got to try a cocada, or traditional coconut patty, compliments of Daniela while also learning a bit about them and other street foods, not to mention enjoying a few moments of shade!

Actually, I thought the stops along the tour did a good job incorporating shade and breaks from the hot Cartagena sun.

We then stopped overlooking the Plaza de la Aduana to learn about more about colonial era Colombia before making another stop in front of the San Pedro Claver Church to learn about its namesake and the history of slavery in Cartagena.

Next, we headed up to a section of the walls overlooking bay, where we learned about some of the attacks on Cartagena by the British and others as well as about the walls and fortifications.

In a nice touch, Dani also did a trivia quiz question here with the winner getting an ice cold beer.

I actually won, although I promise I waited to see if anyone else who hadn’t spent a decade living in the city was going to answer first.

Since no one seemed to know the answer, I couldn’t let a good beer go to waste!

In all fairness, I swear I actually did not know the answer before the tour and it was one of the things I learned. I won’t spoil it here in case she repeats that question, but just make sure you listen closely!

We made another stop by the Parque Bolívar and the Palacio de la Inquisición, where we learned about the history of the Inquisition in Cartagena as well as some background on Simón Bolívar and his role in Colombia’s Independence and Cartagena’s Independence.

We then headed back out of the gates at the Clocktower towards Getsemaní, stopping in the Parque del Centenario to learn a bit more about the struggle for independence and its aftermath for Colombia and Cartagena.

Dani told us about the simmering centralist and federalist conflict in the years following independence, and even included the story of José Prudencia Padilla, an often overlooked figure in Cartagena’s history.

We also made a stop to watch the monkeys, sloths, and iguanas that call this park home before heading into our walking tour of Getsemaní.

In Getsemaní, we got to see some of the street art and learn about the history of this traditionally working class neighborhood.

After a stop at the Plaza de la Trinidad, we made one final stop where Dani gave us an impromptu dance lesson, showing us some moves of Champeta, a music and dance style from Cartagena influenced by African rhythms.

She also gave us a bracelet with a QR code that had coupons for several restaurants, cafes, bars, and clubs plus a map.

Overall, I thought the tour was great.

Dani was a great guide. I thought she did a good job mixing in some humor and being down to earth but also being very informative. I appreciated that she spent time covering both the positive and negative aspects of Cartagena and Colombia’s history.

I also really appreciated the little touches like the cocadas, the win a beer trivia, and the champeta lesson, not to mention including lesser known parts of Cartagena’s history like the Padilla story.

So, I was genuinely glad I did this Cartagena walking tour, and I definitely recommend it.

Want to Book a Cartagena Walking Tour?

You can book the same shared Cartagena walking tour I did at the following links:

• Book the Cartagena Walking Tour I Did on GetYourGuide
• Book the Cartagena Walking Tour I Did on Viator

You can also get 20% off the private tours offered by my partner travel agency when you use the code ExploreColombia20 and book at these links:

• Private Complete Cartagena City Tour
• Private Cartagena Walking Tour

I’d also recommend the street food tour offered by the same company that I did my walking tour with.

It’s an alternative way to get a bit of an intro to the city and its culture and history while also getting to try some tasty food.

And, of course, there’s nothing wrong with doing both!

I hope you found this review and write up of my experience doing a walking tour in Cartagena helpful in planning and deciding if you want to do a Cartagena walking tour yourself. Whether you did the tour I did or another one, I’d love to know about your experience in the comments!

Cheers and Happy Exploring!