Why I Recommend Doing this Cartagena Walking Tour

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Doing a Cartagena walking tour is one of the best ways to get some background on the city’s history and culture plus learn how to get around the main historic areas that are the heart of the tourist area.

So, I think doing one of the many available walking tours in Cartagena is absolutely worth it and a great addition to any itinerary.

Despite living in Cartagena for over a decade, I still learned a lot doing a walking tour in Cartagena during our visit in the summer of 2024.

In this post, I’ll share which Cartagena, Colombia walking I did, what I enjoyed about it and also share some alternative options, including Cartagena free walking tour if you want to shop around.

Is Doing a Cartagena Walking Tour Worth it?

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

The truth is I like to go at my own pace.

That way, I can stop and take as many (or as few) photos as I want, I can read signs and neither feel rushed or held up.

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 anywhere else, for that matter.

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.

I learned they are 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.

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.

You might even meet a few people to hang out with later.

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

By the way, if you’re looking for other guided experiences in Cartagena I think are worthwhile, be sure to read my post on the best Cartagena tours (spoiler: you’ll see this same tour recommended there too!).

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.

This tour combines the two main historic areas of the Cartagena Old City and neighboring Getsemaní into about a 2 hour experience that touches all the main highlights and gave some great background on Cartagena’s history.

I did the morning tour, which is what I would recommend to avoid the worst of the heat.

Since, it’s such a great introduction, I think it’s the perfect start to a first in Cartagena and recommend it was one of the best things to do on your first full day if you check out my 3 days in Cartagena or 4 days in Cartagena suggested itineraries.

They do also offer an afternoon tour, which you might be able to squeeze in on your arrival day if your flight touches down in the morning.

Alternative Walking Tours in Cartagena

I’ll be giving a full review of the tour I did below, and why I think it’s such a great option, but I want to briefly touch on some other options if you wanted to shop around.

If you’re not crazy into history or want a slightly different but fun way to get a taste of history, culture, and getting around, the same company also operates a well regarded street food tour.

Trying all the great Cartagena street food is worth it anyways, so that tour could be done in place of this more traditional walking tour or even make a good complement to it.

If you want something that goes entirely 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

What about Cartagena Free Walking Tours?

There are several Cartagena free walking tour options.

In fact, the tour I did is technically a free Cartagena walking tour.

However, when you book it online like I did, you basically prepay the suggested 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.

Again you can book it and prepay that tip 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’d imagine they all offer a pretty similar experience.

This free walking tour in Cartagena seems to be well regarded if you wanted to book something and tip at the end.

I was more than satisfied with mine, and I really liked that ability to pre-tip.

Plus, I appreciated that they do the Walled City and Getsemaní together, where as the other Cartagena free walking tour does them as separate tours. So, even though you don’t pay anything at all to reserve, it’s arguably a worse value once you account for doing two tips.

Review of My Experience Doing the Walking Tour in Cartagena

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

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

There are always vendors out here selling water, and hats, both of which they say are necessary in their pitch.

I definitely 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 path of this Cartagena Old Town walking tour’s route too.

You can grab a cool hat too if you want, or you can check out my Cartagena packing list for ideas for hats and good outfits for the sun to pick up before you trip.

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.

In my experience, having a good guide is crucial to making tours like this worth it and not being tourist traps, and Dani was a big reason why I so whole heartedly recommend this tour.

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 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 Dani. She gave us a bit of background about them and other street foods, taking advantage of the shade under the columns.

Actually, I thought most of 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 the bay, where we learned about some of the attacks on Cartagena by the British, like Francis Drake’s raid on the city and the 1741 Battle of Cartagena de Indias, as well as about the city’s walls and fortifications, including the massive Castillo San Felipe fort.

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 remember to 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 mixed race naval admiral 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.

*Update: it seems most, if not all, of these animals were relocated to the recently renovated Parque Espiritú del Manglar, just outside the Walled City sometime in the Spring of 2025. So, you might not see them in this park anymore.

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.

By the way, do check out my tips for the best Cartagena restaurants, the best foods to try in Cartagena, and the best places to go to enjoy the Cartagena nightlife too.

Final Verdict on My Cartagena Walking Tour Experience

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 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 your own 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

Again, 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!

Please do check out all the other content on the site to help you plan your trip too.

Cheers and Happy Exploring!