The 11 Most Iconic Landmarks in Cartagena
11 landmarks with verified facts and stories
Café del Mar Wall Walk
Cartagena City Walls, Centro, Cartagena, Colombia
The walk along the top of Cartagena's colonial walls from Café del Mar south to the Plaza de Santa Teresa is the classic Cartagena sunset experience — a 1.
Café Havana & Salsa Culture
Calle de la Media Luna, Getsemaní, Cartagena, Colombia
Café Havana is Cartagena's most famous bar — a live-music venue on the corner of Getsemaní's two main streets that has been the epicentre of the city's salsa scene since it opened and has hosted everyone from Hillary Clinton to the backpackers who discover that salsa dancing in Cartagena is not an optional activity but a social requirement.
Castillo San Felipe de Barajas
Corredor Vial de Cartagena, Mamonal, Cartagena, Colombia
San Felipe de Barajas is the largest Spanish fortress in the Americas — a massive stone fortification on the Hill of San Lázaro that was built between 1536 and 1657 and successfully repelled every attack launched against it, including the 1741 siege by British Admiral Edward Vernon (who arrived with 186 ships and 23,600 men — one of the largest amphibious forces assembled before D-Day — and was defeated by a Spanish garrison of 3,000 led by the one-eyed, one-armed, one-legged commander Blas de Lezo).
Clock Tower Gate (Torre del Reloj)
3-13 Calle 35, Centro, Cartagena, 130001, Colombia
The Clock Tower is the main entrance to Cartagena's walled city — a yellow gateway originally built in the 16th century as a simple military entrance and later crowned with the clock tower that has become the symbol of the city.
Plaza de Bolívar & Cathedral
Plaza de Bolívar, Centro, Cartagena, Colombia
Plaza de Bolívar is the formal heart of Cartagena's old city — a shaded square anchored by a statue of Simón Bolívar (the liberator of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru) and surrounded by the Palace of the Inquisition (now a museum documenting the Spanish Inquisition's activities in Cartagena), the Cathedral, and the colonial buildings that housed the institutions of Spanish colonial power.
Plaza de la Aduana
Plaza de la Aduana, Centro, Cartagena, Colombia
Plaza de la Aduana is the largest and oldest square in Cartagena — a broad trapezoidal plaza used as the main mustering ground of the city since the 16th century, surrounded by the Old Customs House (now the Alcaldía, or city hall), the Palacio Municipal, and the Plaza de los Coches beyond.
Plaza de San Diego
8-15 Calle 39, San Diego, Cartagena, 130001, Colombia
Plaza de San Diego is a small, intimate square in the quieter northern part of the walled city — named for the now-demolished Convento de San Diego and dominated at one end by the restored 17th-century Santa Clara convent (now the luxury Sofitel Santa Clara hotel).
Plaza Santo Domingo
Plaza de Santo Domingo, Cartagena
Plaza Santo Domingo is Cartagena's most famous evening plaza — a small square in the walled city dominated by the 16th-century Iglesia de Santo Domingo (the oldest church in Cartagena, completed in 1552) and featuring Fernando Botero's monumental bronze sculpture 'La Gordita' (officially 'Mujer Reclinada'), a voluptuous reclining nude donated by the Colombian sculptor in 2000 that has become the most-photographed statue in the city.
Rosario Islands (Day Trip)
Islas del Rosario, Cartagena, Colombia
The Rosario Islands are a coral archipelago 45 minutes by boat from Cartagena — 27 islands of white sand beaches, turquoise water, and the kind of Caribbean paradise that the mainland city's urban intensity makes you need.
Sunset from Café del Mar
Cartagena City Walls, Centro, Cartagena, Colombia
Café del Mar sits atop the Baluarte de Santo Domingo — a section of the colonial walls overlooking the Caribbean Sea — and provides the most celebrated sunset experience in Cartagena.
Walled City (Ciudad Amurallada)
Cartagena, Cartagena, Colombia
The Walled City is Cartagena's UNESCO World Heritage heart — a 13-kilometre circuit of 17th-century stone walls enclosing a colonial district of cobblestone streets, pastel-painted mansions with wooden balconies draped in bougainvillea, churches, plazas, and the atmospheric decay that makes Cartagena the most photogenic colonial city in South America.
Explore iconic in Cartagena
GPS-guided narration at every landmark. Tap a spot on the map, hear the story. Every fact verified.