Cartagena

A hulking 17th-century Spanish fortress riddled with ventilated tunnels built to carry sound and trap invaders, sitting atop Cerro San Lázaro with sweeping views over the bay.

The nearly 13-kilometre circuit of honey-coloured stone ramparts encircling the old city, built over two centuries to hold off pirates and now the city's most dramatic promenade at sunset.

The baroque 18th-century headquarters of the Spanish Inquisition in New Granada, its carved stone portal opening onto rooms that display actual torture instruments used during the colonial trials.

A coral archipelago 45 minutes by speedboat from the city, where translucent green water and 30-odd small islands make up a protected national park ideal for snorkelling above living reef.

A quieter stretch of white sand on Barú island beyond the overcrowded Playa Blanca, reachable by mototaxi and frequented mostly by Colombian day-trippers rather than tour groups.

A steep hill topped by a whitewashed Augustinian monastery that offers the single best panoramic view of the city, the bay, and the distant mangrove wetlands—and is visited by far fewer tourists than the castle below.

The city's sprawling, aromatic working market where fishmongers, fruit vendors, and juice-cart operators cater to locals rather than tourists, and a bowl of sancocho de pescado costs less than a dollar.

A small but consistently compelling gallery occupying a restored 17th-century customs warehouse on the Plaza de San Pedro Claver, with a strong permanent collection of Colombian modern painting.

A research-driven restaurant in Getsemaní that champions Afro-Caribbean and indigenous Colombian pantry items—smoked bocachico, fermented corozo palm—through a polished contemporary tasting menu.

A beloved Cartagena institution in the walled city where live Cuban son bands play nightly while diners work through grilled whole red snapper and coconut rice in a room of ceiling fans and plantation-era furniture.

A rooftop table in the Centro Histórico where chef Erika Guerrero focuses on the coastal Colombiano-Caribeño canon—arroz de lisa, ceviche de camarones tigre—with careful sourcing and refined presentation.

Chef Juan Manuel Barrientos's molecular-gastronomy showcase in Bocagrande serves a theatrical tasting menu that manipulates textures of Caribbean ingredients like ají amarillo, corozo, and fresh shellfish.

A legendary Getsemaní bar with peeling paint, overhead fans, and live salsa and son cubano that starts around 9 p.m. and pulls a mixed crowd of locals and travellers deep into the night.

A three-floor cocktail bar in a restored colonial mansion where bartenders build inventive drinks around aguardiente, tropical fruits, and herbs from the bar's own urban garden.

A no-frills neighbourhood cervecería in Getsemaní frequented by locals for cold Club Colombia draught, plastic stools on the pavement, and the cheapest empanadas in the district.

The rooftop bar atop the Movich Hotel in the walled city pours strong rum cocktails alongside direct sightlines over the terracotta rooftops of the Centro Histórico toward the bay.

A raucous multi-room party bar on the edge of Getsemaní that plays reggaeton, champeta, and electronic music simultaneously across its floors and spills onto the street by 1 a.m.

An open-air tropical dance venue in Marbella that plays live champeta and vallenato for a majority-local crowd, representing the city's African-Caribbean musical DNA at its most authentic.

A long-standing salsa club in the walled city that fills quickly after midnight with dancers of all ages spinning to classic Cali-style salsa on a floor barely bigger than a living room.

A Getsemaní live-music spot beloved for booking emerging Colombian artists—ranging from afrobeat to cumbia electronica—in an intimate indoor-outdoor space that keeps the focus on the music rather than the spectacle.