15 Incredible Things to Do in Cartagena, Colombia with Kids

Cartagena, Colombia is a lively colonial city on the Caribbean coast of South America. With a rainbow of buildings everywhere you look, exceptional food, and a mix of Latin and Caribbean cultures, the country of Colombia offers visitors a unique experience.

In fact, visiting Cartagena, Colombia with kids is a great way to expose your children to a different culture, language, and way of life to which they may not be accustomed. 

Roaming the streets of Cartagena is a sensory experience in itself. The smell of street food fills the humid air, while the clamor of persistent vendors selling their crafts on the corner is an ever-present sound. 

Women in traditional Colombian dresses carrying bowls of assorted fruits on their heads walk through the colorful streets, occasionally stopping to pose for a picture in exchange for a small tip. If there is one word to describe Cartagena, it is vibrant.

This guide to visiting Cartagena with kids outlines the best activities in Cartagena de Indias for families and details the top things to do in Cartagena for children. We also provide a 4-day Cartagena itinerary for families to follow.

Where to stay in Cartagena, Colombia with kids

If you’re trying to determine where to stay in Cartagena, Colombia, the city is divided into three primary areas where tourists or visitors typically stay: Old Town, Getsemani, and Bocagrande.

Old Town, often referred to as the walled city of Cartagena, is perhaps the most popular, albeit most expensive, place to stay in Cartagena with kids. There are a lot of beautiful, restored boutique hotels, called casas, in Old Town Cartagena.

Just outside the walled city, many budget travelers prefer to stay in the neighborhood of Getsemani. You’ll find a mixture of hotels, Airbnbs, and family-friendly hostels in Getsemani. 

Getsemani is within walking distance from the walled city, so it is a great place to stay if you want to be near all the action without being directly in the action. 

Finally, if you are looking for a more traditional westernized hotel, you’ll find all the big, international hotel chains in the district of Bocagrande. It is about a 10-15 minute drive away from the walled city, but offers ocean views and modern hotel amenities.

TRYING TO DECIDE WHICH DISTRICT IS THE BEST FOR YOUR FAMILY? READ OUR POST ON THE BEST PLACES TO STAY IN CARTAGENA.

Things to do in Cartagena with kids

There are so many fun things to do in Cartagena with kids. From castles to beaches, museums to street performances, Cartagena can be a lot of fun for families. Here are ten awesome things to do in Cartagena, Colombia with children – or without.

Do a family photo shoot in the walled city

Perhaps the number one thing to do in Cartagena with kids – or without – is to explore the beautiful walled city on foot. You’ll want to have your camera out the entire time because the colorful colonial city is picture perfect! 

Similar to Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, the old city of Cartagena is lined with impressive, Spanish-colonial buildings with grandiose doors and elaborate door knockers.

Lush vines and flowers cascade from balconies and the tops of the buildings creating a romantic, storybook setting.

The enchanting cobblestone streets of this area of Cartagena de Indias make for the ideal backdrop for a photo shoot. You can hire a photographer for professional pictures or bring along your own camera and capture your family vacation memories.

We recommend going early in the morning before the streets are too crowded and before it gets too hot.

WANT A RICHER, LOCAL PERSPECTIVE ON CARTAGENA? JOIN A GUIDED WALKING TOUR OR BOOK A STREET FOOD TOUR WITH A LOCAL CHEF.

Visit Castillo San Felipe de Barajas

Castillo San Felipe de Barajas is more of a fort rather than a castle, but this centuries-old fortress is worth visiting. The Spanish fort is perched on a hill overlooking Cartagena and the waterways surrounding it. 

Once built to protect the city from an attack or invasion, the castle is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. The stone walls, and maze-like tunnels have been well-preserved. Kids will especially love exploring the dark tunnels underneath the castle.

Although there is a small gift shop which sells water inside the fort, make sure you bring a few bottles with you, especially if you do not have cash, as the store does not accept credit cards. 

It can get incredibly hot walking around the fortress with the hot sun beating down on the stone.

After touring the fort, stop in and watch the short movie about the history of the castle. It’s not only an interesting film, but the building is air conditioned!

Trust me, you’ll want to relax for a few minutes inside the cool movie room after walking around the fort in Colombia’s sizzling sun.

Take a street art tour of Getsemani

Getsemani is an up-and-coming neighborhood just outside the walled city of Cartagena. Just a decade ago, walking through Getsemani would have been extremely dangerous.

Once characterized by drug dealing and crime, this beautiful neighborhood has completely turned around and is now a hotspot for tourism. 

Often considered a backpackers neighborhood, you’ll find plenty of inexpensive restaurants, food carts, bars, and budget-friendly lodging and hostels. 

Although it is popular with young backpackers, families visiting Cartagena with kids shouldn’t write off this vibrant neighborhood.

You’ll find a lot of Gen Z solo travelers living their best budget-travel life in Getsemani, but it is also a great place to explore with children. 

The hip, eclectic neighborhood of Getsemani is known for having awesome murals and street art. Finding incredible street murals is one of my favorite things to do when we travel and even in our hometown.

If you’re like me and love street art, spend a couple of hours walking around Getsemani and viewing some of the beautiful murals throughout the neighborhood.

You can even take a guided tour so you won’t miss the best graffiti art or any of the main sights in this fun and funky district of Cartagena.

Stroll along on the city walls

Old Town Cartagena is surrounded by a thick stone wall that was once a defensive barrier to protect the city. The wall is approximately seven feet tall with steps or ramps that you can take to reach the top. 

Portions of the wall date back to the early 1600s. From the top, you get a great view of the ocean and feel a wonderful sea breeze that you don’t feel when walking through town.

It’s a great place for a morning stroll, an evening sunset walk, or simply a moment of quiet, peaceful reflection.

In fact, if your child is an early riser, head to the wall at sunrise for a serene start to your day. 

Take a day trip to Rosario Islands

A trip to Cartagena isn’t complete without visiting the beautiful Rosario Islands. This archipelago is located about 45 minutes to an hour off the coast of Colombia – and is rated among the best Caribbean Islands for families.

The stretch of islands is considered a national park, and is a great place for swimming, snorkeling, or simply relaxing on the beach. 

Playa Blanca is perhaps the most popular and most crowded beach in the Rosario Islands. This is mainly because it is a public beach and is accessible by a bridge from the mainland. 

Although the water at Playa Blanca is beautiful, clear, and warm, pushy vendors on the beach and run down areas surrounding it can ruin your relaxing experience. But there are plenty of other beaches within the Rosario Islands to visit instead of Playa Blanca. 

Book an excursion in advance  and island hop around the archipelago for a full day of water activities and fun.

Plan to spend a full day in the nearby Rosario Islands. After a day or two in the busy and vibrant city of Cartagena with kids, a full-day at the beach is the perfect change of pace.

Lounge in a rooftop pool

Cartagena is hot… like surface-of-the-sun hot… especially if visiting during the summer months.

You will get so sweaty that by 11 a.m., you will want to do nothing but get back inside an air conditioned building, strip off your clothes, and lay on a cold tile floor. Not joking nor exaggerating. This is when a rooftop pool is particularly beneficial. 

Nearly every afternoon, when the temperatures and humidity got too high to enjoy sightseeing, we would head back to our hotel and relax in the rooftop pool.

If you stay within the walled city, which we definitely recommend, many of the boutique hotels have small pools either on the roof or in a private, inner courtyard. 

The rooftop pools are typically small, but you get a beautiful view with your refreshing dip in the water. It is relaxing and peaceful for parents and is one of the most fun things to do for kids in Cartagena!

Eat ceviche at La Cevicheria

Ceviche is one of the most popular local dishes in Colombia and also one of our favorite foods! The seafood dish, typically served raw and cured in lime or citrus juice, is a refreshing lunch or dinner on a hot Cartagena day. 

There are many variations of the dish. In fact, each Latin American country has its own spin on ceviche. Naturally, the best place to find ceviche in Cartagena is a restaurant that specializes in the dish.

There is no better ceviche place in Cartagena than La Cevicheria. 

The small restaurant on the edge of Old Town Cartagena is now quite popular thanks to the late Anthony Bourdain, who featured the restaurant in one of his episodes of “No Reservations” which aired in the USA on the Discovery Channel.

As huge fans of Bourdain’s work, we had to try it out. The food did not disappoint! It was so good, in fact, we ate there twice!

Exposing kids to new foods while traveling is a great way to help them avoid becoming picky eaters as they get older and cultivate future world citizens. 

Watch the sunset at Café del Mar

Café del Mar is another great place to eat in Cartagena. It is a trendy, outdoor restaurant and bar overlooking the Caribbean Sea. The large patio is probably the best place to watch the sunset in all of Cartagena. And the sunset here is a breathtaking sight to see! 

While a bit on the pricier side, the food was great. And watching the sunset at Café del Mar and feeling the cool ocean breeze against your skin is the perfect end to a day in Cartagena.

The restaurant sits on the oldest portion of the wall in Cartagena. There are various street vendors selling trinkets and light up toys outside the restaurant.

If you want a relaxing meal, buy your kiddo a toy and they’ll be entertained while you enjoy your food and a drink or two. 

Watch street performers at Plaza de la Trinidad in Getsemani

Cartagena is a city that comes alive at night. People eat late, stay out late, and once the sun sets the atmosphere becomes electric.

Plazas become meeting places where locals and tourists gather. And there is one plaza in particular that is the place to go at night in Cartagena: Plaza de la Trinidad in the Getsemani district. 

I’m not sure how or why this plaza became so popular, but on any given night beginning around 7 p.m. hundreds of people will congregate here. 

Street performers, dancers, musicians, and mimes entertain the crowds, while food vendors park their carts and serve up delicious and budget-friendly eats. It has a very authentic and organic feel to it, as if the gathering and entertainment just happen, rather than it being an orchestrated or planned event.  

We had a great time watching dance battles, taking in the intoxicating smells and tastes of the street food, and just enjoying the energy of the crowd. 

Take a Carriage Ride through the Old City

In the early evening hours, for a different perspective of the city, splurge and take a horse-drawn carriage ride through the streets of Old Town.

Sit back, relax and learn about the history of Cartagena’s most popular attractions aboard a classic carriage. Some carriage operators pick up and drop off passengers at their hotel, while others pick up at the cruise port. 

Believe horse-drawn carriages are unethical? A tour company debuted the first all-electric carriage in 2022 – and there are efforts to implement it on a large-scale within the Old City.

Chase the pigeons San Pedro Claver Plaza

Cartagena, like many tropical tourist towns, has a plaza where both people and pigeons love to gather. In Cartagena, that square is San Pedro Claver Plaza. Kids here love to run into the flock of pigeons in the square and watch the birds scatter.

Our daughter would slowly walk toward the pigeons hoping – unsuccessfully – to pet one of them. 

While in the plaza, be sure to step inside Iglesia de San Pedro Claver. The church and convent date back to the late 1500s. Perhaps the most impressive piece of colonial architecture in Cartagena, the church is named after Saint Peter Claver, or San Pedro Claver. 

Claver was a Spanish missionary who dedicated his life to ministering to the enslaved African people who were brought to the former slave trading port of Cartagena in the 1600s.

Inside the church, there is a museum dedicated to Claver and his life’s mission for human rights.

Other things to do in and around Cartagena, Colombia with kids

Depending on the age of your children and your interests, there are plenty of other things to do in Cartagena, Colombia with kids that we did not have the opportunity to experience. You can also make Cartagena a base area to explore the surrounding areas. 

Volcan de Lodo El Totumo

A popular day trip from Cartagena, Colombia is a visit to Volcan de Lodo El Totumo, where you can soak yourself in volcanic mud. After reading others’ experiences with the mud volcano tour, we decided it wasn’t for us.

Crawling down into a crowded pit of mud where you’ll basically be forced into a massage for tips did not sound like fun. Plus, our daughter was still a toddler, so the activity wasn’t a good fit at the time. Our chances of her willingly getting into the mud was maybe 50/50. We didn’t want to drive an hour away from Cartagena with those odds.

But it is one of the most popular day trips from Cartagena, and if we go back, we may give it a try!

Museo de Oro Zenu

If your children are a little older, the Gold Museum or Museo de Oro Zenu is a great way to teach kids about the indigenous Zenu people of Colombia. The museum houses golden relics, carvings, and artifacts.

It is free to enter, and located inside the walled city, making it another great stop if you want to escape the heat while sightseeing.

Covento de la Popa Monastery

La Popa Monastery is the highest point in Cartagena. It offers incredible views of the city below, which is the primary reason people visit. 

It has an interesting history that you can read up on while there, but there is not a lot to see at the monastery itself other than a lovely courtyard. Go for the views though!

It is the best lookout spot in the entire city. Getting there requires a taxi or Uber ride. The area around the monastery isn’t the safest, so definitely take a taxi or Uber rather than walking up the hill to the convent.

Naval Museum of the Caribbean

Another museum worth exploring in Cartagena with kids, the Naval Museum of the Caribbean walks visitors through the history of the port city and its naval significance. 

The museum houses some interesting artifacts, maps, and models pertaining to naval and maritime history. However, the exhibits are in Spanish, so it might be hard to understand everything.

Although, if you are learning Spanish as a language for travel, this is a great place to test out your Spanish reading and comprehension skills. 

4-day family-friendly Cartagena itinerary

Planning an itinerary is stressful and often takes a lot of research. You never know how much time to allocate for an activity. We spend hours researching different places to visit and reviewing safety and important travel information when planning our trips. 

So, to make things easier on others, we always like to lay out our full itinerary in hopes of saving you time and effort during the planning process. Here is how we spent our four days in Cartagena, Colombia.

Day 1

• Explore Old Town – morning photo shoot
• Lunch at La Cevicheria
• Tour Museo de Oro Zenu
• Visit Iglesia de San Pedro Claver
• Take a horse-drawn carriage ride 
• Dinner in Old Town

Day 2

• Rosario Islands day trip
• Lunch on the island
• Relax all day at the beach
• Dinner in Old Town

Day 3

• Castillo San Felipe de Barajas
• Lunch and ice cream in the plaza near our hotel
• Cool off in the roof top pool
• Dinner at Cafe del Mar
• Plaza de la Trinidad

Day 4

• Morning walk on the wall
• Hunt for street art in Getsemani
• Lunch at a street food vendor or restaurant in Getsemani
• Rooftop pool again
• Dinner in Old Town

(Alternative to Day 4 itinerary or a Day 5 addition – day trip to Volcan de Totumo)

Four days in Cartagena, Colombia with kids is a good amount of time in the city. You’ll be able to see and experience a lot in four days.

If you have additional time, we’d recommend exploring other parts of the country, like Bogotá, Medellín, or the colorful town of Guatape. Or you can visit Panama City, which is just a 40 minute flight away from Cartagena.

Frequently asked Questions about visiting Cartagena with Kids

When planning a family trip to a new place, it’s common to have a few questions, concerns, and even anxiety.

While we answer some of the most frequently asked questions and provide travel tips in our Cartagena travel guide, here are a few of the most common questions we get about Cartagena with kids.

Have you been to South America’s most colorful city or do you have a question or comment about any of these things to do in Cartagena, Colombia with kids? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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This post on the best things to do in Cartagena for kids was originally written in July 2018 but was most recently updated in February 2023 for accuracy and current information.

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