Sights & Landmarks Centro Historico

Formerly known as Café del Mar, this section of Cartagena's old city walls was relaunched by the city as Baluarte de la Gente — and the change is worth knowing about. The space is now operated by the Escuela Taller Cartagena de Indias, a vocational school training young cartageneros from low-income backgrounds in culinary arts. The food and drinks are prepared by graduates and apprentices of the program, and every peso spent here is reinvested into youth training and the preservation of the city's cultural heritage sites. It's a genuinely good place to spend your money.

Sights & Landmarks Centro Historico

One of the largest and best preserved Spanish fortresses in the Americas, and genuinely impressive in person in a way that photographs haven't quite prepared you for. The scale of it — the tunnels, the ramparts, the view over the city from the top — stops people mid-sentence. Built by the Spanish in 1536 and expanded over the following centuries, it was designed to be impenetrable and largely succeeded. Go early in the morning before the heat and the tour groups arrive. An hour at Castillo San Felipe first thing in the morning is one of the better ways to start a day in Cartagena.

Sights & Landmarks Centro Historico

A restored and reimagined 19th-century bullring turned luxury shopping mall. Rather than simply tear out the old timber, the architects salvaged what they could and handed it to sculptor Alejandro Tobón Rojas, who turned it into hanging sculptures of octopuses and sea life that float through the interior. New certified wood was used to recreate the circular arena structure, marble runs through the shopping floors, and the top level opens into a food court with views of Castillo San Felipe in the distance. One of the smartest midday escapes in the city when the heat outside becomes genuinely unbearable. On the ground floor, Malva is a standout concept space featuring dresses, accessories, and wearable pieces from some of Colombia's most interesting local designers. Daily fountain and light shows run at 4, 5, 6, and 7 p.m. in the central atrium making it a great stop with young kids.