cartagena: the basics

Cartagena has become the new it place of Latin America. If you're interested in taking a trip to a beautiful, culture-filled place, below are some helpful tips.

• Air Travel: Spirit Air has started a new service to Cartagena from La Guardia, connecting in Fort Lauderdale, with fares starting at $513. Avianca Airlines flies from Kennedy Airport to Cartagena, with a connection in Bogotá, starting at about $530.
• Hotels: The old city is bookended by a pair of medieval convents that have been turned into luxury hotels. Their monk architects knew how to design for comfort.
• The Sofitel Santa Clara has 119 rooms, a spa and pool built around a colonial courtyard with tropical gardens. Rooms start at 555,000 pesos. Check Oanda to get your most updated exchange rate prices.
• The Charleston Santa Teresa was once a home to a Carmelite order. The hotel occupies a full city block and is built around a large courtyard with gardens of royal palms and tropical foliage. There is also a rooftop pool with spectacular views. Rooms start at 689,000 pesos.
• For more modest budgets, the Casa La Fe on the Fernández Madrid Park has 14 comfortable rooms equipped with Wi-Fi, starting at 200,000 pesos. A breakfast of freshly squeezed tropical juice and eggs is included.
• Nature activities: Slip back into nature at La Ciénega, a mangrove forest that teems with wildlife. Tours on a wooden canoe are available through Turinco. They cost approximately $30,000 pesos. You’ll see kingfishers, herons and pelicans on one side of your boat.
• Storm the walls: Cartagena is a city for walking, and its historic walled district feels like a Moroccan medina, with 300-year-old Spanish colonial buildings huddled along brick streets. The palette is saturated with deep blue, dusty rose, burnt orange and ochre. Cool sea breezes and plenty of shade make the old city feel quite comfortable even in the 90-degree heat. To get your bearings, wave down one of the horse-powered taxis. The 15-minute ride across the old city, a Unesco World Heritage site, costs 30,000 pesos (about $17 at 1,800 pesos to the dollar). The coachman will point out sites as you clip-clop along and, at sunset, will light the candles in the headlamps.
• Must see: Native crafts like hammocks, clay figurines and colorfully painted wooden masks are available everywhere. For more unusual items, head to the stores along Calle Santo Domingo and Calle San Juan de Dios. Even if you’re not female and size 4, check out Colombia's leading fashion designer, Silvia Tcherassi .The Abaco bookstore stocks photography books featuring local architecture and artisans. And the Galería Cano sells high-quality reproductions of pre-Columbian jewelry.

• Juicy Fruit: Take a fruit break. Palenque women peddle a rainbow of ripe fruit along the streets of El Centro, nearly all of it in nature’s protective wrappers: bananas, mangos, papayas, guamas, ciruelas, coconuts and guayabas. Try a níspero, a kiwi-shaped fruit with the texture of pear and the heavenly taste of chocolate, caramelized sugar and blackberry.