The Cartagena issue
Beaches, mangroves and golf in Cartagena's Zona Norte
A single road north of Cartagena's walls holds the La Boquilla fishermen and their mangrove canoes, a Blue Flag beach with a boardwalk, a Nicklaus course above the surf, and the best table on the coast.
By Sanne VermeerWalls, courtyards and the slower Cartagena
The Blue Flag at Playa Azul La Boquilla (Blas del Teso) has flown for five years running, and a timber boardwalk carries you from the sand to the waterline, with an amphibious beach chair parked at the top. Cartagena's Zona Norte runs north from there along one road, the Anillo Vial, between the Ciénaga de la Virgen and the Caribbean.
Playa Azul and Playa Manzanillo del Mar
Playa Azul is free, public and divided into six marked sectors, wide grey-gold sand behind a painted welcome arch that reads PLAYA AZUL LA BOQUILLA. The Blue Flag stands on a white pole, the parasols are thatched and set in rows, and the Morros towers close the southern skyline. It is the sight Zona Norte leads with. Sunbed and parasol hire costs $$, and vendors and chair hire negotiate per party.
Playa Manzanillo del Mar lies 20 km north of the walled centre, free and unenclosed, a long curve of coarse tan sand behind low scrub dunes. Wooden fishing boats are pulled up on it, resort palms sit well back from the water, and the width of the place swallows a crowd. No vendor stretch has grown up here, so bring your own shade. Onshore wind blows hard from December to April, and the kites you see offshore belong to those months.
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Canoes in the Ciénaga de la Virgen
A hand-paddled wooden canoe pushes into a green tunnel of arching red-mangrove roots, the water almost black beneath it, dragonflies over the surface and herons in the branches. Ecotours Boquilla (Ciénaga de la Virgen) belongs to the native fishermen's association, and somewhere in the channels a fisherman stands up in the canoe and throws a circular atarraya net. The money goes straight into La Boquilla's Afro-Colombian fishing community, which is the strongest reason to come north at all.
The canoes go out in convoy, so school groups, families and corporate parties are all handled. Book by WhatsApp a day or more ahead in high season. The trip is $120,000 to $240,000 per person. The same association runs birdwatching over more than 150 species, and drum and craft workshops.
Kites off Manzanillo del Mar
Bright CORE kites arc over shallow flat water off an empty beach, with harnesses and pumps laid out on the sand beside a shade tent. Pure Kitesurf Colombia (Manzanillo del Mar, beside the Estelar) has run as an IKO school since 2015, teaching in English, German and Spanish. Instructors stand waist-deep holding the board while you learn. The school sits on this stretch because the wind here hits harder and cleaner than at La Boquilla.
A two-hour private lesson is $600,000, and two-person group classes run alongside the private ones. The season is December to April, on trades of 15 to 25 knots. A free shuttle comes out from Cartagena, so you do not need to arrange a car for a lesson.
Golf at Karibana, Anillo Vial Km 12
Karibana Beach Golf Club (Anillo Vial Km 12), listed on tee-time pages as TPC Cartagena at Karibana, is Colombia's first oceanfront course and the only Jack Nicklaus signature layout on the Caribbean coast. The front nine runs through dry coastal forest. On the back nine the sea breaks over rock on your right. The fairways are bright bermuda and the white sand bunkers run straight into the surf.
You do not need a membership, and you can book tee times directly. Carts are compulsory, and the green fee plus cart puts a round at $$$. The club takes society and corporate days.
Granja Los Abuelos at Km 1 of the Manzanillo road
Children feed goats and rabbits in painted wooden pens at Granja Los Abuelos (Km 1, Manzanillo del Mar road), ride ponies on a sand ring and climb a three-storey timber maze. The farm has 11 activity stations in all, a football pitch, a pool, a pastel magic house built as a photo set, and a restaurant on site. Entry is $$, and it opens 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., with shorter hours on Fridays.
This is Zona Norte's one non-beach answer for a family, and the obvious move when rain sits over the coast. School parties and private events go through the events line on +57 320 998 8026.
Where to eat
Whole fried mojarra arrives with coconut rice, patacón and a cold Águila at Restaurante La Perla Negra (Cra 3 #62-35, La Boquilla), where plastic chairs stand on the sand under a palapa of thatched palm on rough timber posts. This is the daytime version of the La Boquilla beach lunch, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and from 9 a.m. on Sundays, at $$. Walk in on a weekday. Call ahead at weekends if there are a lot of you, because the long tables under the palapa fill.
Steak House (Km 4, vía Manzanillo del Mar) grills aged cuts over charcoal behind glass and brings them out on a wooden board, under filament bulbs and exposed brick. The car park fills with local plates instead of tour vans. The dining room is large and informal, at $$$, and it is where you go after a week of seafood. Reserve for a weekend evening.
Zona Norte Restaurante Bar (Cra 20 #18-70, Cielo Mar) runs a Colombian-international grill: charcoal octopus, a seafood cazuela on cast iron, a tomahawk carved at the table. The room opens onto a covered terrace with tropical planting and festoon lights, and the licence runs to 1 a.m. from Friday to Sunday. If you are staying north and not driving into the walled city for the night, this is the room that is still serving. Capacity is 200 with 50 to 100 on the terrace, private areas cost extra, and the events team answers on +57 316 053 1752. Prices run $$ to $$$.
Erre de Ramón Freixa (Torre del Mar, 10th floor) has held the corridor's best table since 2012, the kitchen of two-Michelin-star chef Ramón Freixa. The dining room is dark timber and brass behind floor-to-ceiling glass over the Caribbean, and the tasting-menu plates are built tall on hand-thrown ceramics. It takes reservations only, serves set menus, and has private dining for a party. Dress smart and book well ahead. Dinner here is $$$$.
Sunset at Coco Beach
The coast faces west up here, and the sun drops into open water. Coco Beach Hotel – Rooftop & Beach Club (Cra 4 #39-75, Morros) holds a small plunge pool and a sun deck above La Boquilla, white parasols and rattan seating around it, a stair down to the sand and a palm-shaded beach bar at the bottom. Some sites still list it as Hotel Coco Beach.
Rooftop and beach club are both open to non-residents, the door is informal, and drinks are $$. Call ahead for anything over a dozen people.
Hotels and day passes
Hotel Las Américas Cartagena de Indias (Cielo Mar) comes in two halves, the tall white Torre del Mar and the low Caribbean-coloured Casa de Playa, with more than eight pools, a kids' water park of slides and jets, and an adults-only infinity edge facing the sea. It is built for volume: conference facilities, a kids' club, mini golf. Non-residents and large parties can buy a day pass, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. with meals included, at $500,000 per person. Erre sits in the same grounds, so eating seriously well does not mean leaving.
Hotel Estelar Playa Manzanillo – All Inclusive (Km 4, Manzanillo road) puts 171 rooms in white terracotta-roofed blocks around three pools, with an entertainment team and a live-music stage by the pool deck at night. A palm-lined path leads to its private stretch of sand. The all-inclusive day pass, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., covers the pools, the beach, buffet lunch and an open bar on national spirits, and it is the standard way to reach Playa Manzanillo for the day. Transport is not included. Older listings call it the Occidental Grand Cartagena.
Dreams Karibana Cartagena Golf & Spa Resort (Anillo Vial Km 12) is the former Conrad Cartagena. It left Hilton and reopened under Hyatt's Inclusive Collection as a family all-inclusive, 266 rooms in a curved white block, five outdoor pools stepping toward a long quiet beach, three restaurants and a pool bar, with kids' and teens' programming, weddings and tour groups. Pale stone and dark timber inside, the Nicklaus fairways along one side. Ignore any listing still calling it Conrad.
Grand Sirenis Cartagena (Karmairí) (Km 3, Vía Manzanillo del Mar) has carried three names: Karmairi Hotel Spa, then Meliá Cartagena Karmairí, and Grand Sirenis since 2024. It also dropped adults-only, so old reviews describe a different hotel. The 147 all-inclusive rooms sit low among palms, with two outdoor pools and a hot tub, a hammam and sauna in the spa wing, and a three-minute sand path to Manzanillo beach.
Holiday Inn Cartagena Morros by IHG (Anillo Vial, Morros) is the sensible-value bed in Zona Norte at $$, a mid-rise sand-coloured block with a pool deck over the Caribbean, meeting rooms, free parking and a straightforward door. The airport is five minutes away, and nothing around it is walkable after dark, so budget for taxis. The walled city, Castillo San Felipe and the Cerro de la Popa convent are all 15 to 20 minutes south by road.
Before you go
Two things need arranging before you reach the coast: the mangrove canoes by WhatsApp and Erre by reservation. Steak House and La Perla Negra only want a call for weekend tables, and the farm shuts earlier on Fridays. See the Cartagena guide and the Cartagena hotel search.
Before you go
Is Zona Norte a good base if I also want the walled city?
It works if you don't mind riding everywhere. The walled city, Castillo San Felipe and the Cerro de la Popa convent are 15 to 20 minutes south of the Morros stretch by road, and nothing around the Holiday Inn Cartagena Morros is walkable after dark, so plan on a taxi every evening.
Can I use a resort's pools and beach without staying there?
Yes, at two of them. Hotel Las Américas sells a 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. pass with meals included for $500,000 per person. The Hotel Estelar Playa Manzanillo pass runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and covers the pools, the beach, a buffet lunch and an open bar on national spirits, though you arrange your own transport.
How do I book the mangrove canoe trip and what does it cost?
Ecotours Boquilla, the native fishermen's association, books by WhatsApp, and in high season you should message a day or more ahead. The trip costs $120,000 to $240,000 per person. The canoes go out in convoy, so they can take school groups and larger parties.
When is the kitesurfing season at Manzanillo del Mar?
December to April, on trades of 15 to 25 knots. Pure Kitesurf Colombia has taught beside the Estelar at Manzanillo del Mar since 2015, in English, German and Spanish. A two-hour private lesson is $600,000, and a free shuttle comes out from Cartagena.
Is there anything to do with children away from the beach?
Granja Los Abuelos sits at Km 1 of the Manzanillo del Mar road and has 11 activity stations, pony rides, a three-storey timber maze, a pool and its own restaurant. Entry is $$ and it opens 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., with shorter hours on Fridays.
