Free Walking Tours in Cartagena

Cartagena's walled city and Getsemaní, free to book

Two worlds meet on many free walking tours in Cartagena, Colombia: the colonial squares of the walled city and the streets of Getsemaní. None of them charges you to join. Your spot is booked on GuruWalk for free, with no credit card, and the guide is paid with the tip you leave at the end.

Inside the walls, the Torre del Reloj, Plaza de la Aduana, Plaza San Pedro Claver, the Plaza de los Coches and Santo Domingo Square come up on many walks, and one of the routes ends at Plaza de la Trinidad in Getsemaní. A typical route is about 2.4 kilometres. 16 local guides lead these walks, for two and a quarter hours on average. More than 9,747 reviews have been written about Cartagena's tours, averaging 4.8 out of 5.

Street food, the walls, Getsemaní and San Felipe: ways to walk Cartagena

Arepas and buñuelos on a Cartagena food walk

Street tastings, eaten the way locals eat, are what the Cartagena food tours offer. Stops on these walks can include Colombitalia Arepas, Super Buñuelo and Refresquería El Chino.

Essential Cartagena: the walled city's squares, and often Getsemaní

The Plaza de los Coches, Plaza de la Aduana, Plaza San Pedro Claver, the Torre del Reloj and Santo Domingo Square come up on many of the essential Cartagena tours, which have earned 8,424 reviews and an average of 4.8 out of 5. Some add the Portal de los Dulces, Plaza Simón Bolívar, the cathedral or the Museo del Oro Zenú. Many of the 8 free walking tours of this kind carry on into Getsemaní, and some routes take in Plaza de San Diego.

Colonial Cartagena and its African legacy

Some of Cartagena's history tours tell the city under the colony, while others follow its African legacy. Their stops can include the Bartolomé Calvo Library, Plaza Bolívar, Plaza San Pedro Claver and the Torre del Reloj in the walled city, and Parque Centenario, Callejón Ancho and Plaza de la Trinidad in Getsemaní. Some leave the walls behind for the Castillo de San Felipe and the legends of the city's great defence.

San Diego, Santo Domingo and Getsemaní, neighbourhood by neighbourhood

San Diego, Santo Domingo and Getsemaní in one go: that is the idea behind some of Cartagena's neighbourhood tours. Santa Teresa Square, Plaza San Pedro Claver, Plaza Simón Bolívar, the Camellón de los Mártires, Parque Centenario and the alleys of Getsemaní all turn up on their routes.

Tunnels and legends at the Castillo de San Felipe

The Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas is the whole point of the castle tours in Cartagena: its tunnels, its pirates and battles, and the legends of the great defence. The statue of Blas de Lezo is a stop or meeting point, and some walks add the San José Bastion, the Pedregal Wall and the Heredia Old Bridge.

The walled-city route, from the Camellón de los Mártires to Plaza de la Trinidad

A typical walking route through Cartagena's walled city and Getsemaní is about 2.4 kilometres long and takes an hour and a half to two and three quarter hours. The twelve stops below are the ones Cartagena's routes share most, and no single walk includes them all. Where a route has several of them, they usually follow this sequence:

1. Camellón de los Mártires, early on many walks.
2. Plaza de la Aduana.
3. Torre del Reloj, also called the Puerta del Reloj or Boca del Puente, the main gateway into the walled city.
4. Plaza San Pedro Claver.
5. Plaza de los Coches, beside the Torre del Reloj.
6. Baluarte de San Ignacio, one of the bastions.
7. Plaza Simón Bolívar, the Parque Bolívar, surrounded by museums, colonial buildings and tall trees.
8. Plaza de Santo Domingo, a pedestrian-friendly square in a colonial setting.
9. Catedral de Santa Catalina de Alejandría, one of the oldest episcopal churches in the Americas, begun in 1577. It survived Francis Drake's attack on the city in 1586.
10. Parque Centenario.
11. Callejón Ancho, the wide alley of Getsemaní.
12. Plaza de la Trinidad, in Getsemaní, where some walks end.

Some guides add the Palace of the Inquisition, the Museo del Oro Zenú, the Casa de Gabriel García Márquez, Plaza de San Diego or the Calle de las Sombrillas.

Tipping, timing and starting points inside Cartagena's walls