Cartagena Connections

What Cartagena Connections is and where it operates

Cartagena Connections is a small Cartagena de Indias company that does two things, and the site is clear about both. It runs its own food and walking tours with its own local team: the homepage says "We provide food and walking tours of the Historic Centre, San Diego, Getsemani, Mercado Bazurto and the key tourists sites around the city, together with cooking classes and tastings." For almost everything else, including boats, islands, diving and paragliding, it acts as a middleman. The services page says the company also works as "English-speaking intermediaries for a cherry-picked selection of tours, activities, services and accommodation options within and around Cartagena," and the homepage says it connects visitors "with tried, tested and trustworthy tours and tour operators."

Everything is in and around Cartagena, on Colombia's Caribbean coast. The footer gives an address in Manga, Calle 26 #15-45, Edificio Espinosa, and the site's prices are in Colombian pesos. The team also offers tips for trips further afield, such as Santa Marta, Tayrona National Park and Minca, and says it can help manage a booking for a sailing trip to the San Blas Islands and Panama.

Boats, islands and the rest of the menu

For a traveler looking at boat trips, the booking menu is long. Under its "Play" heading the site lists private boats, island hopping, beach and island days, Bona Vida Catamaran Tours, volcano and mangrove tours, La Boquilla tours, a Pink Sea tour to Galerazamba, bay tours and sailing. The beach and island section names places in the Rosario Islands, Baru, Playa Blanca and Tierra Bomba, among them Cocoa Beach, Bendita Beach, Fragata Island House, Isla Coralina and Isleta, and a beach day clubs section lists Amare Beach Club and Wala Beach Club. Private islands and island accommodation sit alongside. These are sold through the company's partners rather than run by its own team, and the menu and overview pages list them without a price, a boat size or a departure time, so those details come from each option's own page or from the team.

The same menu covers land and water activities booked the same way: horse riding, hiking, paragliding, yoga, a wildlife adventure, dance classes, mountain bike and motorbike tours, diving, fishing, ATV, watersports, skydiving and kayaking, plus an aviary visit and a Palenque tour.

The company's own walking tours are grouped under "Day." They include a street food tour, street art tour, Mercado Bazurto tour, photography tour, private tour and shopping tour, plus a bar tour and chiva tours. Also under "Day," a "Foodie Experiences" section lists a cooking class and experiences built around rum, coffee, ice cream, cocktails, a chocolate museum and tobacco. The site's About Cartagena page adds more ideas the team can set up: salsa or champeta dance lessons, Spanish classes, kitesurf lessons, bike rides through neighborhoods such as Manga and Bocagrande, and trips beyond the walls to La Boquilla or Tierra Bomba.

The team and a sample tour

The about page makes a point of not being a typical tour company. "For the most part, the team at Cartagena Connections are not officially guides.. and we don't really want to be," it says, preferring to be "your local friends, your llaves." Founder Kristy is Australian and has been in Cartagena "since 2012." Marcela, known as March, is described as the star guide and also helps with reservations and itineraries. Catalina "has obtained formal qualification as a Cartagena guide" and runs an evening Ghost Tour. Henry "completed the formal Cartagena guide training," leads tours to San Basilio de Palenque and arranges bike tours. Lexy, a professional photographer, leads the photo tours and hosts the drink-and-dance and bar tours with Lili, and Margarita leads art and shopping tours.

The Bar Tour page shows how the company's own products are laid out. It costs 380,000 pesos per person and runs from 9pm to 2am "(or less if you bail 'early')." It includes welcome drinks, a bilingual host, DJ and live entertainment, and "VIP access - skip the line (you won't pay any cover charge)." It meets at The Clock Pub and moves on to a rooftop bar, what the page calls "Colombia's best ranked bar" and a club. Drinks, food and the ride home are not included.

Booking, payment and concierge services

Tours are booked through forms on the site or by email to info@cartagenaconnections.com, and the Bar Tour page gives a WhatsApp number, +57 317 333 7959, for last-minute requests. That page states that "Pre-payment is essential to confirm your booking." The main menu links to separate Payments, Pay Us and Cancellation Policy pages, as well as a sustainable tourism policy. The services page notes that the company's "online office is manned during business hours Monday to Friday."

The services page also covers concierge extras with prices in pesos. It arranges private airport transfers, noting that a taxi costs about 15,000 pesos and that groups of more than 4 or with a lot of luggage need a van quote. Its massage partners include a 2 hour Yoga-Ayurveda-Massage session at 190,000 pesos. Hair and make-up for an event costs 160,000 pesos, a 2-3 hour session with a photographer "about 700,000 pesos, prices negotiable," and a private yoga class "roughly 100,000 pesos." It can also arrange catering, a private chef and groceries for a stay or a boat trip, and it runs a bachelor party section and an events calendar.

What the site leaves open, and who it suits

For the boat trips and island days, which are the partners' products, the overview pages do not give prices, boat sizes, what is included, departure points or times, or whether a trip is shared or private. It does not say how it chooses the "cherry-picked" operators beyond calling them tried and trustworthy, or who a traveler deals with if a partner's trip goes wrong. The site's overview pages do not state group sizes for the company's own walking and food tours, and the cancellation terms sit on a separate page rather than on each tour.

Cartagena Connections suits English-speaking visitors who want local people to plan and book their Cartagena days, from a street food walk or a bar crawl with the team to a catamaran or an island beach club through a partner the team recommends. Travelers who want to compare boat prices and book instantly online will need to email first.