Cartagena de Indias, on Colombia's Caribbean coast, is best known for its walled old city. It also has a small Spanish dining scene. Our Cartagena page lists three Spanish restaurants, each in a different part of town, which makes them easy to spread across a weekend. For the rest of the country, see our Colombia guide.
The hours below come from each restaurant's record in our directory. Check before you go, especially around holidays.
Saturday morning: northern Spain in Getsemaní
Getsemaní is the neighbourhood just outside the walled centre. El Peninsular is here, inside Hotel Casa Ébano on Calle de la Magdalena. Its record describes it as a small corner of Spain focusing on Asturian and northern Spanish cooking.
It has the earliest opening of the three: 08:00, Tuesday to Sunday. On Saturday it stays open until 22:00. On Sunday it closes at 15:30, and its record lists no Monday hours. If you want to try an Asturian dish such as fabada, ask what the kitchen has that day; the record does not list a menu.
Saturday evening: tapas in Las Bóvedas
Las Bóvedas is a row of vaults built into the old city walls in the late eighteenth century, now mostly shops. La Tapería occupies Bóveda 16. Its record calls it a tapas bar and points to two regions: the Costa Blanca, for paella it describes as award-winning, and Galicia, for octopus.
It is open 12:30 to 22:00 from Monday to Saturday and 12:30 to 21:00 on Sunday. That makes it the only one of the three with Monday hours on record, which is useful if your weekend runs long.
Sunday lunch: up the tower in La Boquilla
For the third stop, head north of the old city along the coast to Erre de Ramón Freixa. It is on the 10th floor of Hotel Las Américas Torre del Mar, on the Anillo Vial in La Boquilla. Its record describes it as mixing the flavours of the Mediterranean with the Caribbean, and names the chef behind it, Ramón Freixa, as a Spanish chef with two Michelin stars.
Erre serves lunch from 12:00 to 15:00 and dinner from 19:00 to 23:00, Tuesday to Sunday. There are no Monday hours on record. Sunday lunch is the obvious slot if you spent Saturday in the old city.
Planning notes
- All three restaurants list Saturday and Sunday hours, but only El Peninsular opens in the morning, and only La Tapería lists Monday hours.
- El Peninsular closes at 15:30 on Sunday, so make it a morning or lunch stop that day.
- Erre breaks between lunch and dinner, from 15:00 to 19:00.
- Getsemaní and Las Bóvedas are both close to the walled centre; La Boquilla is a taxi ride north along the coast.
