5 Days in Cartagena: Beaches and Islands
Five days keeps the same arrival, Rosario Islands, Bocagrande, and Totumo days, then adds La Boquilla for kitesurfing or a mangrove canoe tour, the better mainland water day. Need a different length? See the 4-day , 6-day , or 7-day version of this route.
Book these before you go
- Rosario Islands boat day: check tours on GetYourGuide
- A beginner kitesurf lesson at La Boquilla: browse GetYourGuide
- Volcan del Totumo round trip: check departures on Viator
| Day | Focus | Travel time | Daily cost (COP, per person) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Arrival, Old City walk, sunset on the walls | 15-20 min CTG to center | 150,000-250,000 |
| Day 2 | Rosario Islands and Playa Blanca boat day | About 1 hour each way by boat | 350,000-450,000 |
| Day 3 | Bocagrande beach, easy pace | 10-15 min taxi from the Old City | 120,000-200,000 |
| Day 4 | Volcan del Totumo mud volcano | 1-1.5 hours each way by road | 200,000-350,000 |
| Day 5 | La Boquilla, kitesurfing or mangroves | 20-30 min taxi from the center | 150,000-300,000 |
Day 1: Arrival and one Old City evening
Fixed-rate kiosk taxi from CTG, roughly 20,000-30,000 COP into the center. Old City plazas and Las Bovedas in the late afternoon, sunset on the walls near Baluarte Santo Domingo, dinner in Getsemani.
Day 2: Rosario Islands and Playa Blanca
A reviewed operator, roughly 159,000 COP adult, 139,000 COP child, plus a separate 25,000-29,000 COP park and dock tax that is frequently missing from the advertised price, confirm before you pay.
Day 3: Bocagrande beach, easy pace
A short taxi hop, workable sand, a deliberately low-effort recovery day between two bigger excursions.
Day 4: Volcan del Totumo
About 1 to 1.5 hours by road, an organized round trip runs roughly $35-65, entry alone is 20,000-25,000 COP, a genuine mud-float novelty, not a scenic wonder.
Day 5: La Boquilla, kitesurfing or mangroves
La Boquilla, a former fishing village a short taxi north of the center, has the wind and calm shallow water that make it Cartagena’s actual kitesurfing base, beginner lessons are widely available and reasonably priced against the equipment involved. Prefer something calmer, mangrove canoe tours through the nearby wetlands run half-day and cover a different, quieter side of the coast entirely, herons and mangrove channels instead of open water.
Is La Boquilla worth adding over a second beach day? Yes, if you want variety rather than repeating Bocagrande. It is the more active, more distinctive mainland option, kitesurfing and mangroves both genuinely differ from a standard sand-and-swim day, and it sits close enough to the center that it does not eat your whole afternoon getting there.
Head back into Getsemani for dinner and a slower evening, five days at this pace covers both signature day trips plus a real mainland water day without any single day feeling like an afterthought.