Cartagena, Colombia Travel Guide
About Getting Around Attractions Hotels Eats & Nightlife Essentials & Practicals
Bocagrande
Bocagrande beach in Cartagena
Bocagrande, Cartagena is your resorty, condo and high end-infused shopping area with beaches. It’s a strip of land on the west side (of the Old City) of Cartagena and shaped like an L (makes up the top portion of the L).
I wheeled west on Avenida Blass de Lezo and south on Avenida San Martin and Carrera 2, the main north/south street, to check out the area and the beach to get a general feel. Though I preferred the historic part of Cartagena, Bocagrande offers a lot of activities and sites.
Tourist bus in Bocagrande Cartagena
The area is comprised high-rise buildings and condos (and hotels), restaurants, clubs, and casinos like the Mundo Fortuna Casino.
Bocagrande has a beach—a fairly long and wide beach with a continental shelf. This is the reason to visit. It’s not the most impressive beach. Laguito, which is the corner part of the L shape, is a popular beach among partyers. Castillogrande, which is makes up the lower part of the L, has the exclusive uppity beaches. The more exotic and clear-water beaches are Rosario Islands (archipelago of islands), Isla Barú, and Playa Blanca and they need to be visited by boat.
Shops and restaurants in Bocagrande on Carrera 2, Cartagena
Bocagrande does have wheelchair accessible hotels, Hotel Cartagena Plaza, with bathtubs and shower stalls, and the Hilton Cartagena.
When in Bocagrande, make sure to drop in at the Juan Valdez Cafe. That was my favorite activity (a little anti-climatic I know).