Hotel Portal de San Diego — Hotel in Cartagena

Spent two nights at this property located roughly in the center of Cartegena's historic district. This is the area you want to be in if you are visiting this fascinating city. ||||My brother-in-law and I each had our own very clean rooms. The hotel is located up a two story climb on a long flight of stairs from its security door on the street. The hotel receptionist will buzz you in and out of the building as well as assist in taking your luggage on the stairs. The hotel is small, with a small center courtyard open to the sky where breakfast is served. This was right outside our rooms but the hotel wasn't busy so noise was not a factor. Our interior rooms (no windows) were small and there is nowhere to put your suitcase to unpack (much less any sort of dresser to store your clothes). Rooms are air conditioned (a must for Cartagena) but my A/C was temperamental and I had to fiddle with the remote control to get it to work and once I did it was great. There is a small closet and a mini-refrigerator with bottled water for sale. Bathroom was small with no counter or shelving. Shower water pressure was good but hot water was not consistent. Shampoo and soap provided. King bed was comfortable. Hotel provided free WiFi with acceptable speed and no dropped service during our stay. Breakfast was off a simple menu: Fruit, eggs or cereal, toast and coffee or hot chocolate. We paid around US$70 per room per night including tax and breakfast.||||But it really is all about the location. This hotel, and other nearby properties, put you right in the midst of the historic district. There are countless shops, cafes and restaurants nearby, not to mention a wealth of interesting bars. The Museo de Cacao (Chocolate Museum) is on the same block as the hotel as is the notable KGB Bar. Plaza Fernandez de Madrid is a block away; this is where we met our guide to take a historic walking tour. The Inquisition Museum is within walking distance as is the Plaza de las Bovedas shopping arcade. ||||The best way to get around is walking. While there are certainly sections of Cartagena best avoided by tourists, the historic district is safe to visit and full of tourists. There are horse-drawn carriages available for hire if you should tire of walking.||||There are public beaches on the Caribbean Sea in Cartagena but frankly they are not very good. The best beaches we were told are found on small islands 30 minutes away by boat. We didn't have time to check these out on this trip but if you are interested in spending a day at the beach you'll want to check into this.||||There are ATMs near the hotel as well as foreign exchange booths.There is a large Exito supermarket one block from the hotel - exit front door, turn right, go to corner, turn left and walk one long block. ||||There are a lot of street vendors selling hats, t-shirts, sunglasses, water, sodas, fruit, etc. most of whom will take a firm "No gracias" and leave you alone if you aren't interested in whatever they are selling. There are groups of young men who perform Spanish rap on the fly with their portable beat box - they'll come up to your outdoor cafe table or follow you around rapping and expecting a "propina" (tip). If you aren't interested just do your best to ignore them and they'll eventually move on to another tourist.||||We took a taxi from the Cartagena airport to the hotel. They have a good system at the airport: Follow the signs and arrows to the taxi booth (turn left after exiting baggage claim). Give the person in the booth the name and address of your hotel. You'll be given a ticket with the proper fare amount printed on it to give to the driver. To return to the airport we had the hotel receptionist call us a radio cab. Fare each way, if I remember right, was around the equivalent of US$6 or so. The airport is about a 15 minute taxi ride away depending on traffic||||Cartagena turned out to be one of my favorite small cities I have visited around the world and I wouldn't mind coming back again some day. If I should return I would consider this hotel or one of its neighbors in the...

The hotel is right in the center of Cartagena & everything is within walking distance. Very touristic area and overall felt very safe walking at any time during the day. The hotel itself has no elevator so just thought I'd mention, since I know my guy was relieved when I had decided not to bring extra luggage that he would have had to bring to our room on the third floor, passing one large staircase and two smaller ones. The rooms were very clean & had all the amenities. The wifi worked perfectly fine & the staff was so friendly and helpful. Ingrid was very helpful in booking the room & even arranged for us to check in earlier then expected since our flight came in earlier than usual. Dayan helped set up airport transportation which for us was a must since it was our first time alone in the city & were unfamiliar. The transportation is set up by the hotel when you send them your flight itinerary & the gentleman was already waiting for us on our way out from the airport. You have the option of paying that same day of pick up or on the day of your check out. It's a separate fee from your room at about 40,000 COP (~$12 USD). The breakfast comes complimentary too with fresh fruit bowl and fruit juices with your choice of eggs or a sandwich etc. I would highly recommend staying at this hotel. It's perfectly set up for a weekend getaway or longer if need be. I hope we have the opportunity to visit Cartagena again & we will be booking...

The cosy, cool twin bedroom was a sight for sore eyes after a tiresome night in a concrete Airbnb room. Staying on another night, they let us stay in our twin room rather than move to a double, which was helpful and took away the hassle of packing up and moving. ||Staffed by helpful and friendly front desk team, Wagner helped to look after our bags and Yamile gave outstanding restaurant recommendations. ||We enjoyed the simple but decent breakfast of fruits followed by eggs of your choice, which set the day off right. ||Oh - there's no lifts, but we haven't spotted any in the three different hotels stayed in in Cartagena. And the staff helped with our bags up to...