San Felipe de Barajas Castle & Getsemaní Free Tour

Castillo San Felipe de Barajas is the reason Cartagena survived centuries of sieges: a hilltop fortress of tunnels, ramps and gun batteries built to see an attacking fleet coming from miles out, and rebuilt and expanded every time a new enemy figured out its weaknesses. Your guide walks you through its underground galleries — designed so a whisper carried further than a shout — and up to the ramparts for the widest panoramic view in Cartagena.

From the castle, the tour crosses into Getsemaní, the neighborhood that used to house the workers, sailors and enslaved people who weren't allowed to live inside the walls. Gathering at Plaza de la Trinidad, you'll see how a district once considered dangerous became Cartagena's street-art capital, its walls painted with murals about Afro-Caribbean identity, resistance and daily life.