5 UNIQUE THINGS TO DO IN CARTAGENA

Fashion designer Silvia Tcherassi has just turned a 250-year-old colonial mansion into the Tcherassi Hotel + Spa, while the Viceroy Cartagena is about to launch Colombia’s first six-star hotel.

An abandoned soap factory has become the undisputed home of Cartagena street art. The city has already attracted international artists such as Fin DAC from the UK and Bell Borba from Brazil. [For an insider guide, ask your Lightfoot Travel designer to book you on an art tour.]

The restaurant that is causing the most buzz in Cartagena is Restaurant Interno. The restaurant that has seen celebrity chefs and politicians walk through the door is based within San Diego’s women’s prison. The inmates serve dishes such as sea bass cocktail and Cartagena-style sliced beef along with vegetables that have been grown in the prison’s garden.

The cocktail scene has seen a new lease of life with Cartagena’s own twist on a Manhattan speakeasy, the Alquimico that’s set in a former two-storey mansion. The team make rum infusions using local Colombian produce. The heady mix of cocktails and local DJs keep the crowds dancing till dawn.

Visit The Shop at Calle Sargento Mayor. This tiny boutique stocks a wealth of crafts, art works and organic chocolate and Colombian coffee from local artisans.