A Thanksgiving Trip to Cartagena, Colombia

Intro

I had spent a few weeks just chilling and relaxing in New York City, my hometown. I went on a hike to Bear Mountain, and did a lot of pre-Christmas activities around the city. But now I was ready to have back to back to back trips all over the place, starting with a Thanksgiving trip to Colombia, and a quick stop at Orlando. Travelling during Thanksgiving week is always stressing, but I was going to make this work. Let’s do it!

From New York to Bogota to Cartagena

It was Thanksgiving, so it was equally almost impossible to get a good flight to Cartagena from New York and vice versa. Also, I was using some Lifemiles to buy an Award Ticket, and I found one departing from JFK international airport, but doing a stop in Bogota, Colombia, before heading to Cartagena.

The day had come and I was very late on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving at the airport, and since Avianca rarely offers any food in Economy, I went to McDonald’s to buy some food to go.

The flight to Bogota was a redeye departing at midnight.

I made sure I slept on this flight, and a few hours later we were landing in the mountains of Colombia at Bogota El Dorado International Airport.

The stop was fast but long enough for me to get Dunkin donuts to bring to my family in Cartagena, since that’s a tradition to do in the country, given that there was no Dunkin in Cartagena.

We departed again, and could see the immense city of Bogota, which we explored before in this blog.

After just 1 hour we were getting to Cartagena. A big development in the north of the city, called Serena del Mar, was visible from my window. Serena del Mar is a large, master-planned “dream city” being developed north of Cartagena, Colombia, focusing on a high quality of life with diverse housing, world-class healthcare (Hospital Serena del Mar), education (Universidad de los Andes campus), retail, hotels, and recreation, integrated with natural environments like mangroves and beaches, aiming to be a modern, sustainable community for various income levels. 

The plane did a Go-Around or aborted approach at the airport. And that had only happened to me again at LaGuardia, one time I was coming back to New York during a heavy storm. Thanks to this maneuver, we were able to see more of the city, including its beautiful skyline.

Bocagrande, Castillogrande, El Laguito and Manga are the neighborhoods with the most amount of high-rises, which complete a spectacular skyline, probably the best in the country, with dozens of buildings over 30 stories.

Finally landed, and at the airport I found out that Dunkin had opened its doors in Cartagena lol. I did not need to but their donuts in Bogota.

Hyatt Regency Cartagena

For the first night I was going to stay in the Hyatt Regency Cartagena located in Bocagrande. I did a whole post dedicated to this hotel back in 2024, and it is still relevant if you want to know more about their amenities here.

I got my room, and I really missed how good these rooms are. Not only high up with great views, but with amazing light.

The bathroom is also amazing. Love having hot water while in Cartagena. Since it is a hot city, not many places offer hot water in the shower.

And now for the best part: the view of Manga, the internal bay, and the hill of La Popa in the center of the city.

Manga is the island where the cruises dock, and then they would take this bridge into the Old Town or Historical Center of Cartagena.

Right next to the hotel, in Bocagrande, the Navy Base is located, and you can see amazing things like these submarines just hanging there.

Next to the Hyatt, the tallest building of the city is located: Hotel Estelar, with more than 200 m or 662 ft in height. The beach stabilization project is being performed right now, extending the Bocagrande beach, and organizing it with more infrastructure like bathrooms and commerce.

At night, the view is even more amazing, the city is awake and ready.

A Thanksgiving Dinner

One of the reasons I stayed in this hotel tonight, was because we were going to have a Thanksgiving Dinner at one of its restaurants: Kokau Signature. I had never seen any kind of Thanksgiving celebration in my home country, but it was nice to have the alternative.

Reservations were recommended, and the prices of the plates were a little bit high, but the experience was amazing. This is the menu in English:

STARTER
Golden cornbread and caramelized onion bread, cashew cream, and pickled figs.

APPETIZER
Fresh salmon tartare with mango, lime, and passion fruit, crispy quinoa, sweet cherry tomatoes, creamy avocado, and yellow chili pepper (ají amarillo).

MAIN COURSE
Turkey and bacon roulade with oven-roasted baby carrots and Brussels sprouts, Pastusa potato foam, and gravy sauce with cranberries.

DESSERT
Spiced pumpkin tart with dark cocoa, artisanal vanilla gelato, and cinnamon foam.

The kids menu was this:

Vegetable and Chicken Soup
served with white rice

Mini Hamburger
with cheese and French fries

Chicken Fingers
with mashed potatoes or French fries

Ham and Cheese Sandwich
with French fries

Spaghetti or Penne Pasta
with tomato sauce or cream sauce

Sundae
Two scoops of ice cream of your choice, syrup sauce, and toppings

They gave us a little flyer before the food started:

The restaurant was very beautiful, and it seemed like the Thanksgiving event had been a success, it was full.

The appetizer included Fresh salmon tartare with mango, lime, and passion fruit, crispy quinoa, sweet cherry tomatoes, creamy avocado, and yellow chili pepper. It was pretty good, I love everything with seafood.

The main course was smaller than I expected, but it was Turkey and bacon roulade with oven-roasted baby carrots and Brussels sprouts, Pastusa potato foam, and gravy sauce with cranberries. The turkey was actually really good.

And for dessert, we got the Spiced pumpkin tart with dark cocoa, artisanal vanilla gelato, and cinnamon foam.

A brunch in Bocagrande

We got ready in the morning before check out and went for brunch. We could have gotten the breakfast from the hotel, but it was not included, and it was a little pricey for what they offered.

We went not too far from there to Restaurante Casa Histórica 1927, which had excellent reviews on Google Maps. The Christmas decorations were already up.

I got the Historico Colombiano plate which included the traditional Costeno cheese, eggs, sausages, suero (sour cream) and arepas.

And the Typical Cartagena plate included suero, cheese, eggs and patacones (tostones) made with popocho plantain, typical of this region.

Checking the Hotel Amenities

After the brunch, we came back and started checking the amenities. Unfortunately, half of the pools were closed for renovation, and they only had this section of the pool area opened.

From here though, we could see the Historical Center or Old Town of Cartagena, the main reason to come visit this city. The domes of the churches and the cathedrals always give spirit to the view.

The pool at the neighbor Hotel Estelar looked a little more welcoming than the Hyatt one.

The Old Town of Cartagena

Before checking out, we went to the gym and the sauna of the hotel. We then took a taxi to the Old Town, where I would stay for the rest of the days. There, we went to the Starbucks located in La Serrezuela Mall, an amazing renovation done to an old bullring, turned into a fancy but lovable mall.

The buganvilla and their colorful flowers were everywhere. Definitely one of the highlights of the Old Town.

And the flag of Cartagena was also everywhere. A lot of locals live, study and work in the Old Town, very different to other Unesco Old Towns were you can only find tourists.

Later that night I was back in La Serrezuela Mall, all decorated for Christmas.

But for dinner I went to Tomillo Cevicheria y Mar, also located in the Old Town. I got my first alcoholic drink in a while, a pina colada.

And dinner was Ceviche Cartagenero: Fish, shrimp, squid rings, squid tentacles (calamar pata/pulp), and octopus, accompanied with sour cream (suero), onion, ají topito (a small mild/sweet Caribbean chili pepper typical of the Colombian coast), lime, cilantro, coconut milk, and ripe plantain chips (platano maduro frito / tostones de plátano maduro).

The food was amazing, and it was not too heavy. Good, because I had a lot of early plans the next day.

Exploring the South of Cartagena

The next day we went to Baru, but that would be shown in the next blog. For now, I will show some parts of the south of Cartagena, where the locals actually reside and spend their days. There are many nice malls in this area, but La Plazuela is one of the oldest and most famous ones. They already had the Nativity represented.

And a beautiful Christmas tree outside.

For my last night in the city, I got to go to dinner in one of the famous burger places also located in the south.

Distrito Burger Bar is a famous spot with a big variety of burgers and other dishes. Mine was very good, with a lot of cheese and onions.

Back to the US

The trip had come to an end. Like I mentioned, all the activities done on Saturday will go on the upcoming post. But for now, I was going to Orlando, first stopping in Panama on a Copa flight, and eventually I would go back to NYC.

The flight to Panama from Cartagena is really quick, less than one hour, but once there, that airport is a mess and the connections are not properly organized. There is always no much time between flights at this airport, and the problem is that the terminal is huge. Fortunately, I made it to my Orlando flight on time.

And not like Avianca, Copa provided food on the way to Orlando. And just like that my trip to Cartagena was over, but there is more to see. And I also have to show what I did in Orlando. See you soon.