Cartagena for couples

Best boutique hotels

Cartagena sorts itself into neighborhoods as cleanly as any city on the Caribbean coast: colonial walls on one side, resort towers and open beach on the other, and a handful of transitional strips doing the work between them. Centro and Getsemaní carry the highest boutique ratings: Casa de Alba holds a 9.5 inside the walls, the Osh Hotel a 9.2 just beyond the gate. The price reflects it ($192 and $179 a night respectively) while La Matuna, the commercial wedge next door, runs an 8.6 at $90. Bocagrande and El Laguito line the beachfront with mid-range inventory at lower rates, Crespo covers the airport corridor, Manga sits on its own island across the bridge, and La Boquilla stretches up the coast past the last city bus. The first real decision is not which hotel. It is which Cartagena you want outside your door each morning: the one with cobblestones or the one with sand.