September 9, 2026
Yes, Cartagena is safe to visit, and it is safer in 2026 than in any recent year by the police’s own numbers. That is the short answer, and the longer one is more useful: the things that actually happen to visitors here are not the things the word “Colombia” makes people imagine. They are a bill that is five times what it should be, a gold chain pulled off a neck on a crowded street, a drink you did not watch, a boat that left from the wrong dock. We run tours in this city every day and put guests in cars from the airport every week, so this is the list in the order it reaches people, with the 2026 figures, the neighborhoods as they really are, and the habits that make almost all of it go away.
The short version
The Old City, Getsemaní, Bocagrande and the beaches are busy, policed and fine by day and evening. Homicides fell by a quarter in the first half of 2026 and the violence that remains is between armed groups in neighborhoods no visitor enters. What reaches tourists, in order: overcharging on beaches and in bars, snatch theft of gold chains and phones in the Old City and Getsemaní, drink-spiking and dating-app robberies, unlicensed taxis and boats, and swimming where boats run. Wear no gold, agree every price before you sit, watch your drink, book cars and boats from authorized places, and save the district’s Titán Chat number. Do that and Cartagena is a hot, loud, safe city.
What the numbers say
The Policía Metropolitana reported 153 homicides in Cartagena between January and June 2026 against 201 in the same months of 2025, a fall of 23.9 percent, with June itself down from 37 to 27. Of those 27 June cases, 16 were contract killings, three were fights, one a femicide and one a lynching; two happened during robberies, and 14 of the victims had criminal records. Theft from people fell 38.2 percent in the half year and, in the Old City, 65.9 percent; 144 of the city’s neighborhoods recorded no homicide at all. In the same six months the city received more than 3.3 million visitors, 1.9 million of them by air, 1 million by land, 427,699 on cruise ships and 457,386 of them foreign nationals, according to the city’s tourism corporation. Cartagena has real violence, and it is concentrated in a few neighborhoods far from anywhere a visitor stays; the number that describes your trip is the one about theft in the Old City, and it is falling.
The United States keeps Colombia at Level 3, “reconsider travel,” in the advisory updated on March 31, 2026, with Level 4 reserved for Arauca, Cauca outside Popayán, Valle del Cauca outside Cali, Norte de Santander and the ten kilometers along the Venezuelan border. Bolívar, the department Cartagena belongs to, is not on that list. The warnings in the same document that do apply here are the ones about drugged drinks, dating apps and unlicensed taxis, and they are the warnings we repeat below.
The risks, in the order they actually reach visitors
1. A bill. The most common bad thing that happens to a visitor in Cartagena is a price. In 2025 the district logged 289 complaints of excessive charges to tourists between January and July, 137 in July alone, including a bill of 6.5 million pesos for three meals, two cocktails, a hookah and a rented speaker on Playa Blanca, which the district’s security agency, Distriseguridad, reversed. The habits are simple: agree the price of chairs, drinks, food, boats and massages before you accept anything, ask for a written menu, pay in cash in small notes, and refuse the oysters, the massage and the “free” photo you did not ask for. The district runs Titán Chat, a WhatsApp line on +57 304 251 1127, 24 hours a day and in several languages, where you can ask the official price of anything and report a bill while you are still sitting there. Save it before you land.
2. A chain, a watch, a phone. The signature street crime of the Old City and Getsemaní in 2026 is a gold chain snatched off a neck in a crowd, sometimes by a group that closes in around the victim. In May 2026 the police and the prosecutor’s office arrested four adults and a minor from a gang the press called Los Rompecadenas, working San Diego, Getsemaní and Avenida Venezuela, and recovered chains worth more than 30 million pesos; in late August five more were arrested in Getsemaní and San Diego after a robbery on the Calle de la Media Luna, with two chains worth 22 million pesos recovered. The rule is one sentence: wear no gold in Cartagena. Keep the phone in a front pocket, use it against a wall rather than in the middle of a plaza, and carry a copy of your passport. If someone grabs something, let it go.
3. A drink, or a date. The US advisory’s warnings about drugged drinks and dating-app robberies apply in Cartagena as they do in Medellín. In June 2026 the Cartagena police arrested four women the press called Las Mañosas, accused of seducing tourists to set up robberies. Meet dates in public and stay in public, tell someone where you are, never leave a drink or accept one you did not see poured, and do not bring someone you met that night to where you sleep. In May the police’s anti-kidnapping unit, the Gaula, arrested two men in Bocagrande who had watched tourists on the beach for hours, demanded 750 dollars from a couple while posing as members of an armed group, followed them, and came back the next day for a million pesos; they were caught as the money changed hands. The defense against that one is the same as against every stranger who arrives with a story: walk into the hotel, tell reception, call the police.
4. The wrong car, the wrong boat. Taxis in Cartagena do not use meters, so the fare is agreed before the door closes or it is not a fare; ride apps work in the city and are the simpler option. At the airport, use the official taxi rank or a car that was booked for you. On the water, the maritime authority, Dimar, authorizes passenger departures only from the Muelle de la Bodeguita and the marinas and nautical clubs; a boat that leaves from a beach or a stranger’s dock has no passenger list filed with anyone. Our transfers are operated by Safe Transfers by Cielo.Travel, our transfer company, with a driver inside arrivals and a fixed price, and our boats leave from an authorized marina with your name on the list.
For the airport itself, the fares from the official stands, the bus and the transfer are in our Cartagena airport guide.
5. The water itself. Boats and swimmers share the same coves, and it has killed people. In October 2025 the Tribunal Administrativo de Bolívar, ruling on a popular action by the Fundación Leypoar, gave the district sixty days to mark swimming zones separate from boat traffic at eight beaches, among them Cholón, Playa Blanca, Bocagrande and Tierra Bomba, after a 28-year-old swimmer was killed by a propeller at Cholón in June 2024. Swim inside the buoys where they exist, on the side of the boat away from traffic where they do not, and never behind a boat. Bocagrande’s sea is rough on windy days; respect the flags and the lifeguards’ whistle.
6. Violence. Last on the list on purpose. The homicides in the numbers above happen in the city’s poorer districts, between armed groups and their rivals, and almost never touch the areas on this page. The way a visitor meets violence in Cartagena is by resisting a robbery, and the advice from every police force in the country is the same: do not.
The neighborhoods, as they are
The Old City. Walled, policed, busy until late, and where theft fell fastest in 2026. Safe to walk at any hour on the main streets; keep to lit streets after midnight and leave the jewelry in the safe. The vendors, the palenqueras and the touts are persistent, not dangerous; a smile and a firm no is the whole technique.
Getsemaní. Cartagena’s nightlife neighborhood, one gate from the Old City, and the place most visitors report their best evening. It is also where the chain-snatching gangs have worked, on Calle de la Media Luna and the streets around Plaza de la Trinidad. Fine at night with the rules above; take a car back to Bocagrande rather than walking the causeway after dark.
Bocagrande, Castillogrande and El Laguito. The hotel peninsula: residential, quiet at night, with beach vendors by day and a police presence on the seafront. The extortion case above happened here, which tells you what to do with strangers who know your hotel: nothing, and tell reception.
Manga and Pie de la Popa. Residential districts between the Old City and the fort; fine by day, no reason to walk them at night. The hill of La Popa itself is a place to go by car, never on foot.
La Boquilla and the northern beaches. A fishing village with Playa Azul, the beach that has carried the city’s only Blue Flag, calm and local by day; go by car and come back before dark.
Barú and the islands. The risks are the bill and the propeller, not crime. The park’s mandatory accident insurance, in force since March 2026, exists for a reason.
Everywhere else. The neighborhoods where the city’s violence lives are south and east of the tourist city and are not on any visitor’s route. Bazurto market sits on the edge of that geography: extraordinary, and a place to go with a guide in the morning, not to wander with a camera.
Women, solo travelers, families, LGBTQ travelers
Solo travelers do well here with the rules above; the drink and dating-app risk is the one to take personally, because it targets people who are alone. Women get more attention on the street than in Bogotá, especially from vendors, and less than the reputation suggests; the night rules are the ones that matter. Families are welcome everywhere on this page, and the city is good with children, including on the boats if you insist on life jackets that fit. Cartagena is a relaxed city for LGBTQ travelers in the Old City and Getsemaní, where the bars and hotels are used to everyone; the drink rules are the same for everyone.
Health, heat and the small things
The heat is the health risk: 31 to 33 degrees by day and humid all year, according to IDEAM. Drink water constantly, keep the walking to the early morning and the late afternoon, and treat the siesta as medicine. The city’s tap water is treated; most visitors drink bottled or filtered water, and we do the same on our tours. Mosquitoes carry dengue on this coast in the rainy months from May to November, so repellent in the evening is not optional. The emergency number is 123 for police, ambulance and fire. Travel insurance that covers a private clinic is where you would be treated.
What we do differently
We cannot make a city risk-free and do not pretend to. What we do is remove the moments where visitors get hurt: nobody in our care is arguing over a fare at the airport, boarding a boat from a stranger’s dock, or walking the causeway at two in the morning with a phone in hand. Our private city tour goes through the fort, the Old City and Getsemaní with a guide who lives here and a car between stops; our islands day leaves from an authorized marina with the insurance handled; and the transfer from the airport is a driver inside arrivals with your name on a sign. The rest is the list above, which we repeat to every guest.
Questions travelers ask
Is Cartagena safe for tourists in 2026?
Yes. Homicides fell 23.9 percent in the first half of 2026 and theft in the Old City fell 65.9 percent, by the police’s figures, while the city received 3.3 million visitors. The risks that reach tourists are overcharging, chain and phone theft, and drink-spiking, all avoidable with habits.
Is the Old City safe at night?
Yes, on the main streets, which are busy and policed until late. After midnight keep to lit streets, wear no gold, and take a car back to Bocagrande rather than walking.
Is Getsemaní safe?
Yes, and it is where most visitors spend their evenings. It is also where the chain-snatching gangs have worked in 2026, so leave the jewelry in the safe and keep the phone in your pocket around Plaza de la Trinidad and Calle de la Media Luna.
Can I use Uber in Cartagena?
In the city, yes; the apps work and remove the fare conversation. At the airport use the official taxi rank or a pre-booked transfer rather than negotiating with anyone at the curb.
Is it safe to take a boat to the islands?
Yes, from an authorized departure point: the Muelle de la Bodeguita or a Dimar-authorized marina, with the park’s mandatory insurance since March 2026. Swim inside the marked zones and never behind a boat.
What should I do if I am overcharged in Cartagena?
Do not pay under pressure. Write to Titán Chat, the district’s WhatsApp line on +57 304 251 1127, which is open 24 hours, in several languages, and has reversed bills of millions of pesos. Agreeing prices first avoids the conversation.
Plan it with us
Every tour we run in Cartagena is private, with hotel pickup and a guide who lives here, and our transfers are operated by Safe Transfers by Cielo.Travel. Write to us on WhatsApp with your dates, or start with our guide to things to do in Cartagena and our Cartagena tours page.
