Hop-On/Hop-Off in Cartagena, Colombia

Oct 25, 2018 - This morning, Island Princess is docking in the port of Cartagena, Colombia.

Approaching the dock in Cartagena

We have scheduled a City Sightseeing Hop-On/Hop-Off bus tour for this morning. Even though this tour is available through Princess Cruises (and most cruise lines), you can save some money by booking directly with City Sightseeing through their website.

As soon as we disembark Island Princess, City Sightseeing folks are at the end of the gangway to take our tickets and guide us onto a waiting shuttle. In fact, we were invited onto the same shuttle as those who purchased the tour through the ship's tour office. However, this shuttle may not be provided for all cruise ships visiting Cartagena. If not, City Sightseeing will direct you to the nearest Hop-On/Hop-Off bus stop where you can board the tour. The tour includes a bus tour of Cartagena as well as a guided walking tour of the Old Town. Guests can opt to do both, or either one.

Hop-On/Hop-Off Shuttle Bus

We chose to do the walking tour only. The shuttle drive to Old Town takes about 30 minutes and as soon as we disembark the bus, local merchants swarm around us selling everything from sunglasses to hats to bottled water.

Local merchants selling all kinds of items

One of the double-decker Hop-On/Hop-Off buses is just about to leave on its 90-minute tour through the city. There are 14 stops along the way where guests can "hop off", do some shopping, have lunch, explore, then "hop on" when ready to continue their tour. A bus comes around every 30 minutes or so, depending on traffic.

Hop-On/Hop-Off Bus

We have done many of these Hop-On/Hop-Off bus tours with City Sightseeing all over the world and have always found them an excellent, and affordable, way to see an unfamiliar city. But, we have never done a walking tour with them, so today Raul will guide us through Old Town.

Raul, our guide

There are about 20 guests in our walking group and everyone is given a set of ear buds and an audio receiver. This allows everyone to clearly hear the guide talking through his transmitter.

Audio receiver

The tour begins with a walk through the old city gate under the clock tower.

Clock Tower

Once inside the walls of Old Town, we begin walking through a labyrinth of narrow streets, and into expansive plazas.

Tour group walking through streets

There is some beautiful architecture to be found here, not the least of which are the elaborate churches.

Raul took us to a local chocolate museum where we enjoyed a complimentary chocolate milk drink. Many on the tour purchased chocolate items in the store.

Of course, everywhere you look there are local street vendors selling their wares. Rickee finally gave in and purchased a decorative head band. Even though the vendors are persistent, they are not aggressive or pushy. A simple "no, gracias" will send them away if you are not interested. One unique merchant was an artist who painted on a mirror with his fingers and palm, only using a small sponge for a couple of effects. He gave us a demonstration and it was amazing. He did a beautiful painting in about two minutes! We bought two of his paintings ($10) to take home as gifts.

Street artist

The walking tour took about 90 minutes and was an excellent way to see the Old Town Cartegena, which is definitely the highlight of this port city. After the tour, most guests joined the Hop-On/Hop-Off bus for the driving tour of the city, but we opted to catch the shuttle back to the ship.

The City Sightseeing Tour in Cartagena is definitely worth the modest price of less than $23(US). A Hop-On/Hop-Off bus is one of our favorite ways to see a new city.

For more information, visit their website.

Segway Cartagena

In case you don't know by now, we love Segway tours. It's not just because the Segways happen to be a blast to ride, they are a great way to see some of the world's most historic and interesting places. Cartagena, Colombia, is one such place where a Segway is an excellent choice to explore the historic Old City. We discovered Segway Cartegena through their website and wasted no time in booking a 90-minute tour.

If you have ever avoided a Segway tour because you feared that they are difficult to ride, let me put your mind at easy. If you can stand up, you can learn to ride a Segway in about 10 minutes or less. They are super-intuitive, and a lot of fun. In fact, the hardest part of our tour was finding Segway Cartegena's location! Our cruise ship offered a shuttle service from the pier to the gates of the Old City, so we figured we could walk around and find Segway Cartagena on our own. A map was emailed to us from Segway Cartagena, but the streets in the Old City are not very well marked. We asked several people for directions, showing them the map, but it seemed we kept going in circles. We did finally find the place (obviously), even though there is little or no signage outside. The Segways parked out front sort of gave it away!

Segway Cartagena location

Segway Cartagena offers a transfer from the ship for $15 per couple (each way), which we highly recommend unless you are adventurous like us and want to try to find the location on your own. Once we arrived, we met Cesar, our guide for the tour. A few other folks from our cruise ship (Azamara Quest) also showed up for the tour. We were all fitted with helmets and those who had no experience with riding a Segway were given a brief 10-minute training session.

Tour guests line up for Segway training

We informed Cesar that we were very familiar with riding Segways and were allowed to skip the training session. While everyone else was getting trained, I used the time to rig up my GoPro to the handlebar of the Segway I would be riding.

My GoPro clamped to the Segway handlebar

Each Segway was equipped with a small bag (see photo above) that could be used to hold sunglasses, keys, a small water bottle, etc. However, we were not offered any bottled water, so make sure to bring your own. Of course, you can also wear your backpack during the tour for larger items. Even though it is not required, it is a good idea to wear sneakers or closed-toe shoes (not flip-flops).

Cartagena is the perfect place for a Segway tour

Once the tour started, Cesar took the lead and we all followed through the crowded, narrow streets of the Old City. There were two other Segway Cartagena employees accompanying the tour. One would go ahead and stop traffic for us at intersections while the other remained behind the group. Whenever we dismounted the Segways, one of the guides would stay with the machines to guard them, so I never had to worry about my GoPro disappearing.

Segways are watched over while we are off exploring on foot

Cesar would frequently stop and have us park the machines so we could explore on foot and gather around as he explained the history of a building or an area. We have been on some Segway tours where you never dismount the machine until the end of the tour, and that can get a little tiring on the feet, so it is nice to get off frequently and walk around.

Cesar takes time to explain the history of Cartagena

Cesar and his associates were also good about offering to take photos of us along the way, something a lot of tour guides fail to do.

Cesar takes a photo of us on the Segways

Most Americans don't realize how much history and interesting architecture there is in Cartagena. I think there may still be a stigma about Colombia as a dangerous place, but today, Cartagena is probably as safe as any other international destination. In the Old City, you will find a lot of street vendors selling all sorts of items like hats, sunglasses, etc. But, none of the ones we came across were overly agressive.

Street vendors are commonplace in the Old City

Also, most of the places we visited, we found locals who could speak at least some English. Of course, our tour was entirely in English. Our Segway tour lasted 90 minutes and is a good value at $70pp. Segway Cartagena is a local company, so when you go on one of their tours, you are supporting a local business. We like that.

Rickee gets a picture with Cesar

When your cruise ship visits Cartagena, you can book a tour through the ship, or you can do your own thing and book a Segway tour with Segway Cartagena. I think you know which option we preferCheck their website for details at www.segwaycartagena.com

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