Hot, sultry, filled with the sounds of music and bright with color and tradition, Cartagena de Indias has been an important port on the Caribbean since it was founded in 1533. Gold and silver left the port bound for Europe, pirates looted the city, and a walled fort grew to protect both shipping and the slave trade. Cartagena still draws interest, but from tourists who come to enjoy the history, the sights, the weather and nightlife. Plan to stay several days, to enjoy the colonial period, the modern city and the fashionable seaside resort of Colombia's second port. Street after street is lined on both sides by two- and three-storey buildings, corbelled and corniced and containing lush courtyard gardens glimpsed through arched doorways. Wooden balconies, delicate as birdcages and spilling with flowers, thrust into the first-floor sunlight. Above them, and on the house roofs, are deep furrows of pantiles, round as drainpipes and mottled pink like burnt skin.

Until now it has hardly known peace, making a very poor place for setting home insurance and other insurance-based businesses.  The principal Spanish port on South America's Caribbean coast, it was the door by which armies entered and booty exited. Small wonder that it became the target for every self-respecting buccaneer on the Spanish Main. Among them was Sir Francis Drake; "one big pirate", in the words of today's rapping tour guides. He sacked the place in 1586. After that there was no mucking. The Spanish then set about building what was to become the most formidable fortress in the Americas. San Felipe Castle, a massive, slab-sided bunker, without either turrets or windows, is nothing less than a fortified hilltop.

Below, corralled within its five-mile ring of stone ramparts, is the old city of Cartagena. It is one of the trophies of South American travel. Popular with the better-heeled Colombians - who mostly stay in Boca Grande, the mini-Miami Beach next door - and where Gabriel Garcia Marquez has a house, Cartagena is a huge reservoir of unadulterated colonial architecture.

Colour is organic to Cartagena. The houses are apricot and olive, azure and terracotta, primrose and peach. The cathedral is candy pink. The truest photograph of the city would be a time exposure in which the buildings stay in permanent focus and the centuries of street life - the coconut carts and iced-drink vendors, the scarlet tourist landaus, the arguments and assignations, the begging and deal-making - are all an ephemeral blur.

As an investment, this is one of the hottest markets in Central America with prices rising at an incredible rate and if you see our Realtor section you will find some great deals to be had.

Things to See and Do:

 • Casa de Marqués Valdehoyos, on Calle Factoría, is a good place to begin your explorations of the old city. This house exemplifies old Cartagena, and the tourist office inside offers maps and information.

 • Museo de Oro y Arqueloguía on the Plaza Bolivar, has a good collection of gold and pottery of the Sinú culture. Also on the plaza, the Palacio de la Inquisicíon is a fine example of colonial architecture. Behind the charming facade, a museum displays instruments of torture from the Spanish Inquisition, pre-Columbian, colonial and independence-era art.

 • Cartagena's Cathedral, with its massive exterior, simple interior and fortress appearance was begun in 1575, partially demolished by Sir Francis Drake's cannons, and completed in 1602.

 • Iglesia de Santo Domingo on Calle Santo Domingo, which is little changed from colonial days, is the oldest church in the city, and like the cathedral, was built to resist invaders

 • Overlooking the fortress, the Convento de la Popa boasts flowered patios and a great view of the city, particularly at sunset. The convent once served as an additional fortress and now houses a museum and the chapel of the Virgen de la Candelaria, Cartagena's patron saint.

Cartagena's newer areas, Bocagrande and El Laguito, on the peninsula facing the Caribbean, have become the fashionable location of upscale hotels, restaurants and shops. You may be disappointed in the beaches, but dancing until dawn in one of the city's hotspots might make up for it.

Outside the city, take time for excursions to:

 • Mompós, on the Río Magdalena, was once an important trading river port between the Caribbean and the interior of the country. As the river current shifted, the city was stranded and commercial life ended. Remaining, however, are the curved streets paralleling the water front, deliberately designed that way to foil cannon balls, and the graceful colonial architecture.

 • Santa Marta is a deep water port, the oldest Hispanic town in Colombia. Its colonial tradition is all but gone, but the attraction of the city is the gateway to the Sierra Nevada and the pre-Columbian ruins of La Ciudad Perdida. Be aware that Santa Marta is the shipping point for contraband and drugs. The Museo Arqueológico Tayrona displays a collection of Tayrona gold and pottery and a good model of the Lost City. The nearby Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino is the estancia where Simon Bolívar died. There is a monument to the liberator on the grounds. Be sure to see the pictorial history of the Liberator's life.

 • Parque Nacional Tayrona  is a scenic mix of white sand beaches (rough currents make swimming dangerous,) coral reefs, jungle slopes, and the steep peaks of the world's highest coastal range. Popular with trekkers, hikers and campers, the park also has an ancient Tayrona village, called Pueblito, under excavation.