"Danger: Wandering the Streets, Use Common Sense" Cartagena Warnings Or Dangers Tip by gdilieto

Safety was one of my concerns before traveling to Cartagena but as a matter of fact I did not feel any more unsafe than in other big cities worldwide. The Historical City Center (Centro) is crowded with locals, tourists, street vendors and, among others, few beggars but there is a lot of police as well and, generally speaking, one feels reasonably safe. After sunset streets of the Centro empty and one needs to be more careful but with the guard on and using common sense one should manage to avoid troubles.

Outside Centro other areas of interest to tourists are the neighbor of Getsemaní, right outside the walled city, where few budget hotels are located, and the residential area of Bocagrande, with few hangout places and the beach. I was advised by my hotel concierge not to walk around Getsemaní at night and I didn't do it. Bocagrande is considered pretty safe and in any case there is no reason to wander around, just take a taxi to/from your destination. Taxi are generally considered safe, I took a few and didn't have bad experiences nor perception of being close to one.

All in all, no reason to be over-concerned about safety so long as you keep your guard on and use common sense. Forget about kidnapping by drug-cartel and guerrilla; they do not operate here and anyway tourists are not a target for their purposes.