Private Tours in Cartagena by Lee Miles
I provide help with private tours of Cartagena at the request of visitors who are planning to arrive aboard cruise ships or who are staying in local hotels and want more flexibility and personal attention. I have been involved in tour planning and operations for many years, but arranging private tours for couples and small groups is something new.
I only arrange the tours: developing a tour timing to match the interests of the group, arranging for the guide and driver, and getting the transportation into the port or at the hotel so that it is conveniently available . I am not your tour guide, but will make sure you get the best guides available.
Some tour options:
Time based:
A historical tour of Cartagena including some shopping takes 4 hours; 5 hours if you have lunch. Normal pricing is based on a 4-hour tour. Because of the heat and humidity of Cartagena you should be careful not to do too much.
Monuments/sites:
You can choose to either do “photo stops” at the sites and monuments, or to pay the fees and enter for a full tour. Entrance fees to the monuments/sites are paid in advance so that we have no delays or payment problems to gain access. A “normal” tour, without rushing, might include1-3 sites/monuments. You can choose to shorten and lengthen different elements of the tour timing to meet your needs that day. It is one of the great things about taking a private tour in the first place.
Shopping:
In contrast to the Eastern Caribbean, shopping in Cartagena is not the same procession of European brands and foreign products (Fendi, Gucci, Rolex, Lladro, Diamonds International). Instead, everything you find in Cartagena is really from Colombia. This goes for the coffee, handcrafts, leather goods cigars, and chocolate, as well as the premier product: emeralds and emerald jewelry. The best of the shopping opportunities are concentrated at Pierino Gallo Center about 10 minutes from the Old City in the new part of town. If your interest is simply to pick up handcrafts and souvenirs then you can stop at the Dungeons (Las Bovedas), a group of 20+ handcraft stores in the Old City.
 The Gold Museum has many striking examples of Pre-Colombian art. |
”The fine print:” I own and operate Mister Emerald, upstairs at Pierino Gallo Center. While I would be happy to have you visit my store, I bend over backwards to make sure that your tour satisfies your wishes in every aspect, including the shopping.
Transportation
Transportation will be either in a private car (max.4), a van (max.8), or a mini bus (max. 26). Other options are available for large groups.
6-8 is the best number for a van. Technically these vans hold 14, but I figure 8 is the most you want to have share a van and still be comfortable. For smaller groups there are private cars, but I do not recommend taking 4 in a private car; it is really too snug, with three sitting in the back seat. Two or three will be more comfortable.
To be efficient from a cost point of view you need to either hold the group to 8 persons so that you can fit in a van, or alternatively get at least 14 so that you can move up to a 26-passenger mini- bus. Obviously we can choose to have 9 to 13 in a bus, but it means that the cost per person of the transportation/guide piece of the tour price will be slightly higher than the per-person price for 8 in a van.
 La Popa Monastery on the Hill |
Guides
I use only the very best available guides. After 30 years in Cartagena, I know who is who. There are some of these guides’ names that have been mentioned positively on the Cruise Critic message boards. If you ask for specific guides by name I will do what I can to have them handle your tour. Be aware that these guides sometimes have other commitments on the specific day of your visit, as they are also much sought-after to guide the ship’s shore excursions. We will always make sure that you get a good guide that you can understand, that is knowledgeable, and that you will be comfortable with.
Port
An important aspect of these private tours is that the guide and transportation are waiting for you inside the port, right on the pier where the ship docks. Once we have confirmed your tour, when you arrive in Cartagena make sure that you look for us on the pier alongside the ship and do not leave the ship/pier area. Often there is quite a congestion as the ship’s tour buses are loaded, so you need to avoid ‘following the crowd’, and instead look for our signs and/or vehicles. (NOT ‘following the crowd’ is generally why you wanted to take a private tour in the first place!)
| Special needs/mobility issues:
I need to know if we need to accommodate a wheelchair or scooter, and/or what the other mobility issues might be for the different members of the group. Several of the sites require climbing stairs to gain access to the second-floor exhibits, so we need to be sure that everyone can handle the monument/site choices we choose. While Cartagena is not very “wheel chair friendly”, we can often work around things by arranging for a little special lifting help, or by having the wheel chair guest do a photo stop of the most challenging monuments while the rest go ahead and do a full tour. We of course adjust entry fees accordingly. |
 Church of San Pedro Calver |
Pricing:
Pricing consists of a fixed amount that covers the vehicle, guide, and port entry fees if applicable. We add to that the prepaid entry fees to the monuments/sites we choose to include in the tour.
This season (September 2008 to May 2009) the cost of a private car with guide or a guide/driver without monument fees, waiting for you alongside the ship, will be US $200.00 (4 hours). A van will cost $255.00 for the same time frame, and a 26-passenger bus will be US $428.00
Entry fees for the monuments/sites we choose might run from about $6 per person to $26 per person. These prices will change if there is a significant change in the exchange rate of the US Dollar to the Colombia Peso, either up or down.
Based on the above, the cost per person of three sample tours might be:
Example A: Full tour of the Church of San Pedro Claver and the Gold Museum, photo stops at Palace of the Inquisition and San Felipe Fortress, walking, shopping (optional). Price: 16 in a mini-bus: $33 per person; 8 persons in a van: $38 per person; 3 in car: $73 pp.
 Palace of the Inquisition |
Example B: Full tour of La Popa Monastery, Palace of the Inquisition and Gold Museum, photo stops at Fortress, Church of San Pedro Claver, shopping (optional): Price: 16 in a mini-bus: $42.25 per person; 8 persons in a van: $48 per person; 3 in car: $82
Example C: Full tours of San Pedro Claver Church, San Felipe Fortress, Palace of the Inquisition, Gold Museum (optional), walking in Old City, and shopping (optional): Price: 16 in a mini-bus: $52.50 per person; 8 persons in a van: $58 per person; 3 in car: $93
The above are just to give you an idea of how the prices vary depending on the size of the group and the number of monuments/sites that we tour fully.