Five bars, chosen on the record: one on World's 50 Best, one Spirited Awards winner.
Alquimico opened in 2016 inside a colonial mansion in Cartagena's historic center, designed by the French architect Gaston Lelarge and spread across three floors: the Mansion bar, the Balcony for classics and the farm-inspired Terrace. The bar calls itself an ecosystem rather than simply a cocktail bar, and its From the Bar to the Farm project links it directly to producers and to its own farm in Filandia, Quindio. An in-house lab turns Colombian fruit and spices into wines and meads.
Townhouse says it was the first hotel in the city to open its rooftop to the public, and describes the roof as a cocktail bar, an all-day diner and two little plunge pools, open from eight in the morning until midnight, with a reservation required for anyone not staying in the house. The menu is written around fresh, sustainable ingredients, to the point, the hotel says, of telling you which tree your mango came from. The Spirited Awards placed it in the international top ten for Best International Hotel Bar in 2020 and 2022.
El Coro Lounge Bar sits in the 400 year old Novices' Choir of the former convent that now houses Sofitel Legend Santa Clara, in Cartagena's historic centre. The drinks take Cuban classics as a starting point, with mojitos, premium rums, house creations and mocktails, served with Caribbean sharing plates. Cuban son plays on Thursday evenings and Latin and Caribbean bands on Fridays and Saturdays.
Bar Lelarge is a cocktail bar inside Club Cartagena, the 1920s beaux-arts building at the heart of Four Seasons Hotel and Residences Cartagena on Calle de la Media Luna in Getsemaní. Created with Major Food Group, the candlelit room pairs a wine list with cocktails built on local, seasonal Colombian fruit and a light Cuban accent. Chef Mario Carbone's tapas are made for sharing, and the bar welcomes visitors as well as hotel guests.
Botika is the rooftop bar of Sofitel Legend Santa Clara, set on the hotel's terrace in the Walled City with open views over the Caribbean Sea. Its look borrows from the old apothecaries of the Santa Clara convent, with bottles, spices and botanicals shaping the space. Head mixologist David García builds the signature cocktails and elixirs around local ingredients, tropical fruit, herbs and modern techniques, with plates for sharing alongside.
These 5 are the starting point. The full BarMagazine directory covers every listed bar in Cartagena, with a map, filters by bar type, and new openings as we verify them.
