Living in Cartagena: A Sourced Overview for Foreigners (2026)

No official source ranks Cartagena neighborhoods by foreign residents. Listing data shows where the rentals are. Bocagrande, Manga, Castillogrande, El Laguito and Crespo are near the old city and the beach, and Serena del Mar and La Boquilla are north along the coast. The walled Centro has few long-term listings, so its median rests on a small sample.

All figures are asking rents, not contract rents, and usually exclude administración. Dollar figures are our conversions at the TRM of COP 3,174.67 per US$ (Oct 17–19, 2026), rounded to US$10.¹

Sources: ClickCasa, Cartagena rent data; Aptologia, Cartagena. Both read Oct 19, 2026. All sizes and furnished and unfurnished units are mixed together.

The two sites count different numbers of listings (4,243 vs 2,032), so they're sampling different slices of the market. Neither says how many listings are short-term or holiday rentals.

Ley 820 de 2003 applies to urban housing leases across Colombia: no cash deposits, and yearly increases capped at the previous calendar year's inflation.² See renting long term for what the law covers.

A TransCaribe trip costs COP 3,900 under Decreto 017 of Jan 15, 2026, in force since Jan 23, 2026. The 2025 fare was COP 3,400.³⁴

Electricity (Afinia), water and gas: unknown. We didn't read the 2026 tariff sheets for Cartagena.

The US State Department rates all of Colombia Level 3, "Reconsider travel" (issued March 31, 2026). Bolívar department, where Cartagena is, isn't on the Level 4 "Do not travel" list.⁵

Points from the advisory that apply to Cartagena:

• Be cautious on small tourist boats between Cartagena and the nearby islands. In December and January the seas off the northern coast can be dangerous for small boats, and US citizens have died in boating accidents. Check for life jackets before you board.
• Tourist areas, hotels, restaurants and clubs are on its list of possible terrorism targets across Colombia.
• Nationwide: don't hail street taxis, meet dating-app contacts only in public places, and avoid ATMs on the street.

The nearest US consular office on the coast is the Consular Agency in Barranquilla: Calle 77B No. 57-141, Suite 511, +57-605-353-2001.⁵

In an emergency in Colombia, call 123.

Local crime statistics from the Alcaldía or the Policía: not reviewed for this draft.

The same nationwide rules: 90/180 days for visa-exempt visitors, a visa for longer stays (digital nomad, retirement), a cédula for visas over 3 months, and tax residency after more than 183 days in any 365.