Walking Tour of the Old City – Tour in Cartagena with Marelvy Peña

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The Walking Tour is essentially a morning or early afternoon version of the Crepuscule or Twilight Tour.

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Read our 507 reviews

Erik5000

2020-12-31

Marelvy is a lovely guide We thoroughly enjoyed our private historical walking tour with Marelvy. She’s wonderfully friendly and knowledgeable, and we had great conversation the entire time. Definitely take a tour with Marelvy if you’re interested in pirates because she’s written a history book on piracy in the Cartagena area. Conversation also covered architecture, history, food, the various convents and monasteries, battles and more. She also took us through some really neat neighborhoods outside of the old city walls that we would have never known about without her. There are other group tours available, but hanging out with Marelvy was a great experience.

Jane F

2020-03-04

Boquilla fishing village - what an experience! Cruising with 10 friends, we like to organise our own tours with independent local agents. How pleased were we to come across Tour in Cartagena with Marelvy! From the outset communications were timely and professional, and Marelvy's rep was there to meet us at the quayside, despite some confusion over our arrival time. We had a really nice bus to ourselves, and made our way to the fishing village on the outskirts of Cartagena. Our trip started with a tour of the mangrove swamp in a dugout canoe, propelled by a local fishermen with a pole. We were taught how to cast nets to amass some bait, which our boatman then prepared and put into crab traps, which were then dropped into the river. 15 minutes later, lo and behold, we had 11 crabs. We then proceeded to a very local restaurant where we were served a delicious lunch of local fish with plantain and rice, all cooked over an open fire in the kitchen corner of the restaurant. The icing on the cake at the end of the meal was a plateful of the crabs we had caught, beautifully cooked and dressed. After a walk round the rest of the village, we had time to spend an hour in the old part of Cartagena before being returned to the port in plenty of time for the departure of our ship. Marelvy's 2 sons joined us on the trip, and made a video montage of our day, which she kindly sent us today, so we have a wonderful record of our time there. I cannot recommend this company highly enough! Marelvy herself was charming, friendly, funny and very knowledgeable. She made sure that we followed our own agenda rather than have one imposed on us. All in all, we had a fantastic day!

NoleChristine

2020-02-16

Walking tour with Marelvy Pena-Hall This is a tour that is a delight to review. Email communication with her was wonderful as we planned this. The cost is dependent on how many are with you in the group and as it turned out it was just my husband and me. No problem. At the last minute, the NCL cruise line changed the day we would be in Cartagena and our time there. All was fine though as we were blessed that Marelvy herself could still do our tour. You know when your guide hugs you in greeting that it will be a great day. Our driver, Jose, was like a ninja. Whenever we were done with our walking portions, he was waiting for us and I was glad it was him and not me driving on those crazy roads! We began driving outside the city to La Popa, the highest point. Just gorgeous. She is a wealth of information and shared personal stories of herself as well. As we walk, she runs into so many people who know her. You can tell she loves her country. We went to Fort San Felipe, and then into the Old Walled City. We visited churches, clock tower etc. while learning so much. I said I wanted some coffee and we stopped at a store and she asked what the best coffee they had was. She asked if we wanted to shop more and got the sense she would have done what we asked of her. We were back in plenty of time to shop a bit. Tour lasted about 4.5 hours. Don't hesitate to book with her. You will love your day.

Paul Sutej

2020-01-06

Game-changer Insightful. Thought-provoking. Comprehensive. Marekvy should be the public relations officer for this charming, historical and beautiful town. We felt privileged to have met her. A sensational guide.period

MtnGirl

2020-01-03

Excellent walking tour We did a 3-hour walking tour with Ester, and had a wonderful time. We walked at a leisurely pace but covered a lot of ground. Enjoyed a cool stop at the emerald museum, and Ester’s stories about growing up in Cartagena and the culture, politics and economy. Blending history with current topics was interesting. She also spoke fluent English. Excellent way to start our stay in Cartagena and get oriented.

Lesli M

2020-01-02

Private tour with Marelvy Pena-Hall Marelvy greeted my family with hugs and open arms as we met this morning for our tour. Prior to our tour, she was extremely prompt in replying to all my queries regarding designing a custom tour day that included a drumming and dancing visit in La Boquilla combined with an afternoon city tour. Her knowledge and interest in the history of Cartagena is infectious and that is apparent even more so as she about to publish a book about the Pirates that invaded Cartagena del Indias. The visit to the drumming school was amazing and super fun, and the city tour took us to all the highlights of Cartagena. Marelvy has a mastery of English which made it easy to understand her and to appreciate all that we did today. We highly recommend using Marelvy to guide you through the city!!

KimiInch

2019-12-29

Such a fun tour with a very lovely guide! Was able to schedule a last minute private walking tour with Marelvy and I am so glad she was able to accommodate our last min request. We had a 3 hour walking tour of the Old City and it was absolutely wonderful. Marelvy is so sweet and very knowledgeable- we had a great time hearing stories, learning history, seeing the beautiful sights and having lots of laughs. Can’t recommend this experience enough. Thank you Marelvy! :)

Normanzy

2019-12-26

excellent friendly tour guide We booked Marelvy for two half day tours after our cruise arrived in Cartagena. She communicated efficiently by mail prior to our arrival with good suggestions of how to structure the tours. She was waiting for us with the driver promptly on time at the exit of the port with a huge welcoming smile and hug. She was everything previous reviewers have said about her. Personable, knowledgable and super friendly and easily adapted to both our pace and desires. We learnt a lot about the destination and life in Columbia. A small but significant highlight was the break in a super original coffee shop in the old city. Her English was excellent. All in all a professional and personable guide - top notch, the best.

Frank V

2019-12-03

Excellent alternative for cruise ship passengers touring Cartagena Wow, what a great tour we had of Cartagena with Marelvy! She is a very special tour operator, with a great love of her city that she wants to share with her guests. We had searched for an option to the cruise ship’s excursions, and found such good reviews for Marelvy’s tours, that we contacted her by email. We had an almost immediate response, with full information, pricing etc. We also had great information provided before the tour as to what to wear, where to meet, etc. She is very organized, thorough and proactive. The tour we did was a variation of her Hidden Treasures of Cartagena Tour, with visits included to sites not included on the ship’s itinerary, with a group size of under 20. Her driver was excellent as well, and we traveled in a small comfortable air conditioned van, allowing for easy access to the sites and a more personalized tour. Her English was perfect (she is also fluent in Spanish and French), her knowledge of history in general and of Cartagena specifically was excellent. More details about her very interesting background can be found on her website. At the end of the tour (6 hours vs. the ship’s abbreviated 4 hour tour), we all felt as if we had spent the day with a good friend and visited a fascinating city. We highly recommend her tour!

Awesome

2019-11-08

Awesome Tour Our group of 8 were cruising with Princess to Panama Canal. A friend in Las Vegas highly recommended signing up for a tour with Marelvy for our October 30th one day port stop in Cartagena. Marelvy was already booked and her associate Ester gave us the tour. Absolutely wonderful. A nice driver and air conditioned van. Ester is fluent in English and had the best personality and sense of humor. Not only did she show us Cartagena from the inside out but was so knowledgeable and we learned a lot of history as well as a bit of gossip! What a beautiful place to explore

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