The longest nights of the year: high season in Cartagena, from Christmas to Holy Week
Candles, novenas, twelve grapes and a Virgin carried down from the hill: how to live, and plan, the season when half of Colombia comes to Cartagena.
December is the month the rains take their leave. Afternoons stretch out along the city walls, the breeze finds its way back through the wooden balconies, and the plazas fill with every accent in Colombia, mixed with those of half the world. From mid-December to mid-January, and again in Holy Week, Cartagena welcomes half of Colombia and plenty of travellers from abroad. The city fills with energy, and with people: planning ahead makes all the difference.
A city that has been receiving guests for centuries
Cartagena learned early how to handle arrivals. Pedro de Heredia founded it in 1533, and its bay became one of the great ports of the Spanish empire: galleons sailed in, and a continent's gold sailed out. Such wealth drew less welcome visitors (Francis Drake sacked the city in 1586), and the answer was the walls that UNESCO has protected as a World Heritage Site since 1984.
The city declared independence on 11 November 1811 and in 1815 held out through a siege so long and so brutal that it has been called La Heroica, the Heroic City, ever since. That memory lives in the stones: in December, the same streets that saw viceroys, pirates and the besieged fill with families, travellers and music until dawn.
High season is about more than hotel occupancy. It's when Cartagena unfolds its whole repertoire of rites, superstitions and fiestas, a blend of Catholic faith, African heritage and Caribbean joy that explains, better than any theory, why on this coast the magical is lived as an everyday affair.
I · December
Candles, novenas and a city alight
In Colombia, Christmas arrives early. On the night of 7 December, the Noche de Velitas, families light candles and paper lanterns in doorways and along the pavements on the eve of the Immaculate Conception, and the whole country wakes up officially in season. From the 16th to the 24th comes the novena de aguinaldos: nine evenings of prayers, carols and buñuelos that turn any living room, and sometimes any colonial courtyard, into a nativity scene with guests.
The Old City lights up and the plazas fill early. 25 December 2026 falls on a Friday, so Christmas is a long weekend.
II · The last night
Twelve grapes and a suitcase
1 January 2027 is also a Friday. New Year's Eve is the most sought-after night in the city: to dine at Casa Salvaje, join the guest list and hear about our end-of-year plans first.
On 31 December, Colombia surrenders to its agüeros, its good-luck rituals. Twelve grapes with the twelve chimes, one per wish; yellow underwear to draw abundance; lentils in your pocket; and, for anyone who wants to travel next year, a lap around the block dragging a suitcase. In many neighbourhoods people still burn the Año Viejo, a rag doll stuffed with old clothes that bids the year farewell in flames at midnight.
Nobody admits to believing any of it, and almost nobody dares to skip it.
III · January and February
Books, and a Virgin on the hill
The season doesn't end with the fireworks. In late January the Hay Festival, which arrived in Cartagena in 2006, gathers writers, musicians and thinkers from around the world in the cloisters and theatres of the Old City. And on 2 February the city honours its patron saint, the Virgen de la Candelaria, whose image is carried down on shoulders from the convent of La Popa, high on its hill.
That convent comes with one of the city's oldest legends: tradition says a spirit in the shape of a goat was once worshipped on the summit, until a friar hurled it over the cliff still known as the Salto del Cabrón. Historians dispute it; Cartageneros keep telling it.
IV · Holy Week
A city of churches, full once more
Holy Thursday and Good Friday fall on 25 and 26 March 2027. It's another of Cartagena's busiest weeks, and a fine excuse to look afresh at the churches and cloisters that have set the rhythm of the city for centuries.
Epilogue
High-season tips
- Book everything early: flights, hotel and tables.
- Walk the Old City: it's faster than any car.
- Mind the holidays in the long-weekend calendar.
- Special dates: hours can change; confirm on WhatsApp and check opening hours.