The land of holiday Mondays: Colombian long weekends 2026–2027 in Cartagena
A law with a Cartagena surname, a November of drums and beauty queens, and every date you need to plan the trip.
There is one Sunday in Cartagena unlike any other: the one before a holiday Monday. The afternoon stretches out without guilt, nobody checks the time, and dinner begins as the sun drops behind the city walls and ends when it has to end. In Colombia, many public holidays move to the Monday, turning the weekend into a "puente". For Cartagena these are the busiest dates of the year outside December and Holy Week.
A very Cartagena invention
Few people know that the Colombian long weekend has a Cartagena accent. It's owed to Raimundo Emiliani Román, a lawyer and senator born in the city, who championed Law 51 of 1983, known ever since as the Ley Emiliani: around ten holidays stopped falling midweek and began moving to the following Monday. Since 1984 the country has organised its year around those long weekends.
Among the holidays that move is one that exists only because of this city: Cartagena Independence Day. A local date turned into a day off for the whole nation, which says a lot about Cartagena's place in Colombian history. The city Pedro de Heredia founded in 1533, that Francis Drake sacked in 1586 and that the world knows for its walls, was also one of the first to break with the Spanish Crown.
I · The calendar
Upcoming long weekends
If you're planning a trip, these are the dates.
- 2 November 2026 · All Saints' Day
- 16 November 2026 · Cartagena Independence Day
- 11 January 2027 · Epiphany
- 22 March 2027 · Saint Joseph's Day
- 25–26 March 2027 · Holy Thursday and Good Friday
- 10 May 2027 · Ascension
- 31 May 2027 · Corpus Christi
- 7 June 2027 · Sacred Heart
- 5 July 2027 · Saints Peter and Paul
- 16 August 2027 · Assumption
- 18 October 2027 · Columbus Day (Día de la Raza)
- 1 November 2027 · All Saints' Day
- 15 November 2027 · Cartagena Independence Day
II · November
Getsemaní's month
November is special in Cartagena: the city's Independence is celebrated on 11 November and the long weekend fills the streets with parties.
Independence wasn't signed in a drawing room: it was pushed in from the street. On 11 November 1811, artisans and militiamen from the Getsemaní neighbourhood, the so-called Lanceros de Getsemaní, with Pedro Romero among their leaders, armed themselves and waited outside the government palace until the council voted for Cartagena's absolute independence. Four years later, in 1815, the city held out through a siege so long that it has been called La Heroica, the Heroic City, ever since. Every 11 November flowers are still laid in Plaza de la Trinidad, in Getsemaní, in honour of Romero and his lancers.
Independence wasn't signed in a drawing room: it was pushed in from the street.
The Independence festivities keep that neighbourhood spirit. There are bandos and parades with dance troupes and floats, and the Cabildo de Getsemaní moves through the city with characters from the era, a tradition rooted in the colonial cabildos, where enslaved Africans of a shared origin gathered to sing, dance and remember. Everything sounds of gaita flutes and drums, as if the whole city were remembering where its joy comes from.
November also brings the Concurso Nacional de Belleza, Colombia's national beauty pageant, born in Cartagena in 1934; its first queen was a Cartagenera, Yolanda Emiliani Román. Since the 1930s the pageants have been part of the independence celebrations, and today the November long weekend is at once a patriotic holiday, a carnival and a catwalk.
III · Sunday
The long-weekend Sunday at Casa Salvaje
When Monday is a holiday, Kanibal and SLVJ open on Sunday from 11 am to 12 am. The perfect night for a long dinner without thinking about Monday.
Epilogue
Long-weekend tips
- Book hotels and tables early: the city fills up.
- Go early for daytime plans and save the night for the Old City.
- Check the hours: each world's live status is in opening hours.