When in Cartagena you are never far from music, colour and commotion. Yet staying at the Santa Clara in the city's San Diego district is the polar opposite; a calm, relaxed oasis.
Opened 20 years on the site of a former convent where confession boxes are dotted about, its Cloister restaurant serves considerably more lavish fare than the former inhabitants would have enjoyed. The stone walls are a deep burnt orange, a colour used unsparingly around the city as well. Beyond the facade and a few other relics, the feel is mostly of old-world glamour, while the literary-minded will relish resting their heads in a place once immortalised by Gabriel García Márquez.
Rooms are large and airy with comfortable balconies looking over the pool and out to the city walls, a vast, well-kitted-out bathroom and the top-notch air conditioning system you need in such a sweltering place. All 122 rooms come with the amenities you'd expect from the Sofitel chain, including complimentary bottled water and a Nespresso machine.
In any case, there are two impressive restaurants and a well-stocked poolside bar serving rum cocktails and Caribbean snacks such as yuca chips, while the breakfast buffet is predictably lavish (particularly with regard to the magnificent Caribbean fruit on offer).
You can escape the heat in the hotel's shady interior courtyard, surrounded by enough trees and plants to belie the fact you're in a city, while the spa offers a well-priced menu (with treatments titled like snacks and desserts, causing some confusion). There's a magnificent pool with an area for children, and no shortage of sunbeds and fluffy beach towels, although perhaps too few umbrellas.
For centuries, Santa Clara was home to spiritualists isolated from the world outside, and still today it has the feel of a haven, albeit an impossibly luxurious one. The only downside? You'll have little inclination to leave and explore Cartagena.
