Discover the captivating colonial charm of Cartagena on a spectacular City Sightseeing hop-on hop-off bus tour of the city. See all of Cartagena’s alluring attractions from the unique perspective of a double-decker bus; visit the renowned Rafael Núñez house, the colossal Castillo de San Felipe, and the legendary statue of Simon Bolivar. Enjoy unlimited hopping on and off for 48 hours as you experience the ultimate way to see the city sights.

City Sightseeing hop-on hop-off sightseeing tour of Cartagena
Create your own sightseeing itinerary and explore Cartagena at your leisure
Hop on and off as many times as you like at any of the stops around the city
A free walking tour and entry to the Esmeralda Museum included

What's Included

1 or 2 day hop-on hop-off bus ticket
Entry to Museo de la Esmeralda
Guided 90 minute walking tour

Gratuities
Hotel pickup and drop-off
Food and drinks, unless specified

Meeting And Pickup

Start time

Opening hours

Select your preferred tour option to see hours.

View tour option

What To Expect

Boasting a luscious location on the curve of the Caribbean coast, Cartagena is an atmospheric colonial city described as one of the most beautiful places on earth. Climb aboard your distinctive red double-decker bus at a selection of stops (see Itinerary below) to begin your exploration of the city’s most significant sights.

Feel the sun on your face and the wind in your hair as you cruise past Cartagena’s top attractions; admire the proud statue of the statue of Simon Bolivar; and explore the subterranean network of tunnels at the foreboding fortress of San Felipe de Barajas Castle.

Remain on the bus for the entire loop or hop-on and hop-off whenever an attraction captures your attention. With a 48-hour ticket, relax and explore the city at your own pace, safe in the knowledge that you’re visiting all of the most prominent sights.

As a bonus, you get free entry to the Esmeralda Museum, to learn about emeralds, and a voucher to join a guided walking tour.

City Tour

14 Stops

9 Points of Interest

Duration: 1 hour

Operating Schedule: 9:00am - 6:00pm, every 45 minutes.

MUELLE DE LA BODEGUITA

Centro de Convenciones Cartagena de Indias

Fuerte de San Sebastián del Pastelillo

Clock Tower

Castle San Felipe de Barajas

Casa Museo Rafael Núñez

Playa del Boquetillo

AGROINDUSTRIA CIELO AZUL

Bocagrande Plaza Mall

Carrera 2

Casino Rio Cartagena

Hotel Caribe By Faranda Grand, A Member of Radisson Individuals

Hilton Cartagena

Playa Castillo Grande

Points of interest passed by on this route

Walled City of Cartagena

Centro de Convenciones Cartagena de Indias

Casa Museo Rafael Nunez

Fuerte de San Sebastian del Pastelillo

Plaza Bocagrande Centro Comercial

Torre del Reloj

Muelle La Bodeguita

Playa de Castillo Grande

Rio Casino

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Wheelchair accessible
Season: All Year Round
Tour runs from 9:00am - 6:00pm. Duration - 90 Minutes. Frequency - every 45 minutes.
Walking tour: Departs at 4:00pm. Duration - 90 minutes. Meeting point - Torre del Reloj bus stop.

Mobile and printed paper vouchers are accepted on this tour
Stroller accessible
Near public transportation
With your voucher, enjoy flexible access for up to 12 months from the travel date you select at check-out.
Most travellers can participate

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.

Traveller Photos

Traveller Tips

The bus will pick you up right at the ship.

Reviews

3.5

501 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travellers.

Showing 1-10 of 501 reviews

Feeing stupid!

Diana_N, May 2023

If you are on a cruise. Don’t fall for the taxi scam. I was told by men in red shirts that looked like Hop On employees I must take a $35 taxi to the pickup point. We did it, stupidly. They dropped us and said wait so we did. 35 min later the bus comes. We get on and the very place we wanted to go was where the taxi let us off. We rode the whole loop. I was never offered headphones for the audio tour and didn’t know to ask till then end of the ride. By the time we waited and rode the loop we lost most of our touring time. If you take this option I suggest you do a lot of research and watch out for scammer. The bus was right there in port.

No hop on hop off

Donna_P, Apr 2023

Waited an hr at one stop. Another hop on off stop they didn’t even go to. And no stops anywhere near cruise port. Better off taking a taxi to old town and walking it.

Totally Worth It!

Bernice_S, Apr 2023

The hop-on/hop-off bus was really nice. I like having headphones to hear about the history as the bus moved through the city. This is a great value for the service received. The representatives on the bus and at the stops were very friendly.

Need a Taxi to get to start of bus ride from cruise terminal

Beth_H, Mar 2023

The bus does not go to the cruise ship terminal. After we got to the main street we were told by a Hop On Hop Off worker to pay him $25 for a cab to get us to Cartegena. We were not given a receipt for returning to the port. At the bus stop to return to the port we were put on a shuttle to get us back to the port. They had written down that we had paid for the taxi but it was uncomfortable to explain to every worker that we were not supposed to pay to get a taxi back to Port. Several of their workers were helpful in making sure we got on the correct bus to get us back to port.

Horrible experience!...

Courtney_C, Mar 2023

Horrible experience! Purchased the tickets online; went to the pick up point, no one could tell us where to get on the bus. No one working knows the routes or the stops. Once they find out you already have tickets they completely stop helping you. We couldn’t even get on.

Review

katiria_B, Mar 2023

The view, music and food were amazing! I would definitely do this again and would recommend it to every couple!

Too Many People, Not Enough Seats

ScottJ_B, Mar 2023

First, the buses were way overbooked. There were no seats for more than half of the city tour so we stood in a hot and sweltering bus on the lower deck unable to see anything. After about 30 minutes a few people left the bus and we were able to get a seat on top. We wasted an entire morning. We didn't dare get off at any of the stops for fear on not being able to get a seat again. The company has to do some restricting so this situation doesn't occur. The experience was mostly unpleasant and ruined our visit to Cartagena. Second, a bus took us back to the cruise terminal when we were done (a separate bus), but it wasn't there to pick us up. We had to take a taxi on a 20-minute ride to one of the stops. This is a huge oversight given that the majority of customers probably originate from a cruise. Maybe the company was catering to the customers who bought their ticket via a cruise excursion and picked them up at the pier. Everybody else had to pay for a taxi to get on the hop-on hop-off bus at a distant stop. I will say two positive things. First, it was cheap ($15 per person) so no huge loss. Second, Tana, the company rep who rose the bus, was fantastic. She was pleasant and helpful in spite of the circumstances. I saw that the company had many employees at the various stops so that was good. How helpful can you be when there are way too many customers for the seats available. We've done many hop-on hop-off tours. This was one of the worst.

Awful, entire time on bus

Michala_J, Mar 2023

This was an AWFUL experience. I don’t even want to give it 1 star. We spent the majority of the time on a hot bus in TRAFFIC. There was no time to get off because the bus comes approx. every 45min or longer with traffic. The best part was the walled city tour which is included. Had I known we would’ve spent the entire time on a hot bus in traffic I would’ve stayed in the walled city and gotten a taxi back. Please do not waste your time or money on the hop on hop off bus.

Although the wait time...

Kenneth_W, Feb 2023

Although the wait time could be as long as 40 minutes for the scheduled departure, we found the trip rewarding due to viewing from a higher level than a taxi cab and the narration provided some history of the various sights we saw.

No meeting instructions...

Wanda_B, Feb 2023

No meeting instructions off the cruise port and would have needed a taxi to town center. This was not included in description. And refunds given to group of 20 people.

Absolute nightmare

Edd_M, Feb 2023

An absolute nightmare! we were excited to see Cartegna and imagined that we would have a nice visit however the whole ‘hop on hop off’ service was a “train wreck”from the beginning. When we got to the bus stop we waited for almost an hour for the next bus, so when we boarded the bus we sat for an additional 30 minutes without air conditioning! It’s hot in Cartegna in February as it’s their summer! When the bus finally took off the bus worker opened the door as the bus was moving and said “this is your air conditioning!” so we simply had one stop at Boca Grande at a mall to have lunch and then getting back to the cruise ship was still chaotic and the workers of ‘hop on hop off’ were confused and anything but professional with their help…the delays were persistent and took the whole day to drive past several stops and then turn around to go back as we were running out of time so we felt fortunate to get back to the ship on time. We would not recommend this bus tour to any future passengers and it’s sad to look forward to making a good memory on our vacation and end up with a nightmare of a memory

Terrible Experience

Debra_C, Feb 2023

I have booked HOHO in many cities -and loved it. Not so @cruise port for my 75 yr old mom and I-It was a nightmare. No one knew pick up Pt-we had to walk thru port to long taxi filled bus filled driveway port exit..to the public street. Long walk in the heat. No one knowing where to go. no answer @vendor. No vendor phone number or directions. Long walk of confusion to main exit across several lanes of bumper to bumper no cross walk-noisy traffic (no one stops) to a half abandoned gas station. Btw I book HOHO so my mom with 2 knee replacements wouldn’t have to walk-terrible. We waited a confusing hr-at this gas station in the 90 degree sun..until a stranger told us the buses don’t stop there anymore. my mom was hot and tired so I paid $25 to take a cab using google translate to stop 4 the clock tower. The only stop I knew of. Upon arrival-cross 2 more crazy streets of traffic (my mom in tow) to 3 HOHO buses. All packed completely taking no more passengers. It was chaos-a number of frustrated people all trying to get on overcrowded buses…complaining, vendors hawking us the entire time. After another 20 min in the heat-we made it to the crowded bus that only had windows (above our line of sight) no view. We got off after 2 stops and took another $20 cab back to port. Long story short-it was an entirely disappointing experience that wasted our day in Cartegena. We were so discouraged, hot and my mom (sore) we didn’t go to our sunset cruise I had already paid for. Don’t book this excursion in this city.

It was great way to see...

Alam_M, Jan 2023

It was great way to see Cartagena. Bus was running late but not surprised given the traffic. Would recommend it.

Unprofessional

Cynthia_H, Dec 2022

Tour bus did not show up. Have nothing more to say. Was not able to go on tour.waiting for a refund for this tour

City Sightseeing in Cartagena

Sharon_H, Dec 2022

We were able to see Cartagena safely. The chocolate and coffee tastings were really neat, too. The City Sightseeing Tour was an awesome value.

Skip the Cartagena Hop on Hop off

Barbara_S, Nov 2022

The buses did not come as frequently as the staff said they would. Several of the audio connections at the seats did not work. The descriptions on audio were minimal.

We were disappointed, the...

Michael_P, Nov 2022

We were disappointed, the bus was supposed to have a stop by the cruise port. When we left the port to find the stop that was supposed to be by the nearby gas station, we were told by multiple people with the hop-on hop-off red shirts tell us that the bus only came there later in the afternoon to drop people back at the ships. As a result we had to pay a taxi $20 to take us to the city to catch the bus there. It was so crazy and the traffic so bad, we didn't even try to go to use the second day of our 2 day pass. I think you might be better off to buy the tickets directly when you get there, you may decide that you may not need it for both days. I also think that tickets are cheaper there compared to online.

Not bad but could be better.

Jordan_B, Nov 2022

Not a bad way to get your bearings in the city when you first arrive but it was difficult to hear and the headphones didn’t work well. The language for the narration kept switching to other languages during the tour. Still feel like I learned a bit about the city and how to get around.

Please notify if purchased item is cancelled

cziboh, Nov 2022

The bus was not running for day reserved and there was no notification. Someone should have notified us

Connection Difficulties

Gary_B, Oct 2022

I have generally found the Hop On Hop Off Bus tours to be great value for the money and have used them in different cities. This one was different. We were on a cruise ship and there were Hop On Hop Off buses waiting along side the ship for persons that booked through the ship and had a ticket. We had a prepaid voucher that we needed to exchange for a ticket. We were told by the bus operators that we needed to go outside the cruise terminal area to meet our connection. Once outside the port gate, we found a zoo of taxi drivers wanting outrageous prices to drive us to the center of town to the main connection point. We eventually found a bus, associated with Hop On Hop Off but not marked as such, that drove us to the initial connection point. The buses offered 14 stops which were actually relatively close to each other, but it takes about 90 to make the tour because of the horrendous traffic in the city. At the end of the tour, Hop On Hop Off offered a separate bus to take us back to the cruise terminal for no additional charge.

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