Cartagena, Colombia

Casa Pestagua

Price per night from$461.50

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD461.50), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Casa Pestagua Photos

Style

Noble character

Setting

On-point Old Town

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Casa Pestagua is a 17th-century mansion and former home of one-time mayor of Cartagena, the Count of Pestagua. He was clearly a man of taste: graceful arches stretch over restaurant tables and fan out above windows, and high ceilings are ribbed with thick-set beams. The centrepiece is the magical courtyard, with its statuesque palms, serene pool and parasol-shaded tables. When sleep calls, fit-for-a-king(-size) beds dressed in luxury linens will have you out for the count in no time.

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A bottle of wine and a welcome snack

Facilities

Photos Casa Pestagua facilities

Need to know

Rooms

16, including 11 suites.

Check–Out

Noon; earliest check-in, 3pm.

More details

Rates include an à la carte breakfast at AniMare Restaurant, where you can fill up on pastries, fresh fruit, green juice, arepas, eggs and more.

Also

Unfortunately this historic hotel is not adapted for wheelchair users or guests with limited mobility.

At the hotel

Paid laundry service; 24-hour concierge; gym, outdoor relaxation area, bikes to rent and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: smart TV, Bose radio, air-conditioning, Nespresso coffee machines, tea-making kit, minibar, free bottled water, bathrobes and slippers, and Ortigia Sicilia bath products.

Our favourite rooms

Colonial grandeur with contemporary polish threads through every glamorous room at Casa Pestagua. You can upgrade to Suite Madariaga for a bit more space and a charming street-view balcony, but the cherry on top of these dignified digs is certainly the Suite del Condé de Pestagua. Ascend in the private lift to 139 square metres of living and sleeping space, featuring a private terrace, Jacuzzi tub, and ocean and Old Town views.

Poolside

There’s an unheated, chlorinated pool picturesquely sited in the courtyard and bordered with sunloungers and parasols. It’s open from 7am to 6pm.

Spa

Casa Pestagua doesn’t have its own spa, but you can indulge in treatments aplenty at sister property, Hotel Casa San Agustín, just a few minutes’ walk away: Aurum Spa offers massages, facials, reflexology sessions, mani-pedis and hammam therapies, from Monday to Saturday (9am to 7pm).

Packing tips

Cobble-friendly footwear for daytime forays; your floatiest partywear to keep up with Cartagena’s exuberant nightlife scene.

Also

You can learn to recreate the fantastic Colombian-Caribbean flavours you’ve sampled at the hotel restaurant at a cookery class. Or if you’d prefer just to taste rather than create, ask about the coffee- and rum-tasting sessions.

Children

Families are welcome at Casa Pestagua. An extra bed can be added to Junior Suites and upwards, and under-12s are charged as children. There’s no creche or kids’ club, but staff are happy to arrange babysitting with enough notice (prices on enquiry).

Food and Drink

Photos Casa Pestagua food and drink

Top Table

Pick a spot in the courtyard, parasol-shaded by day, or star-topped by night, for maximum romance.

Dress Code

Casual is fine for day; strive for tropics-inspired glamour for evenings.

Hotel restaurant

You’ll have a choice of dining spots at Casa Pestagua’s AniMare Restaurant: the grand dining room with its iron chandeliers, tables nestled under the mansion’s signature arches, or out in the courtyard flanked by thick palm trunks. Chef Heberto Eljach’s menu takes its cue from traditional local cooking techniques and flavours influenced by the Caribbean, the Colombian Pacific coast, and wider Colombia’s rich larder. Expect sophisticated dishes full of flavour, skewed towards fish and seafood: try warm mixed seafood ceviche or pork belly mini burgers, followed by truffled oxtail cannelloni or sea bass fillet in shellfish broth. Breakfast is served exclusively for hotel guests here from 6.30am to 10.30am, with lunch and dinner open to all from noon until 11pm.

Hotel bar

Bid Casa Pestagua’s high ceilings goodbye for a cosy interlude at the inviting AniMare Bar. It has a sultry feel, decorated in deep reds and topped with sturdy, dark-wood beams. The bar serves a petite but tasty menu of snacks, such as Cartagenian snail and shrimp cocktail, and artisan blood sausage, to accompany its selection of beers, wine and spirits.

Room service

In-room dining from a dedicated menu of snacks, light bites and a selection of mains is available from 6.30am until 10.30pm daily.

Location

Photos Casa Pestagua location
Address
Casa Pestagua
Centro Histórico Calle Santo Domingo no. 33-63
Cartagena de Indias
Colombia

Casa Pestagua sits within the attractive walled Old Town of Cartagena in coastal Colombia.

Planes

The nearest airport is Rafael Núñez International Airport, which is a 45-minute drive from Casa Pestagua. You can book an airport transfer through the hotel.

Automobiles

There’s no car park at the hotel. If you’re bringing your own wheels, speak to staff about local parking options

Worth getting out of bed for

As if the tranquil pool, top-notch onsite dining and charming Old Town co-ords weren’t enough of a draw, Casa Pestagua also offers access to a private beach on nearby Baru Island. You can join a boat excursion out to its white sands and glittering waters, just 45 minutes away. You can even tack on a couple of nights in an eco cabin to really soak up the island surroundings. Explore Cartagena’s colourful colonial buildings on a guided walking tour, sign up for coffee or rum tasting (or indeed both), or tie an apron on and get stuck into a Colombian cookery class.

Local restaurants

Alma Restaurant at sister stay Casa San Agustín Hotel is a fashionable local favourite, where traditional Colombian plates, under the expert care of Casa Pestagua’s head chef, include cured meats, ceviche and seafood specialities. Try the colourful, casual dining room at Celele for fresh punchy dishes such as Caribbean flower salad and confit hen with sour guava.

Local bars

Stunning cocktail bar Alquímico takes you on a spirited odyssey across three floors, grouping different ingredients and influences by storey, culminating in the third-floor terrace, where drinks are crafted with just-picked ingredients from the bar’s very own farm.

Reviews

Photos Casa Pestagua reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this historic hotel in Cartagena’s Old Town and unpacked their tropical-print frocks and film cameras, a full account of their walled city break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Casa Pestagua in Cartagena…

The Unesco-listed citadel of Cartagena sits on Colombia’s north Caribbean coast. Its colourful painted buildings with their trademark archways line the Old Town streets, and right in the thick of it is the 17th-century former residence of the eponymous Count  – now a characterful boutique bolthole, Casa Pestagua, open to guests from around the world, titled or not. 

The arched fan logo that greets you at the door announces the architectural trope that runs throughout the building. High-ceilinged rooms and suites dressed simply in neutral tones with antique furniture let their original features do the talking. Classical additions such as wrought-iron gates, ornamental balconies and a palm-dotted central courtyard endear you to this storied casa’s past – and a courtyard pool, knowledgeable concierge and polished Colombian cuisine at hotel restaurant AniMare bring contemporary frills into the mix. 

The most coveted suite is named after the Count himself. Standing on its private terrace gazing over the town and ocean beyond, we wonder what he would have made of the bubbling Jacuzzi on his rooftop.

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Price per night from $457.50

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