My family and I had an amazing experience in Cartagena, with Mr JJ he was very prompt, knowledgeable, and took care of all our needs. He knows the area very well and has a passion for providing information about his city. Airport transportation, walled city tour, and mud volcano. Mr JJ was very considerate of us have a 5 year old in tow, and geared the tours to include her interest. She trusted him and gave him daily hugs. Most definitely would recommend him for any needs while in Cartagena. We left the beautiful city knowing we made a new friend for life

I re-learned my city thanks to Cartagena Destiny Tours. As a native Cartagenero, I was able to return to my birthplace after 20 plus years. I contacted Cartagena Destiny Tours a week before my trip. Tour representative Sandra was able to complete a trip package for me quickly, and best of all, personalized every selection. My package included a personal guided city tour, a party bus (a.k.a Chivas), couples massage at one of Cartagena's most luxurious hotels, and a romantic horse carriage ride with dinner at Hotel Movich. Besides vacation, I wanted to propose to my girlfriend. With Sandra's assistance, my vacation plans happen with little to no hesitation or worries. To begin, Sandra took a personal approach towards my goals since she knew about my proposal. I want to give a personal thanks to Sandra and her professional staff for making my dream a reality. Sandra kept me up to date and on schedule. Sandra gave me daily reminders on event times and who was greeting me. Additionally, Sandra took extra steps to ensure that my fiancé and I were safe at all times by providing us with tips and locations to refrain from visiting. Personal guided city tour. Our tour guide was Ender. Ender knew so much history of Cartagena that I felt like I was back in school. We visited la Popa, the San Felipe Fort, a walk through the colonial streets, and scenic city views with Ender. Ender spoke English well, and we understood every word without question. If you are booking a personal guide through the city and would like to learn Cartagena's rich history, I recommend Ender to guide you. Party bus (a.k.a. Chivas). There is no party like a Chivas' party! Cartagena is well known about their Chivas and what they do. However, due to COVID, the Chivas atmosphere changed, and the shared drinking stopped. You will have to get your bottle before going into the Chivas or wait until they get to a local liquor spot where you can get your own. The people running the Chivas were accommodating and knew how to run the crowd. We danced, drank, ate, and even took a few pictures on their many stops throughout the city. Couples' massage. Well… I must say, my fiancé and I were delighted in many ways. The massage happened at Casa San Agustin, Aurum Spa. The welcoming service was incredible, and it was like you were pampered every step of the way. My fiancé had a medium touch massage, while I had a deep tissue massage. Our welcoming agent was Ligia. Ligia made us feel like we were in a world designed for my fiancé and me. Ligia constantly offered us water or asked us if we needed anything. My fiancé got a massage from Jesti, which she said that she felt like she was in a cloud after Jesti was done. My masseuse was Arelis. She did an excellent job with the deep tissue. I felt it the next day, but that's what deep massages are for. BONUS TIP: Go to the bar ALMA! Get the Monkey 47 drink! Also, you may want to try the Ceviche Eljach. Best Ceviche you will ever eat! Romantic horse carriage ride with dinner at Hotel Movich. Best scenic view of Cartagena at night! After dinner is when I proposed to my girlfriend (now fiancé). Our horse carriage picked us up from Casa San Agustin, took us through a scenic city view with a small tour, and stopped at the Hotel Movich for our rooftop dinner. The food was great! You would have a few options to select from, but well worth it! Being that I was proposing at dinner, Sandra gave me professional photographer information to record the magical night. Photographer Alvaro Delgado took some magnificent photos and recorded the proposal. I highly recommend hiring Mr. Delgado if you have a special occasion. BONUS HELP FROM SANDRA: I asked much from Sandra. I asked Sandra if she knew someone that could do the makeup and hair for my girlfriend before our romantic horse carriage ride. Sandra quickly found two professionals that tended to my girlfriend immediately after the spa. I cannot complain about the service. Thanks to Cartagena Destiny Tours, Sandra, and the great city of Cartagena, my fiancé and I had the best experience and vacation that we could ever imagine. Looking forward to the wedding and I will call Cartagena Destiny Tours again.

It was an honor to visit the people they have such an amazing story to tell. Awesome tour guide and driver.

Jesus deserves 10 stars. He was very knowledgeable about his city... He had a perfect blend of biking rest stops. Hes fun enthusistic and really gets information and key points view points of this beautiful city. Jesus is awesome

My guide Jesus has a passion for his city and its history. He knows dates and all interesting facts. We rode through 2 areas of the city and stopped anywhere I wished to take a photo. I was very lucky in that I was the only one on the tour so I got a private experience.  At times with the cars and people walking we needed to be careful but it wasnt very hard to do.  Jesus took me to places I would not have seen if I hadn't done the tour. He is an excellent guide and lovely person. I highly reccomend it

My guide Jesus has a passion for his city and its history. He knows dates and all interesting facts. We rode through 2 areas of the city and stopped anywhere I wished to take a photo. I was very lucky in that I was the only one on the tour so I got a private experience. At times with the cars and people walking we needed to be careful but it wasnt very hard to do. Jesus took me to places I would not have seen if I hadn't done the tour. He is an excellent guide and lovely person. I highly reccomend it

I didn't want to go, but the other 3 in my party were enthusiastic. Then it turned out to be a very fun event. There were just the 4 of us "Apprentices", 2 Instructors, a guide to help with translation and 2 -3 other employees there. We took our class in the actual room with the horologists. First we had a tour of the museum where we learned how to tell quality from quantity. Our jewelry was silver and raw, cheap quality emeralds. We made a pendant, a ring, a bracelet and earrings. We got to keep one for free. The other pieces were $30 a piece, so definitely not cheap and considering how unskilled we were, probably worth more for their sentimental value.. But with that class came a huge discount for buying quality pieces in the attached shop. Yes, the whole thing is a ploy to get you to buy - but it was still so much fun, and my instructor, Ana, was so thoughtful and kind. I got "perfect!" and "high five" on some of my loops. My sister's instructor encouraged her also but then would fix her mistakes while she said that. There was a lot of laughter.

So we went to the tour this morning thinking it would consist of what we paid for. We paid for an adult and a child doing a jewellery making with a emerald museum visit. First we had to try to make contact for days as no details were given on the modality of transport or the time. The day before the booking we got a message with the name of the (excellent) guide and the time. We went to see the only part of the city we hadn’t watched and it was great. The guide was interesting and very professional. We then asked when we would be going to the workshop and the poor guy had to spend a lot of time on the phone as they forgot to tell him what we paid for. Waiting for a reply we went to a cafe. We then walked to a back street where there were 2 jewellers who did a pendant for me and my daughter. We didn’t have a work-shop but a watch-shop. At the end the jeweller said we could only take one pendant while we paid for 2 so I paid extra as by now I was annoyed with the whole experience. By the way we never went to the emerald museum. As I said excellent guide hence the 3 stars but I regret the whole experience. Honestly I would not recommend!

The trip to the jewelry making class was part of the an excursion we booked on with Holland America cruise line. Because I am a geologist by training, I was interested in seeing the emeralds that were used to make the jewelry. The emeralds are not the cut and polished stones that most people expect. They are raw stones with holes drilled in them to make the jewelry. The silver wire that is used to make the jewelry is stretched by the students. The jewelry I came away with is nice and sturdy. I took the time to make sure that I was comfortable with the wire connections and keeping them from coming apart. You are allowed to take one piece of jewelry that you made and anything else you wanted to take was an additional $30 per piece on the day we took the excursion. I have my necklace, bracelet and ring. My ears aren't pierced, so I left the earrings behind. I was not expecting to have to pay for all the additional pieces when they encourage you to make a full set. The staff was really fun to work with even with the language barriers. I understood what to do based on Jose's demonstrations. The jewelry museum and store was beautiful and looking at all the emeralds was fascinating. I was able to buy an aquamarine pendant there because as a general rule, I am not an emerald girl. Would I do the excursion again? Maybe. But I learned a lot while I was there.

Great day with Lee Miles’ crew!! Lee himself met us right at the end of the pier as promised, where we paid him in cash for the tour before heading out with our driver and guide in a shuttle bus with my name on the front! LOL. We had six adults and six teenagers, and everyone had a great time! The views from the monastery were incredible and the stop at Lee’s emerald store was very welcome, with A/C, sodas and free WiFi. Several of us bought emeralds- but there was NO pressure. What a special souvenir to bring home from Colombia! Book with Lee Miles- you won’t regret it!!

We went on this excursion offered through Holland America Cruise line. It was our first visit to Columbia and Cartagena. We took a bus ride from the dock towards the downtown where the museum/shop was. We briefly stopped by the Fort on the way. We were allowed out of the bus briefly but were advised against it due to the high pressure street hawkers and recent wave of picket pockets. We were given a fair amount of information about the local culture and history on our way to the class. We arrived at the school and were assigned sitting positions at tables. They had instruction sheets of what we were to due for each participant. We made a pendant, two ear rings, a bracelet, and a ring. The jewelry was all made with silver wire and unfinished/unpolished emerald pieces that had holes drilled in them. I didn't think that the bracelet would hold up to being worn even once. And I'm not sure that my wife would ever wear the earrings or that they would hold up either. The instruction was given by students that attend the jewelry making school. That in itself is probably a very admirable endeavor that teaches the students a useable skill. Our particular instructor knew very little English or at least didn't like to try to use it much. We were allowed to keep one item which we had made (or a pair of earrings). We took the rings home with us mostly to see what would happen if we threw the emeralds into our small rock polisher machine. We were given a small bottled soft drink or water included in the excursion. (8 oz bottle about.) Then we proceeded to the Museum (that was owned by the jewelry shop/school). It was actually just around the corner on the same city block. We were given some nice information about emeralds in general and about Columbian emeralds in particular. The museum was quite interesting. After that, we were led downstairs to the jewelry store. We weren't interested in buying, but there was a large selection of emerald jewelry available. We were discouraged from wandering away to browse at nearby shops. Perhaps because of time concerns. I chose to do this tour mostly because it was different than anything that we had done before as an excursion. Well, we can check that off of the list. I'm not sure that I would recommend this tour to most people. But perhaps to some it might have appeal. The wire made jewelry seemed like it wouldn't really hold up to being worn. So by itself the jewelry wouldn't be worth the excursion.

I took the bicycle tour in Cartagena. It was amazing, funny and cultural. We visited different parts of the old city and Getsemani. It something that I recommend for all people.

I met Jose in a salsa bar and we quickly became good friends. I decided to take his tour and it was everything I could have asked for. Impeccable knowledge of Cartagena's architectural, cultural to even personal history.. being it his hometown. If you'd like an authentic day spent out in the beautiful city of Cartagena make it one of these tours.

Fantastic service, great location, delicious food and beverages. Stuff were very friendly and helpful. Good family experience.

I you do one tour in Cartagena, make it Jose's architecture tour. He's not only a tour guide but also a licensed architect working in the Old City. He weaves history and architecture together to make a super interesting tapestry. I've been going to Cartagena for 10 years and thought I knew a lot about the Old City but Jose was able to teach me more. Oh, I also need to mention he's a nice guy and speaks very good English.