Short answer: carry both, and break your big notes early
Cards are fine in restaurants, bars and for your hotel bill. Cash is what you need for taxis, street food, tips, small shops and anyone working off a cart. The currency is the Colombian peso (COP), the numbers have a lot of zeros, and the single most useful habit is breaking a 50,000 note on something cheap early in the day so you're not handing a fruit seller a note she can't change.
That's the whole thing. The rest is detail.
Tipping: the 10% is voluntary and they will ask you
In Colombian restaurants the service charge is a propina voluntaria, a voluntary 10%, and the server should ask whether to include it before the bill is printed. Sometimes it's already listed on the bill as "propina" or "servicio incluido", so check before you add anything on top. Paying it twice is the most common tourist mistake here.
What we'd actually do:
- Sit-down restaurants: say yes to the 10%. It's the local norm, and it replaces the American 15-20% rather than sitting alongside it.
- Bars and counters: not expected. Round up if you liked them.
- Taxi drivers: not expected. Agree the fare, pay the fare.
- Porters, housekeeping, boat crew: cash, small notes, entirely up to you.
Nobody will chase you down the street over a tip. Decline the 10% if the service was bad. That's what "voluntaria" means.
Taxis are cash, and there is no meter
Cartagena taxis don't run meters. Fares are set by zone, so you agree the price through the window before you get in, which is a conversation rather than a scam in itself. The legal minimum fare for 2026 is 12,250 pesos, which is a useful number to carry: short hops around the Old Town sit near it, and quotes well above it are worth questioning.
If haggling in Spanish at a kerb isn't your idea of a holiday, the ride apps work here. InDrive is the one most people in Cartagena reach for, and Uber and Cabify also operate. The apps price the trip up front, which removes the argument.
What things cost with us, in pesos
So you have a real anchor rather than a vague sense that Colombia is cheap:
| What | Price |
|---|---|
| Airport transfer, up to 4 people | 120,000 COP |
| Airport transfer, 5 or more | 200,000 COP |
| Rooftop pool day pass, two people | €25 |
| Parking we arrange nearby, per night | €15 |
Yes, we quote some things in pesos and some in euros. That's how those rates are set, so don't be startled when both currencies turn up on the same bill.
Breakfast is complimentary if you booked direct with us, which is a small thing that adds up over four mornings in a city where breakfast out is not cheap.
ATMs and cards, honestly
ATMs in Colombia dispense pesos and most charge their own withdrawal fee on top of whatever your own bank charges, so take out a larger amount less often rather than 100,000 at a time. Machines attached to a bank branch, used during opening hours, are the ones we'd point you to, and if you ask us at reception we'll tell you which is closest.
One practical thing: if a card machine asks whether to charge you in pesos or in your home currency, choose pesos. That "convenience" conversion happens at the terminal's rate and it is never in your favour.
How much cash to carry at once
Enough for the day, not for the week. Two taxis, a couple of juices, some street food and a tip is a small handful of notes, and that's a normal day here. Leave the rest in the room safe. This is ordinary big-city advice and it applies in Cartagena the way it applies anywhere: don't walk around with a fat envelope of pesos because you didn't fancy a second trip to the ATM.
What we'd tell a first-timer, in one line
Take out pesos when you land, say yes to the 10% at dinner, agree the taxi fare before you get in, and keep small notes for the man selling mango on the corner. The rest of it works.
If you'd rather have this conversation with a map in front of you, ask us at the desk. We're on Carrera 7 in San Diego, and this is the single most common question we get in the first ten minutes of a stay.