The short version
San Diego is the northern chunk of the Walled Old Town, and it's the quieter half. Same 16th-century streets as the postcard bit, fewer people photographing them. We're at Carrera 7 #36-88, which puts the plaza, the museum and the walls all inside a ten-minute walk. Here's what we'd tell you at the bar, minus the second drink.
Plaza de San Diego: go in the evening, not at noon
Start at the plaza, and go after about six. It's a small square in the historic centre, named for the San Diego convent that takes up one side of it, and by day it's mostly heat and shade. In the evening the restaurant tables spill out and the street food carts set up around the edges: carimañolas, which are cassava fritters stuffed with cheese or meat, and arepa de huevo, a fried corn arepa with an egg cooked inside it. Buy one of each, eat them standing up, then decide about dinner. That's the correct order of operations.
It's a square for sitting, not for ticking off. If you want a plan for it, the plan is two hours and no plan.
Museo del Oro Zenú: free, air-conditioned, and an hour is plenty
Go to the Gold Museum, because it costs nothing and it's cold inside. It holds Zenú goldwork and ceramics, entry is free, and it's closed Mondays. Opening hours run Tuesday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm, with shorter hours on Sunday. Most people are through it in under an hour, which is exactly right: it's one well-done floor, not a day out.
Our honest pitch for it is the middle of the afternoon. That's when the streets are at their worst and a free room with air conditioning and pre-Columbian gold in it becomes the smartest decision you'll make all day.
Las Murallas: the walk everyone does, and they're right to
Get up on the walls, and do it in the last hour of daylight. Las Murallas are the fortifications that ring the old town, and the top of them is a public walkway. It's the one obvious tourist thing in the neighbourhood that we'd still push you toward without any irony at all, because the light off the water at that hour does the work for you and it's free.
Wear something on your feet you can walk on uneven stone in. The surface is old and it is not level, which is sort of the point.
Where to eat
We're going to be straight with you here rather than list ten restaurants we haven't eaten at this month. Kitchens in the old town open, close and change hands fast, and a guide that sends you to a shuttered door isn't a guide. So: the plaza has restaurants on two sides and carts around the edge, and for anything more specific than that, ask us at the desk on the day. We'll tell you what's actually good this week, including the places that aren't on any list.
Breakfast, at least, we can promise. It's included for everyone who books directly through our website.
The bit that's ours
Head up to the rooftop, it's open till midnight. Locals get 15% off up here too, so expect real company at sunset rather than a room of people who all arrived on the same flight. Members Only kicks off around 9 on Friday and Saturday and it gets loud, which we'd rather tell you now than have you discover at 11pm through the ceiling. If you want quiet and colonial hush, we're probably not your spot.
Downstairs there's the lobby bar, and eleven, sorry, ten rooms, each one painted by a local artist rather than a decorator. An art hotel, but not the stuffy, silent, white-walls kind. When you want sand instead of stone, we've got Blue Apple Beach, our beach club, for the day.
A rough first day
- Morning. Walk the streets before 10 while it's still bearable. No destination.
- Mid-afternoon. Museo del Oro Zenú, free, one hour, air conditioning.
- Golden hour. Up on Las Murallas.
- Evening. Plaza de San Diego, fritters first, dinner second.
- Late. Our rooftop until midnight. Friday or Saturday, stay for Members Only.
This is a place to stay that's also a place the city comes to. Use us for the recommendations, that's what we're for.