Where to Hear Live Music in Cartagena's Old Town at Night
By Townhouse Cartagena ·
Quick answer
For live music in Cartagena's Old Town at night, the reliable pair is Tertulia de Getsemaní, where salsa and Latin jazz bands play Wednesday to Saturday and the sound carries into the street, and Café Havana in Getsemaní near the waterfront, the city's best-known salsa club, where the band leans salsa with afro-Cuban and jazz in it. If you'd rather not leave San Diego, our rooftop on Carrera 7 runs until midnight, it's adults-only after 8pm, and Members Only kicks off around 9 on Friday and Saturday.
Cartagena after dark: the music is usually louder than the room it's in. · Photo by Elizeu Dias on Unsplash
Cartagena doesn't hide its music, so the question isn't whether you'll hear a band tonight, it's which one and how far you're willing to walk for it.
We're on Carrera 7 in San Diego, which means we're the ones people ask at 8pm when the plan has fallen apart. Here's what we actually say. Three places, an honest read on each, and no pretending we're neutral about the last one.
One thing to get straight before you go: 'live jazz' in Cartagena rarely means a quiet trio and a dim room. It usually means Latin jazz sitting next to salsa in the same set, played loud, with people dancing to it. If you want silence and a saxophone, this is the wrong city. If you want a band four feet from your table, you're in luck.
If you want quiet and colonial hush, we're probably not your spot.
Tertulia de Getsemaní
· $$
The best odds of hearing actual Latin jazz. Live salsa and Latin jazz bands play the tiny stage Wednesday through Saturday nights, and the music spills out into the street, which is a polite way of saying you can hear the set from outside if the room fills up. Go early in the evening if you want a seat with a view of the band, or go late and accept that you'll be standing on the pavement with everyone else. It's small. That's the appeal and the problem.
Café Havana
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The famous one, and it earns it. This is Cartagena's best-known salsa club, and the live band plays mostly salsa with afro-Cuban and jazz flavours running through it. Go if you want to dance or watch people who really can. Don't go looking for a conversation: the whole point is the volume. It's touristy now, we're not going to pretend otherwise, but the band is the reason it got famous in the first place.
Our rooftop
· $$
The one you don't have to leave the neighbourhood for. The rooftop runs until midnight, and Members Only kicks off around 9 on Friday and Saturday, which is when it stops being a sunset drink and starts being a night. Kids are welcome up here until 8pm; after that it's adults only, live-music evenings included. Locals get 15% off up here too, so expect real company at sunset rather than a room full of people who checked in this afternoon. It gets loud after dark. That's the point, and it's also your warning if you booked the room below it.
