Cartagena
Cartagena is the undisputed queen of Colombia's Caribbean coast and easily the most attractive city in the region — this given its apparent shortage of attractions in the classical sense of the word. Instead, what draws travellers in is the city itself: a microcosm of the Caribbean, walled in by defensive ramparts built to ward off unwelcome visitors, the likes of Sir Francis Drake, who held Cartagena de Indias captive for months during his 16th-century raids on the Spanish New World.