Cartagena is probably not a final destination for most travelers but it does offer a refreshing peek into life in the colonial era. The old walled city and the forts were named a UNESCO site in 1980. It would have been nice to do a walking tour of the city but we chose to take a water tour instead. Given what we saw I would recommend the city tour instead. The city doesn't appear to have been greatly infliuenced by the tourism trade as Cabo and Acapulco have. That is both good and bad. Good in that you get closer to the culture and bad in that the tourism infrastructure is just emerging.