Vegan Options in Cartagena Travel Guide

My hotel breakfast: the first surprise

I stayed in the Walled City at Casa La Factoría by Faranda.

When I travelled to Mexico last year, I was honestly impressed by how easy it was to find vegan-friendly food. So when I booked my trip to Cartagena, Colombia, I had pretty high expectations. I thought: it's a tropical country, there are fruits everywhere, people eat beans and plantains… how difficult could it be?

Well… quite a bit more difficult than I expected. 😅

I spent a surprising amount of my vacation searching for food, checking restaurant menus, walking around looking for suitable options and occasionally ending up eating fruit simply because I couldn't find anything else. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy Cartagena — I absolutely did. The city is beautiful, colourful and full of character, the weather was fantastic, and I had some wonderful beach days. But if you are travelling to Cartagena as a vegan or plant-based traveller, especially if you prefer whole, minimally processed food, my experience may save you quite a bit of time.

First, what do I actually mean by "vegan"?

Before I get into my experience, there is one important thing to explain. I eat a mostly whole-food plant-based diet. I try to minimize highly processed food, heavily fried food, added sugar, soda and juice, and I generally prefer simple meals built around vegetables, legumes, whole grains and other plant-based protein sources. And I absolutely love fruit. In fact, whenever I travel somewhere tropical, I make myself a list of local fruits I want to find and try. It's become a little personal travel challenge. So when I say that I was looking for vegan food, I wasn't simply looking for something without meat. Ideally, I wanted: vegetables + legumes + whole grains + plant-based protein + fresh fruit.

That distinction matters because a traveller who is happy eating vegan pastries, fries, bread and rice may have a much easier time in Cartagena than I did.

The hotel has a beautiful boutique atmosphere that fits the historic centre really well, and I chose it partly because breakfast was included.

And I was excited about breakfast. I imagined tropical fruit, avocado, vegetables, perhaps beans and some kind of plant-based protein.

Instead…

Arepas con queso. Arepa con huevo. Eggs. Cheese. More eggs. The main breakfast dishes were traditional Colombian options made with corn masa, cheese and/or eggs, with very few vegetables. There were some nice fruits, nuts, tomato and avocado, but not much else that worked for me.

So my breakfast became:

avocado + fruit + chia seeds.

Not exactly a high-protein breakfast.

Luckily, the hotel had almond milk and I had brought some GoodProtein powder from home. That protein powder ended up becoming the unexpected hero of my trip.

What I ate for breakfast

Every morning I soaked chia seeds in almond milk, added my protein powder, a few Brazil nuts and whatever fruit I had available. It wasn't exciting, but it was filling enough and gave me some protein. After two days, however, I started craving something I never thought I'd miss this much: vegetables. I bought parsley and bell pepper, along with whole-corn crackers, and started eating something savoury before my chia-protein bowl. That made breakfast feel much more satisfying.

The coffee was good, though.

My breakfast rating:

Plant-based options: ⭐ 1/5

Fresh fruit: ⭐ 4/5

Vegetables: ⭐ 1/5

Coffee: ⭐ 4/5

Grocery shopping: fruit paradise, protein desert

After the first breakfast disappointment, I decided that grocery shopping would probably solve the problem. I went looking for a supermarket where I could buy some food for breakfast and snacks. And this was where Cartagena gave me very mixed feelings.

The fruit selection was fantastic.

I found:

• Guanábana

• Maracuyá

• Yellow pitahaya

• Mango manzana

• Lulo

• Tomate de árbol

• Pink guava

So my tropical-fruit mission was going very well.

The plant-based protein mission? Not so much. I couldn't find tofu. I couldn't find the simple canned beans or lentils I was looking for.

There was plenty of cheese, arepas with margarine and other foods containing animal ingredients — but not even one simple pack of tofu. So I did what any fruit-obsessed traveller would do:

I bought a lot of fruit. 😂

Finding a restaurant was harder than expected

I assumed restaurants would be easier. I opened Google Maps and searched for: vegan. plant-based. healthy. vegetarian.

Then I started checking menus. Thirty minutes later, I still hadn't found many places that looked genuinely suitable. A lot of information came from old reviews mentioning vegetarian options, but when I checked the current menus, things weren't always as promising as they sounded.

Eventually I found Tomillo.

Their main focus is seafood, but they had a quinoa vegetable bowl. And at that point, after walking around hungry, I was very happy to see quinoa and vegetables on a menu.

I ordered it and asked for less oil and salt.

Finally, a proper meal.

Bocagrande: beautiful walk, same food problem

The next day I went to explore Bocagrande. I expected this more modern part of Cartagena, with its larger hotels and beaches, to have more healthy and vegan-friendly options. I spent a long time walking along the coast and eventually reached the end of the peninsula. It was around 35°C and very humid, so by the time I turned back I was already exhausted. On my way, I stopped at a few grocery stores and found another giant guanábana and some pink guava.

I also learned something useful: Compare fruit prices. On my first day I bought a small guanábana from a street vendor for around 10,000 pesos. Later, I found one at a supermarket that was at least five times bigger — around 2.5 kg — for roughly 20,000 pesos. So don't automatically assume the street vendor is the better deal.

The unexpected search for water

Another little challenge was finding water in glass bottles. I was trying to avoid plastic bottles when possible, but glass wasn't easy to find. Eventually, I found a small 330 ml glass bottle at a pharmacy. After that, pharmacies became part of my water strategy. 😂

And because I sometimes didn't have the energy to search for another restaurant after a long day of walking, I would simply eat some fruit when I got back to the hotel.

Tierra Bomba: my favourite discovery

The next day I booked a full-day beach club trip to Tierra Bomba. I chose Fénix Beach, which is located on the island and is accessible by boat from Cartagena. The property currently offers both hotel accommodation and day passes. And this was one of my favourite days of the trip.

The beach was beautiful from the moment I arrived. White sand. Clear water. Shade. Good music. Not too crowded. It felt like exactly what I needed after several days of walking around the city.

Tierra Bomba: my favourite discovery

Even better, there were several lunch options that worked for me, including a quinoa-based bowl with vegetables. So I spent the entire day there, ate my quinoa bowl and relaxed. And while sitting on that beach, I had another thought: Why didn't I stay here?

If I ever return to Cartagena, I would seriously consider staying at Fénix Hotel instead of staying entirely in the Walled City. The location gives you a completely different experience, while Cartagena's historic centre is still accessible by boat. And this became one of my biggest lessons from the trip: Don't just research restaurants. Research where you're going to stay. For a plant-based traveller, the breakfast situation can make a huge difference.

Three days of beach + quinoa

For the next two days, I returned to the beach. I brought fruit with me, relaxed, swam and had the same quinoa bowl for lunch. At this point I had accepted the situation. It wasn't exactly the culinary adventure I had imagined when I booked Colombia. But it was relaxing. And after walking around Cartagena in 35°C heat searching for food, a beach chair and a reliable quinoa bowl started to feel pretty luxurious.

Colombian coffee: a much better experience

After three days of mostly beach time, I had about 2.5 days left. Now I was determined to explore more of Cartagena — including coffee shops and local sweets. I'm a dark Americano / espresso person. Filtered coffee and drip coffee seemed more common in Cartagena, so I was curious to try some of the city's specialty coffee shops.

At El Depósito, I found a large selection of Colombian beans from different regions. I explained that I prefer dark, stronger coffee and chose a dark roast with chocolate and vanilla notes. The aroma of the freshly ground coffee was amazing. The taste, however, was much milder than I personally prefer. But that's really about my taste rather than the quality of the coffee. If you enjoy lighter and more nuanced specialty coffee, you might love it.

The following day I went to Inspiración Café de Origen and ordered a double Americano. That one was much more my style.

The vegan dessert challenge

After El Depósito, I went to Portal de los Dulces, which I had specifically wanted to visit because I was curious about traditional Colombian sweets.

I asked about vegan options.There weren't many.

I found:

• Cocadas with panela

• Sesame seeds with panela

• Yuca-flour-based balls with cocoa or anise and sugar

I tried the sesame option.

The others were either too sweet or too dry for my taste. My verdict?

I'd rather have a banana with my coffee. 😂

But I still think it's worth visiting Portal de los Dulces if you're interested in seeing the traditional sweets of Cartagena.

Finally: beans and lentils!

By this point, I had eaten a lot of fruit and quinoa. And I had developed a very strong craving for something very simple: beans or lentils.

So I changed my search strategy. Instead of searching only for "vegan restaurants," I started searching specifically for lentils, beans and falafel. That worked much better.

I found lentil soup at Se Volvió Prisprí Coffee Shop and falafel at Santo Toribio. The lentil soup portion was small, but eating lentils felt amazing. Then I walked to Santo Toribio for falafel. The falafel didn't come with much salad or vegetables, but it was tasty, especially with tahini sauce. Finally, I felt properly satisfied.

Getsemaní and my best restaurant discovery

The next day I explored Getsemaní. This was probably one of my favourite areas of Cartagena. It's colourful, lively and full of street vendors selling fruit, lemonade, arepas and other local foods.

I walked through almost every street and eventually reached the promenade along the sea. It was crowded and extremely vibrant. Definitely an area I'd recommend visiting.

After a long day of walking, I went to Pezetarian.

And finally… I had choices. Not just one thing I could eat. Actual choices.

I ordered lentil soup and purple rice with vegetables, plus tofu. The soup was slightly spicy with curry and I really enjoyed it. The main dish was also tasty, although I realised afterwards that I should have asked for less oil. There was quite a lot of it, and I couldn't finish all the rice. Still, this was one of the restaurants where I felt most comfortable as a plant-based traveller.

Pezetarian's current website describes the restaurant as pescetarian and lists its Historic Center location at Calle San Agustín #6-80. It also has vegetarian options, although the restaurant is primarily seafood-focused.

Would I recommend it?

Yes. Especially if you're looking for several plant-based choices rather than one emergency meal. And if you eat fish, you'll have considerably more options in Cartagena. Seafood is everywhere, including ceviche, local fish and coconut-based soups.

My last dinner

On my final day I spent most of the day exploring local shops and trying more fruit. I decided to return to Pezetarian and ordered spring rolls with tofu and Curry Garbanzos. Most of their vegetarian options came with rice or noodles. Since I generally avoid refined white flour, I chose rice. But then I realised that the chickpea curry already contained a generous amount of coconut milk, together with plantain and carrot. So I ended up leaving most of the rice and eating mainly the chickpea stew. The stew itself was tasty.

And once again, I appreciated having several plant-based choices on the menu.