Adventure full day Isla Barú + Mangroves + Snorkel + bioluminescent plankton

Very fun (though slightly hectic) beach excursion

Overall, we had a great experience on our day trip to Barú! The bus ride from Cartagena was about an hour and was comfortable and easy. Once we arrived, we were set up at a small beach bar with the option to pay a little extra for a beachfront cabana, which we decided to do and thought was well worth it. The beach itself is beautiful. The water was incredibly blue and crystal clear, and we loved spending time swimming. The highlight of the day for us was definitely the mangrove excursion. We took a boat through the mangroves and got to feed some adorable little raccoon-like animals along the way, which was such a fun and unique experience. We also went snorkeling afterward. They feed the fish, so there were plenty swimming around us. There isn’t a reef or a ton to see underwater, but it was still enjoyable. One thing to know going in is that this isn’t necessarily a quiet, luxurious beach experience. There are a lot of vendors frequently approaching you to sell food, drinks, massages, souvenirs, and other services, and the area doesn’t have a huge amount of tourist infrastructure. That didn’t prevent us from having a great day, but it’s helpful to know what to expect if you’re looking for somewhere especially peaceful or secluded. We even decided to get massages right on the beach from some of the women offering them, which was a fun experience. Just be sure to confirm the price and payment method beforehand—we ended up paying an additional 15% because we wanted to use a credit card, which made it a little more expensive than we expected. Overall, though, we really enjoyed the excursion. The gorgeous water and especially the mangrove experience made it a memorable day and well worth the trip from Cartagena!

via Viator

Fun day. A lot of down...

Fun day. A lot of down time (which we loved). Were transferred to different operators during the day, but were well taken care of. Not a lot of English. Simple ham sandwich before bioluminescence experience; when we said we were vegetarians, we got two slices of bread (only). All of the guides were kid and helpful. Overall, an outstanding experience.

Response from the operator: We hope you are well. We are glad that everything was to your liking. We will take your comment into account to have more options for vegetarians so they can better enjoy the experience.

via Viator

Just don't. Seriously

From start to finish this was a disaster. Get a message from the tour "meet us here at this time" with a whatsapp number. I go there at that time, message the number that I'm here. Signed up for an English tour, but aside from the first shpiel on the bus, no one actually ran any of the tours in English. No bother, I am like a B1, so I could manage in Spanish. First location was a restaurant at the beach, where they blasted music crazy loud (seemed like the guides whole job was to get us on the bus there and then hang out). Then went to the mangroves (reminder all is in Spanish though I signed up for English) which consisted of, quite literally, going about 10 meters into the groves, seeing the raccoons, then backing out of the groves. All of 15 minutes. Then "snorkeling" but...without snorkels. This was just something where they took us into medium deep water and gave us goggles. They did not have enough goggles for everyone so we had to take turns. 40 minutes (but that was mainly so everyone could get a chance, so I'd say 15/20 minutes of "snorkeling"). At this point we got back to the restaurant, waited for 3-4 hours for the plankton thing. I should have just gone home, but sunk cost fallacy kept me in. The guides left, and no one had bothered to tell the rest of us who to talk to, where to go, or anything. Eventually was herded by the restaurant staff (not the tour guides) to where the plankton boat would launch. Plankton thing was beyond a disappointment. I don't know why but they gave us all a struggle sandwich (bologna on white bread, literally that's all) as a"treat?". Plankton, very cool. I didn't care to have photos taken (extra 30mil cop) so I went with the "no photo-group". We stayed in the plankton area for ~15 minutes then went back. As we headed back we saw the "photo-group" and they were taking their time (presumably so everyone could get their photos taken, so why we were rushed back to the bus is beyond me). Ended up waiting on the bus for ~30 minutes until we'd all boarded. Finally, we're heading back and as a coup-de-grace, the tire on the bus explodes 45 minutes away from Cartagena. This wasn't a random puncture, but the entire tire exploded (I'm going to go out on a limb and say this was the first maintenance they did on that bus). I asked the guide what the plan was, but he spoke way too fast for me to understand. I asked him to speak slower, he asks what language I would prefer and I said English. The guide sighs, doesn't speak English (so literally why ask?). Eventually I get that they called for another bus that was 30 minutes away. 30 minutes later we're herded onto another bus and finally make our way back. Just a complete, unmitigated, disaster from start to finish.

Response from the operator: First and foremost, we sincerely apologize for the frustrating experience you had with us, which fell far short of our quality standards. We greatly appreciate you taking the time to detail every aspect of your day; these types of reports allow us to correct serious issues immediately. We take your feedback very seriously and have already initiated the following corrective actions: Language and Guiding: We deeply regret that the English tour you paid for was not provided. We are auditing the performance of the guides assigned that day, as the lack of support, the dismissive attitude, and the language barrier you reported are completely unacceptable for our team. Logistics and Wait Times: We will immediately evaluate the itinerary for the mangrove activity, snorkeling (ensuring a complete inventory of equipment), and the downtime at the restaurant to prevent these delays and the lack of information from recurring. Safety and Maintenance: The situation with the vehicle's tire should never have occurred. We have requested a technical report from the transportation provider and a thorough fleet inspection to ensure the safety of all passengers. Thank you for your feedback; we will work hard to provide better experiences.

via Tripadvisor

Poorly organized. The...

Poorly organized. The English guide was not terribly fluent. The place is overcrowded and filled with people constantly selling stuff.

Response from the operator: We hope you are well. We are very sorry that your experience was not to your liking. We will continue to strive and work hard to ensure that our experiences meet the expectations of our visitors.

via Viator

Great experience

Great experience lots of fun. The guides Daniella and Sergio were great

Response from the operator: I hope you are well. We appreciate your comment. We strive every day to provide wonderful experiences in the city and for our tourists to have the best experience in Cartagena

via Tripadvisor