Tourist Boat Around the Harbour and Fuerte de Navidad

A Bay Closed In by Castles

Cartagena is a natural harbour surrounded by hills, and every hill has a castle or a battery on top. From the water you understand why the city was a naval base for centuries. The Cartagena Puerto de Culturas tourist boat, an 85-seat vessel, leaves from the Alfonso XII quay, on the seafront promenade, beside the marina and close to the Town Hall square. It sails slowly, at about 2.5 knots, around the harbour basin, sheltered from the open sea, between castles, batteries, lighthouses and breakwaters.

A recorded commentary in several languages tells the story of the port: the old defences, the 18th-century arsenal, the Navidad, San Pedro and Alfonso XII breakwaters of the 19th century and the cruise terminal, the most recent. Puerto de Culturas does not publish how long the trip lasts; if you do not get off at the fort, you return to the same quay.

Getting Off at Fuerte de Navidad

The boat stops at Fuerte de Navidad, a coastal battery on the right-hand side of the bay, beside the lighthouse of the same name. It began in the 17th century as a four-gun platform; the building you see dates from the second half of the 19th century, from the 1860 defence plan, and until 1941 it was the battery that fired the harbour's salutes. It was restored between 2004 and 2007. It has eight casemates with one gun each and nine more pieces on the terrace, reached by two spiral staircases. Inside there is a large model of the port and its defences, an audiovisual, an original 19th-century cannon, a recreated officer's office and the troops' latrines, kitchen and dormitories. The audioguide costs €2.

The fort opens less than the boat: from 2 November to 7 December, Tuesday to Friday from 11:00 to 14:00 and Saturdays and Sundays from 11:00 to 16:00, and it closes from 8 December to 14 March. In those weeks the boat does the trip without the stop.

Departures and Prices

From 2 November to 5 January, and from 1 to 14 March, it leaves Tuesday to Friday at 11:00, 12:00, 13:00 and 14:00, and on Saturdays and Sundays every hour from 11:00 to 16:00. From 15 March to 31 May and from 16 September to 1 November it adds departures at 15:00, 16:30 and 17:30; in June, another at 18:30. From 1 July to 15 September it leaves every day until 19:30, except Mondays in the first half of July. There is no service from 6 January to 28 February, nor on 25 December; on 24 and 31 December and 5 January, mornings only.

The boat alone costs €8, and €7 for the reduced rate; with Fuerte de Navidad, €10 and €8. The reduced rate applies to under-12s, students up to 25, pensioners, the unemployed, people with disabilities, families of two adults with two children under 12 and groups of 20 or more, and is verified at the ticket office. Children under 3 do not pay.