The most interesting hotel opening of the year isn’t in Paris or the Maldives. It’s in Cartagena. Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Cartagena has opened in Getsemaní, the neighbourhood that savvy travellers have quietly known about for years, and that the rest of the world is only just discovering. A place where the street art is museum-quality, the light is perpetually golden, and the Walled City begins just beyond your doorstep.
The hotel itself occupies two restored landmarks, the 16th-century San Francisco Temple and Club Cartagena, a 1920s beaux-arts building of considerable elegance. François Catroux, the designer, threaded the two together with dark wood, soaring ceilings and a palette that feels less “Caribbean hotel” and more considered collector’s residence.
The Catroux Suite, named for him, naturally, arrives via private elevator, opens onto a terrace with a plunge pool, and looks out through historical arched windows onto gardens that feel entirely removed from the 21st century.
Eight restaurants, a rooftop pool and an UMARI spa including exclusive street art experiences through Getsemaní’s storied alleys. Some hotels decorate a destination, this one deepens it.
