Casa Botero: Colonial Art Casa in Cartagena's Walled City – Grotto Pool, Gardens, Rooftop Terrace

Behind a heritage façade draped in climbing vines and a deep-red colonial door, in the heart of Cartagena’s walled historic center, this jewel of history and architecture unfolds as a private world. Significant works of art — sculpture in the entrance gallery, painting in every salon and suite — and objects of Caribbean culture inhabit each courtyard and room. It is a residence conceived as an experience, one that fuses the best of art, gastronomy and luxury in a setting overflowing with nature.

The grand salon rises beneath soaring timber-beamed ceilings and wrought-iron chandeliers, with tall shuttered windows, checkerboard floors and a long marble dining table made for celebrations and refined entertaining. Beyond it, the house opens to a lush interior courtyard: an open-air dining room beneath a timber pergola, stepping stones across still water, a sculptural spiral staircase and suspended walkways threading through the canopy.

At the heart of it all lies a grotto-like pool fed by a stone fountain and wrapped in vertical gardens, framed by two levels of blue colonial galleries with carved fretwork transoms. By night the water glows turquoise beneath the illuminated greenery. A spa treatment room, washed in garden light, completes the sense of retreat.

Five serene suites — each with private bath, air conditioning, minibar, television and Wifi — look onto the gardens. El Aljibe, the most expansive, adds its own sitting area, French doors opening directly to the pool, and an open-air bathroom of exposed stone, cascading ferns and copper fixtures. La Crujía hosts two double beds and opens to a gallery balcony above the pool; El Solar rests on the ground floor, steps from the water; El Mirador commands a panoramic view over the casa; and El Altillo continues the same tranquil register. Throughout, backlit sculptural mirrors set into exposed stone walls, rain showers and handcrafted vanities give every bath its own character.

Above, a rooftop terrace with sunset lounge, outdoor dining and bar looks out over palms and the tiled roofs of the old city. Steps from the plazas, galleries and celebrated restaurants of the walled city, the casa is equally compelling as a singular private residence or as an exclusive boutique-hospitality asset in one of the Caribbean’s most coveted historic quarters. Price and further particulars upon request.