BEACHFRONT FAMILY LUXURY APARTMENT

My husband and I just returned from a two-week stay in this amazing apartment. This was our first trip to Colombia and the apartment exceeded our most optimistic expectations. First, the location. The flat is in the Zona Norte section of Cartagena, so you are only a $5 cab ride into the Old City—and you have an expansive, mostly empty, beach right in front of you. The building itself is lovely, lots of stone everywhere, very well maintained, with an infinity pool on the top floor. It is also extremely quiet, which was very important to us as we are light sleepers. The front-desk guys will call a cab for you any time you need it—I don’t think we ever waited more than two minutes for one to show up—and the Old City has tons of taxis for the ride home. The flat is amazing—enormous for two of us, but I think it would be very spacious even for six. It’s very comfortably furnished, and has a huge terrace. The flat also comes with a maid, which we initially saw as a problem, not being used to a maid at home. How wrong we were! The maid is more like a housekeeper, a lovely Colombian woman who quickly fit into our routines, made us breakfast and lunch every day (and dinner too, if we weren’t heading into the Old City for dinner). She also did our laundry and kept the apartment spotlessly clean. We felt we had the best of all worlds: the comfort and privacy of an apartment, with all the services of a hotel (including a wonderful personal chef). The owner was incredibly helpful, answering my many questions as we planned for the trip. I know Colombia still has a shaky reputation for safety among some people, but we felt completely safe everywhere we went, even strolling around the Old City at night. We have stayed at many VRBO properties around the world, and this is at the top of our list.