SOFITEL BARU CARTAGENA

We had a wonderful stay at Sofitel Baru Calablanca. The hotel is new, well-kept, with all you need to spend several days in your little paradise. The food from French chef in Calablanca restaurant was pefect. The beach and pool facilities can accomodate all guests and you don't need to look for a sunbed or an umbrella. The only minor minus - hard to find the hotel if you are travelling with your own car, no signs on the road at all.

Superlative in every way, this hotel offers the best experience in comfort, style, food, beach, in Cartagena. Not cheap in any way either but it's worth splashing out for.

We were here for two nights and in general we had a lovely time. The overall impression is great, but with what you pay here you also have great expectations and therefore there's still some things left to be desired. Here's our breakdown; Positives; - The whole hotel/resort is extremely well kept, clean and of high standard - Our superior room had lovely ocean views from the balcony - Lots of activities for both adults and our son. They also have a kids club (we didn't get the time to try it) - Many pool with different aspects. We tried all of them except the adults only. - The beach is quite small, but still very nice. - Service among most of the staff was very good (except in the instances mentioned below) - A breakfast up there among the better we've encountered (and with around 30 years divided among us working within the hotel industry and over hundred hotel nights every year, that says a bit) Neutral: - Room was not ready upon arrival (14.30) and we had to ask for it ourselves when the clock had turned past check-in time. - The shower-solution which is quite "open" might be an issue for some (wasn't for us) Negatives: - After a very effective start of our dinner in the Humo restaurant, it took almost just as long time to get the bill in the end as it took to consume the whole meal, after the restaurant started to fill up. - At the beach we waited 1 hr for a beer (after asking for it twice), as staff completely lost control when a larger group arrived. Then it was like no one else existed. We got compensated with free drinks after we just left, but with so much staff, that shouldn't happen in a place like that. - Chairs and sofa's in Humo are very straight, leaving them to be very uncofortable for people with back issues. Two of us struggled and with one of us working within the field of physical medicine, we know that if you want to have such furnitures, you also need to provide some kind of lower back support/pillows. - There's tip added (I think it was stated resort fee) at the final bill, which was not informed about at check-in. When presenting it, they mention that it's optimal, but as you also tip during your stay and it seems to be a fixed percentage (10%), it kinda means that your adding tips on the already paid tips. That's an American way of doing business that should not spread elsewhere. As an end point, some thoughts around an issue that might not formally be the hotels resposibility, but that still left us with a bit of a bad taste in our mouths, already when arriving. Accor has with this hotel been allowed to develop a lot of nice nature in the area, and they have done well with the premises. However that also comes with responsibility for the surroundings and local community and most of the road leading to the hotel, is extremely rough. We really felt sorry for our (and other) Uber/Taxi-drivers, that get's wear and tear on their cars, driving more fortunate people like us to these hotels. Here we really feel like

Very nice hotel very quite and peaceful. The hotel is modern, beautiful, the rooms are spacious and nice, the view on the sea is amazing. A special thank to Alice who made our holidays very pleasant. The staff is very nice, always willing to help, smiling, service is very good. Each time there was an “issue” they did all their possible to arrange it! The breakfast buffet is very good, the breakfast terrace gives a beautiful view… There are several pools, one infinity, several for kids and an adult only. The hotel is very far from everything, so if you need something you need to go nearly to Cartagena meaning 1h drive… Enjoy the beach at the hotel (beach is not private so people come to sell stuff, foot massage, jet ski.. this is not part of the hotel… but really better than the public beach playa Blanca! Just do not go there it is pure harassment! There are different restaurants in the hotel, all are good and good quality. If you want to rest some days far from everything, this is the place! Only Con: the bed is not the comfort of the known Sofitel bed, we were missing the mattress topper… Could be good also to review the drink list with the cocktails to suggest more specific ones and a larger choice… seems they will hire a cocktail specialist so should be better ;)

We loved everything about this beautiful new hotel. The multiple pools, how child and family friendly it was, how much space and privacy we had on the beach, the ocean access, the rooms, the incredible staff, especially Juiro Jatro but most of all the very best food I’ve ever had consistently in a hotel. We will definitely be back!

Beautiful hotel. We loved our room which was a Jacuzzi suite in the Garza building. The beach is nice, not white sand but good, and the swimming was excellent. I would have liked more room to swim and less room for jetskiis. The service was excellent, 5 stars for sure. The breakfasts were outstanding. The dinners were mixed. Humo was great, very creative. We did not care for our meal at Bahia. Calabianca was not good at first, but we had a conversation with Juliette the restaurant manager who made sure our subsequent meals were good. Thanks to servers Brenda and Ramses. We were not bothered by the unpaved road in. We appreciated that there were no other buildings in view. Overall a great stay, and then we spent an enjoyable few days in the city of Cartagena. Loved it all