An independent guide to Cartagena, Colombia
Islands · the far group
Photo: Williamzarza, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The San Bernardo Islands lie about 76 km in a straight line south of Cartagena, Colombia, and the speedboat takes 90 minutes to 2 hours each way. A day trip works, but it starts before dawn and spends about four hours of the day on open sea. With one night you get what a day trip cannot give you: the late afternoon, the sunset and the early morning on the islands. If you are already travelling the coast south of Cartagena, start from Tolú or Rincón del Mar instead.
I went out to the San Bernardo Islands on my trip to Cartagena in October 2023. Rainer Lang, editor
Some links on this page are affiliate links: the guide earns a commission when you book through them. The partner sets the price; the guide adds no fee.
1The time budget
Lay the two plans on one clock. The day trip as the Isla Palma day lists it picks you up from 5:30, meets at the dock at 5:45 and is back in Cartagena between 16:30 and 17:00. Take away the crossings and the islands get 6¾ to 7¼ hours at the very most.
A night costs the same four hours on the boat. Hotel Isla Múcura’s guest boat leaves La Bodeguita at 9:00 (the hotel’s directions) and lands about 11:00. Until the boat back in mid-morning the next day you are on the islands, including the late afternoon, the evening and the early morning that a day trip misses.
Rougher monthsDecember to March, typically: see the months.
BagsHotel Isla Múcura’s boat takes one bag of up to 8 kg per person and one piece of hand luggage.
November The sea is typically calmer this month.
| Part of the day | Day trip | Two days with a night |
|---|---|---|
| Start | Hotel pickup from 5:30, or the dock at 5:45 | At the dock at 8:00, boat at 9:00 |
| On the boat | about 4 hours, 2 hours each way | About the same: 2 hours each way |
| On the islands | 6¾ to 7¼ hours at most | From about 11:00 to mid-morning the next day, including the late afternoon, the sunset and the early morning that a day trip misses |
| Door to door | 11 to 11½ hours | Two days, one night |
| Back in Cartagena | 16:30 to 17:00, weather permitting | Day 2, about two hours after the boat leaves the island in mid-morning; the hotel confirms the hour |
2The chart
The islands belong to the coast of Sucre more than to Cartagena: Rincón del Mar, a village in San Onofre, lies 22 km from Tintipán in a straight line, against 76 km from La Bodeguita. Boats leave from all three, and which port suits you depends on where you are coming from.
Which to use. From a hotel in Cartagena, take the boat from La Bodeguita: Tolú and Rincón del Mar are well over a hundred kilometres away by road. Coming from Medellín or Montería, or along the coast, start from Tolú or Rincón del Mar. Routes to the coast: Medellín to Cartagena, getting to Cartagena; every trip out of the city: day trips from Cartagena.
3The islands
Tintipán is the largest island of the group by its OpenStreetMap outline. Places to stay include hostels such as Santa Lova, and a beach club sells a day pass from Cartagena: the Quinta del Mar day on Tintipán, with hotel pickup, a welcome cocktail, a snack and loungers (more passes: Cartagena beach clubs). Parques Nacionales has first-aid points on the island.
Múcura is small: its OpenStreetMap outline is about an eighth the size of Tintipán’s. Hotel Isla Múcura runs its own boat from Cartagena and from Tolú, and the Viator day trip spends its longest stop here. In June 2026 Parques Nacionales checked visitors’ park insurance on Múcura, so carry your proof of cover.
Isla Palma lies apart from the other three, nearer the mainland. The GetYourGuide day from Cartagena goes to its hotel, which has a pool, and Mística Isla Palma takes overnight guests. That day leaves a port fee per person to you, at an amount that differs from the park fee and the dock fee: ask what it covers before you pay (the official fees).
Santa Cruz del Islote is a tiny islet built over with houses from shore to shore, where a fishing community lives. ProColombia, the national tourism agency, calls it one of the most densely populated islands in the world.
It is a home, not an attraction. Visits are short stops: the Viator day trip stops here, with the islet’s admission not included, and ProColombia lists boats from Tolú to the islet.
4Against the Rosario Islands
| Compared | San Bernardo Islands | Rosario Islands |
|---|---|---|
| Distance | 76 km in a straight line | 35 km in a straight line |
| Boat from Cartagena | 90 minutes to 2 hours each way | About 55 minutes to Bora Bora Beach Club, by the club’s timetable |
| Day trip | Possible but long: pickup from 5:30, back 16:30 to 17:00 | The usual way: boats leave at 8:00 to 8:30, back about 16:30 |
| Boats leave from | La Bodeguita in Cartagena; Tolú; Rincón del Mar | La Bodeguita in Cartagena |
| Park fee | 11,000 COP, San Bernardo sector | 13,500 COP |
| Dock fee at La Bodeguita | 18,000 COP | 18,000 COP |
| What a day sells for | 3 listings, 137 to 214 USD | 11 shared island-hopping listings, 65 to 166 USD |
| A night | Hotels and hostels on Múcura, Tintipán and Isla Palma | Places to stay on the islands and on Barú |
Both groups form one national park, PNN Corales del Rosario y San Bernardo; where its limits run is on the island picker page, with all five groups compared. The Rosario Islands win on time; San Bernardo pays off once you stay a night. The four ways to the Rosario Islands and the dock routine: Rosario Islands.
5What you pay
The park fee. The San Bernardo sector has its own entry fee in the 2026 fee resolution: 11,000 COP per person, lower than the 13,500 COP for the rest of the park (Resolución 551 de 2025). The resolution allows payment only at authorised points or online. Foreign children and seniors pay it too: the exemptions for under-5s and over-62s apply only to Colombians, resident foreigners and citizens of the Andean Community (CAN).
Who collects it, and how much. Operators may ask for more than the park fee. Hotel Isla Múcura asks its guests for a park charge of 35,000 COP, paid once at entrance 1 of La Bodeguita before boarding; the Isla Palma day leaves a port fee per person to you. Ask what the charge covers beyond the park fee. Boats from La Bodeguita also pay the dock fee, 18,000 COP per person in 2026.
The insurance. Everyone entering the park needs its accident and assistance insurance, compulsory since March 2026, and a fee exemption does not cover it. Parques Nacionales has first-aid points on Playa Blanca, Barú, Isla Grande, Múcura and Tintipán (Parques Nacionales, June 2026).
Yellow fever. What the park authority, CDC and Migración Colombia each say about the vaccine for an island day: yellow fever and the islands.
On the water. Boats from Cartagena sail under Cartagena’s port captain, who can close navigation to small boats on rough days (DIMAR); the operator calls the day. From Tolú and Rincón del Mar the Coveñas captaincy sets the boarding points (DIMAR, January 2021). A private boat instead: boat rental.
Park fee, San Bernardo sector11,000 COPabout USD 3.50 per person in 2026.
Dock fee, La Bodeguita18,000 COPabout USD 5 per person, only on boats from Cartagena.
Other pricesOfficial prices for the rest of the trip: Cartagena prices.
6The month
The table adds up the island daylight a night gives you beyond the Cartagena day trip: from about 14:30, when that trip leaves the islands, to sunset, and from sunrise to its earliest arrival, about 7:45. The sea is a model value; any day can differ.
| Month | Daylight a night adds | Sea, typically | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | about 4¾ hours | Rougher | under 1 day |
| February | about 5 hours | Rougher | under 1 day |
| March | about 5¼ hours | Rougher | under 1 day |
| April | about 5½ hours | Moderate | about 2 days |
| May | about 5¾ hours | Calmer | about 7 days |
| June | about 6 hours | Calmer | about 9 days |
| July | about 6 hours | Moderate | about 9 days |
| August | about 5¾ hours | Calmer | about 10 days |
| September | about 5½ hours | Calmer | about 10 days |
| October | about 5¼ hours | Calmer | about 12 days |
| November | about 5 hours | Calmer | about 9 days |
| December | about 4¾ hours | Rougher | about 3 days |
From December to March the sea is typically rougher, most of all on the ride back in the afternoon. The wet months, May to November, typically bring calmer water and short showers. The park’s high seasons are 1 Nov to 31 Jan, 15 Jun to 15 Aug, Holy Week. Heat and rain hour by hour: the best time to visit; the forecast for your dates: Cartagena weather.
Glowing waterProColombia writes that at night the waters off San Onofre are covered by phosphorescent algae, and Hotel Isla Múcura sells a guided night swim among bioluminescent plankton, in small groups. Ask which nights it runs. Plankton nights from the city go to Barú.
7Book
Read the inclusions and the fee lines before you pay.
The Viator day above includes a panoramic tour of Casa en el Agua, the place to stay in the group that the listing names. Other areas to sleep: where to stay in Cartagena.
8Questions
Yes, with a night. As a day trip from Cartagena you are picked up from 5:30, back around 16:30 to 17:00, and about four hours of the day are on the boat. A night on Múcura, Tintipán or Isla Palma adds the late afternoon, the sunset and the early morning that a day trip misses. With only one day, the Rosario Islands are the easier choice.
Operators state 90 minutes to 2 hours each way by speedboat from Muelle de la Bodeguita; Hotel Isla Múcura gives about 2 hours. The islands lie about 76 km from the Clock Tower in a straight line. From Tolú the hotel’s boat takes about 1 hour.
Yes, as a short stop on a boat that goes there. The Viator day trip from Cartagena stops on the islet and states that its admission is not included, and ProColombia lists boats from Tolú to it. A fishing community lives on Santa Cruz del Islote, so ask before you photograph people.
There is no official ranking. San Andrés and Providencia lie far out in the western Caribbean. Near Cartagena, choose between the Rosario Islands, the easy full day from the city, and the San Bernardo Islands, farther out and best with a night. All five island groups near Cartagena are compared on the island picker page.
.jpg){kind=link}
