The relaxed yet refined restaurant at Casa San Agustin is a must visit. Begin your night in the picturesque courtyard or eclectic dining room with a libation from the creative gin and tonic menu. Afterwards, savor the excellent ceviche and other Colombian specialties. The top-notch food and drinks are matched by the impeccable service, and there is live music at dinner from Wednesday to Sunday.

Café del Mar is a lounge on the top of the Old City’s muralla. Great drinks are served, complemented by music and the occasional dancer. It’s spacious so during the high season (December) you can either relax or get in on the party.

Just a few blocks outside the old town walls, the Getsemani neighborhood asserts its own bohemian personality.  Bustling Plaza de la Trinidad is a vibrant central point and home to Demente Tapas Bar. The owners wanted to be as much a part of the plaza as possible so classic wood and leather rocking chairs are arranged around cocktail tables on the sidewalk—a hipster take on the habit of area residents who drag their rocking chairs out in front of their houses to catch the evening breeze and the day’s gossip. This small but stylish place also has the only retractable roof in Cartagena, which lets even more of the outside in.

A chalk board tapas menu includes addictive sweet peppers (flash-fried then salted), brochette of remarkably tender shrimp, fried local cheese with onion marmalade and secreto de cerdo, a little-used but delicious cut of pork. The most popular plate of all is a sweet, rich, satisfying oxtail slider served with homemade potato chips. Everything is served on custom-made plates, which each have a quote from Colombian poet Raúl Gómez Jattin hand-painted onto them.

Demente is as much a bar as an eatery with a comprehensive list of liquors, wines and beers, including hard-to-find Aguila beer on tap. Bar staff make ice cubes the size of navel oranges by hand so they don’t melt too quickly in the Caribbean heat.  No one wants that 20-year-old Colombian rum you just ordered to end up watered down.

This casual place in the Getsemani neighborhood just outside the old city walls is well known for its pizzas, though a full Italian menu is also offered. Over the years the restaurant has sprawled to include three adjoining locations. The roofless, crumbling, peeling façade of a gutted historic building serves as an outdoor dining room, and it’s one of the most atmospheric al fresco dining locations in town.  Just try not to feel romantic on a clear night with the stars as your ceiling.

This brightly painted little ceviche joint stylishly occupies a corner right behind the Hotel Santa Clara. Innovative, flawlessly fresh ceviche is served on hand-painted plates to diners at a handful of outdoor tables. Though still a favorite among locals and visitors, some grumble that the high prices may have more to do with La Cevicheria’s fame after appearing on an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations series in 2008 than for its cuisine.