Colombia is known for many things, from salsa dancing and killer coffee to ancient Tayrona ruins and beautiful beaches. Some of its most stunning beaches are actually not located on its mainland and, instead, are found on Isla Grande, an island located about 12 miles off the Caribbean coast of Colombia, with powdery white sand, electric blue water, and some very laid back vibes. If you want to visit Isla Grande for yourself, here’s everything you need to know about visiting this beautiful paradise in Colombia.
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Where is Isla Grande?
Isla Grande is the largest of the Rosaria Islands, located about 12 miles from Cartagena along the Caribbean coast of Colombia. It takes about an hour to get from Cartagena to Isla Grande by boat.
How to get to Isla Grande
The only way to get to Isla Grande is by boat. Most travelers visit as part of a day tour or, if you plan on staying for a few days (which I’d totally recommend!), you can get a water taxi there.
Taking a day tour to Isla Grande
The most popular way to visit Isla Grande is by joining a day tour from Cartagena.
Most tours that stop in Isla Grande actually stop at four or five of the Rosario Islands, meaning you’ll likely only stop for about an hour, at most, at each of the islands, including Isla Grande. For example, consider:
- Tour of the Rosario Islands: On this tour, you’ll stop at five of the Rosario Islands, including about 45 minutes of snorkeling at Isla Grande.
- Island Hopping from Cartagena: This tour stops at two islands, including Isla Grande, to enjoy some beach time, as well as a sandbar, and two snorkeling spots.
- Full Day Rosario Islands Tour: This tour includes stops at five Rosario Islands, including about 45 minutes to enjoy experiencing the underwater world at Isla Grande.
On one hand, these tours are awesome—you’ll get to see and experience several of the beautiful Rosario Islands in a short period of time. On the other hand, they’re incredibly fast-paced and you won’t really be able to get the *vibe* of each island.
So, if you’d rather just spend a longer chunk of time on Isla Grande, you can alternatively book a day trip, like this option, which includes about five hours at one of the best beaches in Isla Grande, including a welcome cocktail and lunch.
Taking a water taxi to Isla Grande
If you’re heading to Isla Grande to explore the island a bit more and stay for a night or two, you can alternatively book a water taxi from Cartagena’s port online. A roundtrip water taxi costs around $35 per person, with boats departing at 9 AM from Cartagena and heading back from Isla Grande at 1:30 PM every day.
We booked our roundtrip ferry tickets through Bookaway. Boarding the boat—both while leaving Cartagena and Isla Grande—was extremely chaotic, especially if you don’t speak particularly good Spanish, so be sure to be paying close attention once you arrive to the pier. Other than the boarding process, though, it was a pretty quick and painless experience to get to the island.
The water taxis offer drop-off around the island, so whether you just want to hang out at the beach for a day or get dropped off at a bougie hotel, you can easily get wherever you need to be.
Insider tip: If you have neck or back problems or are sensitive to motion sickness, I’d strongly recommend sitting towards the back of the boat as soon as you board. In our experience, some boat drivers are respectful and try to limit bumpiness in the boats, while others definitely do not—and actually make a game of bouncing around as much as possible.
My husband, Justin, broke his rib while getting back into a boat after snorkeling on Isla Grande (turns out, it's a bad idea to put all of your weight on one rib while you try to crawl back into a fishing boat) and had a very bumpy (and super painful) ride back to Cartagena with a captain that seemed to intentionally be making it as “thrilling” as possible.
What to do in Isla Grande
1. Hit the beach
Most people come to Isla Grande for one thing—its sugar white beaches and warm electric blue waters.
There’s actually only one small public beach on the island—the aptly named Playa Libre—but it’s beautiful and offers a handful of beach clubs or nice, shady spots where you can spread out your towel for free.
Otherwise, there’s plenty of hotels or clubs that allow you to use their beach. These properties have a variety of requirements, which vary from staying at the hotel or purchasing a daypass to simply purchasing a drink. For example, Bora Bora Beach Club and Hotel has one of the nicest beaches on the island that you’re free to use if you’re staying at its hotel or if you reserve a daypass.
2. Snorkeling on a coral reef
Isla Grande is surrounded by extensive coral reefs.
The coral itself didn’t exactly look the healthiest during our visit (and, around the island, we saw a worrisome amount of dead coral being used to pave pathways). Still, there’s an impressive number of colorful tropical fish and, if you’re super lucky, even sea turtles.
The best snorkeling is found offshore from the island and only accessible via boat. Luckily, though, there are TONS of vendors that are happy to take you out—you can either book through your hotel or, if you hang out on Playa Libre, you’ll have a bevy of snorkeling tour purveyors that are happy to offer you a tour.
You should expect to pay $10-20 per person for a snorkeling tour, depending on how good your Spanish and negotiation skills are.
Insider tip: Be sure to bring plenty of cash to Isla Grande to pay for tours, food, and drinks from local vendors. We spent three days on Isla Grande and encountered just a handful of establishments that accepted cards—everything else was cash only and there’s no ATM on the island!
3. Free diving to Pablo Escobar’s underwater plane
One of the things I was most excited about on our entire Colombia itinerary was snorkeling over the iconic druglord, Pablo Escobar’s sunken plane.
Not much is known about the plane, other than the fact that it was one of 40 planes confiscated by the Colombian government and sunk, right in front of one of Escobar’s mansions on the shoreline of Isla Grande, to create an artificial reef after his drug cartel fell out of power.
I had grandiose visions of getting epic drone shots as we snorkeled through crystal clear, turquoise water, with an enormous derelict plane directly underneath our masks.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t really our experience. When we visited, the visibility of the water was HORRIBLE from all of the nearby boats stirring up sand, and you had to free dive pretty deep under the water to catch a murky glimpse of the outline of the vessel. I’m not sure if we happened to visit on a day where conditions were just particularly bad or if it’s always challenging to actually see the sunken plane. If you decide to visit, I’d just suggest coming in with low expectations- maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised!
You can usually book this tour in combination with a coral reef snorkeling tour. It again will cost about $10-20 per person for this particular activity, but you may get a bit of a discount if you book multiple activities, like snorkeling, with it.
4. See Casa Grande
Remember that mansion that Pablo Escobar owned on Isla Grande, mentioned above?
It’s called Casa Grande and is believed to have once been one of the druglord’s most luxurious estates. The property allegedly once hosted lavish parties, with bedrooms for up to one hundred guests and shower heads made of actual gold.
Like Escobar’s other properties (estimated to be around 800, spread around Colombia!), it was seized by the government, stripped of anything of value, and, over the years, has fallen into extreme disrepair. Nowadays, the only things having crazy parties in the house are the wild pigs that run amok on the island.
Given that it’s owned by the government, it’s technically illegal to step foot on the property, so you can now admire the dilapidated property by cruising past it on a boat (which you’ll get to see if you opt to snorkel with Escobar’s plane).
We’re hardcore rule followers and didn’t feel comfortable doing this during our visit, but locals do offer “tours” around the derelict property (i.e., they show you where you can enter the property and not much more). Alternatively, if you’re a REAL rebel, two other travelers that were staying at our hotel visited the property all by themselves and simply moseyed around without issue.
Just remember that it’s technically illegal and you’re doing so at your own risk!
5. Canoeing in the mangroves
Isla Grande has several lagoons that are surrounded by dense mangrove forests and channels.
If you’re unfamiliar with mangroves, they’re essentially shrubs or trees that grow in coastal areas, typically in brackish water, and that typically attract all kinds of wildlife, like snakes, small sharks, and fish. Between the narrow mangrove channels and the wildlife swimming in the water below you, it can be an absolutely magical experience to paddle through a forest.
Like the other tours on the island, your best bet will be booking a tour through your hotel or, alternatively, with one of the friendly vendors that typically mill around Playa Libre. Again, you should expect to pay around $15 USD per person for about an hour long paddle, although you may get a better deal if you book several tours at the same time.
6. Swimming through the bioluminescent lagoon
Swimming through the bioluminescent lagoon is definitely the COOLEST thing to do in Isla Grande—and honestly, is probably one of the best things I did in all of Colombia.
Essentially, one of the lagoons on the island, called Laguna Encantada, is rich with microscopic organisms that glow with a blue-green light when they’re disturbed. Accordingly, when it’s dark outside, you can see these organisms “light up” if you move a hand or leg through the water—and, if you’re swimming through it, it straight up feels like you’re in Avatar, with glittering streaks of turquoise streaming past your arms and legs.
It’s SUCH a cool experience, but there’s one incredibly important condition—it NEEDS to be a new moon or extremely cloudy, so that there’s virtually no moonlight. Otherwise, the light emitting from the microorganisms is not strong enough to be seen with our eyes.
We unfortunately visited on a full moon and couldn’t see the bioluminescence in the lagoon itself—however, I swam under one of the enclosed docks, where it was quite dark, and was able to enjoy the beautiful underwater light show.
You can theoretically visit the lagoon by yourself, but, unless you’re super cash-strapped, I’d suggest booking a guide through your hotel—the local economy almost solely depends on tourism and the paths to get to the lagoon are unmarked and a bit confusing, especially at night!
7. Explore Orika
There’s only one small town in Isla Grande, called Orika, with about 1,000 residents.
There’s definitely not a ton to do in Orika—it mostly consists of extremely modest shacks and houses—but we actually really enjoyed wandering around its streets and seeing how the locals live on the island. One night, we watched a pretty intense soccer match in the town square and, on another evening, stumbled upon some sort of bohemian gathering, where we were offered artisanal kombucha.
Most tourists stick to hanging out on the beach or at their resorts, but I’d definitely recommend spending an afternoon exploring Orika—it’s one of the most unique towns we experienced in Colombia!
Where to stay in Isla Grande
There are TONS of hotels to choose from on Isla Grande, which range from budget eco-camping options to luxury resorts. Below, we recommend an accommodation for whatever pricepoint you’re looking for!
Budget option: Eco Hotel Las Casitas De Mar Adentro
We stayed at these ADORABLE cabins that were just a few minutes walk from the Playa Libre. They’re definitely more on the rustic side—for example, there’s no air conditioning or hot water. Nevertheless, they’re clean and comfortable, plus the family that runs the joint is super sweet. We LOVED our stay here and would highly recommend if you’re on a budget!
Mid-range option: Hotel Isla de Sol
This small seaside resort is surrounded by a dense forest, making it feel quiet and secluded. There’s everything you need here—comfortable rooms (with STRONG air conditioning), a private beach, beautiful oceanfront pool, onsite restaurant with stellar food, and a variety of complimentary rentals, like paddleboards, kayaks, and bikes.
Luxury option: Isla Matamba
If you’re looking for an unforgettable tropical getaway, look no further than Isla Matamba. This hotel has all the amenities you’d dream of at a hotel on a paradisiacal island—pool and hot tub overlooking the ocean; a terrace built directly over the turquoise ocean to soak up the sun and the views; and calm, clear water that surrounds the hotel that you can snorkel or paddle through. Plus, the staff truly go above and beyond–they clearly care that you have an exceptional experience during your stay.
Getting around Isla Grande
Despite its name, Isla Grande really isn’t THAT big—it’s only about 0.8 square miles total, so it’s easy to get around on foot or by bike. And actually, there are no motorized vehicles at all on the island!
One thing that makes getting around Isla Grande a bit more challenging is the pathways on the island aren’t in any particular pattern and aren’t documented on Google Maps. So, if you’re staying on one end of the island, but want to check out a beach on the other end, it can be confusing, to say the least, on how you get there.
But we figured out a random hack! All of the walking trails on the island are mapped on AllTrails, our favorite hiking application. You can check out the pathways (i.e., all the little dotted lines around the island) on this map and use it to see exactly where you are on the island using GPS..
Where to eat in Isla Grande
Like any place with decent infrastructure for tourists, there’s a decent amount of restaurants to choose from on Isla Grande.
Most tourists primarily stick to eating at resorts and beach clubs, but this is a huge oversight. Instead, I’d highly recommend heading into Orika and trying some of the restaurants in town, run by local families and that serve authentic Colombian food. For example, check out La Crepería de Loraine (as travelers that follow a vegan diet, this was one of the few places on Isla Grande that we had several options to choose from!), Restaurante Micelio, and Restaurante Sabor de Marlin.
Just be flexible and maybe have a Plan B or C in mind—when we visited, restaurants were frequently closed during their purported opening hours and, if they were open, were out of random dishes and ingredients. It’s all part of the experience!
We really enjoyed our time on Isla Grande and would absolutely recommend spending a night (or three!) there during your time in Colombia. Do you have any questions about visiting this island paradise? Let us know in the comments below!
