Sofitel Baru Calablanca Beach Resort

Visited with a friend to celebrate her birthday here for a few days after staying in Cartagena mainland for four days. Beautiful property, extraordinary service and amenities, and the food was amazing. The spa experience was EXCELLENT! Raquel was my therapist and she was absolutely wonderful. I had the Mud Wrap and the “So Delicate” facial treatments. Will definitely be back with my husband so he can experience this tranquil retreat.

I had an amazing experience at the spa with Laura. I had a facial and detox wrap. Both were excellent. She was very kind and thorough in my treatments. I left feeling relaxed and my skin was radiant. Highly recommend the spa and Laura!!

There is no doubt that the resort is stunning. There are 7 immaculate bars & pools. We are world beach goers and loved this stretch of beach on Baru. I believe every room has an ocean view (we had an ocean front balcony and got the basic room). The food was all delicious, but as expected the drinks over priced. Here are the cons (big ones I think you should know). First, getting here is no joke and I did not realize this on booking. We ended up booking boat transfers from Cartagena (do not rent a car!!!!). The boats were both gorgeous but it cost us almost $350 round trip for 2 adults. We also booked a private boat ride to the Rosario islands. They are beautiful and it was worth it, but we way over paid. We are boaters at home and understand the costs, and we know we way over paid, however we were also glad we didn’t miss the islands (note: you go snorkeling & they take you to a restaurant of your choice for lunch). Now here’s what left us unwilling to come back: I prepaid our room rate and the private boat. On check out our bill was for our food/drinks and transport. Each food & drink bill has gratuity added on. We tipped our boat tour guides in cash. The hotel added an optional gratuity to the total of our bill - all of which was tipped as we went. This gets split amongst the staff. If I didn’t notice that, it would’ve added a lot of money to our bill! Basically tipping on already tipped services. It made me leave there with a sour end to a wonderful few days. My advice is to pay as you go around the resort to avoid any confusion on check out.

We are a family of 4 adults and this was our first time at the Sofitel Baru. We took the boat from Cartagena and spent 3 nights there. This is a beautiful high end resort on the beach which is secluded, offers all the amenities needed and never feels crowded. On arrival, we were upgraded to a penthouse suite which was a nice surprise. Standout experiences were the breakfast buffet, the amazing massages, the beautiful swimming pools and Humo, the Peruvian/Asian fusion restaurant. A special call out to Lila and Danilo for their attentive customer service. Would definitely recommend this hotel for a super relaxing experience.

My wife and I stayed here for my 60th birthday celebration. The rooms were clean with a friendly staff. Most are bilingual who are fluent in English, if that is a concern. We do recommend the rooftop bar, if you can't get a reservation to one of their restaurants. During our stay, the Japanese restaurant was fully booked and didn't accept walk ins but the Italian restaurant did accept walk ins (without reservations). The beach was so relaxing and the water was a perfect temperature to hang out in for a long time. If you get tired of the beach, they had plenty of pools to use one of which had a nice water fall. A couple of people that made our stay there special was Leidy, a Sommelier and Dany, a Bartender. For my birthday, they prepared special Banana Rum drink for me to have there & a little bottle to take some home. They also wrote a little birthday note on a card with the banana rum recipe so we can make the drink at home. I would recommend the hotel.