Rosario Islands tour from Cartagena: prices, fees and what to skip

The boat leaves between 8 and 10

The park sets the departure window, not your operator. Boats for the Rosario Islands leave between 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. The return time follows the port captaincy and the state of the sea that day. ⁵

They go from Muelle Turístico La Bodeguita, on Avenida Blas de Lezo opposite Parque de la Marina, where the authorized operators keep their desks. The crossing runs one to two hours, depending on the boat and how many stops it makes. The protected area starts 23 km south of the city, at Punta Gigante on Barú. ⁵

The fare is the smaller half of the question. A day here is a tour price, a dock tax, a park fee and an insurance policy, collected by four different parties, two of them in cash at the pier. This article prices each line from the park authority and from named Cartagena operators, read on 28 September 2026.

Most people reach this beach day in the middle of a longer route. It slots on either side of the one month in Colombia plan, and the Colombia travel guide covers the country around it.

How much does a Rosario Islands tour cost in 2026?

One named operator's full-day fare, plus the two charges nobody quotes with it. Pesos first, dollars at the U.S. Treasury rate for 30 June 2026.

A full day comes to about COP 177,400, near USD 51. Albitours, a registered Cartagena agency, sells its best-selling Islas del Rosario Full Day at COP 134,900 per adult. Add the COP 29,000 dock tax the same operator prints on its packages, then the COP 13,500 park fee for the Rosario sector, and the day lands there. ^{1, 2, 3}

Count it the other way and the answer holds. Juan Ballena, another Cartagena operator, publishes a single 2026 port fee of COP 41,000 that folds the pier, park entry and insurance into one line. Tour plus that fee is COP 175,900, which sits COP 1,500 from the stacked figure. ^{8, 1}

What you hand over at the pier

The dock tax has three prices, and the difference is insurance. Albitours shows COP 29,000 for the dock tax alone on its standard packages, and COP 41,300 to COP 41,500 where the line reads dock tax plus insurance. The gap is about COP 12,500. ¹

Ask which of the three numbers your booking covers before you pay a deposit. Then carry pesos. The pier charges come out of a wallet, not a card reader, on the operator page that describes them. ⁸

Playa Blanca is a different trip

An island day starts in Cartagena, not at Playa Blanca. The park is plain about it: boarding a boat at Playa Blanca for other sectors of the park is forbidden. The beach sits on Barú and is reached by road, across the Campo Elías Terán Dix bridge near Pasacaballos, through Ararca, Santa Ana and Barú. ⁵

The road tour is the cheapest way to a beach day here at COP 74,900 per adult, with children aged 4 to 14 at COP 71,900 and under-threes free. Beach tents and cabanas sit outside that price. ^{1, 3}

One charter operator states there is no separate park entrance fee at Playa Blanca itself, and that what you spend there is what you buy from the vendors on the sand. The park lists the same beach among its road approaches, on the Barú side of the Canal del Dique bridge. ^{6, 5}

Is the Cholón party boat worth it?

Cholón is a swimming spot, not a destination of its own. It is the piscinita in front of Isla Grande, about 45 minutes out. Hi Cartagena sells a shared seven-hour party boat there, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., 20 guests and 3 crew, with lunch and open bar. ⁷

The price depends on where you read it. The page heads the listing at USD 180 and describes the same shared tour at USD 165 in its own text. Budget the higher figure and get the real one in writing before a deposit leaves your account. ⁷

Five people change the answer. Nauty 360 starts a private full-day charter at USD 680 for a speedboat carrying up to 10 guests, captain and fuel included. Five seats on the party boat cost USD 825 at the in-text rate. The same five on the charter pay USD 136 each. ^{6, 7}

• Speedboat, up to 10 guests: from USD 680 for the full day, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ⁶
• Larger speedboat, 40 ft and up: from USD 1,250. ⁶
• Catamaran, 42 ft: from USD 2,480, and about an hour to Playa Blanca against 35 minutes in a speedboat. ⁶
• Yacht, 60 ft and up: from USD 2,850. ⁶

What should you skip?

Snorkeling is the upsell with a published price. Albitours values it at COP 60,000 to COP 70,000 per person where a package leaves it out, or about USD 17 to USD 20. Packages that advertise free snorkeling are quoting that same saving back at you. ^{1, 3}

• Any package that calls the pier charges included without a number beside them. One operator publishes COP 41,000 for pier, park and insurance together, so the figure exists and can be asked for. ⁸
• A second boat sold to you on the sand at Playa Blanca to reach the islands. The park forbids that embarkation. ⁵
• Snorkeling bought twice, at the dock and inside a package that already carries COP 60,000 to COP 70,000 of it. ¹
• The Oceanario at San Martín de Pajarales as a budget line. Its own ticket page returns an error and its homepage prints no price, so the fee stays unknown until you are standing at the window.

What survives that list is a good day: a one to two hour run south, warm shallow water over the largest coral platform in Colombia's continental Caribbean, and a beach on an island where people live. ⁵

Who lives on the islands

The archipelago is home to Afro-Colombian communities who identify as native to Cartagena's island districts. Since Ley 70 of 1993 they have organized politically, and their recognized consejos comunitarios took an active part in the prior consultation that shaped the park's management plan. ⁵

Isla Grande, the largest island in the group, has its own community council of Afro-descendant residents. The village of Orika sits at the island's center. ⁹

Those councils sit inside the park's management, so the rules you meet on a beach come from the people who live beside it. Ask before you photograph anyone, pay the posted price for a chair or a plate, and take a guide from the island when one is offered.

How do you put the day together?

Five decisions make the difference between a COP 177,400 day and a COP 259,900 one. Work through them in order, before you pay anything. ^{1, 2, 3}

1. 01

   Price the package against its extras

   Compare the fare with what the package already carries, above all snorkeling at COP 60,000 to COP 70,000 of value. ¹

2. 02

   Get three numbers in writing

   The tour fare, the dock tax, and whether park entry and insurance sit inside them. One operator publishes COP 41,000 for all three pier lines together. ^{8, 1}

3. 03

   Carry pesos

   Pier charges are commonly collected in cash at the pier, on the operator page that describes them. ⁸

4. 04

   Arrive inside the window

   Departures for the park run 8:00 to 10:00 a.m., and the hour you come back depends on the port captaincy and the sea. ⁵

5. 05

   Choose the beach before you leave the city

   Playa Blanca by road and the boat sectors of the park are two trips, and the choice is made on land. ⁵

Then fold the day into the wider trip. City-to-city fares sit in flying inside Colombia, and if you are working through the month, the remote-work travel budget prices the desks and data around days like this one.