Who We Are: CABÚ Viajes, a Local Operator in Cartagena de Indias

Updated: 21 September 2026 · CABÚ Viajes, local operator in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia (National Tourism Register, RNT 215668). Rated 5.0 out of 5 on Google across 14 reviews.

In short: CABÚ Viajes is a local operator, not a travel agency. We live in Cartagena, we contract the houses, boats, chefs and vans ourselves, and we charge no agency fee — you pay the supplier's real rate and our work is the organising. Founded by Marta Fernández, operating since 2021, working in Spanish and English with groups from the United States, Mexico, Colombia and Spain. Written quote in under 24 hours.

Operator or agency? The difference is where your money goes

An agency resells. It takes a package another company has built, adds a margin, and sends you a brochure. If something breaks at 11pm — the boat cancels, the house has no water, the club will not let the group in — the agency calls someone else, and that someone else calls someone else.

A local operator contracts directly. We know the owner of the house, the captain of the boat and the manager of the restaurant, because we work with them every week and we answer to them as much as to you. That has three consequences you can verify:

• No agency fee. You pay what the villa, the boat and the van actually cost, and our fee is the organising — visible as its own line in the quote, never hidden inside each item.
• We can say no. We turn down boats without the right licence and houses that photograph better than they live. An agency reselling a catalogue cannot do that; it does not see the asset.
• One person is responsible. Marta answers the WhatsApp herself, in Spanish or English, at any hour of the day.

Company details

What we organise

• Bachelor and bachelorette parties for groups of roughly 10 to 20 — the house, the private boat day, the chef, the transport and the nights out, as one plan with one person responsible.
• Group trips that are not bachelor parties: birthdays, reunions, families travelling together, groups of friends.
• Private villas and colonial houses inside the walled city and in Getsemaní, contracted directly with the owners.
• Private boats to Cholón and the Rosario Islands, with licensed captains, insurance and the port paperwork in order.
• Concierge on the ground — a local host running the days, billed transparently per day rather than as a percentage of everything you spend.

Where we operate

Cartagena de Indias is home and where we contract everything ourselves. We also run Medellín, and the two cities combine well on trips of five nights or more — an hour apart by air. We do not operate in Cancún, Miami, Punta Cana or Puerto Rico, which is exactly why our comparisons of those destinations say plainly where they beat Cartagena.

How we work, from the first message to the trip

1. You write. Dates or the month, how many nights, how many people, what is non-negotiable for the group, and where everyone is flying from.
2. We send a written quote in under 24 hours, itemised per unit: what the house costs, what the boat costs, what the van costs, what is included and what is not. Not a brochure, and not a single number with no breakdown.
3. You change it. The quote is a draft. Nothing is booked until you confirm.
4. Deposit and balance. A deposit holds the house and the balance is paid before the trip, each payment against a company invoice. Never 100% up front, never to a personal account. Each member of the group can pay their own share and get their own receipt, which saves the organiser from collecting money from eleven friends.
5. During the trip there is a local number that answers, and a person in the city who can solve things in person.

How to verify us — and anyone else

Before paying a deposit to any operator in Colombia, check the National Tourism Register. It is public and free. Ours is RNT 215668. If an operator cannot give you an RNT number, or gives one that does not match their name, that is the end of the conversation. The full checklist we recommend — including boat licences and the payment red flags — applies to us too, and we would rather you used it.

Frequently asked questions

Start here

• Bachelor party in Cartagena and bachelorette party in Cartagena: the house, the boat, the itinerary and the prices.
• What it costs, component by component, and the calculator for your exact headcount.
• Still choosing a destination? Eight international options compared, plus Cartagena vs Cancún and Cartagena vs Puerto Rico.
• Is Cartagena safe? The honest guide, with the official sources.
• What a local concierge covers, and what it costs per day.