The Barranquilla Carnival 2027 runs from Saturday 6 February to Tuesday 9 February, and Cartagena is the nearest big base most international visitors fly into. Barranquilla is about 58 miles (93 km) along the coast. We're on Barú, on Bahía de Cholón, which puts us further from carnival than the city is, so this page is honest about how we'd plan it.
What the Barranquilla Carnival is
The Carnaval de Barranquilla is a four-day street festival of parades, folk dance groups, cumbia and costume, and UNESCO named it a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2003. Its roots mix Spanish, African and Indigenous traditions. Two things define it for most visitors:
- Cumbia: the music and dance style of Colombia's Caribbean coast, which you'll hear everywhere during the four days.
- The Marimonda: a long-nosed, big-eared character in clashing colours that originated in Barranquilla and that the city is especially proud of.
Expect cornflour thrown in the crowds, loud music from morning, and very full streets. Dress for it: a hat, sunscreen and clothes you don't mind ruining.
The 2027 dates, day by day
The main carnival days in 2027 are 6-9 February.
| Day | Date | Main event |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday | 6 February | Batalla de Flores, the opening parade |
| Sunday | 7 February | Gran Parada de Tradición |
| Monday | 8 February | Gran Parada de Comparsas |
| Tuesday | 9 February | Joselito Carnaval, the closing day |
The build-up starts weeks earlier. The Lectura del Bando, the formal opening, has been announced for 16 January 2027, and the night parade known as La Guacherna for late January. The street parades are free to watch; tour operators also sell packages that include grandstand seats, called palcos, for the big parade days.
Getting from Cartagena to Barranquilla
By road is the only practical option, and it takes about 1 hour 40 minutes by car from Cartagena's Rafael Núñez airport in clear traffic. Buses between the two cities average about 2 hours 40 minutes, and traffic is heavier on weekday mornings and afternoons. During carnival, roads into Barranquilla are busier than usual, so allow more time than the usual estimates.
Our view: a same-day round trip from Cartagena is possible for the Batalla de Flores, but it means five or more hours in a vehicle around a long day in the sun. If carnival is the reason for your trip, spend at least one night in Barranquilla.
How we'd pair carnival with Barú
We'd treat carnival and the island as two halves of one trip, not a daily commute. From Casas Altas, the airport alone is about an hour door-to-door by road, before you've even started towards Barranquilla. Two sequences work well:
- Island first: spend the first days of February with us, then head to Barranquilla for the Saturday and Sunday parades and fly home from there or from Cartagena.
- Island after: do the four days of carnival, then come to us from Wednesday 10 February to recover. After a weekend of cumbia and cornflour, a kayak in the mangroves at dawn is a sharp contrast.
If you're coming by sea from Cartagena, our boat takes 30 minutes to an hour and has limited capacity, so please reserve your crossing when you book.
What's waiting on the island
The quiet is the point. We have six rooms across three houses on Bahía de Cholón, built in guadua bamboo to designs by Simón Vélez and Gustavo Pinto. Ancalá Waterfront, our restaurant on the mangroves, is open daily from 11am to 4pm to residents and visitors alike, with a premium BBQ menu by Chef Pedro Mosqueda. If you're travelling as a group for carnival, the whole of Casas Altas can also be rented as a single villa.