Rosario Islands, Playa Blanca or Cholón?

The Rosario Islands are the small islands of the archipelago, Isla Grande and Isla Rosario among them; Playa Blanca is a beach on Isla Barú, nearer Cartagena, that you can also reach by road; and Cholón is a bay on Barú where the party boats gather. All three are inside or beside the Corales del Rosario y San Bernardo park, and the boat days from Cartagena mix them in different ways. Coco Cartagena Tours’ Cartagena: 5-Stop Rosario Islands Tour, Lunch, & Beach Clubs lets you choose by ticket, from $73 on promotion, usually $81 a person (checked November 2026).

The calendar above is the island-hopping day, with 6,600 reviews (checked November 2026). Pick the Eco, VIP or Party ticket once you choose a date.

The short answer

Go for the islands if you want to snorkel and swim from small beaches out in the archipelago: the Eco ticket’s stops are Rosario Island, Grande Island and Marina Island or the Oceanario. Go for Playa Blanca if a long afternoon on one beach on Barú matters more than island-hopping. Go for Cholón only if a party is the point: Cholón and Barú are party stops crowded with vendors, and the Party ticket has no snorkelling. The VIP ticket keeps to premium beach clubs at Islabela, Marina Island and Rosario de Mar Resort.

Where each stop is

In straight lines from Muelle de La Bodeguita, Playa Blanca is about 23 km away, Cholón about 31 km, Isla Grande about 34 km and Isla Rosario about 39 km. Playa Blanca and Cholón are about 9 km apart in a straight line, and Cholón is about 8 km from Isla Grande.

Isla Grande and the small islands

Isla Grande is the lunch stop on the Eco and Party tickets of the island-hopping day, and the island off which CORALES CARTAGENA's snorkelling day shows you a sunken light aircraft from the boat. The Eco ticket adds Rosario Island and either Marina Island or the Oceanario on San Martín de Pajarales, an aquarium whose entry, COP 40,000, is not included. On the Eco and VIP tickets an optional 30-minute snorkel at a small marine habitat comes first. The VIP ticket’s stops, Islabela, Marina Island and Rosario de Mar Resort, are premium beach clubs, reached by comfort speedboat rather than shuttle boat. The Bora Bora Beach Club day spends the whole day at one club in the islands, from $145 (checked November 2026), and is not suitable for children under 12.

Playa Blanca and Barú

Playa Blanca is on Isla Barú, which a bridge joins to the mainland, and is the one stop you can drive to: 38.7 km by road from Muelle de La Bodeguita, about 1 hour 15 minutes without traffic. Parques Nacionales counts it inside the park’s insurance rule, and boats do not take visitors on from Playa Blanca to the other sectors. CORALES CARTAGENA's snorkelling day ends with lunch and 2.5 hours at a beach club in the Playa Tranquila area of Barú, from $81 (checked November 2026). Expect company: Barú, which Playa Blanca is part of, is one of the stops crowded with vendors, and the park as a whole received 1,246,374 visitors in 2025 (Parques Nacionales).

Cholón

Cholón is a bay on Barú where the party boats gather, with music on board. It is the last stop of the island-hopping day’s Party ticket and of KevinTour02's party boat, which gives it two hours with a party host and a welcome tequila shot, from $61 on promotion, usually $68 (checked November 2026). It is a stop for groups who want a party, not for a family swim.

Check dates and pick your ticket

Book the stop that fits

Prices, ratings and review counts from the GetYourGuide listings (checked November 2026). Operators price by date and season, so treat the figures as the shape of the market, not a quote.