Sarah Sleeps Around: Conrad Cartagena

Late last year I traveled to Colombia for the first time, to check out the Conrad Cartagena as research for a resort review in the U.K.’s Telegraph.

Home, Sweet Hotel (well, at least for three nights!)

But there’s nothing like seeing the resort for yourself, right? So here are some custom images I shot of the sleek 268-room playground on the country’s northern coast.

Sunrise, as seen from my suite. (That’s the resort’s beach club in the distance.)

All of the resort’s art is by Colombians. And these busts of palanqueras (black women from a town south of Cartagena), which have pride of place in the lobby, were my favorite pieces.

I loved how the huge lobby doors reference the architectural style of Cartagena’s colonial Walled City, just a half-hour’s drive away.

If you’re a pool person, this is your resort!

Rooms have a neutral color scheme and contemporary sensibility – and all 268 are decorated with local art.

Three minutes’ golf cart ride from the main building is Karibana Beach Club, where you’ll find a small cove, an oceanfront pool and a palapa with your name on it.

There are seven restaurants. At the beach club’s, this seafood-and-rice dish was a lunchtime highlight.

The spa has 10 treatment rooms (some of them outdoors) and its own pool. Relaxation starts here, in this tranquil poolside lounge.

And, since you KNOW I couldn’t leave without making a video of my experience, here’s a four-minute tour of the Caribbean’s only Conrad resort.

Have I piqued your interest yet? Get the full scoop on the resort when you read my Telegraph review. Just click on the photo for all the nitty-gritty!