I finished up my trip to the coast a few days ago, I ended up there for longer than I thought I would, a total of twelve days. I visited the exact same cites as MP did, I was planning on hitting up Valledupar and Riohacha but it just didn't happen. For the first few days I was up there with a buddy of mine from back home and we were boozing heavily during his two week trip, after he left I detoxed for thee days (over a weekend) in a grimey hotel in Barranquilla but had a local chica with me who I met at the carnaval last year. Then I flew up one of my regulars from Cali and we spent a week traveling around, it was a good trip but as MP mentioned in his OP, the Caribbean coast isn't all that great. Here's some additional info:
-Barranquilla: I stayed in the same shit hole hotel in Quilla that I always do, Hotel Marseille on calle 44 con 44, its a few blocks from Portal Del Prado, cost 35.000
-There was some pre-carnaval parties going on in the weeks before the carnaval, which begins soon. On the way home from Portal Del Prado one night, I stopped at Plaza de la Paz (which is right beside it) on Friday night and it was packed, at least a couple of thousand people, the show was televised all over the country. Unfortunately I was too worn out to party or chase women that weekend, so I bought half dozen reefers from the chicken delivery guy and chilled.
-I have been to other party areas before such as calle 21 and "la ocho", 21 wasn't too bad but calle 8 was very rough, I had an Irish ginger and a blond gringo with me so we stood out. One thing I definitely noticed was the absence of police down there, this was during carnaval and we didn't see any cops which is unnerving as its known to be one of the most dangerous party areas in the city. We hit up one bar then got the fuck but on the way back, the taxi decides to take a short cut down some side streets and a few guys pelted the cars with rocks, the taxi stops and I ask him what the fuck he's doing and he says "I have a knife", I said fuck that and told him to go, which he did. The fuckers with the rocks were running after us, who knows what the hell could have happened there. You're far better off in the north of Quilla.
-Barranquilla: I stayed in the same shit hole hotel in Quilla that I always do, Hotel Marseille on calle 44 con 44, its a few blocks from Portal Del Prado, cost 35.000
-There was some pre-carnaval parties going on in the weeks before the carnaval, which begins soon. On the way home from Portal Del Prado one night, I stopped at Plaza de la Paz (which is right beside it) on Friday night and it was packed, at least a couple of thousand people, the show was televised all over the country. Unfortunately I was too worn out to party or chase women that weekend, so I bought half dozen reefers from the chicken delivery guy and chilled.
-I have been to other party areas before such as calle 21 and "la ocho", 21 wasn't too bad but calle 8 was very rough, I had an Irish ginger and a blond gringo with me so we stood out. One thing I definitely noticed was the absence of police down there, this was during carnaval and we didn't see any cops which is unnerving as its known to be one of the most dangerous party areas in the city. We hit up one bar then got the fuck but on the way back, the taxi decides to take a short cut down some side streets and a few guys pelted the cars with rocks, the taxi stops and I ask him what the fuck he's doing and he says "I have a knife", I said fuck that and told him to go, which he did. The fuckers with the rocks were running after us, who knows what the hell could have happened there. You're far better off in the north of Quilla.