About Us
Casa Pestagua is an 18th-century colonial mansion in the heart of Cartagena de Indias, one of the Americas' most historically significant cities.
Where Three Centuries Hold Their Breath
Casa Pestagua is an 18th-century colonial mansion in the heart of Cartagena de Indias, one of the Americas’ most historically significant cities.
Its architecture is original. Its title is noble. Its address, on Calle Santo Domingo within the UNESCO-listed walled city, is unrivalled.
Our Origins
Born Behind the Walls of Cartagena
Casa Pestagua takes its name from Andrés Idelfonso José de Madariaga — born in Cartagena in 1718, lawyer, civic leader, and the only person ever to hold the title of Conde de Pestagua, granted by Royal Decree of King Carlos III of Spain on January 11th, 1770.
The mansion he left behind is the last of the great colonial houses of Cartagena’s walled city. Restored in 2022 and awarded Two Michelin Keys in 2025, it is now the house of Casa Pestagua — sixteen rooms and suites within walls that have stood for over three hundred years.
A Chronicle
Three Centuries, One Address
Luis Blanco de Salcedo — maternal ancestor of the future Conde de Pestagua — arrives in Cartagena as Notary of the Secret alongside the Inquisitors who founded the Tribunal of the Holy Office. The family's bond with this city is sealed in parchment and ink.
Andrés Ildefonso José de Madariaga was born in Cartagena de Indias, son of Andrés de Madariaga y Álvarez de Mondragón and Doña María Antonia Paulina de Morales, both of the most principal families of the city. A lineage that stretches back to the knights of Navarre, the lords of Gaviria, and the captains of Seville.
Graduating from the Javeriana University as Bachelor, Master of the Arts, Licentiate, and Doctor of Sacred Canons, Don Andrés returns to Cartagena as its most distinguished jurist — lawyer to the Royal Councils, defender of the poor, judge, mayor, and counsel to the Inquisition.
On January 11th, King Carlos III issues his Royal Cédula from Madrid, conferring upon Don Andrés and his heirs in perpetuity the title of Conde de Pestagua — recognising a man descended from the most distinguished noble families of both kingdoms, in honour of his extraordinary services to the Crown.
Empires rise and fall. Colombia wins its independence. The walled city breathes and changes. But the house endures — its double-height ceilings, its Moorish-inspired arches, its inner garden — holding the memory of everything that passed within its walls.
After meticulous restoration that honours every original detail — the arches, the proportions, the spirit of the place — Casa Pestagua reopens as one of Latin America's most celebrated boutique hotels. Sixteen rooms and suites, each a world unto itself. A restaurant. A courtyard. A story, still unfolding.
Casa Pestagua becomes one of the only hotels in Colombia — and one of the very few in Latin America — to receive Two Michelin Keys, the highest recognition of hotel excellence. A distinction worthy of the house's history
Colonial Architecture
The Language of Colonial Grandeur
The colonial mansions of Cartagena de Indias were not merely homes — they were declarations. Built in the Andalusian tradition, refined by Moorish influence, and adapted to the Caribbean climate, they speak a language of proportion, shade, and grace that time cannot silence.
Casa Pestagua’s architecture is the finest surviving example of this vocabulary in the walled city. Every element was preserved and celebrated in the 2022 restoration — not as a museum, but as living space.
01. Double-Height Ceilings
Soaring volumes that breathe in the Caribbean heat, creating the natural airflow that cooled the colonial elite — and still cool today's guests in the same timeless way.
02. Moorish-Inspired Arches
The arches that frame every corridor and courtyard view carry the geometry of Andalusia — Spain's long conversation with the Islamic world, transported across the Atlantic intact.
03. The Inner Garden
At the heart of the mansion, lush vegetation frames a landscape unchanged in spirit for three centuries — a private world of flowers, birdsong, and the particular silence of old stones.
Recognition
Honours Befitting a Palace
Two Michelin Keys
Awarded in 2025 — one of the only hotels in Colombia to receive this distinction, the highest recognition of hotel excellence from the world’s most prestigious guide.
Relais & Châteaux
A proud member of the world’s most exclusive collection of exceptional hotels and restaurants — a community united by the art of living well.
Virtuoso Portfolio
Part of the exclusive Virtuoso network — the global alliance of luxury travel specialists, connecting discerning travellers with the world’s finest properties.
Signature Hotels
Part of the elite Signature Travel Network community of the world’s leading travel advisors.
Forbes
Recognized in the prestigious Forbes Travel Guide 2025. A testament to the dedication and passion of our entire team.
Trip Advisors Choice Awards
Proud to have been awarded the TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Award 2025, a recognition earned through the authentic reviews and trust of our guests from around the world.
The Restoration
A Palace Reawakened
When the restoration team first entered Casa Pestagua, they found something rare: a structure whose colonial bones were still intact. The arches still stood. The proportions still sang. The courtyard still breathed.
The 2022 restoration was guided by a single principle: honour everything that made this place extraordinary, and add only what was worthy of it.
Today, sixteen rooms and suites inhabit the colonial structure, each one a distinct world: from the intimate Deluxe rooms — 37 to 47 square metres of colonial elegance — to the 140-square-metre Suite Conde de Pestagua, which occupies the mansion’s most prestigious address, with a private jacuzzi, exclusive elevator access, and spectacular views
The AniMare Restaurant, set beneath the original colonial arches in a Moroccan-inflected atmosphere, brings the ancestral gastronomy of Colombia’s Caribbean and Pacific coasts to a dining room of architectural distinction.
Stay Inside the Story
There are hotels that shelter you from a city. Casa Pestagua does the opposite. It places you at the very centre of one of the most storied addresses in the Americas — inside walls that have heard the footsteps of conquistadors, the deliberations of Inquisitors, the laughter of a Count, and the silence that follows great histories.
To sleep here is to inhabit a chapter of the New World’s story. To dine beneath these arches is to sit at a table where past and present keep company with remarkable ease. And to wake in the morning to the garden’s birdsong, the distant sound of the walled city stirring — this is what it means to travel not just to a place, but through time.
