Hotel Casa del Coliseo

Around here we’re fans of every kind of extraordinary hotel, and that doesn’t always mean novelty and experimentation. Casa del Coliseo, in the historic city of Cartagena, Colombia, is a reminder that classic hospitality, executed with style and confidence, will never go out of fashion. It’s a 17th-century residence in a perfectly central location, and though its 12 rooms retain original features like timbered ceilings, they’ve been renovated to current luxury-hotel standard and decorated in a style that blends contemporary boutique design and classic colonial-era atmosphere — it helps that the proprietor himself is a designer, the Colombian-born and Miami-based Juan Carlos Arcila-Duque.

The prevailing concern is one of providing a bit of tranquil privacy from the streets, without wholly shutting yourself off from the city. Balconies help, as does the roof terrace, and the rooftop swimming pool is an unexpected delight. But that pool is perhaps as close as Casa del Coliseo comes to feeling like a hotel. For the most part, this is a residential experience — after an impressive breakfast, you’re meant to explore the city, with some help from a knowledgeable staff. Cartagena’s restaurants are more than equal to the task, of course, but book the whole house and they’ll add a private chef....