Shopping in Cartagena Spain
Cartagena is a 20 minute drive from La Manga Club on a straight road which leads you directly into this historic town. The port area has been greatly improved over the past few years enticing the cruise ships to make Cartagena a regular stop on their Mediterranean routes.
You will find a lot of the major European retailers there together with many traditional Spanish shops, cafes and bars. A walk around the town is a pleasant and safe experience but please bear in mind that the shops will open at approximately 10.00 and close for Siesta at 13.30. They will then re-open at 17.00 to 21.00 approximately.
As you enter the town you will find on your right a huge Carrefour hypermarket which has plenty of underground parking. Carrefour has a huge array of goods and a walk around the delicatessen areas is great fun and extremely interesting. Further into the town you will also find the hypermarket Eroski.
In the centre of town you will find Spain's most prestigious of department stores, El Corte Ingles. El Corte Ingles is a chain of stores throughout Spain. This particular store was opened in 2005 and has a large supermarket, cafe, waiter service restaurant (English spoken reasonably well) plus all you would expect of a Spanish version of John Lewis.
La Manga Club operates a courtesy bus to El Corte Ingles, Cartagena every Wednesday. There are 2 or 3 pick up points at the Club, one being the Hyatt hotel, but please check times with the information kiosk in the hotel as these may vary. You can pre-book your seats on the coach which is free of charge via the hotel information kiosk. Once on the coach you will receive a shoppers card offering you a small discount in store plus a complimentary drinks vouchers which can be used in either the cafe or restaurant. The shoppers card also gives the advantage of having all of your shopping sent to the central payment point which is in the basement of the store. Please allow time to pay for your goods before the coach leaves and if you wish you can pay by credit card however you will need your passport as ID.
Generally the coach arrives outside El Cortes Ingles at approximately 11.30 and returns to the Club at approximately 16.30. Wednesday also coincides with Cartagenas market day which is most definitely worth a visit. If you do not want to stay in the store for the whole day you can wander to the market which is within 10/15 minutes just ensure you return to El Corte Ingles pick up point in plenty of time. There are some great stalls with trinkets, clothes etc something for everyone. |
