Cartagena is a city with more than 2,500 years of history. Each corner, street and square of the city offers travellers monumental examples of its splendorous historical past, of the civilizations that put in at its port. Cartagena offers numerous cultural alternatives. Tourists can discover the origins of the city by visiting the remains of the Punic Wall, which mark the foundation of the city by the Carthaginians in 227 BC. Visitors are offered the opportunity to experience the adventure of discovering monuments that take us back to the centuries in which Cartago Nova was one of the main cities in Roman Hispania. These include the Theatre or Amphitheatre, luxurious houses, wide avenues, and funeral monuments, such as the Torre Ciega or the Paleo-Christian necropolis of San Antón; and temples or public baths. All complemented by splendid collections displayed at its archaeological museums; the Municipal Archaeology Museum and the National Maritime Archaeology Museum.

A stroll through the city reveals a military past that dates back to medieval times, when the La Concepción Castle was built. Other examples of the military importance of Cartagena are offered by the Sea Wall, the Military Arsenal, the Artillery Park, the Military Hospital or the Marine Cadet School, and of course the imposing castles that can be seen from its port, and which include those at Las Galeras, Atalaya and San Julián, and which, together with numerous coastal batteries, served to defend its strategic position. Once these buildings ceased to have any military use, some were turned into civil facilities, such as the old Military Hospital, which is now the building of the current Polytechnic University of Cartagena. In addition to its military architecture, the traveller will find another form of religious architecture that has left its mark in the form of baroque churches, with sculptures and paintings of unquestionable artistic quality, such as the churches of El Carmen, San Diego or Santo Domingo and, most notably, the church of La Caridad, which contains, in addition to other artistic works dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, the city's Patron Saint, La Virgen de la Caridad.

The economic boom of the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century is evident in the eclectic and modernist architecture that gives Cartagena its current physiognomy. Luxurious buildings that belonged to affluent mining owners such as Casa Cervantes, La Casa Maestre, the Aguirre Palace or La Casa Clares, are open to the public, as well as others such as the Gran Hotel, or the buildings of different institutions, such as the Consistorial Palace or the Railway Station, fine examples of the urban and architectural development that took place in the city in the shadow of the mining boom in its mountain range. This period saw the creation of the Isaac Peral´s Submarine, perhaps the most famous monument in the city, and which is almost its emblem.