Caribbean Colombia is hot. Really, really hot. It took us all of 2 nights to decide we were going to pay up the extra few bucks a night for air conditioning in our room. 

We wanted to ease into our trip, so the Caribbean seemed like the perfect place to start. We flew into Cartagena and spent 2 sweltering days walking around the gorgeous old town. The streets are full
of beautifully bright buildings and cathedrals. There are tons of shops, bars, and plazas to get a Tinto (probably with enough sugar to kill a bull) and try to cool off in the shade. 

Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to make it out to the islands off Cartegena we read so much about because we were gunning to get to Santa Marta and enjoy those beaches and mountains. Here is our concise little list of what we did and how we did it. 

1) Santa Marta

We spent our first week and a half of our trip shuffling around Santa Marta and we loved it. There is so much life and activity it is hard not to get swept up in it. We stayed and spent most of our time contained within the first 6 Carreras nearest to the ocean. In Santa Marta, the Carreras run parallel to the ocean and the Calles perpendicular. Here there are countless tiendas with cheap beers and chairs to lounge in, parques and plazas, dance clubs, street food, restaurants with a variety of different cuisines to fit whatever mood you’re in, oh and whole fried fish. Lots of whole fried fish. The beach is incredibly accessible, but we only spent time walking up and down it. The ocean water is definitely a lifesaver on some of the sweatier, hotter days (ie. all the days – it is hot). Santa Marta is also a convenient place to be able to visit many of the sites around it. 

2) La Ciudad Perdida (The Lost City) 4, 5, or 6 Day Hike

This was our main goal in going to Santa Marta – though it didn’t really fit into our “ease in” plan. We read about the journey it takes to hike up to the lost Tayrona city and decided it would be unforgettable and we had to do it. It was definitely unforgettable and we would 100% recommend this to anyone who finds themselves in the area with the time. Though it is a rather challenging hike, so be prepared for that! We booked right through our hostel and were picked up and dropped of at our front door. You can read more about it our experiences in our post about our Lost City hike.

3) Bahia Concha

This was the perfect place to unwind the day after we got back from the long trek. It was our first beach day since coming to the Caribbean – I think being so close to a beach and not ACTUALLY going was killing Will little by little, it was time. We booked a tour with friends through their hostel for transportation to and from the beach. When we got there were able to rent a cabana with chairs and a beer-filled cooler for ~$10USD. For the rest of the day we just sat. And read. And swam. And chatted. And ate fish and coconut rice. And drank beer. And napped. Bahia Concha has everything you could want for a relaxing beach day. One of the funnier Colombian activities at this beach was what we called “sexy photo shoot time” with Colombian women taking photos while in various poses along the water. 

 

 

4) Minca

Will and I were originally planning on spending a few days in this small Sierra Nevada Mountain town, but knew we wanted to go to the Parque Tayrona (see #6) which is much more convenient to reach from Santa Marta, so we opted for a day trip. While we didn’t get to spend much time in Minca, we went on a tour of La Victoria, an organic coffee farm in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The tour guide spoke great English, though very softly, and walked us through the production of their coffee. I had a difficult time hearing everything said, so only caught of few snippets, but I got some good information. For example – coffee from low, humid regions (like the Brazilian Amazon) have a higher caffeine content than beans from higher, dryer climates. This is due to the berries needing more toxins to withstand the insects. They give you as much of their delicious coffee as you can drink and they also sell beer brewed in Minca at Nevada Cerveceria – a coffee porter and a pilsner. 

Afterwords we had a short hike down to a waterfall – a freezing cold waterfall – before going to lunch and heading back to Santa Marta.

I enjoyed the coffee tour, but I do wish we got to spend more time in Minca to check out the town instead of going to the waterfall. I read it is a really nice little town away from the crowds and heat of Santa Marta.  

5) El Rodadero

Like all great travel discoveries, we happened upon El Rodadero by mistake. I’d read about it and seen that you should go, but wasn’t entirely sold on why you would go if you were already in Santa Marta. We had been booking our places on a night by night basis, until we realized everything was booked up due to the holidays and had to hop online to find a place that could house us for a few nights. We had been on the move since we got to Colombia and were ready to park somewhere and read a book. I misread the map and ended up booking a place in El Rodadero. After our taxi driver was thoroughly confused with our directions and then told us “no worries, it’s just over the mountains” I was not entirely sure what we were in store for – but potentially a high taxi bill (not really, ended up being about $3USD as it is only about 10min away from Santa Marta). El Rodadero ended up being exactly what we needed! 

We stayed about a 10min walk from the main beach strip. While walking around the plazas of Santa Marta you see gringos and Colombians alike, El Rodadero feels more like a Colombian vacation spot. There are a ton of big resorts and a beach about 3 times the size of the one in Santa Marta with shops, open air restaurants, and street food like an amazing fish stew sold roadside. There was also a tremendous breeze the whole time we were there, so it felt mildly cooler than Santa Marta as well.

While we ended up travelling back and forth by taxi, we saw plenty of buses with “Santa Marta” and “El Rodadero” in front. I read you can catch one on Calle 16, so I’m sure that route is simple and cheap. Taxis between the 2 cities are set at 10,000 COP.

6) Tayrona National Park

A trip to the coast is not complete without a trip to the national park. The beaches are absolutely beautiful. We had been prancing around the Caribbean coast for over a week and had only been to the beach once much to Will’s dismay. 

To get in, you can catch a bus from the Central Market on Calle 11. It’s pretty simple to find the bus as people are yelling about going to Parque Tayrona. The bus is about 1 hour and 7,000 COP/person to get to the main park entrance. At first we thought we missed it, but it is pretty easy to see, there are a ton of buses, stands, and a big sign. 

When we got into the park, we had to sit through a 20 min video and lecture about respecting the National Park and wait in a bit of a line to show your passport and pay your 42,000 COP/person. Then you’re in! We had friends who stayed in hammocks in a pavilion overlooking the ocean and decided we wanted that too. For this you need to get to Cabo San Juan. There is about a 30min walk on a main road(Or a 3,000 COP bus ride) then you enter the jungle and have about a 2hour hike until the final beach. The hike is fairly congested due to its width, but not strenuous. There are multiple beaches you pass on the way to Cabo San Juan, and every one is more gorgeous than the last. Most of these beaches also featured hammocks or tents for rent. Some people brought in there own food but almost all of the beaches featured restaurants with slightly inflated prices(4,000 COP for a beer and 30,000 COP for most meals). The food was basic but still enjoyable, especially after about 5 beers. The beaches also featured lockers to put your packs in, just don’t forget to bring a lock! 

We finally made it around 11:30am and were able to get one of the 18 hammocks in the pavilion over looking the ocean. All the hard work over, all that was left for the day was to lay in the sand, drink some beers, and watch the ocean. I’m personally a bit of a wimp when it comes to heat and sand, but Will was incredibly blissed out the entire time. If unforgettable sunrises, bright turquoise surf and soft sand are your thing, you should definitely go here. 

For anyone visiting Colombia, the Caribbean coast is a must visit!