Complete guide to visit the Tayrona Park (Colombia)
If there is one thing Colombia has, it is a variety of different landscapes and places that make it a very rich and interesting country to visit. One of these places is located in the north of the country, specifically in the Colombian Caribbean and is one of its most famous parks, the Tayrona Park.
After visiting it, we believe that it is a must to go to this place as it is one of the best places in the whole country and that is why we want to bring you this guide to visit the Tayrona Park.
If you are thinking about visiting Colombia, don’t miss the other posts about our experience in this wonderful country:
The most typical way to get to Tayrona Park is via Santa Marta airport, which has connections to the country’s main airports. We arrived late at night and spent one night in the city, which was our base for getting to Tayrona Park.
Once in Santa Marta, you have different options for getting there:
- Bus: It leaves every 15 minutes from the public market on Calle 10-11 in Santa Marta and you have to take the bus that says Playa-Mercado and costs 2-3€. It is the cheapest way to get there and takes 1 hour if there is no traffic.
- Taxi or private transport: We booked a couple of taxis on the street with whom we agreed the price before we went. It is a slightly riskier way to go because of possible scams, but being 6 people, going with all the luggage and almost filling two taxis, we decided to go more comfortably. It cost us around 30€ each way (more expensive than it should normally be).
- Boat: Yes, we were surprised but there is the possibility of going directly from Santa Marta by boat to Cabo San Juan, the destination that everyone wants to visit in the park. This is an option I would recommend in case the person going is not physically able to do the 2 hour walk. This option departs from the town of Taganga, 15 minutes from Santa Marta for 17-18€ per person.
Tips for accessing the Tayrona Park
We wanted to leave a section for recommendations and to warn about considerations before entering the Tayrona Park.
- Keep in mind that there are times when the park closes to let the park breathe from tourism. These times are listed on the park’s website and are usually 3 times a year.
- Most people enter through the main entrance in Zaino located at this exact spot. If you are going to enter through this place, you have to take into account that the main ticket office is there, so you will have to queue (we queued for about 40 minutes). We recommend that you go as early as possible (they open at 8am).
- Once at the ticket office you’ll have to show your passport to pay the entrance fee to the park (seasonal rates on the official website) and pay a compulsory insurance of around €2-3 per person per day. It doesn’t matter if you bring your own insurance, they make you pay for it.
- They don’t let drones in, which is a problem if, like us, you’re travelling with your luggage for the whole trip. If they ask you and you say you’re not carrying a drone, nobody will look at it, so I recommend that if they ask you, say no. If they do, say no. If they see you carrying a drone, say no. If they see it, they will make you leave it at a locker at the entrance to Zaino. Drones are strictly forbidden inside the park to preserve the ecosystem, so please heed the recommendations.
- Just after the entrance there are some vans that take you to the beginning of the route, a 5-10 min drive that you will have to pay in cash (I don’t remember the exact amount, but no more than €2). You can also walk, but this adds almost an hour to the journey, which is not very interesting, so it’s not worth it.
- At the entrance they will try to sell you tours inside the park (snorkelling, water activities…). I recommend that you don’t take them; in Cabo San Juan you can take them just the same and you can think about it without pressure after seeing the place better and knowing what you want to do in-situ.
Where to stay to visit the Tayrona Park
This section will be divided into two equally good options for accommodation near the Tayrona Park:
Staying inside the Tayrona Park
For us, staying inside the Tayrona Park is one of the things we would highly recommend. We’ll go into more detail later, but it’s a long walk from the two main entrances to the park to the accommodation area (about 2 hours), so if you’re spending the day there’s a lot of time between getting to the points of interest, seeing the park and getting out. For this reason, the park offers good accommodation options inside the park that will allow you to take your visit with much more peace and quiet, which is much appreciated.
As recommendations for accommodation in the park we would say:
- Cabañas Tequendama Playa Arrecifes: We stayed here. It is located 45 minutes from Cabo San Juan and the truth is that it is a very cool and quiet place at a good price. It is well located near the main beaches and has a restaurant where they serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. We would highly recommend it if you are going to sleep inside the park.
- The rest of the accommodations you can check on the official website of the Tayrona Park, as they don’t go through Booking.
- A cheap and good option would be to stay at the Cabo San Juan campsite in a tent.
Staying in the vicinity of the park
If you want to visit the park during the day, you should use this option. What we did was to visit the park for a whole day with one night inside the Tayrona and spend the next day until after lunch inside. Once we left, we took accommodation close to the exit.
The main places to stay if you want to see the Tayrona Park are Santa Marta or the Palomino / Guachaca area. Santa Marta is the largest city in the area, which is on the shores of the Caribbean Sea. In our opinion, if you’re going to see Santa Marta it’s a good option, but not the best if your goal is to visit Tayrona. We would take the Palomino area, a beach with plenty of hostels, hotels and restaurants with a very good atmosphere and nothing crowded where you can rest well and have a good atmosphere if you feel like it.
That said, we will recommend places in both places as we were also in Santa Marta:
- Distrito Hostel (Santa Marta): We stayed here for one night and it was very good. Very friendly service, very clean, very well located within the city and safe area, so we would recommend it if someone wants to sleep in the city.
- Tayrona Tended Lodge (Guachaca): It was our accommodation in that area and it was one of the best in all the days in Colombia. Super cool location 1 minute from the sea, in an area with a great traveller atmosphere and all the facilities. No restaurant but right next door there is a hostel with a very cool restaurant called La Brisa Tranquila, so we recommend it 100%.
- La Brisa Tranquila (Guachaca): What a top place! It is a hostel with a lot of atmosphere, a restaurant / bar with dj in the evenings and a swimming pool with volleyball and jacuzzi. All this in front of the sea. We spent the whole afternoon playing in the pool while listening to the music and drinking a beer. We recommend it if you like to party, if you don’t feel like it, it’s better to go to Tayrona Tented Lodge which is much quieter and is a 1 minute walk away.
- Palomino Sunrise (Palomino): Hotel with swimming pool and bungalow/cabin type accommodation right on the Caribbean beach. We think that in this area it is super cool to stay in this type of accommodation, as they are a perfect place to disconnect and experience something different. This accommodation does all this for a great price.
Where to eat inside the Tayrona Park?
We had the option of eating in 3 different places, as we spent 24 hours in the Tayrona Park:
- Cabo San Juan Restaurant: This is the one with the lowest quality (you can see it in the reviews) but because it is in the most touristy place and is the only food on offer in the area. The dishes are simple and reasonably priced (5-6€). We recommend the juices, they are delicious and there is a lot of variety. It would not be a recommendation we would make, but it is the only option in Cabo San Juan if you don’t bring food with you.
- Restaurante Playa Piscina: We were surprised because it’s a local family-run restaurant that doesn’t even appear on Google, but they cooked us a fresh fish combo platter that was delicious.
- Restaurant at the Cabañas Tequendama accommodation: It’s OK, it’s a buffet with Colombian food. If you stay there it is the best option because there is nothing else nearby.
If you go through the park and they offer popsicles, we recommend you try them. We met a man who had been selling popsicles in the park for 40 years and they took them out of his hands, especially the coconut one. 🙂
What to bring to Tayrona Park
Inside the Tayrona Park you won’t find many shops to buy things, so we recommend that you take a backpack full of the basics:
- Comfortable clothes for walking: This is basic, and especially cool, as it is very humid and you will sweat a lot. We would recommend trekking sandals, we think they are the best thing you can bring. We have these Teva’s which are one of the best purchases we have ever made.
- Swimwear: At some point in the Tayrona Park you will want to swim, so take swimwear with you so you can enjoy the Caribbean waters.
- Food and water: For us, it is essential that you take especially water. It gets a bit tough on some sections so it’s best to bring hydration or buy it before you enter the park.
- Mosquito repellent: Basic, there is plenty of it being in a tropical environment.
- Sunscreen: The sun stings hard in some sections, so it is highly recommended.
What to do inside the park?
In this section we want to tell you about our experience and what we think is worthwhile and what is not inside the Tayrona Park. We are going to divide it into the places to visit, the routes to do and what we think of the activity we did.
Routes to do
As mentioned above, there are two main entrances to the park, the Calabazo entrance and the main entrance (Zaino). You have several options depending on what you like to do.
The most recommended is to enter through Zaino. Once inside, you will take a mini bus to the start of the route and from there, we recommend you follow the indicated path to Cabo San Juan, the most popular place in the Tayrona Park. All along the way, you will see the park in all its splendour, from walking through the jungle and seeing the wildlife, to seeing the indigenous people that inhabit the park, its secluded Caribbean beaches, more crowded beaches ready for swimming and you will arrive at Cabo San Juan in about 2 hours drive.
Once there, we would decide depending on what you are going to do. If you’re staying overnight and like to walk, we’d recommend entering via Zaino and exiting via Calabazo, passing through the indigenous village of Chairama. The route from Cabo San Juan to Calabazo is 4-5 hours, so we wouldn’t recommend this if you’re just going for the day or if, like us, you’re carrying your 15 days’ worth of luggage on your back. A good tip if you want to do the route would be to leave your heavy luggage somewhere outside the park and go with lighter things.
In this map we have made for you, we have marked the main points of interest, our accommodation and the two routes we are talking about, I hope you find it helpful.
Lugares interesantes dentro del parque
- Cabo San Juan: It is a cape with a very cool beach in an idyllic setting with the jungle in the background. We thought it was very beautiful and it’s normal that it’s so famous. On the other hand, it is the most crowded place in the Tayrona Park, so depending on the time of year you go, it can be a bit crowded. We were lucky and there weren’t many people, so we enjoyed it well.
- La Piscinita Cañaveral
- Arrecifes Beach
- The Swimming Pool
- Chairama indigenous village: Inside the Tayrona park there are many indigenous people still living who have adapted to tourism and take care of the environment, as it is their home. It is super cool to see how they live and even interact with them (they sell clothes, coconuts…). One place to see it (always with respect and without being intrusive with them) is in the indigenous village of Chairama, if you do the route from Cabo San Juan to Calabazo. We couldn’t do it and, to be honest, we regretted it a bit.
Activities inside the park
We were persuaded while queuing to pay the entrance fee to Tayrona Park to take a snorkelling activity on a rather deserted beach. And it was all true, we went to a beach where there was NOBODY, in a beautiful setting, but the activity was not very cool. The water was very choppy, we didn’t go to an area with a very interesting marine environment and we were joined by two people who had never snorkelled or dived before, so we spent 1 hour while they were being taught.
By this we mean that our advice is not to take anything outside the park, but wait until you get to Cabo San Juan, where there will be the same activities and you can decide what you really want to do by looking at the environment. The great attraction of the park is in the environment, walking and relaxing, so we don’t see it as a place where it is essential to do activities.
As you can see if you’ve made it this far, Tayrona Park offers an idyllic setting to visit, combining Caribbean beaches with a tropical and jungle environment that, at least for us, we were not used to seeing.
If you have any further questions about our trip, don’t hesitate to contact us via comments or social media.
¿Quieres obtener un 5% de descuento en tu próximo seguro de viaje?