After spending a week in Colombia’s capital with its temperate climate, it was
time to head to warmer weather. Being Montreal natives and sunshine enthusiasts, a trip anywhere South of Canada just doesn't seem complete without the heat.
Our trip to the coast was about five days long with lots of moving around, which made our itinerary seem a bit daunting in the beginning. Nonetheless, we were generally satisfied with the
length of time we spent in each spot.
Here is the itinerary we followed:
Sunday: Fly to
Cartagena with Viva Colombia airlines
Our round trip tickets cost us approx. $80 USD/person. Sunday night we stayed at El Viajero hostel which had been referred to us by friends. It's very centrally located in the historic walled city - Getsemani - just a few minutes walk to the small Parque Fernandez Madrid. There, you can find cute restaurants where we ended up eating on both nights of our stay. Our favorite eatery was Totopo. We would suggest trying their speciality Totopo chicken. Delicious!
Monday: Full day in Cartagena
Since we only had one full day in Cartagena and wanted to see as much as possible, we decided to buy a hop-on hop-off bus ticket (approx. $16 USD). It's a perfect way to see all the main city sights, and avoid long walks in the scorching heat. The day time high was about 30 degrees Celcius. Our hostel, El Viajero, was what we expected: good value for the price and packed with young people. We stayed in a shared six-person dorm and had no real complaints.
Tuesday: Travel by bus from Cartagena to Taganga
We used the Marsol transportation company to get from Cartagena to Taganga, a small fishing village nestled between surrounding mountains. The four-hour bus ride cost approx. $17 USD/person - it was a very comfortable, air conditioned ride with one stop to let passengers off in Santa Marta before arriving in Taganga. Because we arrived around noon, we decided to spend the afternoon lazing on the tranquil beach. Unfortunately, we did not have time to snorkel or scuba dive, which Taganga is best known for.
Overall, our tips for Taganga would be:
- Only include Taganga in your itinerary if you plan to snorkel and/or scuba dive.
Overall, our tips for Taganga would be:
- Only include Taganga in your itinerary if you plan to snorkel and/or scuba dive.
- WE RECOMMEND: Have dinner at El Bonito along the main beach road. Great ambiance and amazing food!
- AVOID: We had our worst dining experience of the trip eating lunch at one of the beach-side grass-roof huts. Mystery meat, stay away!
- AVOID: We had our worst dining experience of the trip eating lunch at one of the beach-side grass-roof huts. Mystery meat, stay away!
Wednesday: Taganga to Tayrona National Park
We could go on and on about Tayrona but will try and keep it brief. Once in the park, the lodging options are limited to camping (very inexpensive) or Eco Habs (quite pricey if you're on a budget). We managed to find something somewhat in between at Jasayma Hotel for about $40 USD/night, total for two people. This was our favourite stay of the whole trip. The owner was extremely accommodating and all of the semi-open rooms were electricity-free! From there, it was an hour hike through the lush jungle to get to the seemingly private Picinita beach. The second day, we took on a two-hour hike to the Cabo San Juan beach which is always busy with tourists and backpackers, but undoubtedly the most impressive sight of the park. The scenery was something out of Jurassic Park: turquoise waves crashing onto the shore, imposing mountains descending to the beach before plunging into the sea. Tayrona Park will take your breath away!
Tips: It costs about $16 USD to enter the park, but only $3 USD for students, so be sure to remember your student ID if you're still in school! Also, be sure to enter the park before 5 pm or you will be denied access until the next morning!
We could go on and on about Tayrona but will try and keep it brief. Once in the park, the lodging options are limited to camping (very inexpensive) or Eco Habs (quite pricey if you're on a budget). We managed to find something somewhat in between at Jasayma Hotel for about $40 USD/night, total for two people. This was our favourite stay of the whole trip. The owner was extremely accommodating and all of the semi-open rooms were electricity-free! From there, it was an hour hike through the lush jungle to get to the seemingly private Picinita beach. The second day, we took on a two-hour hike to the Cabo San Juan beach which is always busy with tourists and backpackers, but undoubtedly the most impressive sight of the park. The scenery was something out of Jurassic Park: turquoise waves crashing onto the shore, imposing mountains descending to the beach before plunging into the sea. Tayrona Park will take your breath away!
Tips: It costs about $16 USD to enter the park, but only $3 USD for students, so be sure to remember your student ID if you're still in school! Also, be sure to enter the park before 5 pm or you will be denied access until the next morning!
Thursday: Night in Santa Marta
The same transport company that drove us to Tayrona organized to pick us up at 5pm on our second day and bring us to the nearby city of Santa Marta. For our last night on the coast, we decided to step up our accommodation by booking a night at Casa Del Farol boutique hotel in the historic centre of Santa Marta. The service and amenities were impeccable, and our stay was reasonably priced at roughly $70 USD/night for two people. We treated ourselves to a fancy dinner at Tierra Negra right off of the water front. It was the most expensive meal of our trip, but very normally priced by North American standards, at approx. $40 USD for two meals including shared appetizer and drinks.
The same transport company that drove us to Tayrona organized to pick us up at 5pm on our second day and bring us to the nearby city of Santa Marta. For our last night on the coast, we decided to step up our accommodation by booking a night at Casa Del Farol boutique hotel in the historic centre of Santa Marta. The service and amenities were impeccable, and our stay was reasonably priced at roughly $70 USD/night for two people. We treated ourselves to a fancy dinner at Tierra Negra right off of the water front. It was the most expensive meal of our trip, but very normally priced by North American standards, at approx. $40 USD for two meals including shared appetizer and drinks.
Friday: Fly back to Bogota with Viva Colombia airlines
Because we only arrived in Santa Marta after nightfall, we would have loved to have had some day light and time to explore the old city. However, the flight times back to Bogota were limited so we had to take a late morning flight.
The only change we would recommend to our itinerary would be spending an extra night in Tayrona and having a later flight out of Santa Marta on our last day.The problem with travelling is that there's never time to do it all; but the blessing is that it's the best excuse to go back!
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