Complete guide on how to get to the Tayrona Park, what to do, where to eat and where to sleep.

Tayrona Park (Parque Tayrona) is by far one of the most favorable destinations in Colombia, not only from the beauty it holds and its majestic landscapes that will leave you astonished, but also by its biodiversity, its pristine beaches and crystal-clear waters (which are among the best and most beautiful in Colombia), and its Tayrona culture. And last but not least, arguably one of the best parts is that going to Tayrona Park is easy and cheap.

If it is your first time in Santa Marta,(You might be interested in: SANTA MARTA, WHAT YOU CANNOT MISS), and you want to visit the Tayrona Park, here you have a complete and easy to follow guide about how to get there, what to do, where to eat and where to sleep.

Tayrona National Natural Park spreads over 15.000 hectares of land and is located on the foothills of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, which allows this area to have an abundance and diverse selection of flora and fauna, as well as multiple ecosystems.

You might be interested in: The best and most incredible places for camping in Colombia

How to get to Tayrona Park and where to sleep?

You have several options of how to get to the Tayrona Park: land and maritime transport. However, it is important to be clear which entrance you will use to enter the Park.  This will depend on your physical condition and the level of adventure you want to live for an authentic Tayrona adventure.

If you are using land transport, the most important step is to get to the Santa Marta public marketplace where you will find big green and white buses departing to La Guajira. It will be easy to identify them, either by the color, by the assistants yelling ?Parque Tayrona, Palomino? or by seeing other tourists in the area looking for the same bus and adventure as you are. The bus ticket is around 7.000-10.000 COP. The trip will last approximately 40 to 50 minutes.

The other option you have to get to Tayrona Park by land, which also happens to be the easier option, is to take one of our tours. You can choose between entering through Zaino or Cañaveral via the traditional Tayrona Park tour or via Playa del Muerto (also known as Playa Cristal), so you can get to know one of the best beaches in Santa Marta.

Via Calabazo

Now to discuss the different entrances?The first entrance you will pass on your way from Santa Marta to La Guajira is the Calabazo entrance. You can use this one if you are full of energy, eager to walk a lot and climb a fair amount of big rocks. After two and a half hours on the road you should get to Chairama, an indigenous town; it is like Lost City but on a lower scale.  There, you will find two paths you can take: the one on the left will take you to Playa Brava and the one on the right to Cabo San Juan. You will want to take the path to the right.  After a three hour walk you will arrive in Cabo San Juan, but twenty minutes before, you will pass Boca de Saco Beach, a beautiful beach full of palms, big rocks, and where, if you aren?t on the shy side, you can take your clothes off.

Via Zaino

If you want a more relaxed plan with more time to enjoy the nature less time putting in the effort, we recommend you to get off in the Zaino entrance, the most popular entrance of Tayrona Park. After the entrance, you will find little buses or vans that will take you the parking lot of the Park for 3.000 COP; there is where the real adventure begins.

After passing two parking lots, two paths you can take: one that goes straight forward and another one heading left.  The one heading left will take to Cañaveral area, where the famous Ecohabs can be found, which you can stay in starting at 1,280,000 per night.  If you chose to follow the straight path you will walk for about two hours before arriving at Arrecifes. In this zone you will find several different options for you accomodation; hammocks or camping tents starting at 20.000 COP, and cabins starting at 200.000 COP. It is important to keep in mind that on this beach, same as Cañaveral, it is prohibited to swim.

If you chose to follow the path for another 500 meters, you will the Arenilla. Arenilla is a beach with turquoise and calm waters where you can take the desired swim you were waiting for. Here you can allow yourself to relax and let the water carry away all your tiredness. Almost on the other side, there is the Picina, a beach that got its name because of big rocks surrounding it, making it look like a swimming pool. And yes, here you can also swim and relax on the sand if you chose to do so.

If you walk 15 minutes more you will find a path surrounded by big palm trees, all Pirates of the Caribbean-style, which will take you Cabo San Juan, one of the most visited and beautiful parts of Tayrona Park, known for its hut at the top of a little mountain, here you can take awesome and breathtaking pictures.   Here you can sleep in tents for 15.000 COP per night, a hammock for about 20.000, or hammock in the hut for 50.000 COP per night.

Via Taganga

The maritime option to go to the park leaves from Taganga and costs 50.000 COP per journey. This is the option for those who do not want to walk and/or do not have time to do so, but do not want miss going to the park. Each journey lasts 40 minutes, and the boats arrive and depart the park from Cabo San Juan.

Tickets prices for Tayrona Park for 2019: In low season, visitors younger than 25 years old will need to pay 10.000 COP; those older than 25 years will pay 7.500 COP, and foreigners of all ages will pay 44.000 COP. During peak season, prices are 11.000 COP, 19.500 COP and 48.500 COP respectively.

Peak season goes from June 15th to July 15th, as well as from December 15th to January 30th. Peak prices also apply for Holy week, which lasts from Friday to Sunday (10 days) as well as weekend of Holy Week which encompasses Easter Sunday, from Friday to Monday.

In our opinion, it is best to stay at least two nights in Tayrona Park so you can enjoy a full and complete experience. Besides, you cannot imagine what a delight it is to lay on the beach at night while thousands of stars shine in the sky above you.

What to bring

When going to Tayrona Park, we recommend that you bring a pair of good sneakers, shorts and an adequate shirt so you can enjoy the trekking without encountering any problems from the entrance to the beach. It is super important to take water with you, at least one or two bottles per person, to avoid getting dehydrated.

We also recommend that you pack insect repellent, sunscreen, a small first-aid kit, a flashlight, camera, chargers (there is phone coverage and some places with electricity), your personal hygiene articles and, of course, a bathing suit. It is also important that you remember to bring your ID documents.

Tayrona Park is really safe, and it is super uncommon to have things stolen, even if they are left in the middle of the beach. That being said, it is worth it to remind you to be careful with your belongings, especially with your personal documents. Do not be careless? we do not want you to lose anything, do we?

What to do?

Besides swimming and enjoying the wonderful beaches, you can also do some snorkeling and diving at the Picina. Bird and animal watching can bring sightings of howler monkeys, jaguars, dolphins, as well as other animals. You can also visit the archeological area of Chairama Indigenous town and its corresponding museum, both of which are located in the area of Cañaveral in Tayrona Park.

You might be interested in: Nudist beach in Tayrona Park, Santa Marta. All the information you need.

Where to eat?

Finding a good place to eat in Tayrona Park will not be a problem since there are restaurants in every camping area. Most restaurants offer a wide variety of different dishes from the region. Also, on the beaches where you are allowed to swim, there are little stands where you can find natural juices, beer, water and other local snack and foods, like ?arepa de huevo? (arepa with egg).

Our advice is that you take your own snacks and groceries, like sandwiches, tuna, canned food to snack between meals, and foods to prepare breakfast and dinner. For lunch, we recommend you to eat in one of the restaurants that you will find in the park (there are options starting at 15.000 COP). That way, you will save some money, eat well and have a lot energy to continue the adventure.

Last but not least, remember that Tayrona National Natural Park is a protected area due to its natural wealth and ancestral value as a sacred place to the indigenous people who had habited all the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta area. Keeping this in mind, where ever you go, show some respect and do not bother the indigenous, nor the plants/animals. Remember that it is our duty to take care of this special place in order to preserve what makes it so special.

If you are interested on discovering other places where you can relax and join the slow travel in Santa Marta you can check out this article for advice, but if you are planning to travel along the coast, you can get some tips on how to get to Punta Gallina by yourself. On the other hand, if you want to keep discovering the wealth of our country, you have to go to Caño Cristales and check out Chiribiquete, the new World Mixed Heritage .