Traveling to Punta Gallinas: a practical guide on how to get there by yourself

Punta Gallinas is defined as the "most Northern point in South America" and while this fact is true, it dramatically plays down the other outstanding features of this area. The truth is that Punta Gallinas is one of those destinations where words and pictures are not enough to describe what makes this area of the desert so alive.

Punta Gallinas is a perfect destination for those who like to live unconventional and authentic experiences, far from accommodations found in luxury of 5-star hotels. It is a destination of pure and genuine adventure, but it is absolutely worth it! In fact, it is a place you can visit several times over as a Colombian, and i s a must-see location on your travels around Colombia.

If you are planning on visiting Punta Gallinas, but you are not someone who tends to participate in tours, you are in the perfect place. Here you can find a practical guide on how to get there by yourself without spending too much money.

If you want to visit Cabo de la Vela before going to Punta Gallinas, you have all the information you need in this guide, where to stay, what to do, where to eat and more.

How to get to Punta Gallinas?

It does not matter what city you start in, the first thing you have to do is make your way to Riohacha, the capital of the department of La Guajira. The bus ticket can cost anywhere from 25.000 COP to 35.000 COP, depending the season and the company you take your trip with. The trip lasts around 4 hours.

When you are arriving in Riohacha, or when you are ready to make your way towards Punta Gallinas, you can tell the driver or the assistant to drop you off where the cars depart to go to Urubia. Once you get dropped off, you will find a group of old jeeps and a bunch of people trying to get in the cars. Do not get in any of them before first agreeing on the price with the driver, and absolutely do not pay more than 15.000 COP. You can use the famous phrase "My friend told me he/she paid..." to get the proper price. The trip is a little bit more than an hour until you get to Uribia.

When you get to Uribia, you will need to head to the place where all the 4x4 trucks are to take you to Cabo de la Vela. Before getting in, make sure to negotiate the price and prepare to pay between 15.000 COP and 20.000 COP. Do not imagine that the trip is going to be comfortable. You will get in the back of of the car with not only more people, but also with boxes, sacks of food and luggage. But hey!, this is part of the adventure. This is also a good opportunity to get to know other people and locals headed back to Cabo as well. The trip from Uribia to Cabo de la Vela takes about 2 to 3 hours.

Once in Cabo de la Vela, you have to options to go to Punta Gallinas, by land or by sea. No matter which one way you choose to go, the round-trip ticket costs 150.000 COP. It does not matter how many days you are going to be there, you can arrange your pickup to come back to Cabo de la Vela with the driver once you are on your way to Punta Gallinas. In our opinion, the trip by land is better than the one by boat. While taking a boat will get you there faster, the trip by land allows you to observe the beautiful landscape of Northern Colombia on your way.

Sleeping in Punta Gallinas

The truth is that you do not have too many options to stay in Punta Gallinas. Hospedaje Alexandra is where almost all other visitors stay during their days spent in the desert.  At Hospedaje Alexandra you will find hammocks for 15.000 COP per night and chinchorros for 20.000 COP per night. If you have never heard of a chinchurro, chinchorros are the hammocks used by the Wayuu people. What differentiates them from normal hammocks are their substantially larger sizes in comparison to hammocks, as well as their more comfortable material.  There is also the option of spending the night on a room in normal conditions for 30.000 COP.

Where to eat in Punta Gallinas? 

You will not have a problem finding food to eat in Punta Gallinas,, as you will find that all three meals are available to buy at your lodging. The breakfast costs 6.000 COP (arepa, eggs and coffee); lunch and dinner (fried chicken/fish, rice, salad and patacones) for 15.000 COP, or 35.000 COP for a lobster with all the previously listed side dishes.

You will also find beverages like water, Coca-Cola and beer starting at 2.500 COP.

If you follow all these steps you will be able to travel to and enjoy Punta Gallinas without any problems. Next, we will list some additional tips for you to have an excellent experience in Punta Gallinas.

Tips

• It is best to start the trip as early as you can, around 5-6am, so that you can anticipate any delay or mishap you may encounter on the way, and you can arrive to Punta Gallinas on the same day. If you arrive to Uribia after 3pm, it is not likely find transportation to Cabo de la Vela, and therefore to Punta Gallinas.

• Take your own water in a bottle; in this case the bigger the better. This way you will save money buying small bottles for 2.500 each.

• You can chose to bring your own food with you to Punta Gallinas to save money; but remember to bring food which does not need any preparation since you won't be able to use the kitchen.

• Make sure to pack snacks that you can eat between meals and when you feel a bit hungry. As you can probably tell, food can be hard to come by, as establishments tend to be very spread out. Once you get to Punta Gallinas, there is no other place to buy goods outside of the food available to the lodging.

• We recommend that you stay at for at least two nights if you have the time. Apart from walking around the desert and getting to know the whimsical landscape, you will get a better understanding of the essence of Punta Gallinas, allowing yourself time to relax and to spend two amazing nights under the starry sky.

• Try to travel lightly, but we recommend to bring comfortable and clean clothing for the heat of the day, bathing suit in case you want to swim off of the beautiful beaches, a pair of warm clothes for the coldest part of the night (remember, it is a desert), sunscreen, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, towel, some kind of flashlight, camera, sunglasses and a good book.

As you can see, it is possible to travel to Punta Gallinas by yourself for  less than 400.000 COP; and this price can brought a little lower if you decide to bring your own food or bargain a good price for the tickets.

And now, it's time to enjoy!