Santa Marta, located on the coast of the Caribbean Sea of Colombia, its a port city that has deceived us a lot. We can firmly say, that this was definitely one of the worst places we’ve been in the last 9 months! At least the place has a pretty name!
Sadly enough, even before reaching Santa Marta things were already going wrong. Initially, what was supposed to be a 5 hours journeys ended up to be 8 because of a “mechanical issue” that got us stuck for 2hrs in the middle of nowhere… secondly, the taxi driver who was meant to drop us down in front of the hostel, brought us to the wrong direction and asked for more money if we wanted to go the right direction (7000 COP)!!! And to make the evening better, after eventually reaching the Mango Hostel (our hostel) by foot the owners of the place give us a wrong room different from the one booked and kept blaming booking.com for putting the wrong photos… Hard to believe…
The next day we decide to go out to explore the city but after 20min on the calle 11, many cars, chaos, people not so friendly and very little architectural beauty, it kinda feel hard to believe. On top of that, on the sidewalk a cop approaches us and tell us that we should take another road cause the quarter we’re in could be dangerous (felt like any other quarter to us!).
One of the main road of Santa Marta
Thankfully, after a bit more of walking we reach the city center where we visit the Iglesia de San Francisco, the Parque Simón Bolívar, the library and have a walk along the malecón. Fancy taking a dip? Well, if you like the dirty polluted waters of the port, more than welcome to try!
Locals take a dip in the dirty harbour waters
After some strolling around the city center we casually find the Parque de Los Novios where most locals come to relax and chill; around here is full of bars, cafes and small shops which seems to be nicest thing we’ve seen so far. We also stop by at Café La Canoa for a bite and… great service, AC, everything super tasty, great ambience and crazy good wifi. Any better ?
Street of the city center
For a couple of days, we also decide to spend some time in El Rodadero. Unfortunately, this part of the city, separated from the main heart of Santa Marta by a huge hill, its literally where everybody goes to relax at the beach. More touristy for sure but nothing better!
The Good Stuff about Santa Marta
Overall, even though the city is nothing beautiful, warm and kind of chaotic, Santa Marta is the perfect where to set basecamp to visit the surroundings.
North to the city at just 15min bus away there is Taganga, a small laid-back town with a small bay and several trails leading to nearby beautiful beaches. From here you can also get lanchas to Tayrona for the price of roughly 50k pesos.
The Taganga Bay
East of town at around 1h of bus, there is the official entrance of Parque Tayrona. Breathtaking white beaches, pristine jungles and forgotten civilizations all ready to be discovered but make sure to leave your big backpacks at your hostel (read our experience of the Parque Tayrona).
Playa at Cabo de San Juan
Last but not least, Santa Marta is also close to Palomino, a small laid-back village just after the Parque Tayrona along the coast known by backpackers for its hippie environment.
If you’ve visited Santa Marta and had a better experience make sure to drop a comment and give us your opinion 🙂
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