Tayrona National Park and staying in a bit of paradise nearby

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
7
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
1
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
6
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
5
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
4
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
4
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
55 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
344th/457
Top 80%
continent
South America
country
Colombia
Length of time
3-4 days
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$90 (typically $70 - $110)
Time of year visited
March
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Beaches Jungle Lagoons
All Tags
Cliffs Fabulous hotel River swimming
Wow Factor
Two scores: first is the wow factor which ranges from ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️, and a separate category for the truly "gash". The second is the more analytical travel experience score, which considers 6 varied criteria to give an overall score out of 100.
⭐⭐

Summary

Tayrona National Park is nice – you can walk through the pretty jungle areas to get to the beautiful beaches – but it does get pretty crowded.  My tip would be to stay in one of the chilled out beach hotels in the fantastic area just past the eastern end of the park, right where the river meets the sea.

The hotels themselves are lovely, and the nearby lagoon is a stunning setting.  We ended up extending our stay for 4 nights because we liked it so much and headed over to the park for two of the days, avoiding the rush of a day trip from Santa Marta.  Search for Maloka Barlovento for the right spot.  We stayed there and would recommend.

 

Maloka Barlovento hotel next to Tayrona National Park

 

Nearby you also have two super things to do – firstly, and easiest, is Cartagena’s wonderful Old Town that ranks as one of the best in Latin America and see more tips at the travel entry Soaking up the Cartagena Old Town.  But the highlight is the 4days / 3 nights Hiking the Lost City Trek where you trek through the jungle to the mystical Lost City.   Have a look at how it can all come together in a itinerary for 3 weeks in Colombia

One last tip – “Cayman Aguja” is a sign you’ll see put up all along the shore.  It isn’t a type of cayman, its an American Crocodile!

 

"Cayman Aguja" sign in Tayrona National Park

 

Highlights

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#1 Soaking up the beautiful beaches surrounded by jungle in this nice spot of paradise

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#2 Wandering through and exploring the jungle as it meets the beaches of the national park

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#3 Wandering along the quieter coastline to the west of the park and seeing the beautiful combination of lagoons and open ocean

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#4 Checking out the pretty beaches that sit within Tayrona National Park

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#5 Lazing away the days in the beachside cabins that sit just outside of the national park, with a far more chilled out vibe

What to prioritise in Colombia

Colombia has some real wow experiences.  For a first time visitor it can be a little overwhelming as to what to prioritise and simply because the country takes such a long times to travel around. See the 3 week itinerary for Colombia for how to do this, but if time is restricted the below is how I would think about priorities and how Tayrona National Park fits in:

 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Hiking the Lost City Trek
A challenging multi-day trek through dense Colombian jungle, but rewarded by insane mountain views and majestic levels of remote ruins of Ciudad Perdida. Adventure and isolation and a mega wow. Hiking the Lost City Trek.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Salento and the Valley de Cocora 
Mountainous coffee country with picture-perfect colourful hilltop towns and a wonderful walk through a valley with the world’s tallest palm trees. Walking the Valley de Cocora, visiting the humming birds and soaking up Salento.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Cartegena
One of the best old towns in all of Latin America with incredible bar and restaurant scene.  Crowds take the shine off a little but still a country highlight. Soaking up the Cartagena Old Town.

 

⭐️⭐️ Medellin
The street art, the changing neighbourhoods, the museums, the great bar and restaurant scene – all worth seeing, but the highlight is the cable cars.  Not just over the differing neighbourhoods clinging precariously to the steep sides, but also up over the city valley sides and into the lush green forests where the city is completely forgotten.  Couple of days in Medellin riding the cable cars.

⭐️⭐️ Tayrona National Park 
Small flat walks through jungle and boulders to find stunning beaches.  We found the the chilled out beach hotels just the the east end of the park so nice we extended by 4 nights.

 

⭐️ The Guatape Lakes 
Nice day trip to take from Medellin – views from the top of the 220m (720 feet) tall La Piedra are amazing and the walk around the colourful town of Guatape is nice.  But I’d challenge a lot I’ve read about this being a “must see”.  Guatape Lakes outside of Medellin.

⭐️ Bogota 
I wasn’t the biggest fan of Bogota – there are better places to spend your time and we never really felt 100% safe. High chance though you’ll fly in and so do a half day cycling tour, play Tejo and to head up on the cable car to Monserrate.  Cycling and taking the cable car in Bogota.

Experiences nearby
Wow Factor Score Two scores: first is the wow factor which ranges from ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️, and a separate category for the truly "gash". The second is the more analytical travel experience score, which considers 6 varied criteria to give an overall score out of 100. LowHigh
  • Elite, unmissable
  • World-class, downsides
  • Meets the Wow Factor
  • Worth it
  • Meh
  • Gash

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Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences - from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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