Parque Tayrona is a jungle that has just jumped out of a movie set. It’s pristine, perfect, wild and gorgeous. I didn’t visit this wonderful spot on my first visit to Colombia – I wasn’t so into hiking at that point and I had to prioritise due to time constraints but I wish I had. WOW. This spot was one of my trip highlights (although there are so very many).
Top Tips for Parque Tayrona:
- If you can – stay more than one night! We only stayed overnight which meant two long days of hiking and a short but sweet overnight stop at the most beautiful spot in the park. I would have liked to spend a day at Cabo San Juan relaxing and swimming AND/OR visited one of the other locations/campsites in the park.
- Bring plenty of your own food, even if you are staying at Cabo San Juan (which has a restaurant and a shop). The choices are pretty limited and its very expensive for Colombia. You will also want snacks/lunch while you are hiking. You want to be able to treat yourself with an ice-block or a cooked meal rather than feel like you have to pay outrageous prices every time you need to eat something.
Where to stay:
Cabo San Juan has the best and most popular accomodation. It has TONs of hammocks and tent spaces and its cheap to stay. It has a toilet/shower block plus a restaurant and a shop so its well set up for visitors. There are other places you can stay within the park such as other quieter campsites, luxury lodges you book in advance, and lodges just inside the borders of the park that you don’t need to hike to.
Also, Cabo San Juan is a can’t miss spot due to its beautiful double bay so you may as well stay overnight there! When I stayed the hammocks were 20,000 COP each. If you arrive early enough you can choose the hammocks on a rock outcrop in the middle of the double bays (pictured above). It gets a bit windy up there though and forget trying to get to and from the toilet in the middle of the night!
Getting there and away:
We travelled to Parque Tayrona from Palomino (This is Colombia’s version of Bali). we stayed at a little guesthouse called La Case en el Arbol. Palomino is really close to Parque Tayrona and was a great place to organise ourselves before starting our hike. It was an un-scheduled stop on our part but we managed to get back from the far north of Colombia a night early but definitely one we are glad we made.
From Palomino, all you need to do isa flag down a bus headed to Santa Marta and let them know which entrance of Parque Tayrona you would like to get off the bus at.
After our Parque Tayrona hike, we headed back to collect the rest of our things from our Hotel in Santa Marta (we stored them there for 4 days). Again, all we did was flag down a bus heading to Santa Marta from the Parque Tayrona entrance. Santa Marta is a cute little beach town and you can get a connection to many parts of Colombia from here. There’s an airport to fly to Bogota and Cartagena is 6 hours by bus.
Getting around:
There are lots of ways to make your way into and out of Parque Tayrona depending on your fitness levels and where you are staying once in the park.
We chose to take the Calabazo entrance into the park. From here it is approximately 4-5 hours hiking via a little jungle settlement called ‘Pueblito’ to get to Cabo San Juan where we were staying. If you are taking this route make sure to start early in the day and give yourself enough time. We absolutely loved this walk as we saw almost nobody else and there were beautiful jungle views. A dog met us in the middle and walked us all the way to Cabo San Juan (turns out he belonged to one of the staff and just liked to wander through the jungle on his own). This hike was LONG though and very sweaty and exhausting in 30 degrees at 100% humidity, Take lots of breaks.
We left via the El Zaino gate. This is a much easier walk (approx. 2 hours) and is the more popular trail. It’s a nice walk via a few beaches and a bit of jungle. Its definitely worth allowing time to stop along the way and swim. La Piscina is a good beach on route. However, do note that there is a long boring road that it part of this route. There are shuttles waiting that allow you to skip this section but we didn’t know this having not entered the park via this route and it gets exhausting walking along what seems like a never ending road. Once you have started the shuttles won’t stop for you as they fill up at the entrance/exit. The road adds about another hour to this walk.
If you aren’t into hiking – you can actually also take a boat into Parque Tayrona. The boat leaves from Taganga. Its really choppy and most people get seasick but if you don’t like hiking this may be the way to go. I do like hiking and also had no desire to go back to Taganga (a party village filled with backpackers and rubbish) so we didn’t choose this option.
Food:
See my top tip above – I suggest bringing as much as you can carry yourself including TONS of water. However, there are facilities to buy food in the park. Also, the El Zaino entrance has some shops and restaurants. We definitely deserved our stop for Lulo juice and a beer on our way out of the park!
What to bring:
- Lots of food and water
- Light, breathable sports clothing (including leggings or long pants)
- Hiking shoes and socks
- Togs and Jandals (Swimming costume and sandals for those not familiar with the kiwi language)
- Sunhat and sunglasses
- Sarong for use as a beach towel or coverup
- Sunblock and Bug repellant
- Book or kindle
- Bodywash and travel towel
- Silk sleeping bag or sheet for the hammock
- Lock for valuables (they have lockers)
- Headlamp or flashlight
- Passport (you will need this to enter the park)
- Cash (with enough to pay the park fee if you haven’t pre-booked your tickets)
- Photo equipment (Phone, Camera, Go Pro) and a battery pack to charge
Bring as few items as you can possibly manage as everything you bring has to be carried on your hike in the jungle heat.
What to expect:
Expect pretty basic camping facilities as you are pretty deep in the Colombian jungle and don’t expect to be completely off the beaten track – there are tons of people here like in any holiday location.
Enjoy Parque Tayrona!
Erika xx
THE ONLY ERIKA IN THE VILLAGE 