The trip to Colombia - Santa Marta - Palomino

It pains me to say that I was in Santa Marta at the beginning of the Civid lock down so Tairona Park was closed.

I was already worried bout returning home on the last flights, but definitely I was not going to leave Santa Marta without seeing its fabulous beaches. So asking around I discovered that you can go to Palomino which is a town that sits right past Tairona.

You catch a bus from the Market in Cartagena and in two hours you´re there, from the road to the beach it{s a two click walk, and you will stumble onto the most gorgeous beaches.

The access to the beach was closed in many places so it was empty, if you go there during high season you will have to dodge bodies to walk on the beach.

Hey I had to use my tropical shorts bought for the occasion.

The trip to Colombia - Santa Marta - Where to stay

In Santa Marta I stayed at "Hostal La Villana" at Calle 17 #3-70 in the "Centro Histórico"smack downtown and 3 blocks from the beach.

With low cost no frill beading it does have a small Jacuzzi-pool to chill down at night and the location is superb not to mention the cheap price and friendly staff.

The trip to Colombia - Santa Marta - Visiting Taganga

Taganga is a picturesque town 20 minutes away from Santa Marta which you can get there by tout, taxi or just the public transport (the blue buses) that you catch at the market across from the exito supermarket.

upon arrival you will be treated to beautiful views of the beach since the only road leading to the town comes down the mountain.

There are diverse day activities on land and water which you can book through the agencies or with the boat owners themselves.

The town is quite small so you can walk around it a see the sights. I do recommend you eat some fresh fish at the small bars beside the beach.

The trip to Colombia - Santa Marta - the city

Santa Marta is not so small a city with close to 200k inhabitants, but its old town is quite small, like 5 blocks by five. nothing compared to Cartagena.

Still it is worth stopping there or spending a night on your way to Parque Tairona, you will also find most tour operators in Santa Marta for day trips on land or by boat.

The trip to Colombia - Cartagena - Heading to Santa Marta and Tairona

Now when asking around in Cartagena on how to get to Santa Marta and Tairona beach, several people told me that there were two options one called "Berlina and another called "Sol Mar", but some insisted that Solmar was best, even though the price was nearly double.
So I opted for going to Santa Marta via Solar and returning with Berlina.
Solmar offers pick up, but I decided to walk to their terminal that is right at the edge of the walled city, not far from where I was staying, the service was good and they left me right downtown Santa Marta in 4 hours.
Returning I used Berlina only to find that they depart and arrive from the Bus terminal that in both cities are way outside the city and require you to grab a taxi, that in the end ads up to more that the Solmar price and takes more time to get back and forth from the terminal. The service is also good on a bigger bus than Solmar.

The trip to Colombia - Cartagena at night

I would say that colonial cities render most their mystique at nighttime with their lamps reflecting on cobblestones on an empty street.

But in crowded touristic spots you might find it complicated cuz you´ll have people wondering around till very ungodly hours.

My recommendation is to get up early one day to catch the sunset and do an hour or two of nighttime pics with your tripod.