Minca, Santa Marta, and Tayrona National Park
This Northeast region of Colombia offers beautiful mountain views, gorgeous beaches, and jungle hikes. If you have a limited time in this region but still want to do as much as you can, we have the itinerary for you!
The Drive
We started our trip at the Enterprise car rental at the Cartagena Airport. (Read about our time in Cartagena and the top 6 things to do while you are there!) We decided to rent a car in order to be able to get to all the places we wanted to on our own schedule. Driving was not horrible (although Mark might say differently since he was the one who did all the driving.) The price of the car was really cheap too!
Our first destination was Casa Elemento up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and our GPS said it would be about a 4-hour drive. On our way there we stopped for lunch at the Sombrero restaurant and it was delicious. Def make a pit stop here!
Things to mention about the drive:
- We thought it was going to be a beautiful drive along the coast but it was not. You really get to see a lot of the 3rd world parts of Colombia with the tin roofs and plywood, dirt floor homes. We never felt unsafe but it can be a bit of a culture shock.
- There were a lot of tolls. They were all about $4 each and probably added up to ~$25 total.
- Some of the roads in the cities/towns we drove through were shared streets- meaning trucks, donkey carts, pedestrians, cars all sharing the same roadway. It can be a little overwhelming.
Minca
We arrived in Minca, at the base of the mountain and started to drive our small, rental Kia up the path. DO NOT do this lol. The path was hardly wide enough for our car and it was so rocky. We made it about halfway up the mountain and then had to ditch the car and park it there because it kept bottoming out. We looked like idiots to everyone hiking their way up.
Some guys on motorcycles came and drove us up to Casa Elemento. We should have just parked our car overnight in Minca and just drove all the way up with them.
Casa Elemento
Casa Elemento is a hostel perched up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, with infamous giant hammocks overlooking the beautiful scenery. They offer private cabins, small hammocks, and dorm style rooms as accommodation. Outside of the giant hammocks, there’s a pool, bar, pool table, and food. We ended up making it up there just in time for sunset.
Our private cabin was really cute. You could look out at the mountains from our bed. The best part of our time here was waking up to see the sunrise. The clouds had settled in the valley with the mountain tops peeking out over them. It was literally like being on cloud nine with the pastel, cotton candy colors mixing in the sky.
One note about Casa Elemento:
This place was not the serene, relaxing, one with nature kind of hostel we thought it would be. It was a party hostel with music bumping late at night. Totally fine but keep this in mind! Bring earplugs for this and for the howler monkeys!
We left early to make sure our car was still where we left it on the mountain (success!) and drove to our next destination: The Dreamer Hostel. The Dreamer hostel is actually about 20 mins from the main downtown Santa Marta area but it is in the best location if you are trying to do trips to Minca or Tayrona. The drive was about 45 mins. We dropped our bags off and took our car to the main entrance of Tayrona (on the East side of the park) which was about another 45 mins from the Dreamer.
Tayrona
We only had about half a day to explore the park but we really just wanted to do some hiking. We had to buy tickets for ourselves, insurance, and parking for the car. They allowed us to drive the car into the park, closer to the trails which saved us about 30 mins of walking. There was not a lot of signage so we were confused on where the actual path started to the 3 first beaches. We ended up taking the donkey path (lol) on the way there (by foot) and then the actual path on the way back.
We had enough time to see a few of the beaches along the path- Canaveral, Arrecifes, and a few small ones in between. Look for signs on which ones you can swim in because the current can be really strong! We also got food and cervezas at a little beachside restaurant.
The hike:
I would say it is pretty moderate. There are a lot of stairs and boulders/ rocks you need to jump and climb over. The heat does not help either! Bring a lot of water, sunscreen, and bugspray!
Things to note about Tayrona:
- The entrance only took cash for the ticket, insurance, and parking. They also asked for an ID or passport number. Inside the park, you can use credit to purchase food and drink.
- Exploring the entirety of the park and actually getting to stop and enjoy yourself will take a lot longer. You could spend 3 days there and even stay overnight in ecohostels or hammocks or by camping.
The Dreamer Hostel and Santa Marta
After the day of hiking, we went back to stay at the Dreamer Hostel and checked in to our room. The power kept going out so we took about a 20 min taxi ride (cost 8000 COP) into Santa Marta for dinner.
Santa Marta was interesting. We stepped out of our cab and Mark was immediately hit on by a prostitute. There was one street that was popping off with so many restaurants and bars, lined with tables full of people on both sides. There were street performers and peddlers coming up to the tables begging for money and crazy winds so we decided to move inside.
We ate an amazing dinner at La Perla. I can’t emphasize enough how much we love the prices in Colombia. Mark got a full crab dinner for only $20!
We strolled around a few other streets and the main square but it was honestly just kind of trashy.
The next day we chilled by the pool in the hammocks at the Dreamer Hostel before driving back to Cartagena for our flight to Medellin.
If we had more time, knowing what we know now, this is what we would’ve done:
- Bussed to Santa Marta in the morning and stayed at the Dreamer Hostel– stayed and chilled there by the pool one day. Got dinner out in Santa Marta.
- Hiked one day in Tayrona National Park. Returned to the Dreamer Hostel that night.
- Booked a tour to Bahia Concha one day through the hostel. This beach is on the West Side of Tayrona and was not accessible by car. Our hostel recommended it and said it was one of the most beautiful beaches in the park.
- Did a day trip up to Minca and stayed overnight at Casa Elemento. Had the hostel arrange a trip for us out to Minca and took the Jeeps or motorcycles up the mountain. (or maybe even hiked!)
- Flew out of Santa Marta to Medellin.
