Complete Guide to Tayrona National Park, Colombia

Tayrona National Park is one of the top destinations in Colombia and after a visit, you’ll see why. Located on the Caribbean Coast, Tayrona (Parque Tayrona) is the perfect place to explore some of the best beaches in the country and see the jungle.

Those perfect beaches aren’t the easiest to reach though. Even though getting there is straightforward, you do have hike to reach the best beaches of Tayrona. Luckily, the journey takes you through beautiful jungle with lots of opportunity to see wildlife and views of pristine beaches.

Tayrona is an important national park in Colombia as it protects the jungles of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains. It’s one of the highest coastal mountain ranges in the world. These mountains are home to indigenous peoples as well as protected species like the cotton-top tamarin monkey, jaguar, and caiman.

I visited Tayrona for 3 nights as part of a two week trip to Colombia and it was the perfect place to explore the beaches and coast of Colombia.

For being one of Colombia’s most visited tourist destinations, Tayrona can be surprisingly confusing to plan a visit. This guide has everything you need to plan your trip to Tayrona National Park and make your vacation as stress-free as possible.

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When to Visit Tayrona National Park

Unlike a lot of National Parks, Tayrona National Park does close for part of the year. The closure is to allow nature to have the space to itself as well as allow indigenous groups that live in the park time without tourists. While it may be inconvenient for tourists, it’s a great initiative as the park is an important space for the four indigenous groups that call it home as well as the plants and animals.

There are three scheduled closures of the park each year. Generally, they are the first two weeks of February, the first two weeks of June, and the last two weeks of October. Check the Parque Tayrona website in advance for exact closure dates to avoid disappointment. I also would avoid visiting Tayrona immediately after the park reopens as I have heard those days are extremely busy with visitors.

The park is open from 8 am-5 pm and the last entry is at 12pm so if you arrive later you may not be allowed to enter. There is also a cap of 6,900 visitors a day so if you arrive later in the day there is no guarantee of entry. Try to arrive as early as possible to get a ticket.

How Long to Spend in Tayrona National Park

I planned my trip so that I had two full days in the area of the park. You could easily visit Tayrona National Park in one day but I gave myself an extra in case of bad weather conditions. This extra day is perfect for visiting nearby beach destinations outside of the park like Los Naranjos and Palomino. If you have time, you can extend your vacation on the Caribbean Coast and spend some time visiting Palomino.

I really enjoyed staying in the area as it was a very relaxing place. It was also nice to stay nearby the night before visiting Tayrona National Park so I could be at the entry gates at opening time.

If you don’t have time in your itinerary for staying overnight in Tayrona or nearby, it is possible to do Tayrona as a day trip from Santa Marta. This sailboat day trip to Tayrona is one option as you see a different part of the park than by hiking. This hiking tour to Tayrona is a more traditional option and you will do the same hike and visit to Cabo San Juan that I did in this itinerary.

While there are day trip options from Cartagena to Tayrona, I wouldn’t advise it as you will be on the bus for 5 hours each way.

How to Get to Tayrona National Park

There are a couple entrances to Tayrona National Park but the main one is at el Zaino. The el Zaino entrance is the easiest one to use if you are hiking to Cabo San Juan like on this itinerary.

Cartagena to Tayrona: Your best bet to get to Tayrona National Park is to take a direct transfer, like this one from Cartagena to Tayona. It’s about 5.5 hours of driving between the park and Cartagena. If you want a cheaper alternative, you can take the bus from Cartagena to Santa Marta (5 hours) where you will need to switch to a different bus or get a taxi to Tayrona Park. This method takes the better part of a day. You can book bus tickets through redBus.

Santa Marta to Tayrona: Take either a bus or private transfer to Tayrona National Park. If you are arriving at the Santa Marta airport, you will need to get to the bus terminal or market area. The buses to Tayrona Park leave about every 30 minutes from Calle 11 & Carrera 11 in the Central Market.

Taganga to Tayrona: There are boats that depart from Taganga at 10-11 am and drop you off right at Cabo San Juan. They will return to Taganga between 4-4:30 pm. If you want to take a boat to skip the hike in Tayrona, Taganga is 15 minutes by taxi from Santa Marta.

From Elsewhere in Colombia: Fly into the Santa Marta Simon Bolivar Airport and then a bus or transfer.

Accommodation Near Tayrona National Park

I stayed at Senda Koguiwa, a hotel right outside of Tayrona National Park. It was a 5-minute walk to the front gates of the park so it was perfect for visiting for the day. The rooms here were enormous and very comfortable. Beautiful grounds and pool as well as a spa on site. This is one of my favourite places I stayed in Colombia and I would happily return. I would also love to stay in nearby Los Naranjos at other hotels operated by Senda, including the Senda Casa Tayrona Los Naranjos.

While I didn’t stay at Playa Los Angeles, I did visit as a day trip and loved the location. This is a great budget option as there are campsites and glamping-style tents. There are also brand new cabins that overlook the sea. This would be a fantastic option if you are looking to stay right on the Caribbean as there is a massive private beach here. It’s less than 10 minutes by cab to the entrance of Tayrona National Park.

Accommodation in Tayrona

Within Tayrona park, there is only one hotel to stay at, Ecohabs. It looks quite nice if you have the budget for it. Definitely, you would be paying a premium for location here.

Camping in Tayrona

Many people also choose to stay overnight in the park. There are tents and hammocks you can rent for the night if you want to maximize your beach time in Tayrona. There are campsites at both Cabo San Juan and Arrecifes, you can check out the Arrecifes campsites here. Bathrooms and showers are available. Make sure if you choose this option to have enough cash for buying food. Try to get to the park early and reserve your campsite beforehand as they do fill up. If you can, leave your larger bag at your previous accommodation and take only the minimum amount of stuff on the hike to the campsite.

Spending One Day in Tayrona National Park

When to Arrive to Tayrona

For the best experience at the park and to avoid crowds and the heat of the afternoon, I recommend going to the park as soon as it opens in the morning. When I visited, opening time was 8 am but you can double check with your hotel as they should know. I did this as a day trip but it is possible to stay overnight in the park. If you aren’t up for hiking but still want to see the park, there are horses in the park that look well cared for and cost around 50,000 pesos each way.

Buying Entry Tickets to Tayrona

At the park, you can pay for your entry with either a card or in cash. Make sure you keep enough cash on hand for the insurance, bus within the park, and for any snacks or drinks you want to buy. There is a two-step process for buying tickets at Tayrona.

Make sure to take your passport with you. It is recommended to have a yellow-fever vaccine when you visit and it is required for entry. I wasn’t asked for proof of the yellow-fever vaccine and generally, it seems they do not check for proof of vaccine. You can get the vaccine for free at the Bogota airport if you are flying through there but that would need to be done 10 days in advance to be valid.

First, you need to buy insurance for the number of days you are visiting Tayrona National Park. When I visited it was 5,000 pesos for one day of insurance paid in cash only. You can do this at the beginning of the line up where you will receive a wristband. Then you line up for the kiosks and you will get another wristband for entry that you can pay for by credit or cash, at the time of visiting it was 57,500 pesos for one day (68,000 in high season). Entry cost depends on if you are visiting in the low or high season. It was actually easier to pay by credit card for the entry ticket because only one window takes cash so you have to go to that window, pay, then take proof of paying by cash back to the original ticket window.

After procuring your ticket and insurance, there are buses that you can pay 5000 pesos for each way. I recommend taking this bus as it is quite far to the start of the hiking area and you won’t miss any nice scenery here, it’s just a road. Far better to save your energy for the hike and swimming.

How to Hike Tayrona National Park

The hike from the bus drop-off to Cabo San Juan is about 2 hours each way. The trail is well-trodden and signposted.

The hike starts with a very nice boardwalk and then a bunch of stairs that go up the hills here. Even though it’s early in the day the sun is quite punishing so you are definitely going to want to have sunscreen, lots of water, and ideally a hat and sunglasses. You can buy drinks from the first viewpoint.

There are fantastic viewpoints of the Caribbean Coast all along this hike. Soon enough you will come to Arrecifes Beach. This beach is beautiful but you cannot swim here. There are multiple signs and flags marking that this beach is unsafe due to the waves.

After Arrecifes Beach, the trail will take you through some low shrubs and mangroves and then into a beautiful forest with large trees and hopefully, lots of wildlife. I was able to see capuchin monkeys here as well as agouti. I arrived to Tayrona after spending time in Minca so it was interesting to contrast the forest types and wildlife with Tayrona.

There are also some smaller beaches along the way including Playa La Piscina. Playa La Piscina seemed really nice to swim at as it had soft sand.

Finally, you will emerge out of the forest to Cabo San Juan del Guia. At Cabo San Juan there are changing rooms as well as bathrooms for a fee. The beach does get quite crowded but there is a nice swimming area here. I found the sand to be quite coarse and painful and difficult to wash off so this is the perfect place for water shoes. Make sure you walk up to the viewpoint here to look over the beach.

After spending time at the beach, it will be time to head back. The park closes at 5 pm so make sure you get the bus in time or you will have to walk the extra distance.

On the way back, the heat had really started to build so on top of dealing with the sun, it was also really humid and felt just a little bit harder to walk up the stairs. I went at a very leisurely pace and enjoyed the wildlife. I was lucky enough to see multiple groups of cotton-top tamarin monkeys, tons of geckos and lizards, more capuchins and agoutis, blue morpho butterflies, and thousands of leaf-cutter ants.

Prior to visiting, I was a little apprehensive about only having a day trip to the park as so many stay overnight in the park. I ended up feeling quite relieved I only visited for the day as I would not have enjoyed staying in the hammocks or tents you can rent in Tayrona. It was a long walking day however, I did end up walking 20 km overall for the day.

What to Do on Your Second Day in Tayrona: Playa Los Angeles

On my second day near Tayrona National Park, I visited the nearby Caribbean Coast, going to Playa Los Angeles in Los Naranjos. Playa Los Angeles is a private beach where you can camp and has a restaurant. It looked like a really nice spot and when I was there they were also building cabins for stays. For a day pass, at the time I visited it was 12,000 pesos per person. At the time I visited, it was a cash-only location.

To get to Playa Los Angeles you can ask your hotel to call a cab for you or walk to the entrance of Tayrona National Park as there will be a lot of cabs there. Make sure you have small bills to pay the taxi driver.

Playa Los Angeles has a massive beach that you can walk down or sunbathe on. Unfortunately, like a lot of beaches in this area, you can’t swim here. There are fantastic waves though. There is also a nice lookout tower for views over the beach and at the mountains behind you.

In addition to the lookout tower, there are some nice photo opportunities here, like the swing set. Playa Los Angeles also has a restaurant on site. It’s the perfect place to have lunch and is quite reasonably priced.

Visiting Parque Tayrona

While Tayrona is a fantastic addition to a Colombia itinerary, you do have to plan it in advance to avoid disappointment. It’s a very popular destination in Colombia so do temper expectations of having a wild jungle beach to yourself. It can get quite crowded and reach capacity in high seasons.

I loved my visit to Tayrona and even though the beach does get quite crowded, by visiting earlier in the day I missed out on crowds. I loved the jungle hike and getting to see monkeys and wildlife while trekking to the beach. It really made it feel like a special experience that Colombia has to offer.

After Tayrona, I headed to Cartagena to check out what this historic city had to offer.

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