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The City of Santa Marta |
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Santa Marta is located in one of the most beautiful corners of the Colombian Caribbean, with modern and luxurious hotels, comfortable bungalows and villas, and small executive hotels with a tropical flavor right next to the beach in the sectors of „Bello Horizonte“, „Pozos Colorados“, „Rodadero“ and „Taganga“.
Santa Marta is a City that people fall in love with. Its untouched beaches, Natural Parks, exuberant mountains and snowed summits make of Santa Marta a city of natural beauty.
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The Rodadero is a beach only 5km from the city center and the most visited place in Santa Marta. It has become a symbol of the city partly because it is a world class bathing resort.
There are modern hotels, specialized rental apartments and typical restaurants, sport camps and installations, a police station, camping, tourist information offices, beach games and entertainment for children, lots of different shops, super markets and a shopping mall, discos, casinos, post offices, telecommunications and internet coffees nearby and accessible by foot. All of these amenities contribute to the Rodadero´s attractive nature.
At the beach, one can rent tents which are situated next to the coast. This is a convenient deal for the tourists because the relaxing chez- lounges are movable in and out of the sun, which is perfect for the children who want to play in the sun, or by the water, and later need to rest in the shade.
Another attractive way to enjoy in Rodadero is by renting a pedalo which accommodates up to 6 people. They are safe and easy to handle and are a funny way of enjoying and spending a good time around the area. One can also rent swim rings for children and adults.
The tourists do not seem to want to leave and the party does not end after sunset; rather, the Rodadero converts itself into a great attraction after hours!
The restaurants are full of life and all have agreeable joyous atmospheres, the shops keep open and the music can be listened to everywhere because there are music groups that play typical sounds like the Vallenato, Cumbia and Salsa. They also play on petition or by contract for the restaurants of the area to entertain their clients.
The area is very popular among the youth culture, the beaches there stay open and the ambiance is safe. There are also bars and discos nearby, which attracts the city inhabitants to enjoy themselves on a nightly basis. |
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Taganga (description)
It s a picturesque little fisherman town situated in the northwest of Colombia and only 25 minutes by bus from the city of Santa Marta, where time seems to pass more slowly than average. It is characterized by having maintined the fihing tradition of its ancestors, as well as the construction of boats, canoes and the use of cast nets for fishing.
The activities start at 6 in the morning, and while there are not that many, they fill this place with a unique type feeling. In the evening hours, when the fishermen come back from their work, the town is overrun with sea gulls, while at the same time, one can observe people with their baskets waiting for the arrival of the fishermen.
Taganga has a beautiful and calm bay that easily converts into an ideal place for diving and snorkelling.
From the Viewpoint situated on one of the neighbour mountains, one can appreciate the beautiul sight of this bay. This picturesque town is home to good hotels and restaurants. Additionally, in Taganga, one can find about 30 places to practise diving which converts it into an important and 'happening' station in the Colombian Caribbean!
There are also tourist guesthouses which offer their guests the opportunity to be in contact with the life style of its inhabitants first hand.
From Taganga, one can visit some neighbour beaches of a unique beauty. The nights there are fresh with a soft breeze. The party people of Taganga mostly celebrate during Carnaval time. |
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Minca (description)
Minca is situated 630 meters above sea level and is a coffee town located at km 14 in the southwest of Santa Marta on the way to the Sierra Nevada. It is a relatively temperate climate, with a temperature that averages between 17 and 24 degrees.
The mountain range of the Sierra Nevada covers a surface of 17.000 square meters, its summits reach highs of 5.775 meters and is home to the highest tropical mountain in the world. It has a very broad spectrum of environmental conditions, ecological niches, not just in Colombia, but also within the entire tropical zone.
There is a wet tropical forest with high trees- about 40 meters- and many diverse species. Here one can find a lot of lianes, palm trees and ferns. The fauna is even bigger with bears and smaller animals like armadillos, Hedgehogs, ocelots and monkeys. There are also thousands of birds and insects, who make their living giving free concerts in the forest floors!
Minca is an ecological paradise with its River Minca of crystal waters and its immense vegetation, which holds just below the surface the archaeological richness of ist ancestors, the „Arhuacos“.
The main attractive destinations of the zone are Pozo Azul (blue fountain), the River Minca, the coffee plantations, San Lorenzo, the Sierra Nevada and the flower cultivations.
Minca offers diverse accommodation facilities and has been a popular home to painters, sculptors and other artisans. |
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The Sierra Nevada
The National Natural Park of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta is one of the 55 protected areas by the system of National Colombian Natural parks and the second oldest one, created in 1964. It is a mountain chain situated in the northern coast of the country. It elevates abruptly from the coasts of the Caribbean Sea and within only 42 kilometers it reaches an altitude of 5.775 meters in its snowed summits, and with its surface of 17.000 square kilometers, it is the biggest mountain of Colombia and the highest littoral mountain formation in the world; and it is insulated by the big Andean mountain range by plain and semiarid zones. Its highest summits are the „Pico Simón Bolivar“ and the „Pico Cristóbal Colón“; one has to emphasize that the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta is the highest coastal mountain in the world. The Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta forms part of Tayrona Park, which is administrated by the Ministry for Environment and is situated between the departments of Magdalena, Guajira and Cesar.
Live the experience of a trip in a high- speed boat along the countless beaches, diving through surprising reefs, dancing to the rhythm of the Cumbia drums, enjoying exotic cocktails, feeling the hot sand under your feet and the sun browning your skin and enjoy the blue waters of the Sea and the impressive expanse of the Sierra Nevada.
Santa Marta was the first city founded by the spaniards on the American Continent (in 1525) and holds with its almost five centuries of history a lot of architectural treasures. 
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The National Natural Park Tayrona is situated 34 km from Santa Marta and it is considered one of the most important ecological reservations of Colombia. There are 15.000 hectares of natural beauty with camping zones, untouched beaches, ecotourism and indigenous settlements.
The Tayrona Park
The National Natural Park Tayrona is one of those tropical paradises which are idealized by the litterature and the cinema. Its white beaches right next to the wet exuberant jungle, make it one of the most visited Natural Parks in Colombia.
By leaving the beaches, the visitor enters in a complex system of stone paved ways which communicate a whole net of indigenous settlements from the coast to the Sierra Nevada.
Chairama (nowadays “Pueblito”), represents one of the most important nucleus of artisans, fishermen and farmers, who exchange their products and civic public services.
In Cañaveral, the accomodation in bungalos conserves the characteristics of the Tayrona architecture, with a capacity from 4 to 6 people. There are also camping zones in Arrecifes, each one with space for 76 adequate tents.
It is situated in the littoral Caribbrean at km 34 of Santa Marta on the way to Riohacha, and it has an extension of 15.000 hectares, of which 12.000 are land and 3.000 are sea zone, its altitude varies from 0 to 900 meters above sea level, what allows a temperate climate- warm, with temperatures from 25 to 30 degrees.
One can undertake tours to „Neguanje“, where you arrive on the way to „Palangana“, that also leads to „Gayraca“ and „Playa Coralina“. You can walk from Cañaveral to the beautiful beaches of „Arrecifes“,“ la Piscina“ and „ el Cabo San Juan del Guía“. One can also realize a walk to to „Pueblito“ to know the city „Tayrona Chayrama“. From Cañaveral, you are also able to reach the beach „Los Naranjos“ walking through interpretative and natural paths with a lot of vegetation.
The most representative places of this marvellous natural park are Cañaveral and Arrecifes with their camping zones, Neguanje, Playa Linda, la Piscina and Cabo San Juan, which are calm beaches apt for the swimming and sun bathing of their visitors.
„Los Naranjos“ sees its Estuary mouth at the River Piedras which flows into the Caribbean Sea. „Playa del muerto“ is a coral beach. There are also other beaches like „Bonito Gordo“, „Bahía Concha“, „Chengue“, „Gayraca“, „Cinto“ y „Guachaquita“, where the swimmers must be careful because there are strong tides.
Pueblito is also known as „Chairama“ and is one of the 200 prehispanic cities discovered in the entourage of the Sierra Nevada.
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