Things to do in Santa Marta

Neighborhood · Central Santa Marta

The oldest surviving Spanish street grid in Colombia, founded in 1525 — low colonial houses, the cathedral, and a pedestrianised square that fills every evening.

Local tip: Eat around Calle 19 and the Parque de los Novios after seven, and walk down to the malecón for the sunset over the bay with Isla El Morro in it. The centre is far better at night than by day.

Culture · Mamatoco, east of the centre

The colonial estate where Simón Bolívar died on 17 December 1830, now a museum and botanical garden with vast samán trees and the Altar de la Patria.

Local tip: Go early on a weekday. The gardens are the point rather than the house, and at eight in the morning they are empty and cool.

Nature · Sierra Nevada foothills, 45 minutes south

A small village at 600 m in the coffee foothills — waterfalls, birding, cacao and coffee fincas, and a temperature roughly ten degrees below the coast.

Local tip: Go up for the night rather than the day, and stay above the village. Locals from Santa Marta use Minca exactly the way you would use a hill station, which is the correct way to use it.

Neighborhood · Fishing bay 15 minutes north

A horseshoe fishing village turned diving and backpacker hub, with boats to Playa Grande and some of the cheapest open-water certification in the Americas.

Local tip: Come for the diving and the fish lunch on the beach, go back over the hill before it gets late. Its reputation is mixed for reasons, and the road in and out is the constraint.

Nature · 35 km east along the coast

Jungle running straight into the Caribbean, with boulder-strewn bays, howler monkeys and archaeological terraces — and three annual closures at the request of the Sierra peoples.

Local tip: Enter at Calabazo rather than El Zaino for the longer, emptier walk in via Pueblito. Check the closure calendar and your yellow fever certificate before you set out.

Nature · Inside the Tayrona boundary, reached from the city side

A calm, wide bay inside the park's western end, reachable in half an hour from the city on a rough road, with a separate and much cheaper entrance fee.

Local tip: Bahía Concha entry was set at COP 15,000 for 2026 — a fraction of the main park — and on a weekday morning it is close to empty. Take your own water and shade; there is little of either.