Your First Colombia Trip: Cartagena to Tayrona in 10 Days
Everyone's first Colombia question is the same: where do I even start? The country is the size of Texas and France combined and the regions feel like different planets. Our default answer for a first trip is the Caribbean run: Cartagena, the Rosario Islands, Santa Marta, and Tayrona. Ten days, one coastline, zero regrets.
Days one through four belong to Cartagena. Stay inside the walled city or in Getsemaní, which has gone from rough to the best neighborhood for travelers in the entire country. Mornings are for the old city before the heat, afternoons for pool or siesta, evenings for the plazas when the light goes gold and the palenqueras balance fruit bowls past four-hundred-year-old balconies. Take the Rosario Islands boat day from the marina: an hour out, the water turns the kind of blue that ruins other beaches for you.
Day five, move along the coast to Santa Marta, four hours by private transfer or a quick flight. Santa Marta itself is a working port city with a charming historic core, but its real job is being the gateway. Base yourself there or in the fishing village of Taganga, and if your dates line up, catch a sunset at the Marina with juice from a stand named after somebody's mother.
Days six through eight are Tayrona National Park. Enter at El Zaino, walk the jungle trail an hour through monkeys and absurd birdsong until the trees open onto Arrecifes and then Cabo San Juan: boulders the size of houses, palms leaning into turquoise water. Sleep in a hammock or an ecohab if you booked early. Swim only where flagged, the currents are serious. It is the single most beautiful place most visitors see in Colombia, and it is not close.
Days nine and ten, decompress. Minca, a mountain town forty minutes above Santa Marta, does coffee farms, waterfalls, and the best sunset hammocks in the Sierra Nevada. Then fly home out of Santa Marta or Cartagena. You will spend the flight planning the second trip, because now you know: Medellín, the Eje Cafetero, and the Pacific are all still out there. That is how Colombia gets you.
