Tayrona National Park is Northern Colombia’s gem. Pretty much every tourist who comes to travel Colombia visits Tayrona. In Tayrona you will find exotic wildlife like monkeys and rare birds, as well as beautiful white sand beaches.
In this guide we’ll breakdown everything you need to know to visit Tayrona National Park.
Things to Book Now for Tayrona National Park 🙉
- 🏨 hotel in/near tayrona (we recommend lodge cacao in el zaino)
- ⛵️ sailing trip from santa marta to tayrona (day trip)
- ➛ tubing in palomino complete guide (go here after tayrona!)
Tayrona National Park – Ultimate Guide
Tayrona National Park can be complicated to visit. We’ll cover everything in this guide to help you with your trip.
So … Where is Tayrona National Park?
Tayrona National Park is 60 square miles of protected area, located in the Magdelena Department of Northern Colombia. This strip of jungle and white-sand beaches is located between the sea and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The closest city to Tayrona is Santa Marta which is about 23 miles from the main entrance (El Zaino). There is an international airport in Santa Marta.
SEE 👉 Things to Do in Santa Marta
Tayrona National Park Has 2 Entrances
The path that you can walk on in Tayrona is shaped like a “U”. There are two entrances to Tayrona, at the upper left and upper right, and the bottom of the “U” is where all of the beaches are. To get to the beaches from one of the entrances, you are going to have a long walk of 2-3 hours, depending on which entrance you choose.
Deciding which entrance to take is a complicated decision that involves understand a lot of the information that is not always readily available.
Our aim is clear this up to you so you can make the best decision for yourself.💫
The entrances are:
- El Zaino – main entrance (most popular)
- Calabazo – secondary entrance (WAY less popular)
El Zaino
- Most popular entrance, need to show up EARLY (7 AM) otherwise you could be waiting in line for an hour to get in the park
- Once you enter here, you can take a collectivo (van) for 5,000 COP to cut down on the amount you have to walk (most tourists do this, you are going to be walking A LOT in Tayrona)
- From the point where the vans drop you off, you still have a two-hour walk through the jungle to get to the first beach
- The beaches are not right next to each other. it could easily be a 20 or so minute walk between each beach
➡️ Read: Ultimate 2 Week Colombia Itinerary 🇨🇴
Calabazo
- MUCH less popular, you will not have to wait in line if you come to this entrance
- Have to pay 5,000 COP to “help with the upkeep of the community” around the entrance
- Once you enter, you can take a motor bike to cut down on your walking. (22,000 COP) if you don’t take the motor bike, you are going to add another 2 hours of walking to your journey.
- From this point, you are still going to have a 3 hour walk to the first beach
- Most people don’t enter here because it’s an extra hour-ish of walking, its an extra 22,000 COP (because you are going to want to pay for the motor-bike taxi), and the walk isn’t as scenic from here to the beaches.
What Did We Do? 👫
We entered through Calabazo because we really wanted to avoid the lines. We were able to enter easily at 8 AM without waiting at all. If we had done this at El Zaino we could have been waiting for a long time.
We entered through Calabazo and exited through El Zaino which allowed us to see the whole park in a day. We did not stay overnight.
Most people enter and exit through El Zaino if they are going to do a day trip.
If you are going to enter through Calabazo, just be aware that it is going to cost a bit more (the 22,000 COP for the motor-bike is the difference). You are also going to have to walk more. (About an extra hour of walking)
How to Get to Tayrona National Park
To get to Tayrona, you’re first going to want to go to Santa Marta. Once you get to Santa Marta, there are basically two options.
- Day Trip to Cabo San Juan (the most popular beach in Tayrona)
- Use Public Transport to Get to El Zaino (assuming you will go to the main entrance)
If you are coming from Minca, you are going to need to take the collectivo (van) down the mountain to right outside Santa Marta, and then switch to the bus headed towards Palomino. (the bus will stop at El Zaino if you ask)
Option 1️⃣ – Day Trip to Cabo San Juan
If you’re short on time and only have a few days in Santa Marta then a guided tour is a good option. Why? It takes a good amount of time to get to Tayrona. Plus, the lines can be long in the morning. PLUS, the hike to the beaches is long from the entrance.
When it comes to tours, there are two options basically.
One, you take a guided tour from Santa Marta to the El Zaino entrance, and hike all the way through the park to Cabo San Juan Beach. This tour includes private transport to and from the park, lunch in the park, and a guide to take you through the hike. This will save you a lot of time getting to and from the park as the tour will pick you up right from your hotel.
➛ You can book your guided tour here.
Two, you go by boat directly to the beaches of Tayrona on a yacht. Once you arrive at the beaches, you will have time to snorkel, swim, sunbathe, and hang out on the beach. Lunch and snacks included.
For only $67, this is a really good deal. To get into the park it’s going to cost you $20, to get to and from the park it’s going to cost you at least another $10, then $15 – $25 on snacks, plus you don’t have to deal with the hassle of waiting in line and hiking through the park. They take you directly to the best part … the beaches! If I were to do Tayrona again, I would do this tour. It saves you a ton of time and hassle, and it’s really not expensive for what you get.
➛ You can book sailing directly to the beaches of Tayrona here.
Option 2️⃣ – Public Transport
If you want to visit Tayrona on your own with public transport like we did, here is how you do it.
- Public Bus from the Mercado Publico in Santa Marta to El Zaino Entrance or Calabazo Entrance
Public Bus
This is the cheapest way to get to the El Zaino entrance. Head to the Mercado Publico and tell them you want to go to Tayrona. They will direct you to the right bus. It should cost around 8,000 COP one way.
➡️ Read: Top 8 Things to Do in Salento 🌴
Arriving at The Park Entrance
This is the confusing part, and it’s hard not to feel like the Colombians are ripping tourists off here … especially if you arrive at Calabazo. (secondary entrance)
El Zaino
Arriving at El Zaino, you will have to pay for insurance (6,000 COP) and park entrance (73,500 COP during high season). You can pay for both with card. Make sure you arrive early as El Zaino is famous for having long lines. You could easily be waiting for an hour here.
Right outside the entrance there are also a few local restaurants to stock up on food and water. There are some vendors along the way selling treats and juice, and the hike isn’t too long from this entrance to the beaches (about 2 hours).
Once you pay the fees, you will have to option to take a van along the main road for 5,000 COP. Most tourists do this. This will save you about an hour of walking.
➡️ Read: 3 Week Colombia Itinerary 🇨🇴
Calabazo
When we arrived at Calabazo, we first had to pay 5,000 COP to “maintain the area around the entrance”. To my knowledge, you don’t have to pay this fee at El Zaino.
At this same spot, we also had to pay 22,000 COP to “reserve our motor bike” from the park entrance. We received our motor-bike tickets, then had to walk a few more minutes to get to the actual spot where you buy the park entrance ticket.
Once you get to this spot, you are going to have to buy insurance (mandatory 6,000 COP per day) and park entrance (73,500 COP per person in high season). This is more than double what Colombians pay. You can pay both of these fees with card if you want.
After you buy these, you will give your motor-bike tickets to the drivers, and they will take you 15 minutes up the road to where you will start your hike. From here its about 2-3 hours to the first beach … “Nudist Beach”. (highly recommend)
If you are ready to swim, I recommend you swim here as it is not too crowded. The next beach, Cabo San Juan, will be very crowded as this is where most of the tents and hammocks are located for the overnight’ers.
If you are looking for food, you will find it at Cabo San Juan. There is one main restaurant where you can order a proper plate of food. I recommend you get here before 12 to make a reservation and order your food, otherwise you are going to be stuck waiting until 1 PM to order.
⛵️ Book your sailing trip to Tayrona here!
Where to Stay in Tayrona Once You Arrive 🛌
There are limited places to stay in the actual park. Most people stay right outside the park in El Zaino so they can get an early start and beat the LONG lines.
In Tayrona
If you want to stay in the park, I recommend Ecohabs Bamboo Parque Tayrona. This is place is nice, and will allow you to explore the park for multiple days without paying the entrance fee more than once. Book Ecohabs Bamboo here!
Right Outside Tayrona in El Zaino
If you want to stay right outside the park, I recommend Lodge Cacao. We stayed here and this place is beautiful. Amazingly large balconies with hammocks, very nice staff, and a pool to cool off in after a long day in Tayrona. PLUS … there are Cotton-top tamarin monkeys (native only to Colombia, 6,000 total in the whole world! ) that migrate THROUGH the hotel in the mornings here.
We did not know this when we came here, but I was sitting out on the balcony at 6:30 AM reading when I noticed a whole family of Cotton-top tamarin’s migrating through the trees (about 10 feet from where I was sitting!). They migrate down from the hills every morning to get food around 6:30 AM, then come back through the trees 10-15 minutes later. This was honestly the highlight of Northern Colombia for us, as we did not see any of these in the park.
➛ Book Your Stay at Lodge Cacao here.
Things to Know About Tayrona National Park
- In 2024, Tayrona National Park is closed Feb. 1 – 15, June 1 – 15, and October 19 – November 2. Check on this before you come as we have met people who came to visit Tayrona without knowing the park is closed!
- Bring your passport, you will need it when you buy the entrance ticket.
- There are no ATM’s in or around Tayrona. The closest ATM’s are back in Santa Marta.
- You can pay your entrance fee by credit card if you want.
- You can’t swim in a lot of the beaches. Because of the strong currents, a lot of people have drowned swimming in the beaches at Tayrona.
- When you buy your ticket, you also have to buy insurance, which is 6,000 COP per day.
- Tayrona gets BUSY in December and January. Also on weekends and pubic holidays. You’re going to want to avoid these days.
Summary – Complete Guide to Tayrona National Park
To get to Tayrona, you’re going to need to head to Santa Marta first. From Santa Marta, you can take a boat tour directly to the beaches of Tayrona, OR you can take public transit or taxi to the entrance (El Zaino is the main one). Most people stay right outside the entrance in El Zaino.
🇨🇴 Travel Insurance 💌
Don’t forget Travel Insurance for your trip. Safety Wing covers emergency medical, dental, trip interruption, lost luggage, and more.
Let us know if you have any questions about Tayrona in the comments. We are more than happy to help!
