HOW TO GO TO SANTA MARTA IN COLOMBIA

Send

Day 13: How to go to Santa Marta in Colombia

With this post we want to show you the different options about how to go to Santa Marta in Colombia, gateway for most travelers who want to go to Tayrona National Natural Park.
In our case we have opted for a public service but more comfortable than the conventional bus, which we will talk about later, so today and after the routes of these previous days through Cartagena de Indias in one day and Cartagena de Indias In two days, we take it with a little more peace of mind.
We take the opportunity to work for a while and have breakfast in the courtyard of Casa Venita Hostal Boutique our accommodation in Cartagena de Indias these days and at 7:30 o'clock the Marsol bus arrives, which will be our Transportation from Cartagena de Indias to Santa Marta.

How to go to Santa Marta

First we will make a general summary of the different options on how to get to Santa Marta, from different Colombian cities, to later talk about the specific case of Cartagena de Indias, which is the city from which the majority of travelers move.

From Bogotá: keep in mind that the route from Bogotá to Santa Marta It is about 1000 kilometers, so the bus takes between 15 and 20 hours, depending on the company and the stops you make. The price is about 95000COP (+ -25 euros) and Copetran and Berlin are two of the companies that make this journey.
In this case we would choose to take a flight from Bogotá to Santa Marta, which has an airport, since the flight is 1: 30h and the prices are usually about 50 euros.
From Medellín: from Medellín the time is reduced a bit, since the distance with Santa Marta is about 850 kilometers, although the journey time is about 15-16 hours and the price about 165000COP (+ -45 euros). Fast Ochoa and Brasilia Express are two of the companies that make this journey.
As from Bogotá, in this case to go to Santa Marta we recommend you take a flight that takes just over an hour and has a price of about 50 euros.
From Barranquilla: this is the destination that is closest to Santa Marta, so the most advisable option is to take a bus from Expreso Brasilia, Copetrán or Rapido Ochoa (there are more companies) and travel the 100 kilometers in about 1 hour and a half for 15000COP.

Santa Marta in Colombia

How to get to Santa Marta from Cartagena de Indias

Normally most travelers who want to go to Santa Marta before have been in Cartagena de Indias, so this is the most common origin to get to the city. In this case we have several ways to go to Santa Marta:

Public bus: there are several companies such as Copetrans, Brasilia Express or Unitransco that make this journey in about 5 hours for a price of more or less 30000COP.
Private bus: this is a service that Marsol company performs and that is door to door. That is, they pick you up at your hotel in Cartagena de Indias and leave you at your hotel in Santa Marta or at a point where there are taxis to take you to the station from where the buses leave to go to Tayrona, in case that Be your final destination.
The price of this bus is 52000COP the journey, more expensive than the public bus but also more comfortable, so for us it is the best option to go to Santa Marta in Colombia.
In this case the trip is about 3: 30h-4h and includes several stops to drink coffee and stretch your legs, and to hire it you must call one or two days before, they can do it from the hotel, to reserve your place. They usually have several daily services, so there are enough schedules to choose from.
In addition to these services you can also choose to take a taxi to go from Cartagena de Indias to Santa Marta, but we believe that the price does not compensate having the previous options that are equally fast.
Another option, if you want to know Santa Marta and also Barranquilla and do it with a guide, to not miss anything, is to hire this Excursion to Santa Marta and Barranquilla.

Remember that in Colombia buses and vans usually carry air conditioning quite high, so it is interesting to carry a thin jacket or foulard by hand.

Marsol bus one of the options on how to go to Santa Marta in Colombia

Recommended travel cards
Remember that in order not to pay commissions and always have the current change we recommend you use the N26 card to pay and the Bnext and Revolut cards to get money at the ATMs. They are the ones we use, They are free and will save you a lot.
You can find more information in this article about the best cards to travel without commissions.

After a journey of almost 5 hours, which we do surrounded by nature, beaches and good weather, we arrive in Santa Marta from Cartagena de Indias around 12 noon, at which time we have to check in at the next hotel of our route through Colombia for free, La Calzada del Santo, one of the most recommended accommodation in Santa Marta, from where we can enjoy the historic center of the city, the boardwalk and an environment that, from what we have read, will not leave us indifferent

La Calzada del Santo Hotel

After resting a little and being already the time it is, we decided that the first thing we should do in our new destination of the trip to Colombia in 46 days, is to find a restaurant, so after reviewing the recommendations we have, we opted for Crimson, very close to our hotel, where we ordered a ceviche, grilled vegetables and a broth rice, more beer and coconut lemonade for 107000COP. Super recommended!

Crimson Restaurant

After lunch we approached Aviatur for a moment, which are the offices of the National Parks of Colombia to make an inquiry about the Tayrona Park, since we bought the tickets through the internet and we only have the date of entry on the 15th of December, which will be the day we arrive at the park but the departure date is not indicated anywhere.
Once there, they explain that currently the company that managed the park has lost the concessions, so the Tayrona Park currently does not offer service or restaurants or accommodation, and that is why they only sell one-day tickets.
We being staying inside we will infringe the rules, to put it somehow, (these accommodations that remain open is because the landowners have the concessions and do not want to close their businesses), although Aviatur cannot do anything either, since legally the accommodation is inside and you can stay inside and spend the night and pay a single ticket even if you are more days in the park.
This is a topic that we will discuss a little more thoroughly, always from our experience, in the post in which we talk about the Tayrona Natural Park, since some concessions have been changed and there are changes in the park regulations.

Walk through the city after the route to go to Santa Marta

With this already solved or at least with the clearest ideas about the changes in the park, seeing that the temperatures are around 35 degrees, we decided to return to our hotel to rest for a while and get rid of the hottest hours at 17h go Direct to the boardwalk, where we enjoy an unforgettable sunset.

Sunset in Santa Marta

After sunset we get lost in the liveliest streets of the historic center, with a stop to drink two coconut lemonades for 14000COP, where we begin to discover a small city that has much more to offer than we expected and we will talk about in the next post in much more detail, since we believe that if you have an extra day, it is not a bad idea to stay a day knowing some of its most tourist spots.

Santa Marta

It's 10 o'clock at night when we approach dinner in Lulo, where we order a panini capresse and a gourmet arepa of ceviche plus water and beer for 60100COP, with which we finish in an exquisite way today, after going to Santa Marta from Cartagena and start to know this colorful city that we are sure, still has much more to offer.