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Tayrona National Park is this beautiful haven sitting on the Caribbean coastline. It is covered with luxurious, tropical forests, secret trails, and some of the best beaches in Colombia. This little bit of paradise isn’t the cheapest place to visit and yes as tourism grows in Colombia this is one spot to put on your list.
Day One – Tayrona National Park: Hiking to Camp Cabo
As we started our adventure into the forest a bus is on offer to take you roughly 3km. You could choose to walk this but there isn’t much to look at. Also, there will still be a lot of hiking from the bus stop point anyway. The trails aren’t marked but were well-trodden in places. As we set off the temperature began to rise, and the humidity did too. Luckily most of this walk was under the canopy of the trees.
We walked as far as ‘Camp Cabo’, this is the beach Google shows you when searching for Tayrona. Somehow as we left the first camp to continue the hike, we ended up walking the horse track. It looked to be the only route. If you met us, you would know we always mess it up a little. There was less to look at but was much cooler.
Arriving at Camp Cabo…
Our arrival at Camp Cabo was breathtaking, we may have been hot and sweaty but the view was incredible. A pretty horseshoe bay with golden sand and blue waters gently lapping with a mountain backdrop covered in tropical trees. Now, I can see why this is the poster image of Tayrona National Park.
We booked our spot for the night, we chose the more expensive hammocks to sleep in. These were the ones up on the rocks that give you the view I just described. Now it was time to kick back and enjoy the beautiful weather and crystal-clear water. An afternoon at the beach, my favourite place.
Feeling nice and relaxed we got into the hammocks and soon drifted off to sleep. What felt like as soon as my eyes shut; there was a thunderstorm. The rain lashed down and before I could get out of the hammock I was soaked. However, the storm was amazing to watch over the sea. The rumbles of thunder were deafening and the lightning was so bright it lit up the whole bay. As it passed over, the coldness of being soaked swept over my body. Sleep that night went a miss.
Day 2: Hiking Back to the Entrance
We packed extra light for this trip so we didn’t have to carry much so changing clothes wasn’t an option. Cold and damp from the magnificent tropical thunderstorm we set off. This time along the hiker’s path, not the horse track. We stopped off at ‘La Pisicina’ a cute little swimming beach. Swimming beaches are rare to find as the sea here has powerful currents that make entering the water too dangerous. An early morning swim is what we needed. The sun rose in the sky and we were soon warm again.
This walk was much quicker than the horse track we accidentally took up to Camp Cabo. The walk was in the sun and along the beach. So much more to look at. However, us being… well us. Somehow again messed up and yep you guessed it… ended up on the horse track. We technically did the whole normal walk. Just some on the way there and some on the way back. The horse track was so muddy this time so we had to go barefoot. Fli–flops just kept getting stuck.
Summary of Tayrona National Park
This haven on the Caribbean coast is worth the visit but I would suggest more time to explore the area. As there are different trails throughout the park. All in all a nice, pleasant trip. I really enjoyed myself even getting woken by the storm. I would definitely go again. We packed in food with us to help keep the costs down. Unfortunately, compared to Iguazu or other attractions Tayrona isn’t cheap. It was easy to get to by the local bus from Santa Marta. Like all popular tourist attractions, early arrival is a must because only a certain amount of people get in per day. You don’t want to be disappointed. It’s worth it.
