Caribbean Coast: warm, culture, and sand

Tired of the cold and the rain? Luckily, Colombia is the second country talking about diversity, and that’s why today we will talk about the Colombian Caribbean coast, whose main touristic cities are Cartagena, Santa Marta, and Barranquilla. The three of them are near themselves and offer a different kind of tourism, and we will also show you the best way to enjoy this warm experience.

¿How to get there?

First of all, you have to make the decision whether to start your trip from Cartagena or Santa Marta and if it is going to be by bus or plane. If you have enough money, we recommend you to take a plane, although it is more expensive, you will be there in 2 hours, while on a bus, it would be like 12 or 15 hours. Once you get there you will have to buy bus tickets to travel between the cities, which can cost you between 20.000 COP and 25.000 COP. Here you have a map so you can understand better what you have to do.

Cartagena

Cartagena de Indias is one of the most important cities in the history of Colombia, this is why tourism is one of its specialties. Here you will find the walled city which was built many years ago to protect the city from the pirates, nowadays it is known as the most complete fortification in South America. Inside these walls, you will find the Cartagena’s downtown in which you will be able to know the dungeons, the colorful houses, museums, restaurants, and a little bit of Colombian culture and roots because if you are lucky, you will find people selling our typical food with the typical clothes, or dancers showing our past.

This city has also beautiful beaches, in which you will enjoy the wind on your face while taking the sun. Here we recommend you to have for lunch the most traditional food you can eat in front of a Colombian beach: fried mojarra (fish), coconut rice, avocado, and fish soup. BUT, you have to take into account that you must not pay more than 30.000 COP for that, unfortunately, some Colombians are not fair with foreign people.

Barranquilla

Barranquilla is better known as the city of the golden door. The advantage of this city is that most tourist places are free, so you will only waste money on transportation. The first point you should go to is the Malecon, where you can walk to the river’s edge, eat traditional food, and take amazing pictures. Then you can take a taxi to go to La Ventana al Mundo (the world’s window), and learn some history about Barranquilla, and to finish you can eat chuzo, which is a mix between protein (beef, chicken, butifarra or chorizo), corn, lettuce, costeño cheese, bollo limpio, and fósforo potato. If you go in February or March, maybe you are lucky and you can know one of the most famous carnivals in Colombia, better known as the Carnaval of Barranquilla, which is the most cultural expression of our region. This is shown through dances, customs, and parties, as in this time of the year the best parties of Barranquilla came up.

Santa Marta

As Cartagena, this is a good place to visit the beach, even though we recommend you to go to Tayrona Natural Park, it is one of the biggest natural parks of Colombia. This is 1 hour and 15 minutes away from the city on a bus, and 40 minutes on a motorboat. The decision will depend on you as if you arrive on a bus you will have to walk a lot to get to the beaches, but you will be able to enjoy the nature this park offers you. On the other side, if you go on the motorboat you will arrive directly at the beach, and enjoy it more. Another factor that you have to take into account is the money, as the bus only costs 30.000 COP approx. while the motorboat costs 50.000 COP approx.

The ticket to get into the park will cost 53.500 COP, this just includes the entrance. This year the park has changed its policy in order to protect the animals and the plants, so you won’t find restaurants or places to sleep, this is why you need to take food with you.

We hope this blog is useful for you and remember if you have any questions about it don’t hesitate to contact us!

Written by Daniella Niño