Santa Marta is a Caribbean beach city in the Magdalena Department of Colombia's Costa Norte.
Photos: Wikimedia Commons contributors.
Santa Marta an important commercial port and tourist destination. Every day, there are cargo ships coming and going and the action is very much visible. From the beach, the view of the Caribbean Sea is more or less to the west (beautiful sunsets) with a huge rock of an island jutting up out of the water to make a somewhat dramatic effect. Off to the right is the port snug behind another even bigger rock. This is a decent beach if you like beaches that are right in town with lots of people, vendors, and noise.
Streets are numbered. The beach can be considered "Carrera 1" or 1st St., and the first street is usually "Carrera 1A" or 1A St. The next street after the first row of buildings is Carrera 2 or 2nd St. Calles are streets running from east to west. Moovit covers the area for finding connections. As there are no bus stops, buses can be entered and exited anywhere along their routes. The price is COP$2,700 (May 2025) and is paid to the driver when entering the bus. Unlike bigger cities in Colombia, taxis do not run on a meter. Payments start at COP$7,000 (May 2025) for a "lift" (usually a ride no more than 10 minutes).
1 Museo del Oro, Calle 14 No.2-67 (on plaza Bolivar). Displays a collection of precolumbian pottery, a nice collection of gold and a scale model of Ciudad Perdida. Free entrance. 2 Simon Bolivar's place of death. The official name is Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino. Beautiful and very interesting gardens, lots of iguanas, study the map before getting any further. The guide will tell you only about the buildings and the history of the "Libertador". The entry fee is COP$23,000 (Sept 2021).
You can go to the 1 beach near the port. Nearby is the 2 Playa de Bahia. A bit more south you find the 3 Playa los cocos. All of them have crystal clear water. If in El Rodadero, you can go to the 4 Playa El Rodadero. And you can go to the beach directly at the airport. Watching airplanes arriving and departing while swimming in the sea. Scuba diving. Nearby coral reefs provide good possibilities for scuba diving. All the scuba diving operators are at Taganga, so you'll need to go there to shop around (prices are very different from one to another). You can follow the PADI course (3-4 days), or just go for a 1-day dive (no licence required). Jet ski.
There are a lot of eating options. They seem to be good at roasting and grilling chicken. They do a good job of grilling beef, tough but flavorful. Seafood is plentiful and relatively inexpensive with lots of shrimp and seafood cocktail vendors. Most varieties of fruit are available even those more common to cold climates. At night street vendors sell all types of snacks like pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, French fries, shakes, kabobs, rice in coconut milk, fried stuffed doughy things, etc. Coffee, hot chocolate, and both hot cinnamon and lemon are omni-present. In front of the big Exito supermarket you find Colombian style 1 grilled cut sausages and meat skewers.
Santo Domingo, Calle 17 No. 3 - 70 near the cathedral. The best place to party in Santa Marta. The owners are super nice, they will personally attend. (updated Mar 2023) Crab's Bar, Calle 18 No. 3-69 (between Carr 3 & 4). A fun rock n' roll bar. The Colombian owner (who is a spitting image of Neil Young) used to own a large rock club in Bogotá, but he sold it to settle down here. Every evening he VJs videos of all the great classic rock bands. Friendly staff, great vibe, nice decor. Burukuka. A trendy nightclub on the way towards El Rodadero. Burukuka sits on top of a hill overlooking the sea, with a great terrace. It's a high-end place, so dress appropriately. Also serves food.
Like in other Colombian cities avoid traveling alone, with visible expensive electronics, esp. in public areas or at night. There's a new walking path "Sendero Peatonal Ziruma-Rodadero" from the outskirts of the downtown area to Rodadero and the beaches there. While they cover a beautiful scenery often hard to admire by bus or car, it has long and desolate stretches and goes through some poor and unsafe barrios. There's very little police presence along the different paths. Do not use these paths alone as a tourist to get to or from Rodadero. Tourists have been mugged at gunpoint on those walkways in broad daylight. Take the cheap blue buses, or a taxi.
Guide content from Wikivoyage contributors (CC BY-SA) — abridged; the full article has much more.
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In Jul, Santa Marta typically sees ~32°C daytime highs and 8 rainy days.
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