Four days in Tayrona National Park itinerary

Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona or Tayrona National Park is a large protected area in the north of Colombia. It spans the foothills of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta to the Caribbean coast, and is best known for its stunning beaches and rainforests. 

We arrived in Tayrona in the north of Colombia from Cartagena, where we had caught a bus to Santa Marta which is the closest city to the national park. If you’re travelling through central or South America into Colombia, it may make more sense to do this area first rather than last. But for us it was the final stop of our two week holiday travelling through Colombia heading north from Bogota. 

The remote setting made a change from the buzzing city of Medellin… But the party vibe continued (for us, anyway). Here’s what you need to know about staying in Tayrona Park.

How long to spend in Tayrona National Park, Colombia

We spent three nights in Tayrona, which gave us enough time to spend one day doing activities at our hostel and one day hiking in the national park. Ideally, a couple more days would have meant we could explore more of the hiking routes.

Where to stay in in Tayrona National Park

We stayed at the Rio Hostel Buritaca which has been voted the best hostel in Colombia and the best hostel in South America. I can see why… the setting is amazing and it’s the perfect place for travellers looking to meet new people. But I had a better time at the Viajero hostels we stayed in in Medellin and Salento. 

Rio is in the middle of the jungle. It’s technically not inside Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona, but the setting is amazing and secluded and the scenery is beautiful. But that does make it hard to get anywhere. I also found the people staying here far more annoying than anywhere else – that could have just been bad luck and timing. But for a place with very limited access to Wifi I was surprised by how many loud tech bros were there. 

I hate spiders and there are massive ones everywhere. That isn’t Rio’s fault and is definitely something I need to get over. But it did make my stay less enjoyable because I found it hard to relax. But to be honest I’m not sure any hotel or hostel in this area would be free of spiders. It’s the jungle and that’s just where they live… 

And while the activities and DJ nights here are great, I was really surprised by how white it all was. Our experiences in Colombia so far had felt far more authentic and we had grown to love and expect Latin music in bars and restaurants. Rio Hostel mainly plays American or British music which was really disappointing in a tropical setting where Arctic Monkeys just isn’t the vibe you want. 

On the other hand, if you want an escape from reality, a dive into nature, endless activities and adventures to throw yourself into, and a real jungle experience, Rio is amazing. The food is great (the cocktails not so much) and the team are so friendly and obviously put loads of effort into helping everyone have the best experience possible. It just wasn’t exactly the right vibe for me.

The best hikes in in Tayrona National Park

There are a number of hikes you can do in Tayrona National Park, from large circular routes to shorter out-and-back walks. We started from El Zaino gate as we had heard the main entrance at Calabazo can get very busy. We left Rio Hostel at 8am and were in the park by 9am, including a fairly long and very inefficient queue. The earlier you arrive, the shorter and faster your queue will be. 

Entry to the park costs about £14 per person and for foreigners an insurance fee of under £1 is mandatory. Once we were in, mini buses took us to the starting point of the walking trail. This might not sound like the start of a real adventure but the short drive is about an hour’s walk along a gravel road without much to see. So it’s worth taking the shuttle to the site entrance at under £1 per person. 

We hiked out and back from El Zaino. If we had more time, I’d have liked to do the circular walk to Calabazo, but we chose to spend a bit more time on the beaches instead. I’m not usually a fan of out-and-back routes, but this hike is beautiful. It takes you through jungles, beaches, rocky coastline, and forests and we saw plenty of wildlife along the way. 

The guide at El Rio Hostel told us we might find it hard, but other than the heat and the distance, it’s not actually a challenging walk at all. It’s footpaths and boardwalks the whole way, with some very minor rocky areas. The main thing was having enough water and sun protection, as it’s a very sweaty walk in the middle of the afternoon! We hiked 13 km in just under 4 hours – a better time than our hike in Cocora Valley, Salento which was more challenging due to the elevation. 

The best beaches in Tayrona National Park

Because we were limited on time due to staying outside of the park, we weren’t able to visit every beach along the hiking route. But we did stop at:

• Playa Arenilla

• Playa La Piscina

• Playa Del Cabo

Playa Arenilla is a stunning white sand beach with sparkling turquoise waters, and it seems all the more beautiful because it’s the first beach you can properly stop at on the hike from the El Zaino entrance. During our visit, Arrecifes was closed.

We walked on to La Piscina, which is more of a cove and was a great place to stop and swim before having lunch at the restaurant behind the beach. The food here was amazing – especially the grilled fish with coconut rice – and was exactly what we needed after a long, hot hike through the jungle. 

Then, we hiked on to Playa Del Cabo, probably the most famous beach in Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona. This is the beach where you can camp overnight in a hut, and both sides of the bay were very busy with tourists. But it’s a beautiful place to rest and swim. The bars and restaurants here were also much busier than at La Piscina. 

What is there to do in Tayrona National Park?

If hiking some of the most stunning jungle paths and relaxing on Caribbean beaches isn’t enough for you, there are plenty of other activities in Tayrona. At El Rio Hostel alone there is sunrise yoga, tubing down the river (highly recommend), hiking, bird watching and nature tours, kayaking, horse riding, paddle boarding, motorbike riding, tejo, surfing (from Viajero Hostel), volleyball, pool and ping pong. And by night, there’s DJs and dancing and great food and drinks. Despite the remote nature of Tayrona, you’ll definitely never feel bored there.

Find out more about our two weeks in Colombia here.