Santa Marta
Colombia
Where the Sierra Nevada falls into the Caribbean, an hour from the jungle
Photo by Yves Alarie on Unsplash
Photos by Richard Brunsveld, Azzedine Rouichi, Oscar Ivan Esquivel Arteaga and Datingjungle on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Colombia
December to April, July to August
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 358mm in Oct
Where it is
11.24°N, 74.20°W Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Swim at Cabo San Juan in Tayrona national park
- Ride up to Minca for coffee farms and the waterfalls
- Walk the old centre in the evening when it cools
- Trek four days to Ciudad Perdida
- Take a boat to Playa Cristal
- Watch the sunset from Playa Los Cocos
Santa Marta travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Colombia
Good valuePrices are quoted in thousands and the notes have a lot of zeros — a 50,000 peso note is about €14. Change money at a casa de cambio in the centre rather than at the airport, count what you are handed, and never change with someone on the street in Taganga or on the seafront.
ATMs & cards
Bancolombia, Davivienda and BBVA machines inside a bank branch or a shopping centre, in daylight, and never one standing alone on a street corner. Colombian ATMs charge a fixed fee of roughly 20,000 pesos a withdrawal, so take the maximum. Decline conversion, and cover the keypad.
Avoid these
- standalone machines on the street
- anything in Taganga after dark
Use these instead
- Bancolombia
- Davivienda
- BBVA — inside a branch or a shopping centre
Colombian ATMs charge a fixed fee of roughly 20,000 pesos, so draw the maximum. Count the notes before you walk away.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Colombia
Reasonably safeThe old centre and the beaches are fine by day and busy in the evening, and the city is far calmer than its reputation from twenty years ago. Phone snatching is the real risk — do not walk with it in your hand — and Taganga after dark is best reached by taxi. Take a guide for the Sierra Nevada rather than walking into the hills alone.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (6 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- Santa Marta Historic Centre — after dark
- Taganga — at night
- Tayrona park trails alone, and the sea at Arrecifes, which drowns several people a year
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Colombia visa rules
No visa neededup to 90 days
Extendable to 180 days per calendar year. Everyone must complete the online Check-Mig form within 72 hours of each flight, in and out.
Other passports
Visa required in advance
How to get it: File Check-Mig at apps.migracioncolombia.gov.co before each flight. It is free.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Colombia
Good and affordableRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
- Yellow fever if you are going to the Amazon, the Pacific coast or Tayrona — some parks now ask for the certificate
- Rabies for rural or long stays
Getting treated
Private hospitals in Cartagena, Bogotá and Medellín are good and inexpensive by European standards, which is why medical tourism is a real industry here. They expect payment or an insurance guarantee before treating. Public facilities are stretched.
Do not drink the tap water outside Bogotá and Medellín. Dengue is present on the Caribbean coast year-round. Yellow fever vaccination needs 10 days to take effect, so it is not a last-minute item.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodCaribbean Colombia, not Andean: coconut rice, fried fish, patacones and arepas de huevo. Eat at the seafront stalls in the evening and in the market at lunch, and drink limonada de coco with everything. The centre’s restaurants around Parque de los Novios are good and priced for visitors.
Nightlife
A rough-edged port town with a lively centre, and Taganga next door, which is backpackers and boats.
- Parque de los Novios — the square, and its restaurants and bars
- Calle 19, Santa Marta — the bar street off the square
- Taganga — the backpacker bay, ten minutes over the hill
Closing: 03:00.
A beer in a bar: COP 5,000–12,000
Getting around
Workable- UberWorks here
- DiDiWorks here
- CabifyWorks here
- inDriveWorks here
- BoltNot here
- Against a taxi
- Similar to a metered taxi, and the app records the journey, which is the actual reason people use it.
Time zone and your working day
America/Bogota — 1 hour behind you
7 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 10:00–17:00 your time, 09:00–16:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 10:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 10:00–18:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Colombia
Why these are Colombia's numbers and not Santa Marta's
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 1.8× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fair. Maps, calls and streaming; tethering a laptop works for an hour, not a day. Mobile runs at 42% of the global median of 109 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for Santa Marta, so these are medians for all of Colombia. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Colombia, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Spanish (Latin American)
- HelloHolaOH-la
- PleasePor favorpor fa-VOR
- Thank youGraciasGRA-syas
- Yes / NoSí / Nosee / no
4 more phrases
- Excuse meDisculpedees-KOOL-peh
- How much is it?¿Cuánto cuesta?KWAN-to KWES-ta
- The bill, pleaseLa cuenta, por favorla KWEN-ta
- Cheers!¡Salud!sa-LOOD
The c and z are said as an s here, not the Spanish "th" — gracias is GRA-syas.
Religion
Catholic
Around 70% Catholic. Semana Santa is a major holiday and Popayán’s processions are UNESCO-listed.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Greet everyone on entering a small shop or a lift — buenos días to the room, not to one person
- Use usted with people you have just met; it is the respectful default in much of the country
- Accept a tinto, the small black coffee, when offered — it is how conversations start
- Dance when invited, badly if necessary; refusing outright is the odd choice here
Don't
- Do not make cocaine jokes or references to Escobar. It is the single fastest way to insult someone, and Colombians are tired of it
- Do not discuss the armed conflict lightly with people you have just met
- Do not photograph people, especially the palenqueras in Cartagena, without asking and expecting to pay
- Do not flash phones or jewellery in the street — no dar papaya, do not give an opportunity, is a national principle
Where to stay in Santa Marta
No Holistay rentals in Santa Marta yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Santa Marta on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Simón Bolívar SMR
20 minfrom the airport· 14 km as the crow flies
20 min to the centre.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
