Places to Visit near Cartagena
Two hours east of Cartagena is Santa Marta. My Lonely Planet guide had gone into quite a lot of detail on Santa Marta’s attractions. Really, in all honesty, there is really no reason to be in Santa Marta. The attractions are the towns and parks around Santa Marta: El Rodadero, Taganga, and Parque Tayrona.
Lissette and I used El Rodadero as our base to the area. There really isn’t much to the place, it’s basically a beach resort town. But it is clean, comfortable, has some comfortable restaurants, and it was quiet when we were here (although I hear that Colombians come here in droves during the holidays).
Getting escorted by men with machine guns seems to be a recurring thing with me in Colombia. I previously mentioned the two soldiers who had given me a tour in Cartagena. Last year when I came to El Rodadero, I had gone to the tourist information center (located on the beach) to ask directions to the bus station. There were two soldiers manning the booth and, after a little talking, they decided to take a walk with me, machine guns in hand. They brought me to the bus station. When I offered to give them a tip they had replied that they couldn’t do that, it was against the rules. This time around, with Lissette, we were walking around looking for a travel agency when we encountered a soldier. Another incredibly friendly and helpful guy, he walked us over to a travel agency. Again he didn’t want a tip. I’ll probably write about this in depth one day, but it is so great to travel places where they see little foreign tourists. People are so happy and proud that you come to their country and try so hard to make your experience pleasant. I’ve been to so many places where they don’t care, where a tourist is an easy target. Not in Colombia.
We stayed in El Rodadero one night (at the Del Mar Hotel. Very nice). What surprised me was the dryness. I even saw cactus. This is a huge contrast to Cartagena.
Special trips from El Rodadero? We had a daytrip to Taganga where we hiked the hills looking at some spectacular geography. We also spent a night at the famous Eco-habs in Parque Tayrona. The geography there was totally different to that of El Rodadero or Taganga: full of lush forest and wild beaches. A beautiful place. The Geographical diversity is one of the reasons we love Colombia.
Have you been to either Santa Marta or El Rodadero?
Related: Why Cartagena (Colombia) is incredible
Related: Our detailed Guide to Colombia
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He there guys. The pics look incredible. I flew down to Colombia last summer, my first destination was el Rodadero. Since I am not really the camping/backpacking type (way too old for that, would have jumped at the oportunity back in the 80’s though), I decided to stay at one of the many, many boutique hotels near the rodadero area (specifically http://www.hotelcasacarolina.com, in case anyone’s interested). I was first struck by the fruit down there- so much flavor and color! It’s nothing like we have up in the States.
We’re too old for that as well Tyler. It’s been a few years since we were in the area, how did you find it? We’re sponsoring a little girl in Barranquilla and want to visit her one of these days…
Have very good memories of the people and Colombia. And you’re right about the fruit 🙂