Lost City (Ciudad Perdida), Santa Marta: How to Visit and What to Do Nearby

Ciudad Perdida, the Lost City, is a pre-Columbian settlement in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains of northern Colombia, built by the Tayrona people around 800 AD—roughly 650 years before Machu Picchu. The site sits at 1,200 meters elevation and is reached only by a 4-to-6-day round-trip trek through dense jungle from the trailhead near the village of Machete. Over 160 stone terraces, carved into the mountainside and connected by a network of tiled roads and stairways, are set among the tree canopy. The site was found by looters in 1972 and secured by archaeologists in 1976. is just one of many options in Santa Marta. Major attractions worth considering include Tayrona National Park (Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona), Carlos El Pibe Valderrama Statue, and Crystal Beach (Playa Cristal).