Tayrona National Park (Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona), Santa Marta: How to Visit and What to Do Nearby

Tayrona National Park covers 150 square kilometers of Caribbean coastline and forested hillside in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta range east of Santa Marta, Colombia. The park's beaches—Cabo San Juan, La Piscina, and Arrecifes—sit at the base of jungle-covered hills where the mountains rise steeply from the shore. Hiking trails connecting the beaches wind through tropical dry and humid forest with howler monkeys and toucans overhead. The Pueblito ruins, a terraced settlement of the Tayrona civilization dating to roughly 800 AD, sit on a ridge roughly 2 hours' hike from Cabo San Juan. is just one of many options in Santa Marta. Major attractions worth considering include Lost City (Ciudad Perdida), Carlos El Pibe Valderrama Statue, and Crystal Beach (Playa Cristal).