Tayrona Park Hike to Cabo San Juan

Loved this tour. Our guide knew everything about Tayrona. Stunningly beautiful hike thru natural areas and Juan explained it all & answered all our questions. Pointed out animals that he was skilled to see since he’s been there so much. We were so privileged & appreciate his knowledge of this area.

We had an excellent time. The weather was perfect, and our guide Christian Carvajalino, was very knowledgeable and made the hiking time pass very quickly. It was amazing to see the wildlife, especially the monkeys, as well as the native tribes in the park. We definitely recommend this trip!

Beautiful hike, tricky in a few spots but overall fine. We saw 3 types of monkeys. Had a great guide

So, you decide to embark on a 2.5-3 hour hike to find a bit of paradise. People have raved about this hidden gem in Parque Tayrona, and while it’s lovely and the route offers stunning scenery, there’s a catch. First, you pay for mandatory medical insurance and park entrance. It’s pricey for foreigners, but fine for Colombians and cheap for locals, as is normal for national parks. Then, you’ll need to pay for a 7-minute ride to the car park, which is very cheap at 7,000 COP. You could walk it, but I recommend taking the bus. We started our hike on a pleasant day, though it was humid near the coast in the jungle. There’s a good path for a 2.5-hour walk or you can take a horse ride, which seems to be okay. I can’t comment on it as the horses seemed good enough for a two-hour ride, but it cost around 70-80,000 Col Pesos. We arrived at the reception area, where two people worked at the entrance. They spoke basic English and were surrounded by tourists. The lady who helped me didn’t believe I’d booked a tent even though I had a receipt from the official Cabo San Juan kiosk at the park entrance. She offered me a hammock instead, but I insisted I’d paid for a tent. She denied seeing my booking for a tent but quickly asked her colleague to check. Her colleague confirmed I had a tent reserved. Despite this, I was then asked to show the confirmation on my phone! It seems they don’t trust you much here! Forget it, I was told my tent number and location: “at the end to the right!” Over 100 tents had numbers written in marker, some on multiple tents, others scribbled out and overwritten. Finding my correct tent, or what was left of a good 10-15 year old one, took 10 minutes. The zips were broken or didn’t work. As you’d expect, seaside conditions quickly deteriorate anything not maintained, and it seemed minimal maintenance had been done to these old tents. A few newer tents were there, but I couldn’t tell the difference between theirs and ours; they also had bigger and smaller ones. I guess I was unlucky to get a smaller, older one. The night was hot due to poor ventilation. The next morning, I went to charge my phone at the communal charging point. Three women were charging their phones and walked away for a few minutes. A man walked up and nonchalantly grabbed one of their phones. He’d been sitting next to me and I didn’t think much of it. But in a place like this, you can’t let your guard down. No one’s looking out for you, except yourself. Don’t give them a chance; they’ll take it. Sadly, the phone and the man were gone. Next, I went to see my daughter’s sleeping hammock. Where to start? The mosquito nets had loads of holes or were fixed with hand-tied knots. The safe lockers were all broken, rusted, or simply not there. Toilets and cleaning facilities were the worst. They were dirty, small, and certainly not up to standards for the price we paid. They charge for daily visitors from other beaches, so they collect a good amount of money from those staying in, as well as the fees for staying in the ecolodge. The food was okay, so I’d give them a 2.5 out of 5. The price was too high. Service is rude, or well not friendly as many other parts of Colombia, sadly costeños are not really know for their service and hospitality! As like the other parts of the country ! Overall, Cabo de San Juan Park Tayrona is a beautiful spot, that gets quite busy between 11am-4:00pm Service and amenities leaves a lot to desire and improve. Starting by some tents and sleeping facilities. Personal customer service must improve and the food could do with some overall quality and improvement. Is overprice and sadly really needs to be addressed before it declines and people stop coming to visit! Please see some of my pics and see what I refer to! I believe and talking to couple of other travellers, they had. Similar experience to myself, I feel that the management needs to take a good look at the fascilities and improve one by one, Toilets, revisit the old tents and hammock situation, and improve the restaurant situation. This is not difficult, but just management wanting to improve what could be an amazing facility to outstanding visit. Food certainly can be improve if they want to charge those prices, and mostly but does not cost much, the customer interaction service, starting from the reception all the way to the ladies making and serving the juice, smile and a please and thank you don’t cost much, but goes along way and people will be happier. Well I know I would certainly recommend this place and be back if things were to change!

Saul guided us very well, giving us all of the options along the way and pointing out all the relevant info and natural highlights. My partner is not a trekker but Saul dealt with that very well! We had a lovely day and would recommend this tour.