Manigua Tayrona Hostel — Hotel in Magdalena

An amazing hostel, or bed and breakfast on the edge of the national park. The staff are incredibly friendly with just enough English language to allow us with very poor Spanish to be understood. The entire operation is very ecologically minded with minimal plastic use. There is breakfast and dinner available on site, but also just a short walk in the town of Calabazo are numerous roadside cafes. The whole site is surrounded by nature with lush trees and bushes with wildlife flying everywhere.

The pool and hot tub are a refreshing alternative to the heat of the day and the fact that none of the rooms have hot running water doesn't matter when it is so hot all day/year long. The rooms do not have air conditioning, but the large fan and mesh covered windows allowed us to have comfortable nights sleep.

We visited in April when the river that runs through the site was virtually dry, but the foot bridge may well be essential in the rainy season (November to February).

A PADI dive school is associated with the hostel and provide amazing days out diving in the National Park.

The secondary entrance to the Tayrona National Park is just 50m from the site, and for tourists will cost you about 100,000 pesos for the day. This is about 20% more expensive than locals are charged, but they do it with a smile on their faces. The first 2 hours of uphill hiking are best done on the back of a small motorbike which takes the heat and strain out of the ascent. From the summit you are then immersed in the rainforest of the Sierra Nevada's.

We heard howler monkeys, and saw Toocan's, hummingbirds, lizards, spiders, and countless insects, as well as enjoying fresh coconut from the indigenous peoples who live in the park.

Hiking in the park is hot and hard work, so I would suggest booking a nights stay at one of the campsites or beach huts along the coast of the park rather than trying to do the whole thing in one day.

The Eastern beaches (at the furthest point from this trail) are the most popular, so if you want to avoid the crowds stick to the Western end, including a fantastic...

The location of the hostel for the Calabazo entrance is exceptional (literally out of the hostel entrance to the right), given this is the best entrance to the park for most people and you need an early start, it’s a great bonus. The staff member who looks after everything was incredible. The dining room is also a great place to meet people and swap tips and the food is great for the price. The pool was welcome after a day hiking. You are staying right next to the park and this has its charms as well as its disadvantages. The hostel is called Manigua Tayrona hostel on google maps for taxis/directions.

However..

The general maintenance of the hotel is not up to standard and doesn’t look like the photos. We paid extra for a room with air con which didn’t work and a balcony that was a bit run down and unusable at night due to bugs. There is no hot water, although this is quite standard for the area and this was not a problem in the heat, it should be noted in advance. There is maintenance going on outside the hotel (although we never saw it), you need to pay $5k each for this to enter, it is not a scam but you claim back from the hotel. This also means taxis can’t drop you off outside and when it’s rainy you need to cross a small stream to enter. Again, not really a problem if we’d been told in advance. There is a 7% charge for paying on card, while there are no ATMs in the park, not a problem to pay in cash if we would have been told about the charge in advance. The water also completely went off for 12 hours while we were there. This was left to the staff to deal with while the owner was absent. We still gave the hotel a 7 as it has somewhat of a charm despite the challenges, you are staying in a natural park so expect some of it and it all would have been solved with some advanced notice...

This was my 1st time in a camp style hostel atmosphere. ||||PROS:||||Alejandra VERY helpful. She sets you up with anything you need for example, we wanted horses to take us into the beaches of Tayrona Cabo and Boom they were there. The same with airport pick up and drop off request.||||Dogs on sight were lovely so were the cats. Well taken care of and that pleased me very much.||||We rented three chalets consist of a full size bed (not comfy) a mosquito net, nice size bathroom, NO A/C , water was cold but hot not needed for the temperature. Big fan over the bed, does the job, you will be chilly at night. There is zero wifi ability once in your room. Mosquitoes will come in bring your repellent. ||||CONS:||||Breakfast not that great very very basic and not tasty but there is a place down the street with great breakfast and dinner. You have to cross the street and go right and its not the 1st restaurant but the 2nd with lots of beautiful flowers, birds and rabbits in the back. Beautiful place to see, forgot the name. ||||Place could use more flowers more curve appeal upon entrance but I think that is in the works for near future. Looks like they are updating...