Parque Tayrona — Restaurant in Magdalena

Parque Tayrona is certainly a very pretty place to visit. It has its pros and cons.

The good things: Very serene, peaceful, beautiful views, pretty beach and decent to good water. It is very relaxing once you're set in and have made the 2-3 hour journey to get there....

The negative things: 1.) It is a 2-3 hour journey to get there. 2.) When we got there, they said Playa Cristal was closed, but that for 100,000 pesos, they would get me in. 3.) That was aside from the 50,000 I already paid to get in 4.) and aside from the 100,000 I had to pay the boat captain. They were being "nice" and just telling me what I would encounter.

5.) The locals ask for money on every little thing. 6.) They charge you double the real price and see if you bite. 7.) A small 5 minute boat trip to Playa Cristal that is normally 5,000 pesos per person anywhere else, they charge 100,000! After a 2 hour trek you have little choice. 8.) That's after charging to get in the park, 9.) after having to pay off the guy at the entrance, 10.) the guy at the ticket booth, 11.) their boss, 12.) and the guy at the 2nd entrance. Oh...13.) and the guy that walks you to the guy that knows the little boat captain and 14.) the guy that "watches" your rental car. It gets old after the 2nd bribe. Comon Colombia, get with the program the rest of the world is on. Have a set price and be honest or people will not want to come back.

15.) IMPORTANT! If you come in February, keep in mind the ENTIRE PARK IS CLOSED for tribal "purification." You will not be allowed in.

Overall, I was there and I enjoyed the moment. You have to make the best of it. But I always appreciate a genuine google review and felt the need to share this one to help others. Will I ever go back? Probably not, unless I have nothing better to do in Santa Marta. But I would never go there just for the beach. There are many waaaaay nicer beaches in the world that are perhaps closer. Tha Bahamas, St. Marteen, Ibiza, Greece, Mallorca, Puerto Rico, Carribean, etc. Even San Andres in Colombia has a much nicer amazing beach and will likely cost you only a little more after all is said and done and after all the bribes you have to pay.

All of the beauty of this beach is drowned out by the outrageous extortion of the tourists and by the fact that at 3:30 the boats start pressuring you to go home and force you on a boat or they'll leave you. You don't even enjoy a full day until 6pm. It's drowned out by all the rules and regulations they create, but that you can break if you pay $, and by the way it has been turned into a commercialized structure.

In essence, budget that you will likely pay around 75 Euros + 15 for food per person to come to this beach for maybe 6 hours. It's nice, but having seen many of the world's beaches, this one is nice for Colombia, but pretty average compared to others. I guess this is one lf those that you see it once and never go back, unless you live in Colombia and have no other choice.

They could really make this an amazing experience if they had a fair and set price. However, the entire culture of the Colombian Coast seems to be "Let's get as much as we can from them." Almost every tourist I spoke with complained about the same thing. Hopefully this changes in the future so more tourists come. It's beautiful but the way business is conducted ruins...

Amé totalmente la cabalgata a la playa, las playas están hermosas, la comida está demasiado cara. Recomendaría cualquier otro camping que no sea don Pedro porque el personal es muuuuy grosero, todos y cada uno de ellos parecen odiar trabajar ahí.

Recomiendo para nadar "La piscina" y para las fotos "Cabo San Juan del guía".

Dormir en las tiendas es demasiado húmedo y caluroso por lo que yo siempre tomaría una cabaña y si quiero ahorrar, una hamaca, pero NO la tienda.

Lleven un montón de repelente porque hay muchísimos mosquitos (un poco obvio, lo sé).

En los campamentos la cocina cierra a las 6:30 por lo que mejor cenar temprano (desearía que alguien me lo hubiera dicho).

Deben comprar un seguro médico para ingresar al parque, me parece que en la taquilla fueron 2.500 pesos por persona. No sé cuánto cuesta con la gente que está por fuera con un uniforme verde pero si es más que esto entonces no vale la pena.

Si llevas una maleta muy grande (8kg como yo llevaba) te recomiendo tomar un caballo hasta arrecifes al menos, y de ahí seguir caminando 20 Minutos hasta Cabo ya que la caminata es cerca de 3 horas y media, y es muy hermosa pero con tanto peso probablemente estés adolorido luego y no queremos eso.

El desayuno cuesta 8mil pesos en los campamentos, también hay vendedores ambulantes vendiendo pan caliente o arepas, lo que me pareció más barato pero no sé qué tanto...

Didn't really enjoy it as much. Beach is beautiful but can't swim. There were power outages every half an hour, loads of tourists, mainly locals, couples, more like a familiar environment, no atmosphere. I don't recommend it if you're a backpacker, there are other campsites in Tayrona that seemed cooler and had a...