Taganga.
Your next chapter?

Overview

Taganga is a small fishing village 5 km north of Santa Marta at the Caribbean coast in Colombia.

Understand

Taganga is a great and idyllic fishing village. Many tourists, local and international, visit this beautiful place every year. It has great charm and the surrounding attractions are plenty.

Although Taganga is a popular place to go, it has also its share of challenges with the infrastructure and public services which is work in progress. It still has charm and might be a nicer place than Santa Marta to explore the surrounding attractions or do some diving.

Get in

It's about 15 minutes and a beautiful ride. On the way back, the bus goes in Santa Marta on Carrera 1 and then Calle 22.

Coming from Minca, the bus to Tanganga goes near the Plaza de Mercado. Ask somebody there where exactly.

Be sure to negotiate before you take. For cruise ship passengers arriving in Santa Marta there are plenty of taxis and mini-buses waiting in a gated police controlled area to take you.

By boat There is a daily boat service to and from El Cabo San Juan in the Tayrona National Park. It departs for El Cabo at about 9:30AM, and arrives back at Taganga at 4PM. The 1 hour boat ride can be really rough in the open ocean. Protect your belongings with plastic bags, because you can get wet through, especially in the back of the boat. The entrance fee for the National Park has to be paid at the beach.

See

Taganga is surrounded by beautiful desert mountains covered in natural flora and fauna. There are millions of lovely fish and corals which can be reached by short walks and snorkeling out to corals. People watching and good mellow times are to be had along the beach road and loads of beautiful tourists.

There is a viewpoint called Mirador on the way towards Santa Marta. It's better to take a bus or taxi there and back, as there is no sidewalk and the street is curvy and narrow.

Do

Swimming. The main beach is shared with small boats laying in the water. It's good for swimming and very crowded with Colombian tourists on weekends.

Walk to Playa Grande. A 25-minute walk north of town lies Playa Grande, nicer than Taganga's beach but maybe even more crowded (follow the coast line to the north and take the path which seems to end at a house). OsmAnd or Mapy.cz cover the hiking paths. It's better to not flash expensive things on this path during day time. Avoid this hike after sunset. Or take a boat to one of the more remote beaches in Tayrona Park like Concha, Chengue, Neguanje - real unspoiled paradise. There are no people except some fishermen.

Hike to Bonito Gordo. A longer walk goes to Bonito Gordo via a steep but rewarding mountain path and from there on the Bahia Concha. Reserve a full day for this and ask around to decide if you need to contract a local guide. You can spend the night at Bonito Gordo or Bahia Concha, but you may need to take your own hammock. Thui Tours organizes a guided walk, in partnership with a local environmental foundation, Fundacion Calipso , to Bonito Gordo where they manage a protected area of the reef for study. It is possible to snorkel here. For the return journey you are able to retrace your steps, take a bus to Santa Marta, or via boat to Taganga.

Mountain Biking. The best way to see Tayrona park, unspoiled beaches and dense tropical forest away from the heat up in Sierra Nevada.

Tayrona National Park. An unspoilt natural paradise of jungle, birds, ocean, and absolutely gorgeous beaches. A boat leaves for the backpacker beach haven of El Cabo every morning around 10AM. If you find enough people there is also a boat heading for Playa Cristal.

Minca. You can also be in the Minca, a small town in the Sierra Nevada Santa Marta in less than an hour.

Hike to the Ciudad Perdida de Teyuna (Lost City). Takes several days and is quite pricy. To be organised with tour companies or in your hostel.

DivaExpe. This office offers free information in English, Spanish and French. It promotes local operators for short treks, fishing, diving and ecolodges around Tayrona park. The office represents the local indigenous community Wiwas agency which organizes the Lost City trek with an indigenous guide explaining the culture, the Lost City story and the nature of Sierra Nevada. Also a good source of practical Taganga information such as accommodation, restaurants, bars, events and transportation.

Taganga has become a popular scuba diving spot. Diving spots are usually near the small island "Aguja", a part of Tayrona National Park. The underwater of Taganga has a big diversity of marine life. There are a dozen diving schools in town, but be careful where you do your courses. There are many reports of travelers doing their courses, paying and never receiving any certificate. Be careful for your safety: some diving centers have pretty old equipment, never follow safety rules such as safety-stop and even skip important skills/exams during the course or have dive masters teaching courses, check if you will be with a real instructor. For more information check padi alerts.

A small review of available dive centers:

Aquantis Bed Breakfast & Diving. Organized and honest, classroom with AC, long dives. Includes coffee, towels, books and warm shower after diving; and you do not have to carry or wash your equipment. Small groups, fantastic food. Great people, amazing service, you can stay in the dive center for hours meet each other before and after the dives.

Calipso Dive Center. Calipso is the only center that offers a Tayrona Park Safari, where people can spend 2 nights in hammocks on a beautiful beach in the park and dive. The diving is good. They are also pioneering a project to restore coral, which is rapidly degrading worldwide. In conjunction with the C-Force Foundation they are growing coral in a coral nursery. They are the only agency doing this in Colombia and one of the few in the world. You can even take a coral growing/ gardening course. The people are really kind and you can stay at the center before your safari. Any certification between NAUI and PADI is mutually recognizable, but this is NOT a PADI facility according to the PADI website.

Centro de Buceo Poseidon. German-owned diving center. One of the most professional diving centres, headed by a well known PADI course Director. Has a swimming pool inside and well-maintained equipments, also are very strict about safety local regulations. This is the place where instructors from Colombia, come to take their course, as they are a PADI 5* Instructor Development Dive Resort. Even some divers from the Colombian Navy come to take courses here. Without any doubt has the best boats in town, 2 well-maintained very comfortable Catamaran boats. And there for the only ones that could take you to the furthest dive sites on the Park. They also let you dive until your tank reaches reserve, no time policy (as some others in town do). Courses could be taken in different languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German and some others. Has free amazing coffee at the shop, kind and nice staff. You also have the option of getting accommodations on their facilities.

Tayrona Dive Center. Tayrona is the oldest dive center in Taganga. This is where Colombian anti-narcotics policemen take their courses. They also know great sites for diving in the areas of the Tayrona national park. The instructors are very experienced and staff is very nice. They also offer accommodation in very clean rooms with sea view. The founder and owner, known as “muñeco” is one of the best PADI instructors in Colombia. They take great underwater pictures for no extra charge. They also have very good equipment. Courses can be taken in English, Spanish or German.

Under Pressure. Excellent courses, serious about safety, excellent teaching, great dives.

Nautilus. A little bit cheaper than others but not always the newest equipment.

UNILOT. UNILOT is Divanga's foundation in tourism research (Unilot means "Unidad de Investigacion-Accion Local en Turismo"). B.A. graduates travellers can participate in sustainable tourism research, the foundation is linked with the local public University Universidad del Magdalena. You can ask for free accommodation and food against research work, may be on the field, surveys or secondary research directed by Master degree graduates

Coral Conservation Program. Volunteer in Coral Conservation Program Santa Marta - Taganga

Midwater marine nursery. Calipso Dive Center and Tayrona National Park in Taganga Colombia are running a midwater marine nursery to recover species of corals around the marine area, control lion fish, educating the local fisherman and monitoring the coral reef. This is an opportunity for volunteers to enjoy scuba diving and support conservation.

Buy

Get homemade seasonal sweets and delicious frozen fruit treats at Kelly seasonally.

There are minimarkets throughout the town. The next big supermarket is in Santa Marta and called Exito. The bus from Taganga goes to Carrera 5/Calle 22 in Santa Marta. From there it's a short walk. The bus back to Taganga goes from in front of the supermarket.

ATM Bancolombia. In Taganga is only one ATM of Bancolombia in town. Reports that the ATM is broke or out of cash are common, so maybe it is a good idea to bring some money from Santa Marta. Paying with credit cards is quite common in international hotels or at booking agencies.

The bus goes to Santa Marta's Parque Bolívar, where there is a BBVA bank branch with three ATMs. The bus goes on Carrera 5 back to Taganga.

Eat

It's worthwhile to walk up two blocks.

There is some street food along the Carrera 3. Most food stalls are there in the late afternoon and in the evening.

You can buy fresh fish from fisherman at the left side of beach from afternoon into the evening - They will cut it for you and give you just the fillet if you want. Republika Taganguera Divanga's French Restaurant/Bar/Swimming pool. Located in DIVANGA nice hostel with swimming pool 2 blocks straight from Delfin Hostel on the beach. good vibes. Mostly an Israeli place and very loud as well. El Reef, Cra1 # 15-09. Great panini sandwich and good salad. The speciality: very good waffles with ice cream and Nutella.

Café Bonsai. Great breakfasts (freshly baked breads, wholegrain or rye sour dough, creamy yogurt with homemade jams and granola). Lunch with excellent sandwiches, big, fresh and tasty with some extremely nice sauces. Also available: Lunch Salads, Colombian excelso arabica coffee or tea, tasty brownies, really fresh variant of mojito. AC, WiFi and great music. Café Bonsai also offers Spanish instruction.

Babaganoush Restaurant/Bar. A restaurant opened by the previous (Dutch) chef from Casa Felipe. Beautiful place with nice sea view, lounge area and terrace, international cuisine, pumpkin soup, beef carpacio, vitello tonato, curries, tikka masala, pastas, fresh fish fillet, filet mignon with red wine or blue cheese sauce, homemade desserts. Sunset happy hour 17:00-21:30.

Drink

It would be good idea to take a couple of "Stubbie Coolers" (Australian vernacular for an item which keeps the beer in your bottle cooler or longer) as the heat in Taganga will have you drinking warm beer by the time you are at the end of your drink.

Sleep

Casa Blanca. Opened in 1998 by Colombian/Swiss team Carlos Botache and Bernard Gusten, Casa Blanca has become a favorite amongst beach-loving travelers and provides an excellent base for those taking dive courses in town or those wanting to make the most of their time by the sea. Heavy drug influence on beach in front - be careful at night.

Divanga. Backpackers' bed and breakfast. Includes a beautiful swimming pool that creates a great social area. The staff is friendly. The view from the roof is fantastic, especially at sunset and a roof top bar plays excellent music. There is also a comfy TV room with cable TV and DVD player, an internet room with free high speed internet and Wi-Fi access and a restaurant inside serving excellent food. Free luggage storage. Discount for Hostelling International members.

Casa Divanga. Divanga's little sister at one block down. You get access to Divanga's pool. Shady patio and communal kitchen. Spanish courses available. Includes a tourism information point with Taganga's map and full information about Tayrona park.

Hotel Oso Perezoso. Hotel Oso Perezoso is a three-story structure, perfectly designed to catch the cool breezes of Taganga and enjoy a chill atmosphere amid a 360-degree view. The first floor has three rooms and a store, free bag storage, and a book exchange. The second floor has four bright guest rooms with views of the ocean that open onto a breezy open-air corridor. From here you can watch the sun rise over the mountains, watch the sun melt into the Caribbean, sip on a cold beer, and order something from the full-service restaurant. Restaurant and bar are open to the public. All rooms have private baths, excluding hammocks.

La Casa de Felipe. Popular hostel. Several apartments some with kitchen, dormitory and hammocks if everything else is full. There is a communal kitchen, internet facilities, free wifi, laundry service, nice terraces and a friendly staff. Always crowded by backpackers. 15 minutes by walking from the beach.

La Tortuga Hostel. Clean and comfortable en-suite dorms and privates, a roof bar, garden swimming pool, tour info, private diving instructor, lost city treks, jenga tournaments, super friendly staff, 24-hour reception, free storage, internet access, free Wi-Fi, book exchange, laundry service.

ReyMARIn. Manager Chichi has 50 years of fishing experience. Family serves nice food next door.

Techos Azules. Nicely placed at the entrance of the town, it has hammocks, private rooms with bathroom, "cabañas" (two rooms, sitting room with kitchen, shower with toilet). Beautiful views on Taganga and the bay.

Another option is to ask around for an apartment to rent. There are gringo shacks and guest houses all over the town. Usually, most places to stay that are geared towards foreign backpackers will have all the creature comforts (read: running water). Taganga has a long history of people's belongings disappearing as everyone in town often have keys and people lose stuff the day they are scheduled to leave. There is always the option of find a person who's renting a room in their house, or seeing who's out of town and turned their home into a temporary guest house. It's a great way of meeting people and really getting to know a town as interesting as Taganga. If you do this, be sure you trust where you are staying, and bring your own locks as a precaution. Also, Taganga has no water due to political issues, so there are times where water can be an issue.

Casa Caluca. Popular holiday apartment for holiday weekend, short term, and long term rent. In a quiet area with sea views over Taganga.