Jungle meets the Caribbean
Tayrona National Park stretches along the Caribbean coast east of Santa Marta, where the foothills of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta meet the sea. Trails lead through the forest, with howler monkeys overhead, to beaches framed by huge granite boulders: Arrecifes, La Piscina, and Cabo San Juan, where you can sleep in a hammock. Many beaches have dangerous currents, so swim only where it is marked safe. The park closes for some weeks each year to let the land and the Indigenous communities rest.