Discover a bit of the coastal Colombia with me - and Ciudad Perdida, the lost city!


Sounds exciting? It is! If you have ever thought about traveling to Colombia, you might have stumbled across blog posts or websites that feature Ciudad Perdida, the lost city, deep in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada. To make it even more exciting, it can be reached only by hiking and it´s a multiple day trip... but first things first...


Before you can Indiana Jones your way through the jungle you have to get to Santa Marta, a small coastal town, overlooked by many and clearly underrated. Used mostly as a hub to get away from there as fast as possible, this hidden gem is truly worth staying a bit more than just two days. But hey, Santa Marta is the oldest city in Colombia, founded in 1525, so there´s history to discover, amazing beautiful buildings and museums (and less busy than Cartagena).


How to get to Santa Marta though? Well, don´t worry, many ways lead you here. Either you hop on a bus from Cartagena or Barranquilla or you fly from Medellín or Bogotá. If you choose the bus: prepare to freeze to death. Rest assured they will put the AC to minus 12 degrees (ok, maybe it´s +15 but still...).... So wear all available clothes, buy or bring something warm and fluffy and if you want to sleep in peace: noise cancelling headphones. If you don´t mind loud music by DJ bus driver and/or music from different cellphones, phone talks or chatting to other people, don´t wear them. We had some wonderful chats with local people during our bus adventures, and I don´t know how, but they didn´t turn into ice cubes (like we did....)


Anyway, once in Santa Marta you can use public transport (the buses are super cheap and easy to use) or call an Uber (taxis are connected to the app).

Walking around with your cellphone in your hand is not as tricky as in Bogotá... My friend there warned me to never ever walk around with my cellphone in my hands in Bogotá. I followed this rule in Santa Marta, until I saw that no one ever cares and so I relaxed a bit as well. I always felt super safe in Santa Marta, even walking around in the evenings was absolutely no problem.


As for accomodation options there are plenty of decent hostels, airbnbs and hotels. I can recommend these two options from my own experience:

  • Soy Local (more hotel-like, there´s a pool, you can have a kitchen in your room but they also do serve good breakfast. Very friendly, affordable prices, good location.
  • República Santa Marta: This is a hostel and my absolute favorite. Have been there 3 times now and would go back anytime! They do have dorms (mostly mixed, one female) but also private rooms. A huge shared kitchen, a pool, karaoke nights, free dancing lessons and yoga classes. If you fancy a night out, they also do pub crawls. This place is popular for digital nomads because during the day there´s plenty of space where you can work and it´s not too loud. Super friendly, super clean, super everything. LOVE IT! Oh, and one of the best things: HAMMOCKS !! OH YEAH!!

Here´s a few photos of República:

What´s up in Santa Marta?


Well, during the day you might want to

  • check out the Gold Museum (free entry)
  • take a stroll through the historic city centre
  • Have breakfast, lunch or dinner at Ikaro Café. And you absolutely have to try the coffee, it´s the BEST!!! And eat a pistachio croissant!! OMG!!! Well, just order everything from the menu, you won´t be disappointed!
  • You´re scared of ordering pizza in any other country than Italy? Well, welcome to my world. BUT sometimes you can be sooo lucky and stumble across an amazing place. And you will leave this place happy and with a smile on your face: Mammamia Comida Italiana is an Italian owned pizzeria and it´s sooooooo good. Go there!
  • Go to this beautiful libary/bakery/café called Brot (German for: bread) if you need a quiet relaxed place to chill out.
  • Fancy market life? Go check out the mercado público with lots and lots of fruit and veggie vendors, small retail stores, .... it´s wonderful!!!


Now let´s move to the romantic sunset:

  • Take a walk at the malecón (sea side riva thingy walking area & city beach), buy a beer, mango, or even better: get a fresh Lulo juice from the plazoleta de jugos, take a seat and watch the sunset, the people, listen to the walking vendors ringing and singing and selling their products.
  • Or you buy a creamy fabulous gelato from Crêpes&Waffles (the vegan chocolate ice cream with cocoa nibs is INSANE) or Gnam Gelato (Maracumango? hooooly fruit!!!)


Once you´re well fed and well romanticised from the beautiful colors of the sea and the sunset, you might want to go out partying. And boy, you´ve come to the right place. In the evening the city centre turns into a big party area. Lot´s of bars, clubs, pubs open their doors and you can party until the morning.

Famous places:


Beaches around Santa Marta

You have plenty of beach options when staying in Santa Marta. Easypeasy hop on a bus in the morning, come back in the afternoon/evening.

Here are my favorite ones:

  • Playa Salguero. Love it. You´ll find a bit of natural shade, no music, no vendors, no nothing. Just sandy beach and lovely sea. It´s best you bring your water & snacks. Take a bus from Santa Marta (just ask the driver if he passes Playa Salguero and you´re good to go. Tell him to drop you off at the Arcas Terpel gas station, from here walk 10 minutes to the beach.
  • Playa Inca Inca. Ok, this will be a little more complicated, because you have to hike over a hill to get there. It´s about 2km north from popular (and overly crowded) Rodadero beach. Absolutely wear sun protection, a hat, have lots of water on you and snacks. I´m not sure anymore where the bus has to drop you off from Santa Marta but rest assured the locals will help you with the information (the guys in the hostels know, too). Worst case you can hire a boat to bring you there :-)
  • Playa Escondida. This one also comes with a hike :-) (I guess this is why few people go). So, my adventurous friend, to get there first take the bus to Taganga (small beach village near Santa Marta). From there walk along the beach pretending you want to go to Playa Grande (quite a lot people walk that way, you won´t be alone). Once you get to Playa Grande you´ll see lots of people, lots of boats, lots of restaurants and not much space. So what do we do? We continue walking, do a little walk up the hill, small paths, please don´t wear flip flops for this experience, you might regret it. Then you´ll cross another small beach which is primarily used by fishermen and it´s called Playa Sisiguaca. Just continue walking. And eventually you´ll reach Playa Escondida. A few fishermen will be there, very few tourists and the ocean will be yours. Swim freely, enjoy!!


More beach destinations - but stay overnight:


OK, the time for adventure has come: CIUDAD PERDIDA


Ciudad Perdida (lost city) sank into the jungle during the Spanish conquest and was only "rediscovered" in the 1970s. Deep and high in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, it can only be reached on foot - one of the most exciting, sweaty and fun hikes in Colombia.

Built between the 11th and 14th centuries by the Tayrona tribe, Ciudad Perdida is one of the largest rediscovered pre-Columbian cities in South America, along with Machu Picchu in Peru.


This tour was definitely one of my forever highlight of my travels to Colombia.

You cannot go alone though, you have to book a tour with one of just a few licensed tour operators. My lovely friend GuanabAnja and I went with Expotur and we were very happy with our tour guides and how everything was organised. (Tours leave from Santa Marta)

Depending on your level of fitness you can choose betwenn 3-5 day tours. We went with 4 days and it was good. 3 days is for extremely fit people, 5 days for a more relaxed pace.


Be prepared to sleep in very basic accomodations (bunk beds) and to sweat a lot and to walk, slide and groove through muddy, very muddy and extremely muddy parts (depending on the weather). Be prepared to walk steep parts in the midday sun and to have ice cold showers and to be eaten alive by mosquitoes once you arrive at Ciudad Perdida (which is approx. 1.100m above sea level).

You will never be hungry though, they will feed you breakfast, fruit snack, lunch, another fruit snack and dinner. You´ll sleep like a baby and you´ll be able to jump into the icy cold river from time to time to cool down.


I won´t say much more, just look at those photos and BOOK THAT TOOOOUR !!! You´ll be sooo happy :-)

Jelena over and out ;-)