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Our Arrival Our bus from Bacaramanga arrived in Santa Marta bus terminal at 8:30am. There are taxis outside the bus station to take you to town for a negotiated fare or you can get the bus. We caught the bus. You have to walk out to the main road and wait for a bus to come past with 'Bastidas' on the front which is the name of the avenue that runs next to the beach. The bus costs COP$1,400 (COP$1,500 on holidays) and you pay the driver once you get on. It took about 1/2 hour to get into town. It drives down carrera 5 which is a busy shopping street and we got out once it reached calle 10.
Where We Stayed Hotel Villa Del Mar - carrera 2 between calle 11 and calle 10c. COP$30,000 for a double room with private bathroom, fan and TV. They have internet but it stopped working when we were there. Laundry service is per item rather than per kilo.
Hostal Casa Grande - opposite Hotel Villa Del Mar. COP$25,000 for a large room with a double bed and 2 singles, bathroom, fan and TV. Wifi worked in
the room. Room was a bit grubby but cheap. The shower ran very close to the wall.
There are quite a few hotels on calle 11 and calle 10c.
What We Did Walked around town and the waterfront and went to the beach. The nicest bit of beach in town is left of the marina as you are facing the water.
Visited the gold museum - in the park on carrera 1 and calle 15. The museum is on the 2nd floor of the bank (on the left as you stand with the sea behind you). Free entry to a small museum with signs in English and Spanish.
Went to Taganga - catch the bus from carrera 5 for COP$1,400. It is about 15 mins away. The town is more touristy with a nice beachfront street. The water is nicer than at the Santa Marta town beach but the beach is a bit stonier. You can get boats to other beaches from here. There is a shop under a bar 'Ganesh' selling the cheapest bags of water on the seafront, 600ml water bags for COP$200 or COP$100 for 300ml. There are a few
Rodadero Beach
The beach was extremely busy on a public holiday weekend.shops with tables and chairs out the front which sell COP$3,000 large bottles of beer. We caught the bus back from the bottom of the hill however buses also leave from the far end of the beachfront.
Went to Rodadero - catch the bus from carrera 1 for COP$1,400 and it takes about 20 mins. We got out once it reached calle 9 on carrera 5, where most people got off, and then its just a few blocks to the beach. The town is a lot more touristy than Santa Marta with lot of souvenier shops and places to eat. The beach is large with lots of water sports going on. However when we were there it seemed the entire population of Colombia was there as well. The bus back leaves from the otherside of the main road.
Where We Ate There are numerous people selling fried snacks around town. The balls called 'papas' costs between COP$1,000-$1,200 and are like shepherds pie in a ball. We also had one from a shop on calle 11 by carrera 2 which had curried chicken in instead of the ground meat which was pretty tasty.
There is
an Exito supermarket on carrera 5 and calle 19.
Outside the supermarket in the evenings you can get a chorizo sausage with a bit of potato for COP$2,000.
Near the market on calle 11 and Avenida del Ferrocarril there are people selling snacks and arepas (for about COP$1,500) during the day and night and there is also an Olimpica supermarket.
On carrera 5 and calle 16 in the evening food stalls set up selling pizza and burgers.
All around town you can get cold orange or lime juice cups for COP$1,000 - $2,000 depending on the size of the cup which is very refreshing.
About Santa Marta Santa Marta is not the prettiest beach town with a large port on the waterfront and slightly murky water. The water at Taganga was clearer. As you walk around town there are a few people passed out on the streets. We were warned by a local not to head past calle 10c out of town towards the train tracks as it is dangerous.
Taganga had more backpackers and Rodadero had more locals on holiday and both of these areas were more geared towards tourists than the main town of Santa Marta.
Carrera 5 is a busy shopping street and carrera 3 is a pedestrian street with cafes.
The weather was hot and sunny every day we were here at the end of June with a welcome slight breeze.
Where We Went Next We caught the bus to Cartagena. To get to the bus terminal we caught a bus from carrera 1 that had UCC transporte on the front. It cost $1,400 and took 20 mins to reach the terminal. The bus does a loop around and goes past the University before stopping on the road outside the terminal (on the same side) before heading back to town.
We had read stories about people paying for buses from Santa Marta to Cartagena and having to switch buses in Barranquilla and pay again so we decided we would get a bus to Barranquilla and change there. The buses to Barranquilla were also more frequent. Once we entered the terminal we were approached by someone who led us past the ticket offices to where the buses were parked. He quoted COP$20,000 to Barranquilla so we said no and asked the next bus with Barranquilla on the front. They said it was COP$10,000 each. The bus left at 7:40am.
At 9:30am we arrived in Barranquilla however we did not go to the bus terminal. The bus drove along the highway on the outskirts of town (the Circunvalar) and stopped when people requested. The bus changed its sign to Cartagena and spent about 1/2 hour driving around picking up new passengers. As the same bus was going to Cartagena we stayed on and paid an extra COP$10,000 each for this part of the trip. We arrived at the bus terminal in Cartagena at 12:10pm.
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