Cabo San Juan, Tayrona Park: Full-Day Hiking Tour

What the Cabo San Juan Tayrona tour is like

The hike from Cañaveral

The tour enters Tayrona National Park at El Zaino, the main entrance, and starts hiking in the Cañaveral sector. It is about 2 hours on a trail through the forest and along the beach that passes Arrecifes, Arenilla and La Piscina before reaching Cabo San Juan del Guía. The way back follows the same trail.

The trail alternates sun and shade, and it is hot and humid most of the year: wear shoes with good grip, carry at least 2 liters of water and save your sandals for the beach.

At Cabo San Juan del Guía

Once you arrive, you have free time to swim, rest on the sand or look around. According to Colombia's National Parks (Parques Nacionales Naturales), the trail from Arrecifes to Cabo San Juan has a natural pool suitable for swimming and free diving, and there is a restaurant at the cape. Swimming is only allowed in authorized areas: beaches flying a red flag are closed.

Getting to Tayrona National Park from Santa Marta

The tour picks you up at your lodging in Santa Marta or El Rodadero at 7:00 a.m. El Zaino is 32 km from Santa Marta on the Troncal del Caribe highway, about 45 minutes by road, according to the Tayrona National Park page from Colombia's National Parks (in Spanish). You get back to Santa Marta around 6:00 p.m.

If your trip continues to La Guajira, our Santa Marta to La Guajira guide explains the leg to Riohacha.

Trails open in 2026

When the park reopened in March 2026, Colombia's National Parks kept the Kogui Trail, between Cañaveral and Cabo San Juan, closed to the public until it is repaired, and left the stretch from Cañaveral to Arrecifes with intermittent passage (Resolution 112 of 2026, in Spanish). The tour follows whichever trails the park has open on your date: your advisor confirms the route when reviewing your request.

Entrance fee, closures and when to go

The park entrance fee is already included in the tour. For reference, in 2026 it costs COP 81,000 in low season and COP 96,500 in high season for non-resident foreigners, and COP 36,500 and COP 43,000 for Colombians and residents aged 25 or over, according to Resolution 551 of 2025 (in Spanish). High season runs December 1 to January 31 and June 1 to July 31, plus Holy Week, long holiday weekends and the October school break.

Tayrona National Park closes every year from February 1 to 15, June 1 to 15 and October 19 to November 2. In 2026 it also closed from February 17 to March 4 because of public safety risks; as of September 25, 2026, Colombia's National Parks reported that the park remained open and tourism was running normally. Tayrona has no advance reservations: entry tickets are sold daily at the ticket office.

In Santa Marta it barely rains from January to March, and the wettest months are September, October and November, according to IDEAM climate normals for 1991–2020; the average temperature is 28.6 °C (83.5 °F).

What to pack and park rules

• ID. Bring your original ID or passport: it is checked at the entrance, and your rate depends on it.
• Yellow fever. Because of Colombia's yellow fever health emergency, Ministry of Health Resolution 691 of 2025 requires proof of a yellow fever vaccine given at least 10 days earlier to enter natural parks in high-risk municipalities (it is the new requirement announced by Colombia's National Parks, in Spanish), and Santa Marta is listed as high risk. Bring your vaccination card.
• What you can't bring in. The park doesn't allow pets, speakers, single-use plastics, drones without a permit, liquor or hallucinogens. Before you enter there is an induction talk and registration.
• Water and trash. Carry at least 2 liters of water and take all your trash out of the park.
• Insurance. The park requires accident insurance with visitor assistance; the tour already includes travel insurance for the day.

Combine it with

If you would rather have a beach day with less hiking, the Playa Gairaca tour includes lunch and snorkeling, and the Playa Cristal tour arrives by boat. All three are on our Tayrona National Park tours page, and our Tayrona National Park guide covers the rest of what you need to know about the park.

Outside the park, the Minca tour from Santa Marta heads up into the Sierra Nevada for waterfalls and coffee. And if your trip continues to La Guajira, the 3-day Punta Gallinas tour leaves Riohacha at 8:30 a.m.