Taganga is a cute, little fishermen village on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. It's the first beach outside Tayrona National Park & it's only 15 minutes away from the city of Santa Marta.
When I heard there's a daily boat connecting Taganga & Tayrona (the boat leaves from Taganga at 11am & from Tayrona at 4pm), I thought that was a better option than walking or horse-riding for more than one hour in the heat til the entrance of the park & then taking a bus to Santa Marta.
I imagined an enjoyable boat ride along the coast, that would have allowed us to have a look at the beaches where one can't go by foot.
Plus, I thought it would be nicer to spend the evening on a little village by the sea than in a big city.
That was true, I wasn't excepting nothing special about Taganga, but it actually was a very nice place &, if I knew that before, I would have spent a whole day there.
As for the boat ride, DON'T take the boat connecting Tayrona & Taganga. Just don't.
The boat had 20 seats, when I saw we were almost the double, I thought a 2nd boat would have arrived. Instead, they made all of us go in the same boat, almost 40 people on a 20 people boat.
People were sitting on the floor of the boat, which was all cracked. A particularly big crack became bigger & bigger at every wave we hit. We were all staring at it.
I already mentioned that the sea near Tayrona is rough. But going offshore, it was rougher! Big waves were continuously hitting the small boat making us jump. The boat was clearly not built to resist this kind of waves.
At a particular big wave, I was so scared that I accidentally grabbed the leg of the girl sitting next me...
I put me feet under the people sitting on the floor of the boat so that they would have someway kept me, if I was jumping too much.
I told you before that in Colombia they didn't seem too careful about safety. This boat ride was just a nightmare.
I do love going on fast boats & jumping on the waves, I do like go on a banana boat or similar... But in Colombia nothing was under control. It wasn't done on purpose as a fun activity... Just imagine, you're on a small boat on a rough, full of underwater currents sea, faraway from the beach, all your luggage, passport, money, camera... being on the boat too... I mean, if something went wrong, we could have died.
Anyway, after a horrible hour or so, we finally made it to Taganga.
Just for the record, here's the boat who took us there ^
Taganga is a colorful village, well known for having graffiti everywhere, as we could see as soon as we put our feet on the ground.
The bay is beautiful and the sea is very calm.
Along the beach there's a enjoyable walk full of shops & street stands.
On the other hand, Taganga is unsafe at night. It's actually the only place in Colombia where the hotel staff told us not to walk at night. Except for the seafront walk that is well lit & full of people even at night.
That's the reason why I booked the only hotel that is located on the seafront walk, the Taganga Beach Hotel.
The rooms are not particularly pretty, but the location is the best you can have. Plus, once you arrive, you're welcomed with a delicious cocktail - we had an amazing pina colada - that you can enjoy in the bar on the beach; breakfast is super yummy; down the hotel on the beach there's a restaurant, Taco Bar, serving good food - especially the fish tacos - with good music & a nice atmosphere; & last but not least the hotel staff is super nice!
There are other hotels on the beach, but a bit isolated at the end of the beach, so I wouldn't recommend going there.
Otherwise, I had a very good echo from a friend of La Casa de Felipe. The main reason we didn't go there is that it's a bit faraway from the beach so if you wanna go out at night you have to take a taxi & the hotel restaurant, which is apparently delicious, was closed when we were there.
For the same reason, we didn't go in one of those cute cabins overlooking the bay, whose pictures stole my heart ;)
Anyway, once we finally stepped out of the infamous boat, we had a walk along the bay to reach our hotel.
We settled on the beach bar to enjoy our pina colada while watching the sunset.
A bit tipsy - they really make big, strong cocktails in South America 😜 we went back on the seafront walk to have a better look at the shops & jewelry stands...
...& maybe find an appetizer at one of the food stands... Like arepas (traditional corn cakes)!
The arepas having made us even more hungry, we went back to the hotel, for some more cocktails & some tacos, at Taco Beach Bar.
Happy & tired, we retired for the night... at 8.15pm! Ahah! I thought it was like 10 o'clock when I went to bed & instead it was 8! A new record! Truth is that when we travel, we wake up very early & do so many things during the day, that at night we're exhausted. Plus, in Colombia it's dark at like 6pm. But I really like this rhythm of life, if I could do the same in Paris I would, except that if I wake-up before 8am in Paris it's still night & at 6pm I'm still at work... ;)
Anyway, we woke up - early ;) - to this beautiful view
Started the day with guanabana juice - my favorite!!!
& breakfast on the beach...
...had a last walk along the bay...
...before continuing our adventure direction Minca, a little village in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains.
Very kindly, the hotel owner was going to Santa Marta, so she gave us a ride & help us to find the bus to Minca, which actually wasn't a bus but a 4x4.
There are 4x4 cars connecting Santa Marta & Minca all day long. The car leaves when it's full.
As for all the other destinations, buses depart from the central market in Santa Marta.
But I'll leave our adventures in Minca for the next post, for now let's just jump in the car to go there!
