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Cascada Escondida: a guide to Minca’s hidden waterfall

BySara & Ryan

There are tons of popular waterfalls in Minca, but not many people know about Cascada Escondida. Directly translated to ‘hidden waterfall’, this one certainly lives up to its name.

Sara and I spent some time searching for this waterfall, the trail leading to it isn’t the most simple. But that’s why you’ve found this guide, to get all of the juicy deets! So just stick to the information we provide and you’ll have no worries visiting Cascada Escondida during your Minca trip.

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Getting to Minca from Santa Marta

Before we jump into the meat and potatoes of this guide, you first need to make your way to Minca. We’re going to go ahead and assume that you’re already in Santa Marta – the city most people begin from.

Ryan and Sara taking a selfie inside the Cootrasminca bus waiting to go back to Santa Marta.
Inside the Cootransminca shuttle.

There are two main ways to get from Santa Marta to Minca: by bus or by taxi.

We personally decided to catch a taxi there to avoid dealing with the bus system at 7am. It was as simple as opening the InDrive app and ordering a cab just as if we were using Uber. Alternatively you can just hail one of the yellow taxis on the side of the road, prices will be similar, about $10 one way!

View out the front of the taxi looking at another yellow taxi driving from Santa Marta to Minca.
Our taxi ride to Minca.

Getting the bus is slightly more complicated but still fairly simple. You need to head to the Mercado Publicó de Santa Marta in the centre of town and find the Cootransminca office. The bus leaves whenever it’s full and costs 9000 COP ($2.30).

Read more!

Check out our full guide on getting from Santa Marta to Minca!

Where is Cascada Escondida in Minca?

Cascada Escondida is well and truly hidden in Minca. The trails are super overgrown and steep and you’re certain to not cross paths with many other people along the route. 

Sara wearing black shorts, a purple bikini and holding a camera while stepping down concrete steps through overgrown foliage.
The beginning of the trail covered in foliage.

Also, for some reason, on Google Maps it’s pinned as Cascada Perdida (Lost Waterfall), but it’s definitely called Cascada Escondida by the locals.

We found the trailhead to Cascada Escondida on our way back from Pozo Azul. It’s almost dead in the middle between there and Minca village, a 25-minute walk from the centre.

There are actually two trails. The first trail is the one we took which is a small opening between Hostal Montes de Beraka and Jugos y panadería “Del Bosque”, right here. From what we read, we were supposed to cut through the panadería. 

A red house and a white house bordering the overgrown trailhead to Cascada Escondida.
That green patch is the trail… yes seriously!

However, it was closed at 8am when we walked past the first time, closed again at 10am on our way back from Pozo Azul, and still closed at 11am after we ducked into the hostel for some breakfast.

A red house besides the modest and wooden panaderia shop in Minca.
The panadería is the wooden building on the left

The second trail begins here. We didn’t take this trail so we can’t really comment on its condition or difficulty, but from what we read it seems like a better option to the trail we took!

The trail to Cascada Escondida

As mentioned, we can’t comment on the second trail, but the trail we did take was steep, wet and slippery.

We started down a mix of mud and concrete steps. This section isn’t so bad so long as you’re not afraid of coming face to face with plants and bugs. 

The trail, however, soon devolves into steep, slippery mud sections and dodgy makeshift rock steps. So we’d fully recommend wearing the hiking boots that you most likely brought with you to Minca.

Sara walking down a steep and muddy section of forest trail leading to Cascada Escondida.
The steep section of the trail.

All in all, the trail took me roughly about 10-minutes to reach the river at the bottom, and Sara about 15-minutes. Heading back up after can be a bit longer due to the steep incline back up, but it’s more than doable.

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Finding Cascada Escondida

Okay, so full transparency, we undertook this with little research and a small amount of available time. So here’s the kicker, we didn’t actually find Cascada Escondida.

As we arrived at the river, we were looking upstream and downstream for wherever the hidden waterfall is… but we couldn’t see it. The issue was we didn’t have much time to look, so we just played around in the river itself which was actually super refreshing.

Ryan in orange swimmers and holding a GoPro standing waist deep in a river in Minca in the jungle.
Messing around in the river – we didn’t realise how close to Cascada Escondida we were!

But don’t worry, we can still help you make your way to Cascada Escondida!

So, as we were leaving the riverbank area, a group of girls emerged from the bushes down what we assume was the second trail. They then crossed the river, swung a left and walked further downstream.

After some thorough research post-visit, we can confirm those girls were spot on in their direction. Once you reach the river at the bottom of the trail, you need to cross over (the river gets up to waist height) and turn left. 

A group of tourists standing beside a river in the forests of Minca.
This group were heading in the right direction – cross and left!

Then you’ll find Cascada Escondida on your right! Just note that there are two pools to swim in, an upper and lower, but as of right now the upper pool has been sectioned off.

Final thoughts on Cascada Escondida

There are some super popular waterfalls in Minca – Pozo Azul, Marinka Waterfalls, Cascada Oído del Mundo – but unless you arrive early they’re going to be packed. If, like us, you’re the kind of traveller that prefers having a spot all to yourself, then Cascada Escondida is the one for you!

Don’t let the location of the dodgy trails put you off. If you can persevere, you’re going to find a beautiful waterfall and plunge pool with likely nobody else around and it’ll be an amazing experience. Just bring mosquito spray, you’ll need it!

Ryan in an orange bathing suit and Sara in a purple bikini taking a selfie while standing besides a river in Minca.
Enjoying the little time we had!

Check out our other Minca Articles!

We are Sara and Ryan - a couple from Switzerland and the UK respectively.

Travel is a passion for us, but not only that, it's also our jobs. We've been digital nomads in the travel industry for almost three years and full-time traveling together for almost two of them.

With over 10 years of combined travel experience to over 40+ different countries, we're here to bring you the most comprehensive and information worldwide travel guides on the internet. Our main goal is to make sure our guides prepare our readers for whatever trips are planned ahead.

So lets cross every border together!

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