La Piscina: The Most Relaxing Beach in Tayrona National Park
There are many beaches to visit inside Tayrona National Park, but La Piscina was one of our favourites. With its calm waters and stunning expanse of sand, this beach is what you’d imagine a ‘Caribbean paradise beach’ to look like!
In this guide we want to provide you with all the information you’ll need to visit La Piscina and the surrounding area. Want to know how to get there? We got you! Is La Piscina worth visiting? We’ll tell you! Are there any decent beaches close by? Of course, we’ll name the best ones!
Table of Contents
- About La Piscina
- How to get to La Piscina
- Is La Piscina in Tayrona worth visiting?
- Other beaches nearby in Tayrona
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About La Piscina
The Caribbean coast of Colombia is no stranger to pristine beaches and La Piscina definitely lives up to that name. Found within Tayrona National Park (Parque Tayrona) near Santa Marta, La Piscina is as close to perfection as a beach can get.
It’s a smaller beach with a lot of character. Thanks to being surrounded by a small bay, the ocean’s current here is calmer than most of Tayrona. As a result, you are actually allowed to swim at La Piscina, unlike some other beaches in the area.
With a tree line to escape the shade, small vendors on the beach to buy snacks and drinks, and large, smooth looking boulders akin to those in the Seychelles, you can rest assured you’ll love spending a day at La Piscina.
How to get to La Piscina
The only way to reach La Piscina is to hike there. First, you’ll need to travel by bus or a taxi from Santa Marta to Tayrona National Park’s El Zaino entrance. A taxi will set you back about $25 and the public bus only around $2.
After you’ve paid for your entry to Tayrona Park, we recommend taking the shuttle bus to Cañaveral. Beforehand we read a lot of blogs mentioning that if you hike this route, you’ll see a ton of wildlife. I don’t know if we were just unlucky but in over an hour we only saw one small monkey…
From Cañaveral you’ll undertake a jungle trek all the way to La Piscina, here are the hiking stats:
DISTANCE
5.3km
ELEVATION
95m
EST. TIME
1.5 hours
SKILL LEVEL
Moderate
DISTANCE
5.3km
ELEVATION
95m
EST. TIME
1.5 hours
SKILL LEVEL
Moderate
The trail is easy to follow and well signposted. If you want to read a detailed breakdown about the trail and places to stop along the way, check out our guide to Cabo San Juan!
Is La Piscina in Tayrona worth visiting?
The answer to this question is one of the easiest ‘yeses’ we can award to a beach. La Piscina, and its neighbour Playa Arenilla, are two fantastic beaches inside of Tayrona National Park. They are two of only three beaches along this trail where swimming is permitted (Cabo San Juan is the other).
With a tree line to escape the sun, a small bay perfect for taking a dip and vendors to grab drinks and snacks from, La Piscina has everything to offer. We recommend booking a night at the campsite on Cabo San Juan though, instead of trekking here and back in one day. You want to make the most of this paradise!
Don’t forget travel insurance!
Sara and I have been using Safety Wing for over two years now! They specialise in nomad travel insurance, so whether you’re travelling long-term or on a short trip, they got you covered!
Other beaches nearby in Tayrona
As mentioned there are a few other beaches close by to La Piscina. These are some of our favourites!
Playa Arenilla
Playa Arenilla is a quaint beach you’ll come to right before arriving at La Piscina. In fact, we thought we had arrived at La Piscina when we marched onto its sandy shore!
It’s a small bay beach that’s enclosed by two piles of smooth Seychelles looking rocks. These rocks actually help protect the beach from the current which is why swimming is permitted here! Playa Arenilla is arguably actually better than La Piscina, so you may want to break here rather than continuing on.
It’s a fair sized beach with plenty of room. Although we noticed that most people seemed to congregate on the south side of the beach. There’s also a couple of vendors on Playa Arenilla, so you won’t have any need to leave the beach for sustenance. Just bring enough food!
Playa Arrecifes
Playa Arrecifes is located between Cañaveral and Playa Arenilla. It’s an extremely long, pristine looking beach that’s most likely going to be pretty empty when you arrive. This is a result of the rules at Playa Arrecifes forbidding swimming and sunbathing due to the strong currents.
As a result, although Playa Arrecifes is picturesque to look at, we can’t recommend spending too much time here. You may notice you can camp at this beach, but honestly we’d suggest staying at Cabo San Juan instead. If you’re low on hiking time as it is, definitely skip this one and go straight to Playa Arenilla.
You can check out our full guide to Playa Arrecifes!
Cabo San Juan
Cabo San Juan was hands down our favourite beach in Tayrona and a gem of South America! Stunning doesn’t even do this place justice. A rocky outcrop splits the beach into two and both mini-beaches are protected from the ocean current. When we arrived here after a long day hiking in the humidity, jumping into the ocean really boosted our energy levels.
This is the best place to camp in this area of Tayrona National Park. It was a bit expensive with hammocks starting at $10/night and our double tent setting us back $37.24. The experience is worth it though! If you head down the hammock route, definitely fork out the extra 20,000 COP to stay in the mirador tower. You’ll get the best sea breeze to combat the humidity.
At Cabo San Juan you’ll find a restaurant, a small shop, toilets and showers. Everything you need for a comfortable stay, whether it’s just one night or multiple!
If you want to know more, we published a full guide to Cabo San Juan!
Playa Nudista
Playa Nudista, as you may tell from the name, is a nudist beach. Actually, it’s the only nudist beach in all of Colombia!
However, it’s similar to Playa Arrecifes in that swimming and sunbathing is prohibited. It’s a shame really, just when you finally get a chance to tan your nether regions!
We passed through Playa Nudista to reach the hiking trail back to the Calabazo entrance. Although if you’re not an avid hiker, we wouldn’t recommend following in our tracks. This uphill battle is brutal in the humidity, especially during the rainy season!
If you want to know more about Playa Nudista, check out our full guide!
Want to know about more Tayrona beaches?
We created a full guide to all of the tourist beaches inside Tayrona National Park, you can check it out here!
Thank you for reading our guide to the end! We always strive to keep our information accurate and up-to-date. If you feel this is not the case, please let us know so we can adjust it!
If you want more beach content, check out our Best Beaches in Santa Marta guide or our 29+ Things to do in Santa Marta! Heading to Minca next? We have full guides on visiting Pozo Azul, Finca La Victoria and Los Pinos Viewpoint!
