How to visit Playa Nudista: A nudist beach in Tayrona
If it’s not obvious enough from the name, Playa Nudista is a nudist beach. Not only that, it seems to be the only nudist beach in all of Colombia!
Alas, not avid naturists ourselves, in this guide we’re not going to focus on Playa Nudista’s potential as a hotspot for nude exploring. Instead we’ll focus on what we are experts in; providing you with all the information you need to visit this hidden gem.
There is key information you need when planning your trip to Playa Nudista, things that we fell prey to when we visited. In addition, is it even worth visiting? Stick around to find out!
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About Playa Nudista
Beyond being a highlight for those who enjoy hanging around in their birthday suit, Playa Nudista is actually an incredibly beautiful beach! It’s a long stretch of gorgeous white sand that curves along a good 500m of Caribbean coastline.
Located in Tayrona National Park (Parque Tayrona), this beach is sandwiched between the beautiful azure ocean and lush tropical rainforests. Palm trees are commonplace and if you’re lucky, you may even spot a monkey or two in the tree line!
However, despite this beautiful picture we’re painting, Playa Nudista has one overbearing negative aspect: swimming and sunbathing is forbidden…
If you’re wondering why, we don’t blame you! Actually, the ocean currents around Tayrona National Park are so strong that over a hundred people have been killed along its shores. As a result, permission to swim is only granted at select beaches inside Tayrona; Cabo San Juan, Playa Arenilla and La Piscina.
How to get to Playa Nudista
There’s only one way to get your nude-seeking self to Playa Nudista, and that’s by hiking. Due to its location right in the centre of Tayrona, it takes at least a solid four hours of trekking from one of the two entrances into this section of the park; El Zaino or Calabazo.
From our experience, it’s easiest to reach Playa Nudista by first making the trek to Cabo San Juan. We actually published a full guide on Cabo San Juan, including the best methods of getting there, check this out for a detailed breakdown on the full hike or chartering a boat from Santa Marta.
Once you’ve arrived in Cabo San Juan all of the hard work is already done. Actually, Playa Nudista is only a 15-20 minute walk away from the campsite! There are two routes you can take; one takes you along the coastline and the other through the forest.
To choose your route, you need to know about the tide times. If you decide to head to Playa Nudista during high tide, you’re going to have a difficult time. We didn’t realise this and started trekking what was supposed to be the easier route and ended up trapped within a 10-minute walk of Cabo San Juan. Phone service in Tayrona is scarce, so the tide times are something you need to prepare for before leaving Santa Marta!
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The beach route
This is the simple and easy route from Cabo San Juan. From the campsite, we followed the beach round past the mirador tower to the north end. Here we found a small trail that heads up through some rocks and between some bushes.
After a short 10-minute trail walk, we reached a beach. This wasn’t Playa Nudista, it’s a small beach that we don’t know the name of. Unfortunately, as mentioned, it was high tide when we arrived here making the beach impassable.
If you prepare for this, you’ll make it here at low tide. Walk across the beach to the other side and head through another short pathway that’ll spit you out on Playa Nudista!
The jungle route
This route was a bit more complicated and our only option after being blocked by the tide. There aren’t many signs to direct you along the correct path so actually we ended up lost on our first attempt.
From the campsite, you need to find the trailhead behind the toilets and showers. There’s a giant sign of the park and a fence, you need to go down the right side of the fence – the left leads to a dead-end.
Our best advice at this point is to follow the trail on maps.me as best as you can. We used this method and still missed a trail along the way. If you end up on a very dry riverbed like we did, you’ve gone the wrong way! We had to go back to Cabo San Juan and start again.
If you follow the trail correctly, it’ll take you through the forest along some thin trails. At one point you’ll reach a slightly wider pathway, you have to cross it to the next trail and not turn left – this is what led us to the riverbed. Eventually the trail will bring you to the southern end of Playa Nudista… SUCCESS!
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Best time to visit Playa Nudista
The best time of day to visit Playa Nudista is in the morning. It’s likely that few have ventured here to bare their skin suits that early in the morning. We arrived around 8:30am and there were only two other beach-goers – buck naked – in the distance.
However, generally this beach is empty most of the day due to the nature of not being able to swim or sunbathe. Playa Nudista is more of a passthrough to the next hiking trail more than anything.
We visited Tayrona during the rainy season in November. Although the benefits of this include less tourists around, we really struggled with the humidity at night while trying to sleep. While we were trekking, a local informed us that towards the end of December, January and the beginning of February are the best times of the year to visit.
Heading to Tayrona?
Check out our full guides to Playa Arrecifes and Cabo San Juan!
Is Playa Nudista worth visiting?
Although subjective to each individual, we wouldn’t recommend basing your trip to Tayrona National Park just to visit Playa Nudista. Not unless you’re a keen naturist of course!
Due to being forbade to swim or sunbathe, there’s not a lot this beach offers other than beautiful views. However, there’s beautiful views throughout the park and at other beaches that do allow you to swim.
We wouldn’t even generally recommend hiking onwards from Playa Nudista to the Calabazo entrance. On some blogs – and on the map – you’ll see the indigenous village of Pueblito. We wanted to visit here as it seemed likely to be a unique experience. To our dismay, when we arrived, we discovered it was closed to tourists and has been for a while. So unless you’re planning to trek to Playa Brava, don’t bother hiking past Playa Nudista!
However we do believe that Playa Nudista is worth a quick trek over from Cabo San Juan if you’re going to be in that area anyway. It’s a beautiful stretch of beach and a unique experience if you’re not familiar with nudist beaches!
Tips for visiting Playa Nudista
If you’re planning to make the trek through Tayrona National Park and to Playa Nudista, here are a few tips we suggest based on our experience:
- Use mosquito Spray – Sara was absolutely bitten alive during our hikes, she had over 70 bites even with repellent!
- Apply sun cream – some of the trails are not shaded at all, make sure you protect your skin!
- Bring a rain Jacket – on the flip side, Tayrona is a rainforest and it could rain at any time.
- Pack enough drinking water – you’re going to sweat a lot!
- Wear hiking boots – a lot of the trails are uneven, over tree roots and over rocks.
- Avoid the weekends – and obvious one but one you’ll be grateful for to avoid crowds.
- Opt for the shuttle bus – between El Zaino and Cañaveral you can either take a shuttle bus or walk, we recommend the bus to save time.
- Prepare toilet paper – you’ll never know when you might need some and a lot of the toilets won’t have any.
Want to know about other Tayrona beaches?
We published a full guide outlining all of the beaches in Tayrona National Park that are accessible by tourists. You can check it out here!
Thank you for reading our article on Playa Nudista until the end! We always strive to provide accurate and up-to-date information. If you believe this not to be the case, please contact us and let us know so we can adjust it!
Why not check out our guide to the Best Beaches in Santa Marta or our 29+ Things to do in Santa Marta? If you’re heading to Minca next, we have full guides on Pozo Azul, Finca La Victoria and Los Pinos Viewpoint!
