Everything to know about beaches in Taganga, Colombia

Taganga is a small fishing village found along the Caribbean coast of Colombia. Being on the coastline a lot of people, including us, come here to check out the Taganga beaches on offer. 

The main beach itself isn’t the best, but we’ll get to that. However, you’ll be pleased to know that there are a few beaches that are accessible from Taganga that are so much better!

We spent a long time living in Santa Marta, the town closest to Taganga, and exploring the surrounding area. From our beach investigations and our own experiences, here is a list of all the beaches in Taganga!

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Playa Taganga

We can’t write a blog about Taganga beaches without mentioning the main beach itself. But heed our word, we don’t think Playa Taganga to be a great beach. Of all the beaches on this list, honestly we would advise to ignore this one and pick a different, more beautiful beach.

We published a whole article on why you should avoid Playa Taganga and our experience, so if you want to know more you can check it out. But with that out the way, let the paradise beaches commence!

Playa Grande

Playa Grande is the most accessible of Taganga’s beaches, only a short 25-minute walk around the cliffs. It’s a mid-sized beach that offers restaurants, bars, water activities and even snorkelling! 

To get here, we headed to the northern end of Playa Taganga and looked for the trailhead besides Hotel Bahia Taganga. The trail is simple to follow and the trail stats are:

We found that the main downside of Playa Grande is that the locals have covered the beach in chairs. You can rent these chairs for a daily fee which is great, but it barely leaves any room on the sand if you just want to lay your towel down and sunbathe. 

Playa Cristal

From here on out, all of the Taganga beaches we recommend are inside of Tayrona National Park – Playa Cristal being one of them. So to reach this slice of paradise you need to plan in advance and catch a boat from Playa Taganga. They run daily but the earlier you arrive the better as there is a limit to the amount of visitors allowed on Playa Cristal daily. We believe the boats start running from about 9am and cost about 100,000 COP!

You can expect a beautiful stretch of white sand with that stereotypical blue Caribbean waters. A coral reef is accessible from the beach for you to snorkel and enjoy the marine life of the area. 

We recommend planning your trips to Playa Cristal for a weekday to avoid the crowds and prepare if you suffer from seasickness as the ocean can be a bit choppy! Pack snacks and drinks as well as food options on Playa Cristal are scarce and expensive.

If you want to take all of the stress out of organising your trip to Playa Cristal, book this tour!

Cabo San Juan

Cabo San Juan was our second favourite beach inside of Tayrona National Park and probably the best Taganga beach accessible from the village. It’s a bit deeper into Tayrona than Playa Cristal but you can still catch a boat to and from Playa Taganga for about 120,000 COP. Alternatively you can hike to Cabo San Juan, but that’s for another blog!

The boat will drop you right on the shores of the beach and you can claim your spot with a towel and just enjoy the day! A headland of rocks splits Cabo San Juan in half which almost gives you two beaches to choose from and climbing the mirador tower offers a great view across Tayrona!

You’ll be happy to know that at Cabo San Juan there is a restaurant that opens for breakfast, lunch and dinner daily, and there’s a small shop for snacks. If you want a longer trip, you should plan to stay overnight like we did!

Playa Arenilla

Playa Arenilla is a bit of a cop-out option as it’s not directly accessible from Taganga but for us it was the best beach in Tayrona. You’ll have to hike from Cabo San Juan but don’t worry, it only takes about 20-minutes and it’s a simple trail!

It’s a small half-moon shaped beach that often gets overlooked in the grand scheme of Tayrona beaches. We set down here for a few hours and honestly had the most relaxing and peaceful time! The ocean is a small bay which creates very calm currents and there are a couple of shacks offering snacks and drinks. 

We highly recommend adding Playa Arenilla to your Taganga beaches bucket list!

Bahía Concha

Our final Taganga beach on the list is Bahía Concha – also in Tayrona National Park! Close to Playa Cristal but much less touristy, this beach would be a great option if you’re looking for an escape from society and civilization!

It’s a curved bay with all the characteristics of a Caribbean beach that’s incredibly popular with the locals. You can expect great snorkelling and water activities and, if you feel like it, you can bring a tent and stay overnight!

To get to Bahía Concha, you can always follow the same route as Playa Cristal and go by boat, you can take a taxi or you can catch the public bus and a moto taxi combo!

How to get to Taganga

Depending on where you are in Colombia, you first need to get to Santa Marta. If you’re in Medellín or Bogotá, then it would be ideal to fly. But if you’re in Cartagena then you’ll have to catch the bus! We booked all of our buses in Colombia through Busbud and never had any issues!

Once in Santa Marta, you can either catch a 20-minute taxi to Taganga like we did, or you can take the public bus. In terms of prices, the taxi only cost us $1.80 but if you’re on a really tight budget then the bus is only $0.44 each way!

Final thoughts

As we mentioned at the beginning, you want to avoid Playa Taganga if you’re looking for a relaxing beach day out! 

If you don’t have a lot of time, then Playa Grande would be a much better option for you. However if you’ve put aside a day to beach bum around, then definitely plan a trip to one of the beaches inside Tayrona National Park!

Check out our other Santa Marta guides:

• 29 Must-Do Things to do in Santa Marta: An Ultimate Guide
• Is Playa Taganga Worth Visiting? – An Ultimate Guide!
• A Complete Guide to Visiting Playa Grande, Santa Marta
• 15+ Best Beaches in Santa Marta (and beaches to avoid!)
• Is Rodadero Beach A Beautiful Paradise Or Just Over-Crowded?
• Playa Inca Inca: The best beach in Santa Marta
• Playa Blanca: A guide to Santa Marta’s hidden beach
• An Ultimate Guide to Santa Marta Beach: Is it worth visiting?
• Is Colombia safe to visit in 2024? Everything you need to know

We really hope that you found all the information you needed in this blog about Taganga beaches. We try to give all the information we have as well as provide examples of our own experiences but if you feel that we said something wrong, feel free to reach out and tell us!