Cruise ships dock close to the center of town.

It's easy to get around Santa Marta. It feels like a big small town. You can easily walk around the historic district without needing transportation. Leaving the cruise you can find all kind of tours operators offer city tours.

Printable map to take along.

Cruise calendar for this port.

Watch a destination video.

Santa Marta, on Colombia's Caribbean coast, The recently renovated downtown of Santa Marta with its blend of colonial and republican architecture attracts more and more visitors among them several cruise ships a week. The beach at Santa Marta is very busy with lots of people, vendors and noise.

Founded in 1525 by Roger de Bastidas, Santa Marta is ideally located for visits to the Santa Marta mountain range, second in height only to the Andes running through Colombia and two national parks. While it doesn't have some of the tourism infrastructure of Cartagena down the coast, it has warm, clean beaches, many in Tayrona, or Tairona, park.

Travelers should exercise vigilance at all times due to the level of violent crime. Although kidnapping and homicide rates in urban areas of Colombia have dropped in recent years, they remain high. Outside the main tourist areas these dangers are greatly magnified - avoid any off-the-beaten-track travel. It's best to stick to the main routes and travel during daytime only. Regions to avoid include border areas with Ecuador and Venezuela, where criminal, guerrilla and paramilitary activities are a threat to travelers.

There is an information desk and also some shopping right at the port.

The peso is the currency of the Republic of Colombia. 2000 Peso = 1 USD

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Spanish spoken

There are Internet cafes in most towns and cities.

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