Taganga

Taganga is a small fishing village 5 km north of Santa Marta at the Caribbean coast in Colombia.

Understand
Taganga is a great and idyllic fishing village. Many tourists, local and international, visit this beautiful place every year. It has great charm and the surrounding attractions are plenty.

Although Taganga is a popular place to go, it has also its share of challenges with the infrastructure and public services which is work in progress. It still has charm and might be a nicer place than Santa Marta to explore the surrounding attractions or do some diving.

By bus
Frequent minibuses (collectivos) go from Carrera 5 in Santa Marta to the center of Taganga for COP$2,000 per person (August 2021). It's about 15 minutes and a beautiful ride. On the way back, the bus goes in Santa Marta on Carrera 1 and then Calle 22.

Coming from Minca, the bus to Tanganga goes near the Plaza de Mercado. Ask somebody there where exactly.

By taxi
Taxi fare from bus terminal of Santa Marta to Taganga starts from COP$7,000, but drivers usually charge more for foreigners. Be sure to negotiate before you take. The fare from the main beach of Santa Marta (Carrera 1) to Taganga starts at COP$10,000 and rises to COP$12,000 (all prices as of August 2016) on Sundays, holidays and nights. For cruise ship passengers arriving in Santa Marta there are plenty of taxis and mini-buses waiting in a gated police controlled area to take you.

By boat
There is a daily boat service to and from El Cabo San Juan in the Tayrona National Park. It departs for El Cabo at about 9:30AM, and arrives back at Taganga at 4PM. The 1 hour boat ride can be really rough in the open ocean. Protect your belongings with plastic bags, because you can get wet through, especially in the back of the boat. There is a fixed price. The entrance fee for the National Park has to be paid at the beach.

See
Taganga is surrounded by beautiful desert mountains covered in natural flora and fauna. There are millions of lovely fish and corals which can be reached by short walks and snorkeling out to corals. People watching and good mellow times are to be had along the beach road and loads of beautiful tourists.

There is a viewpoint called Mirador on the way towards Santa Marta. It's better to take a bus or taxi there and back, as the there is no sidewalk and the street is curvy and narrow.

Scuba diving


Taganga has become a popular scuba diving spot. Diving spots are usually near the small island "Aguja", a part of Tayrona National Park. The underwater of Taganga has a big diversity of marine life. There are a dozen diving schools in town, but be careful where you do your courses. There are many reports of travelers doing their courses, paying and never receiving any certificate. Be careful for your safety: some diving centers have pretty old equipment, never follow safety rules such as safety-stop and even skip important skills/exams during the course or have dive masters teaching courses, check if you will be with a real instructor. For more information check padi alerts.

A small review of available dive centers:



Buy
Get homemade seasonal sweets and delicious frozen fruit treats at Kelly seasonally.

There are minimarkets throughout the town. The next big supermarket is in Santa Marta and called Exito. The bus from Taganga goes to Carrera 5/Calle 22 in Santa Marta. From there it's a short walk. The bus back to Taganga goes from in front of the supermarket.



The bus goes to Santa Marta's Parque Bolívar, where there is a BBVA bank branch with three ATMs. The bus goes on Carrera 5 back to Taganga.

Eat
Mid-quality restaurants that specialize mainly in fish dishes are clustered on the beach, with a main dish starting at COP$10,000-15,000 (September 2021). It's worthwhile to walk up two blocks.

There is some street food along the Carrera 3. Most food stalls are there in the late afternoon and in the evening. Special Colombian style hot dogs are from COP$3,000, Hamburgers from COP$5,000 and typical Colombian snacks from COP$1,500 (September 2021).


 * You can buy fresh fish from fisherman at the left side of beach from afternoon into the evening - They will cut it for you and give you just the fillet if you want.
 * Republika Taganguera Divanga's French Restaurant/Bar/Swimming pool. Located in DIVANGA nice hostel with swimming pool 2 blocks straight from Delfin Hostel on the beach. good vibes. +57 5 421 90 92
 * Che Luis, usually very crowded with locals/Israelis. Mostly an Israeli place and very loud as well.
 * El Reef, Cra1 # 15-09. Great panini sandwich and good salad. The speciality: very good waffles with ice cream and Nutella.

Drink
It would be good idea to take a couple of "Stubbie Coolers" (Australian vernacular for an item which keeps the beer in your bottle cooler or longer) as the heat in Taganga will have you drinking warm beer by the time you are at the end of your drink.

Sleep

 * Another option is to ask around for an apartment to rent. There are gringo shacks and guest houses all over the town. Usually, most places to stay that are geared towards foreign backpackers will have all the creature comforts (read: running water). Taganga has a long history of people's belongings disappearing as everyone in town often have keys and people lose stuff the day they are scheduled to leave. There is always the option of find a person who's renting a room in their house, or seeing who's out of town and turned their home into a temporary guest house. It's a great way of meeting people and really getting to know a town as interesting as Taganga. If you do this, be sure you trust where you are staying, and bring your own locks as a precaution. Also, Taganga has no water due to political issues, so there are times where water can be an issue.
 * Another option is to ask around for an apartment to rent. There are gringo shacks and guest houses all over the town. Usually, most places to stay that are geared towards foreign backpackers will have all the creature comforts (read: running water). Taganga has a long history of people's belongings disappearing as everyone in town often have keys and people lose stuff the day they are scheduled to leave. There is always the option of find a person who's renting a room in their house, or seeing who's out of town and turned their home into a temporary guest house. It's a great way of meeting people and really getting to know a town as interesting as Taganga. If you do this, be sure you trust where you are staying, and bring your own locks as a precaution. Also, Taganga has no water due to political issues, so there are times where water can be an issue.
 * Another option is to ask around for an apartment to rent. There are gringo shacks and guest houses all over the town. Usually, most places to stay that are geared towards foreign backpackers will have all the creature comforts (read: running water). Taganga has a long history of people's belongings disappearing as everyone in town often have keys and people lose stuff the day they are scheduled to leave. There is always the option of find a person who's renting a room in their house, or seeing who's out of town and turned their home into a temporary guest house. It's a great way of meeting people and really getting to know a town as interesting as Taganga. If you do this, be sure you trust where you are staying, and bring your own locks as a precaution. Also, Taganga has no water due to political issues, so there are times where water can be an issue.
 * Another option is to ask around for an apartment to rent. There are gringo shacks and guest houses all over the town. Usually, most places to stay that are geared towards foreign backpackers will have all the creature comforts (read: running water). Taganga has a long history of people's belongings disappearing as everyone in town often have keys and people lose stuff the day they are scheduled to leave. There is always the option of find a person who's renting a room in their house, or seeing who's out of town and turned their home into a temporary guest house. It's a great way of meeting people and really getting to know a town as interesting as Taganga. If you do this, be sure you trust where you are staying, and bring your own locks as a precaution. Also, Taganga has no water due to political issues, so there are times where water can be an issue.
 * Another option is to ask around for an apartment to rent. There are gringo shacks and guest houses all over the town. Usually, most places to stay that are geared towards foreign backpackers will have all the creature comforts (read: running water). Taganga has a long history of people's belongings disappearing as everyone in town often have keys and people lose stuff the day they are scheduled to leave. There is always the option of find a person who's renting a room in their house, or seeing who's out of town and turned their home into a temporary guest house. It's a great way of meeting people and really getting to know a town as interesting as Taganga. If you do this, be sure you trust where you are staying, and bring your own locks as a precaution. Also, Taganga has no water due to political issues, so there are times where water can be an issue.
 * Another option is to ask around for an apartment to rent. There are gringo shacks and guest houses all over the town. Usually, most places to stay that are geared towards foreign backpackers will have all the creature comforts (read: running water). Taganga has a long history of people's belongings disappearing as everyone in town often have keys and people lose stuff the day they are scheduled to leave. There is always the option of find a person who's renting a room in their house, or seeing who's out of town and turned their home into a temporary guest house. It's a great way of meeting people and really getting to know a town as interesting as Taganga. If you do this, be sure you trust where you are staying, and bring your own locks as a precaution. Also, Taganga has no water due to political issues, so there are times where water can be an issue.
 * Another option is to ask around for an apartment to rent. There are gringo shacks and guest houses all over the town. Usually, most places to stay that are geared towards foreign backpackers will have all the creature comforts (read: running water). Taganga has a long history of people's belongings disappearing as everyone in town often have keys and people lose stuff the day they are scheduled to leave. There is always the option of find a person who's renting a room in their house, or seeing who's out of town and turned their home into a temporary guest house. It's a great way of meeting people and really getting to know a town as interesting as Taganga. If you do this, be sure you trust where you are staying, and bring your own locks as a precaution. Also, Taganga has no water due to political issues, so there are times where water can be an issue.
 * Another option is to ask around for an apartment to rent. There are gringo shacks and guest houses all over the town. Usually, most places to stay that are geared towards foreign backpackers will have all the creature comforts (read: running water). Taganga has a long history of people's belongings disappearing as everyone in town often have keys and people lose stuff the day they are scheduled to leave. There is always the option of find a person who's renting a room in their house, or seeing who's out of town and turned their home into a temporary guest house. It's a great way of meeting people and really getting to know a town as interesting as Taganga. If you do this, be sure you trust where you are staying, and bring your own locks as a precaution. Also, Taganga has no water due to political issues, so there are times where water can be an issue.
 * Another option is to ask around for an apartment to rent. There are gringo shacks and guest houses all over the town. Usually, most places to stay that are geared towards foreign backpackers will have all the creature comforts (read: running water). Taganga has a long history of people's belongings disappearing as everyone in town often have keys and people lose stuff the day they are scheduled to leave. There is always the option of find a person who's renting a room in their house, or seeing who's out of town and turned their home into a temporary guest house. It's a great way of meeting people and really getting to know a town as interesting as Taganga. If you do this, be sure you trust where you are staying, and bring your own locks as a precaution. Also, Taganga has no water due to political issues, so there are times where water can be an issue.

Connect
There is a great little internet cafe a block to the west of the police station and ATM, which adds little friendly touches like the occasional cup of water.

Stay safe
Taganga had a difficult time a couple of years back with drug dealers, robbery and less than ideal police behavior, but it is a town full of hard working friendly people and it has slowly been recovering since, still regular precautions should be taken, enjoy your visit exercising discretion and caution.

There are quite 7 small beaches outside of Taganga (15 minutes walk), which are connected by walking paths covered by vegetation. These paths are not well illuminated, so precautions must be taken on late hours when there are not many people walking to and from. Do not walk there by yourself. Wait for a small group. If you carry valuables with you and don't feel adventurous, it's better to take a boat (3 minutes; COP $5.000).

Go next
Hostels have these places:


 * Tayrona National Park — an unspoilt natural paradise of jungle, birds, ocean, and absolutely gorgeous beaches. A boat leaves for the backpacker beach haven of El Cabo every morning around 10AM. On the country road that goes through the national park, there are hostels in El Zaino and Calabazo.
 * Santa Marta — Blue collectivos leave for Santa Marta for every 15 minutes or even more often, passing the roundabout at the malecon (COP$2,000, September 2021). They pass along Av.  del Ferrocarril and Santa Marta malecon at Carrera 1C and then Calle 22.
 * Minca – a bit cooler and 20km from Santa Marta. It's 580m above sea level towards the mountain top Cuchilla San Lorenzo
 * Guachaca
 * Cartagena – Direct intercity buses depart from Santa Marta. Berlinas bus company offers shuttle tickets from Taganga hostels to Cartagena. DivaExpe (see tour operator) sells tickets.

Suitable for a trip is:
 * Ciudad Perdida — Taganga, even more so than Santa Marta, is the main jumping off point for the famous trek, and you should be able to arrange a trek on short notice with any of the hostels or tour companies dotting the main road.