Santa Marta Colombia
68
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
Carnival Cruise Line (1 Cruises)
Crystal Cruises (5 Cruises)
Emerald Waterways (10 Cruises)
Emerald Azzurra
10 Cruises
Holland America Line (1 Cruises)
Oceania Cruises (15 Cruises)
Oceania Marina
8 Cruises
Frequently Asked Questions
In the commercial sector, about a kilometre from the colonial core. A short shuttle or a fifteen-minute walk brings you to the first old streets: it is one of Colombia's easiest calls on foot.
The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, one of the world's highest coastal ranges, raises peaks above 5,000 metres just a few dozen kilometres from the shore. Few Caribbean calls combine pre-Columbian gold, colonial façades and permanent snow in a single day.
It is the oldest Spanish-founded city in Colombia, established in 1525 under Rodrigo de Bastidas. Its republican façades with wrought balconies and shaded squares set the tone of a city that lives outdoors.
The gold museum housed in the Casa de la Aduana, one of the country's oldest buildings. Entry is free and the cases display pre-Columbian goldwork of startling delicacy, made by the Tairona people who occupied the Sierra long before the conquest.
The gold museum, the cathedral and Parque de los Novios, then the Malecón de Bastidas on the way back down to the sea. All of it on foot from the terminal, with time left for a coconut lemonade in the shade.
White and fortress-like, completed in the late eighteenth century, it is among Colombia's oldest. Bolívar's remains lay there for twelve years before their ceremonial transfer to Caracas.
The promenade running several hundred metres along the bay. Pelicans dive in front of the fishermen's boats, families swim right in town, and raspao vendors push their jingling carts of shaved ice doused in syrup.
Mochilas, the bags woven by Sierra communities that have become the region's craft emblem. Stalls along the waterfront sell them and quality varies a great deal: check how even the weave is before buying.
The hacienda five kilometres from the centre that preserves the memory of Simón Bolívar's final days. It is the outing to plan if you have more time, or the natural alternative to a wholly urban day.
December to April, the dry season, when the trade winds blow across the bay. The heat is dense from early morning all year: set out early, water bottle in hand and hat on.
