Tayrona Park is both more beautiful and more crowded than the photos.

It’s a national park – jungle that goes all the way to the ocean…

Ten minutes in and I had already seen capuchin monkeys in the tall trees, the first capuchin monkeys of my life!

The hike to Arrecife is an easy two hours and I decided to push it to Cabo San Juan, which is an additional 40 minutes. The beach there is bigger and there are a few facilities, restaurants, toilets, hammocks in the shade…but it’s also where most people stop. I didn’t stopped, I actually went back to the previous beach “La Piscinita” the “Little pool” to bask in the sun for a few hours and snorkel too.

There’s a little desk with a guy offering snorkelling tours of the bay for $20 USD and it was really worth it. Though you can’t go past the ‘stone barrier’ of the pool cos the currents and waves are too strong and dangerous, you’ll see the sea floor is full of wonders: coral reefs, lobsters, angel fishes, super-hyper-colourful fishes…and I even spotted a barracuda!

Tayrona Park is unbelievable if you love nature and spotting animals, it’s not the best place for empty beaches but that wasn’t that bad either.

While in the area I stayed at two very nice hostels (found out later they belong to 2 brothers) the Eco Hotel Chayrama and the Eco Hostal Yuluka. They are both outside the park (staying in the park is possible if you want to camp there with a tent or if you are willing to pay $$$$ for one of the rare hotels) but still manage to make you feel in the nature…