Fantastic tour
Chris is a great tour guide, showed up early and prepared, spotted capuchin and howler monkeys which he showed us, as well as !!!poison dart frog!!!, indigenous tribe, plus crabs, water fowl, and beautiful beaches, a fantastic day we’ll always remember!
Great experience!
We had an excellent time. The weather was perfect, and our guide Christian Carvajalino, was very knowledgeable and made the hiking time pass very quickly. It was amazing to see the wildlife, especially the monkeys, as well as the native tribes in the park. We definitely recommend this trip!
事業者からの返答
We’re delighted to hear you had such a memorable experience. It’s wonderful to know Christian’s knowledge and guidance made the hike so enjoyable, and that you got to see such amazing wildlife. Thank you for your recommendation and for choosing Gran Colombia Tours, we hope to welcome you again soon.
Trip to Cabo San Juan, Parque Tayrona
So, you decide to embark on a 2.5-3 hour hike to find a bit of paradise. People have raved about this hidden gem in Parque Tayrona, and while it’s lovely and the route offers stunning scenery, there’s a catch.
First, you pay for mandatory medical insurance and park entrance. It’s pricey for foreigners, but fine for Colombians and cheap for locals, as is normal for national parks.
Then, you’ll need to pay for a 7-minute ride to the car park, which is very cheap at 7,000 COP. You could walk it, but I recommend taking the bus.
We started our hike on a pleasant day, though it was humid near the coast in the jungle. There’s a good path for a 2.5-hour walk or you can take a horse ride, which seems to be okay. I can’t comment on it as the horses seemed good enough for a two-hour ride, but it cost around 70-80,000 Col Pesos.
We arrived at the reception area, where two people worked at the entrance. They spoke basic English and were surrounded by tourists.
The lady who helped me didn’t believe I’d booked a tent even though I had a receipt from the official Cabo San Juan kiosk at the park entrance. She offered me a hammock instead, but I insisted I’d paid for a tent. She denied seeing my booking for a tent but quickly asked her colleague to check. Her colleague confirmed I had a tent reserved. Despite this, I was then asked to show the confirmation on my phone!
It seems they don’t trust you much here!
Forget it, I was told my tent number and location: “at the end to the right!” Over 100 tents had numbers written in marker, some on multiple tents, others scribbled out and overwritten. Finding my correct tent, or what was left of a good 10-15 year old one, took 10 minutes.
The zips were broken or didn’t work. As you’d expect, seaside conditions quickly deteriorate anything not maintained, and it seemed minimal maintenance had been done to these old tents.
A few newer tents were there, but I couldn’t tell the difference between theirs and ours; they also had bigger and smaller ones. I guess I was unlucky to get a smaller, older one. The night was hot due to poor ventilation.
The next morning, I went to charge my phone at the communal charging point. Three women were charging their phones and walked away for a few minutes. A man walked up and nonchalantly grabbed one of their phones. He’d been sitting next to me and I didn’t think much of it. But in a place like this, you can’t let your guard down. No one’s looking out for you, except yourself. Don’t give them a chance; they’ll take it. Sadly, the phone and the man were gone.
Next, I went to see my daughter’s sleeping hammock. Where to start? The mosquito nets had loads of holes or were fixed with hand-tied knots. The safe lockers were all broken, rusted, or simply not there.
Toilets and cleaning facilities were the worst. They were dirty, small, and certainly not up to standards for the price we paid. They charge for daily visitors from other beaches, so they collect a good amount of money from those staying in, as well as the fees for staying in the ecolodge.
The food was okay, so I’d give them a 2.5 out of 5. The price was too high.
Service is rude, or well not friendly as many other parts of Colombia, sadly costeños are not really know for their service and hospitality! As like the other parts of the country !
Overall, Cabo de San Juan Park Tayrona is a beautiful spot, that gets quite busy between 11am-4:00pm
Service and amenities leaves a lot to desire and improve. Starting by some tents and sleeping facilities. Personal customer service must improve and the food could do with some overall quality and improvement.
Is overprice and sadly really needs to be addressed before it declines and people stop coming to visit!
Please see some of my pics and see what I refer to!
I believe and talking to couple of other travellers, they had. Similar experience to myself, I feel that the management needs to take a good look at the fascilities and improve one by one, Toilets, revisit the old tents and hammock situation, and improve the restaurant situation. This is not difficult, but just management wanting to improve what could be an amazing facility to outstanding visit.
Food certainly can be improve if they want to charge those prices, and mostly but does not cost much, the customer interaction service, starting from the reception all the way to the ladies making and serving the juice, smile and a please and thank you don’t cost much, but goes along way and people will be happier. Well I know I would certainly recommend this place and be back if things were to change!
事業者からの返答
There seems to be a clear mix-up. The experience described in this review refers to accommodation, facilities, services, and management inside Tayrona National Park, which are not part of our service.
For clarity to anyone reading this review: our product is a same-day hiking tour to Cabo San Juan (round trip). We do not manage, sell, or control accommodation, tents, hammocks, food services, park infrastructure, insurance fees, or any facilities within the park. Those services are operated independently by the park and third-party providers.
We have already attempted to have this review removed or relocated to the correct listing, but this has not yet been done. For this reason, we kindly ask the reviewer to please move this comment to the appropriate place, as it does not correspond to this tour.
Amazing hiking day in parque Tayrona
The tour was amazing, we had a great tour guide Juan Jose, who did a very good job! We saw many incredibly beautiful places and animals. I highly recommend this hiking trip to everyone!
事業者からの返答
Thank you for your review! We're thrilled you had such an amazing hiking experience and enjoyed the stunning landscapes and wildlife along the way. It's great to hear Juan Jose made the tour even more special with his excellent guidance. We truly appreciate your recommendation and hope to welcome you back to Colombia with Gran Colombia Tours soon!