Santa Marta Half Day City Tour

This tour is a good introduction to Santa Marta, the oldest Spanish colonial city in the Americas. Although the city doesn't have the wealth of beautiful colonial buildings that neighboring Cartagena can offer to the visitor, it is nonetheless an interesting city and one that is being bestowed with more and more interest and investment.

The colonial center is undergoing a huge restoration program and the narrow streets and cobbled plazas, overhanging balconies and elegant churches are being returned to their former glory. Explore the Bolivar Plaza with your guide and continue to the impressive cathedral, the Parque de los Novios, for a refreshing drink, and stop at the Gold Museum with interesting gold and pottery pieces, many of which are attributed to Colombia's pre-Columbian cultures from the Sierra Nevada mountains nearby.

After taking in the views from outside the city you'll continue to La Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino, a 17th century hacienda where Simon Bolivar spent his final days and died in 1830. You will no doubt hear more about the famous Simon Bolivar on your travels in Colombia, or indeed in most South American countries.