TorontoOntario · 36 tours
Niagara FallsOntario · 25 tours
New York CityNew York · 30 tours
Las VegasNevada · 8 tours
San FranciscoCalifornia · 16 tours
VancouverBritish Columbia · 17 tours
DubaiUAE · 54 tours
Abu DhabiUAE · 5 tours
Buenos AiresArgentina · 23 tours
AthensGreece · 31 tours
AucklandNew Zealand · 38 tours
CancunMexico · 54 tours
No destinations match “”. Try searching all tours instead — that search understands full questions, not just place names.
A calm, sheltered horseshoe-shaped bay a few minutes south of downtown Santa Marta, lined with hotels, restaurants, and beach clubs. Its protected waters make it one of the more popular beaches near the city for swimming, and it's a common departure point for boat trips to nearby Isla Aguja and the Salamanca National Park mangroves.
Visitor guide
El Rodadero, or Playa El Rodadero, is a seaside resort district on the Caribbean coast of Santa Marta, Colombia. Set in a sheltered bay a few kilometres south of the city centre, it is lined with high-rise hotels and is treated as part of Santa Marta itself.
According to Spanish-language Wikipedia, El Rodadero developed as a tourist area from the mid-1950s. The governor Rafael Hernandez Pardo began building a road over the Ziruma hill in 1954, and the avenue that links downtown Santa Marta to El Rodadero is named after him. The government of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla supported the construction of the Hotel Tamaca, a name said to mean big house on the beach, built on a former place of worship of the Gaira people.
The name itself comes from a mound of sand between two small hills, which local people used to roll down towards the beach, the verb being rodar in Spanish. The mound has since become bare rock but is still visible to the south of the area.
In 1976 four towers more than 80 metres tall were built near the beaches, and as of 2021 they were still among the tallest buildings in Santa Marta.
El Rodadero sits in the Gaira or Rodadero inlet, a few kilometres south of the main part of the city in Santa Marta Bay, separated from it by the Ziruma hill. The inlet extends from Cabeza de Negros point in the north to the Gaira River in the south, which separates it from the Salguero beach area. The bay is commonly described as calm and sheltered, which is part of its appeal for swimming and family visits.
The Rodadero Sea Aquarium and Museum is located in the Inca Inca cove off the beach and is accessible mainly by motorboat. It opened in 1965 under Captain Francisco Ospina Navia and is part of the National Network of Museums of Colombia. According to Wikipedia, it has 13 pools connected with the Caribbean Sea and 15 glass aquaria with over 800 animals, including sharks, sea turtles, dolphins, sea lions and fish, nearly all native to the region. It also has a museum section with nautical equipment and an exhibition on the Tairona and their relationship with the sea.
A nearby attraction mentioned in the Spanish Wikipedia article, the Iguana Trail, no longer operates.
The beach is relaxed and family-oriented, with hotels, restaurants and shops along its length, and it is popular with Colombian holidaymakers. Santa Marta has a hot tropical climate with a drier season from December to April and a wetter one from May to November. The sun is strong, so shade and sunscreen are useful.
El Rodadero is only a few minutes from downtown Santa Marta by road, which makes it easy to combine with a visit to the historic centre or a trip to Tayrona National Natural Park. A private driver can cover those links in a single day.
See every tour and attraction we cover in Santa Marta.
