I traveled South America looking for the most beautiful and peaceful city.
Finally, I found Santa Marta.
Why Do You Travel?
Travel Santa Marta
24/7 Support
While Santa Marta isn’t an English speaking city, with guidance, you can do amazing things during your travel into the resorts, beaches, jungle, restaurants, and city culture.
Paradisal Resorts and Hotels
If you enjoy lux, Santa Marta is a hidden treasure! For committed travelers, I setup and customize trips, including hotels and transportation, tours, adventures, and excursions. 24/7 contact!
Cultural Gems and Experiences
After 7 years in Santa Marta, I’ve discovered incredible adventures and now guide friends into the best experiences. These aren’t excursions that you’ll find on Expedia! I go out of my way to create personal, cultural, and custom tours for friends.
Why I Love Santa Marta
From the diverse and beautiful land, farm-to-table food, and society that feels like the 90s, I couldn’t help but travel back to Santa Marta dozens of times in the last 7 years.
Depending on what you do and where you go, you’ll get 2-6X the value of your money in Santa Marta through my travel packages for beach, resort, and jungle vacations.
Text me: “You rock, Joey.” If you’ve read this far, to get a 10% discount on travel packages.
Starting in June 2025, I’m excited to plan and host jungle and beach vacations for friends!
The Santa Marta Travel Guide
Get the best value and enjoyment on a beach or jungle vacation in Santa Marta!
Places You’ll Love, Too
Parque De Los Novios
Your first stop is the charming historic district.
With a boardwalk on the shore, you’ll find quant streets, boutique restaurants, and valuable shops.
Taganga Cove
Ocean-side breakfast from the daily catch. Beautiful bay views, with boats that travel out to 5 different beaches.
Tayrona Park
“The Jewel of The Carribbean” is a miracle from God. Queen of all beaches, Tayrona is a life changing place for all travelers.
Adventures and Excursions
Sailing in Taganga
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Perfect date night. Transportation optional or included.
I’m happy to go with you on the boat as your professional photographer (with my girlfriend as a double date) or set it all up for you and see you back on shore.
Minca Waterfall Photo Tour
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This is my favorite place to heal and explore nature (without sunscreen). The jungle is cool and the waterfalls are life changing.
Motorcycle or 4 wheelers options. The road terrain is intermediate, but not dangerous. I can guide you every step of the way.
Transportation to Minca is optional or included. Motorcycle or 4X4 is pre-arranged. Water admission included.
This tour does require about 15-45 minutes of hiking on clear roads, depending on the waterfalls you want to see.
2.5 hour tours or 4 hour tours (full-day) both available. Great photo opportunities in the jungle.
I can host you every step of the way and take wonderful photos of you at the Marinka water falls!
Beach Trip to Tayrona
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This is my favorite beach in the world. Getting there is marvelous.
The 8 hour day trip includes a packing checklist and some added materials you wouldn’t think to bring.
There's a restaurant on-site and bathrooms (and shower) at the marina and the beach park.
Can document your trip with a personal photographer (me!)
Date Night in The Historic Center
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Parque de Los Novios is a vibrant and romantic environment for dinner.
Happy to make recommendations that fit your preservation, arrange reservations, and setup your transportation.
I will be nearby to ensure everything goes well and can plan post-dinner activities as well including a photoshoot in the park, on the shore, beach board walk, cocktails or wine various rooftop scenes, Italian gelato, rock n roll bar, dancing, clubbing, or even professional self-portraits in the park.
Real Estate Adventure
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Santa Marta boasts incredible beach rental opportunities for those who don’t need major financing.
I can help plan real estate tours that match your vision, budget, and business model and even provide services to help you purchase, manage, and market your rental business.
Shopping In The Centro
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You’ll be amazed at the deals you can get on clothing, shoes, backpacks, watches, iPhone accessories, and more at stores in the Centro.
Prior to your shopping trip, we plan some of the things you might be looking for and then I help you plan and target specific stores. I can guide you through your shopping trip and even provide a local to help you negotiate the best deas.
Santa Marta Food Club
The “Hello Fresh” of Santa Marta.
Get hot breakfast, lunch, and dinner delivered to your door, every day!
Visiting home chef options available.
Unique Tours
Launch Tour
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Your first day in paradise should be a smooth landed experience.
From airport pickup, to ensuring you have the local cash at a fair exchange rate, to making sure you can communicate with the resort or hotel and arrive in your room with all of the expected amenities, like wifi and hot water — this is a concierge service to make sure that everything goes right, and if something goes wrong, we get you connected.
Sometimes, when you arrive in a foreign country, the cell phone signal may need a moment to adjust. The local cash system may not make sense. The Spanish language could become frustrating. The change of climate could make it all feel even more intense. You’re a far way from home, but you’re in paradise!
After getting you setup, I come back for a grocery run, show you the neighborhoods of the city through a taxi ride, and talk with you about the area you’re in, tips, travel hacks, safety callouts, and help you organize or confirm your itinerary of excursions, meals, and answer any other questions you may have.
This is typically a full-day tour.
Gym Training with Elite Pro
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For over a year, I’ve been shadowing an elite pro at the Smart Fit in Santa Marta. He’s a former semi-pro tennis player from California and competes regularly in Medellin.
Just one workout with him and you’ll level up on your typical gym routine. He goes to great length and detail to tech the right technique for detailing physique.
Couples Park Photo Tour
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There are so many picture-esque photo opportunities in Parque de Los Novios.
During this walking tour, I become your professional photographer (Cannon T3i) and take photos of you throughout the many historic streets, restaurant store front, boardwalk, and beach areas of the Parque de Los Novios zone in Santa Marta.
I promise at least 20 high-res photos through this tour. I’ll send all of the photos over to you in email.
Neighborhood Food Crawl
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I ventured out of the tourist areas and slowly uncovered the best neighbor restaurants and high value shops in neighborhoods around the city.
During this tour, I take you around to various stops, shops, restaurants, and places where you can try local foods through various neighborhoods in Santa Marta. We’ll stop for foods that meet your tastes and diet preferences.
I’ll do my best to get you behind the scenes into a family-run restaurant too.
Learn Spanish
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While I can and will hold your hand through everything, I understand that some travelers want the chance to have exposure to the Spanish language, local situations where you can practice one-on-one, or Spanish in group settings that are safe for learning and growth.
I want to prepare you through optional online Spanish lessons with me, where I help you get into the mindset of “Travel Spanish” and help you to study for situations you will actually be in.
When you arrive to Santa Marta, we can practice Spanish among locals, through friends I know who work at malls, pharmacies, restaurants, stores, gyms, or also through local students who are bilingual in English.
Through language exchange and events I setup for language learning, we can build the safe environments you can develop your Spanish in.
Motorcycle Street Jam
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While I don’t promote recklessness, but after being invited to a street jam among the locals, this is a very rare and special cultural event if its happening during your travel.
Street jams showcase the local motorcycle culture and skill, which begins and develops from a very early age for most riders in Santa Marta. The event often is pop-up in nature, with locals assembling it while temporary closing down streets.
We have to be pretty close if I extend the invite, but it leads it transformational learning, appreciation, and cultural perspective on life in Colombia.
Rodadero Beach Bonfire
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Groups of friends come together all the time on the beach here, but getting an invite to join them comes with time.
When traveling into Santa Marta, you might want to authentically connect with local community. Through friends here, I can put some things together and assemble a cool group.
Or, you might want to host your own beach hangout among friends. I can set the scene to be attractive and engaging for you.
Medical Tourism
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Medical tourism is one of the best travel hacks. If you take medicine year round on an insurance plan, or if you’re pursuing any type of skin, aesthetics, or mens health treatments, I can help navigate major cost savings that extend beyond your travel.
Dating Crash Course
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After nearly a decade of overseas dating, learning, and transformation — I wrote the book on Dating In Colombia.
In this offer, I work exclusively with good men to identify your goals and avoid the complex, costly traps of Dating in Colombia.
You’ll learn safety, connection, and cultural understanding.
Through completion of advisory and my book, I’ll customize a crash course for you as you begin your journey.
Colombia Music Tour
I traveled across Colombia’s largest cities to understand their Secret Worlds of music.
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I’ve traveled to Santa Marta 20+ times and collectively lived in this city for about 2 years of time. I have never once seen or experienced any incidents with bodily harm or safety issues. In turn, Santa Marta is more safe than any city I’ve been to in The United States. For example: Civilians are prohibited from owning guns. Marijuana is illegal. The police are like the military: swift in action against reported crime, way more powerful than any of the locals, and they even sleep in the same gated buildings together, with their families, in the local neighborhoods. When we hear about crime associated with Colombia, it is often in major tourist (red light) zones in cities like Medellin or Cartagena, where foreign travelers may seek out nefarious activities, and then create danger or attract it. While those major cities can be a lot of fun to explore with close friends for short periods of time, I prefer the relaxation, peace, and natural land of Santa Marta (500,000 population).
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After 20+ Travels to Santa Marta, I’ve stayed and explored in almost every neighborhood in the city. In turn, I’ve met people from all ages, have friends at local colleges, churches, play pick up basketball games on Wednesday nights with neighborhood teams, roller blade and hang out on the beach with friends, and have even hired some creative contractors for professional projects here. I’m a regular at some restaurants that are local and have put on events at restaurants that are corporate owned. I have made friends with a few expats, dozens of taxi drivers, shop keepers, cashiers, artists, fishermen, hotel owners, personal trainers (gym), tour guides, and small business owners. In all, I’ve had every local experience I can think of, including sharing meals in homes with local families, visiting schools, and connecting with the city as a tourist, friend, and part-time tenant. I’m close to developing a strong community and feeling like a local here, and along the way, I have learned a ton about how the tourist aspect of life works here.
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My vision is to help my USA friends explore an entirely different country for wellness purposes: enjoyment, healing, and personal growth. I’ve been devoting a huge aspect of my life and focus to building infrastructure in Santa Marta that helps my friends enjoy life here, explore the land, and see what’s possible with a lower cost of living— culturally, physically (health), emotionally, spiritually, financially, and romantically. With that, my goal is to host 10 friends in Santa Marta by the end of 2025. These experiences will go beyond a mere vacation. I want to support my own personal transformation and the happiness in the lives of the friends and families who travel here.
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Curious travelers can download my travel guide. Eager travelers can provide a deposit and start to prepare for your vacation through language learning with me!
Book It
It’s time to plan your adventure!