Punta Gallinas & Cabo de la Vela • 3 Days

In the municipality of Riohacha is the Santuario de Fauna y Flora los Flamencos Natural Park, which is known for the Cuban flamingos (see our Flamingo Tour). In the capital of La Guajira, a typical Caribbean breakfast awaits you before continuing with the Tour.

Learn about the salt process, and see a pink lagoon with beautiful beaches - the Salinas de Manaure combine it all. A landscape that is not easily seen anywhere. Our bilingual guide will explain the entire process of extracting salt from the sea for free.

We stop in the town of Uribia to buy gifts for the Wayúu children. Uribia was founded in 1935 in the heart of Wayúu Indigenous territory. The site was previously Chitki, known as the indigenous capital of Colombia. Part of the territory of the municipality consists of desert.

Welcome to our accommodation! We will spend one night here: The Cabo de la Vela is a cape on the northwestern coast of the Guajira Peninsula and is located in the northernmost region of South America. The Gulf of Darién stretches to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the north and east. The desert region around the Cabo de la Vela is inhabited by the indigenous Wayúu people. Here we will make is a short break to enjoy lunch with a unique view above the Cabo de la Vela.

Playa Arcoiris is a good place to understand and respect the power of the sea. The name "Rainbow Beach" comes from the fact that the impact of the water against the rocks of the coast causes the sun's rays to break through the splashes and forms a rainbow - a great natural spectacle.

Three hours north of Riohacha, at Cabo de La Vela, rises the Pilón de Azúcar. One has the impression that the peaked mountain rises several kilometers, but it can be climbed in just under 15 minutes. Arriving at the top of this small mountain, where stands an altar of the Virgin of Fátima, you can enjoy the refreshing breeze and a magnificent view of the Caribbean Sea.

Playa Ojo de Agua is stucked between the coast of Cabo de la Vela and its Wayuú ranches. Gentle waves sway along the secluded, white sandy beaches and invite you to take a refrescing swim.

Let the day end with one of the best sunsets in Colombia: Enjoy the the spectacular view from Faro at Cabo de la Vela. It is a mystical place that is not overrun with tourists.

Punta Gallinas is the northernmost tip of the South American continental plate. It is an end of land that enters the sea in a northwesterly direction and that closes a set of accidents that make up a bay of the peninsula that goes from Punta Gallinas to Cabo de la Vela or Jepirra (in Wayúu). Between both points are Puerto Bolívar, Portete Bay and Honda Bay.

Portete Bay is a small bay in the Caribbean. Among the numerous bays and gulfs of La Guajira, it is one of the most privileged due to its depth and the protection provided by the cove. Likewise, due to the proximity of the Cerrejón coal mines, it was chosen as the ideal place to build Puerto Bolívar, one of the most important mining ports in the country.

Around the Bahia Hondita, just south of Punta Gallinas, there are a number of small and very different beaches that make a visit worthwhile. Even the view of the Bahia Hondita itself is a visual delight, because the turquoise color of the flat bay, framed by the orange-yellow colors of the surrounding sandy desert floor, are a magical mixture that fulfills all wishes... The beaches themselves - be it the small sandy bays at Punta Gallinas itself, which are surrounded by fascinating rocky grounds, or the beaches that extend along the Portetico headland, such as the Playas at Punta Agujas or the long Playa Boquita, score points with a wide variety of charms, such as perfect sunsets or the mutual View of the other bank...

Rest in the waves of Playa Boquita, which is situated nearby to Playa Aguja, and west of Cayo Puruéinpana in the Bahia Honda.

Jepírachi in the Wayú language means winds coming from the northeast. The wind farm is the first of its kind in Colombia. The Peninsula of La Guajira is characterized by being subject to trade winds approximately throughout the year, which allows using the wind energy available in Alta Guajira.

Near the Punta Gallinas Lighthouse there is a community of about 100 inhabitants of the Wayúu ethnic group, one of the few South American cultures that preserve their ancestral traditions intact. It is an impressive natural setting of plateaus, dunes and rocky cliffs that emerge from the sea, embracing the Hondita bay. It has an immense dune that reaches 60 meters in height that rises like a wall right on the shore of the sea.3 At the tip is the northernmost lighthouse in all of South America; This lighthouse has a height of 18 meters and opened its operations in 1989.

Located on the almost northernmost tip of the impressive Guajira peninsula - a desert landscape with little vegetation in northern South America - beige-yellow beaches wind their way along the coast in the middle of high sand dunes - kilometers long: the dunes of Taroa. Lying on the beach against the backdrop of this desert-like panorama - the turquoise-milky Caribbean Sea in front of your eyes, gently breaking waves on the beach in your ears - is a very special pleasure and definitely conveys a Caribbean feeling. As far as the visual impression is concerned, we undoubtedly have one of the most beautiful beaches in the country in front of us. Already the access to the sea is a force and only leads over the breathtaking dune landscape with hundred meter high fine sandy dune colossuses... Already at the edge of the water there is enthusiasm: Wow! What a beach that you can look down on from above...

Enjoy the morning in Punta Gallinas. It is an end of land that enters the sea in a northwesterly direction and that closes a set of accidents that make up a bay of the peninsula that goes from Punta Gallinas to Cabo de la Vela or Jepirra (in Wayúu). Between both points are Puerto Bolívar, Portete Bay and Honda Bay.

In the municipality of Riohacha is the Santuario de Fauna y Flora los Flamencos Natural Park, which is known for the Cuban flamingos (see our Flamingo Tour). In the capital of La Guajira, a typical Caribbean breakfast awaits you before continuing with the Tour.

With an extension of approximately 1,2 km, this boardwalk borders the beaches where you can appreciate the beautiful sunsets enjoying a cold drink and learning more about the Wayú culture through its handicrafts. There is also the Monument to the Wayú palabrero. The boardwalk is not very big, but it is worth going out for a walk around this place and going for a photograph to the "Yo Amo Riohacha" that is found on this promenade, as well as the mouth of the Ranchería River in the sea.

End the day back in Palomino. Here you can do one thing above all: lie in seclusion in a hammock under palm trees on the beach and forget the time. During the day, around noon, a large flock of pelicans flies by, which you can watch from the hammock