The Best Backpacker Hostels in Santa Marta, Colombia

About 51mi (82km) from Santa Marta and just a 20-minute walk to a white sandy Caribbean beach, Selina Palomino offers a swag bag of rooms, from hotel-standard suites to stylish eight-person dorms. Digital nomads will appreciate the co-working space, while there’s a swimming pool for the days you don’t fancy the walk to the beach. Food-wise, there’s a small restaurant and a communal kitchen. Selina also helps locate local guides and yoga instructors and showcases a range of cross-cultural programs.

Just a 10-minute walk from the historic center, Cacao Hostel covers all the essentials, complete with meals, laundry service and even a poolside bar. All dorms and private rooms feature air conditioning, an essential in steamy Santa Marta. Breakfast is included, while lunch and a family-style dinner are also available. Cool off in the patio plunge pool before lounging away in a hammock, drink in hand. The friendly Cacao staff can help you get to the Lost City in the scenic Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.

Enormous windows ensure natural illumination at La Guaca Hostel, a spacious former residence, where dorms and private rooms are packed with colorful details and Colombian character. The outside plunge pool is a treat, and aside from the included breakfast, the small cafe serves tapas, pizzas and burgers. The communal areas, such as the plant-adorned lounge and patio, feature strung-up hammocks and sociable benches, creating a perfect environment for meeting fellow travelers over evening beers.

For those travelers looking for tranquility rather than the party scene in Santa Marta’s city center, the sunny dorms and ensuite private rooms at Aluna Casa hit the spot. While breakfast isn’t included, there’s a communal kitchen, and Aluna’s cafe offers tasty meals. There are also plenty of places to eat nearby. The shaded rooftop terrace is perfect for planning your day or unwinding. You can also count on laundry service and tour assistance.

South of the city and right on the beach, Playa del Ritmo makes for a great base for tons of outdoor activities, such as swimming, diving, kayaking, beach volleyball and football. Dorms and private rooms come with ocean or lagoon and mountain views. Playa del Ritmo’s restaurant menu includes veggie options; you can also use the communal kitchen or snap up ice-cold beer at the bar.

Party spot Viajero has air-conditioned private rooms and dorms. Spacious communal areas include a restaurant serving arepas (maize patties) and ceviche and an expansive rooftop terrace with mountain views. Travelers will revel in the large plunge pool and the bar that ensures live-music parties are a blast. The hostel offers excursion packages for sailing the bay, diving in Tayrona and ecotourism in the small Sierra Nevada village of Minca, including mountain biking and hiking.

Two levels of recycled shipping containers, fitted with doors, large windows and balconies, were added to this post-colonial house to create the Casa Avelina Hostel. It also includes a village square-style courtyard housing a Colombian restaurant, a cocktail bar and separate areas for gatherings. Aside from the game room, complete with a pool table, there are live-music dance parties and free twice-weekly city tours.

This colonial-style house sits in the city center across from the Iglesia de San Francisco de Asis and within a five-minute walk of the Museo del Oro Tairona (indigenous museum). The day starts with a complimentary breakfast, while supper is a communal and vegetarian affair. The friendly staff will help organize excursions and transportation. Accommodation spans from simple private rooms and dorms to a women-only option.

Fancy sleeping in a former kingpin’s mansion? Then live out your narco fantasies for real in this funky hostel that was once a hideout for Santa Marta’s most nefarious crime lords. Drug trafficking aside, the hostel is a hit for its super-comfy beds, swimming pool and sociable vibe.

Set in a century-old mansion, this beautiful hostel is famous for its wild parties. With space for 90 backpackers throughout the plush complex, the fiestas (parties) at La Brisa Loca are undeniably loca (crazy). The best action takes place on the buzzing rooftop terrace, although you’ll also love hanging by the beautiful indoor pool amid a lush ivory-clad courtyard.

Travelers looking to spend some time relaxing by the beach should opt to stay in glitzy El Rodadero, and there’s no better hostel in this fashionable seaside suburb than the uber-chic Calle 11 Hostel. This affluent whitewashed building, a former mafioso mansion, is set around a tranquil garden overlooking an extravagant pool. Inside, the facilities are well above par, cementing its place among the fanciest hostels in the city.

Despite lying in the outskirts, the Dreamer Santa Marta is a hit among backpackers for its super-social vibe and fun recreational activities. It’s a party hostel, so don’t come expecting any peace and quiet. But then again, those looking to escape the mayhem can jump on a bus nearby en route to the pristine Tayrona National Park.

A backpacker’s hostel or plush vacation resort? The difference is barely distinguishable in what might well be the most lavish hostel in Colombia. With no less than two swimming pools, an indoor cinema, an open kitchen and loads of funky decor throughout, the impossibly stylish Masaya Santa Marta takes flashpacking to a whole new level.

More of a bed and breakfast than a hostel per se, La Galeria del Arte is a hit with more mature budget travelers who seek quiet and friendly accommodation in the heart of the city. As the name suggests, the complex is adorned with fancy modern art courtesy of the talented owners who love to share their craft. Best of all, delicious home-cooked Italian cuisine is offered nightly in an intimate setting.