Our 2nd hotel was located even closer to the Tayrona National Park area. We stayed at Villa Maria Tayrona for 3 nights before heading to Cartagena. The hotel is located up a hill from the street. The rooms are spacious with balconies. It featured a hammock that Andrew took full advantage of. The hotel features an on-site restaurant and direct access to the beach. The restaurant is not included in your hotel fee but they do offer a lot of food options, especially if you like seafood. We ate sandwiches, spaghetti bolognese, and empanadas while staying here. The food is decent but nothing great. Breakfast is the only meal that is included in your hotel fee. They gave us options between toast, pancakes and other breakfast foods. The pancakes were really good!

The hotel grounds are beautiful. There is a draw string bridge and lots of walking trails. The trail to the beach is a bit long, with not a lot of shade. The beach itself is lovely but just like your first hotel, you cannot swim in it due to the high currents. We were lucky enough to snag covered chairs so we spent one day just hanging out on the beach and only going into the water up to our knees. The pool is also a great feature. The water was always warm so you can jump right in. There are lots of comfortable couches and hammocks near the pool area. A whole day can easily be spent lounging by the pool. The waitresses will even bring you food and/or drinks to your seat.

Our room was great. It featured a big balcony that overlooked the jungle. It was perfect for drying our clothes each night. We walked around the grounds and saw other rooms that overlooked the pool and restaurant. I would imagine those rooms to be quite nosy since the pool is open late, as is the restaurant. Our room featured AC and a large ceiling fan so there was never an issue with the heat. I would recommend this hotel if you are looking to relax. There isn’t much going on in the area besides Tayrona National Park. The hotel doesn’t offer any excursions but there is a river float excursion that will pick you up at the bottom of the hill (below the hotel).