Santa Marta’s taxi fares are set by a single decree, and several of the trips visitors come for do not leave from the bus terminal at all. The terminal publishes departure times but not fares. Two of the main bus companies publish fares but not times. And the buses to Tayrona, Palomino and Minca publish neither.
One decree prices the taxi to almost everywhere a visitor goes
Decree 235 of 23 January 2026 fixes Santa Marta’s taxi fares, starting from an 8,600 COP minimum. The decree prices the ride from the city to Simón Bolívar airport at 40,136 COP, to Minca at 83,067 COP and to the entrance of Tayrona park at 138,408 COP, and bans charging taxi rides through unauthorised apps.
These are the fixed fares the decree sets from the urban area, read from the decree itself in September 2026:
| From the city to | Fixed taxi fare |
|---|---|
| Pozos Colorados | 23,589 COP |
| Bello Horizonte | 30,409 COP |
| Simón Bolívar airport | 40,136 COP |
| Decamerón sector | 44,943 COP |
| Minca | 83,067 COP |
| Bahía Concha | 96,930 COP |
| Entrance to Tayrona park | 138,408 COP |
| Playa Neguanje | 179,886 COP |
Everything else runs on the meter: a flag fare of 6,260 COP and 121 COP for every 100 metres or every 40 seconds of waiting, with the 8,600 COP minimum covering the first 2,000 metres. Beyond Minca, and at other tourist spots outside the fare list, the decree leaves the price to be agreed between passenger and driver.
The surcharges are where small bills add up:
- 1,341 COP at night, from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., and the same on Sundays and public holidays. The decree says the night and Sunday surcharges may never be charged together.
- 5,590 COP for leaving the airport, and 1,341 COP for leaving the bus terminal.
- 5,590 COP for rides to or from El Rodadero, Taganga, Gaira or Bonda.
- 335 COP when the taxi is booked by phone or app.
Three rules protect the passenger. If the driver does not switch the meter on where it is required, you pay only the minimum fare. A driver may not refuse to take you to any part of the city. And the control card, laminated, has to be on the back of the front passenger seat, showing the fares and the decree.
From the airport, the fare runs the other way
Simón Bolívar airport is at kilometre 12 of the Santa Marta to Ciénaga road, as Aeropuertos de Oriente, the company that operates it, gives its address, and it opens from 6:00 a.m. to midnight. The city’s transit system, SETP, puts it 16 km from the centre.
The 40,136 COP in the decree is the fare from Santa Marta to the airport. There is no fixed fare in the opposite direction. What the decree sets for leaving the airport is a 5,590 COP surcharge, on top of a ride that, with no fixed fare listed, falls under the meter.
From the beach districts the decree is more specific, and less consistent:
| Airport run | Fare | Article |
|---|---|---|
| Gaira and El Rodadero, to or from the airport | 30,264 COP | 5 |
| El Rodadero to the airport | 32,533 COP | 7 |
| Pozos Colorados and Bello Horizonte corridor to the airport | 30,521 COP | 7 |
| Decamerón sector to the airport | 31,863 COP | 7 |
| Taganga or Bonda to the airport | 56,682 COP | 7 |
El Rodadero to the airport therefore has two prices in the same document. The decree also does not say whether the 5,590 COP airport surcharge is added to these fixed fares.
One more trap: the city’s website still serves a 2019 tariff card, issued under Decree 473, with a 4,000 COP airport surcharge and a night surcharge from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. Those figures are no longer in force. The card in the taxi should show Decree 235.
By bus, SETP publishes two city routes that enter the airport: SM101 Santa Rita, which starts at the Gaira transfer terminal, and SM103 Universitaria, which runs along the hotel strip past Irotama and Zuana, reaches the airport and then passes in front of the bus terminal on its way to Bonda. The airport operator’s frequently asked questions still give the airport tax as 12,400 COP for domestic and US$36 for international passengers, both labelled 2012. It publishes no 2026 figure.
The bus terminal publishes departure times, not fares
Santa Marta’s Terminal de Transportes, run by the Central de Transporte de Santa Marta Ltda., is at Calle 41 No. 31-17 on the Troncal del Caribe, on the Gaira-Mamatoco bypass. It states that it operates 24 hours a day, every day, with ticket sales from 4:00 to 23:00, and lists a taxi rank, cash machines, restaurants, a VIP lounge and left luggage among its services.
It also publishes departure times, company by company, for 13 destinations. These are some of the rows it lists:
| Destination | Company and departure times listed by the terminal |
|---|---|
| Barranquilla | Berlinas, 34 departures between 4:30 and 18:40; Costeña Veloz, 30 between 5:00 and 19:30; Expreso Brasilia, 5 between 7:15 and 13:00 |
| Cartagena | Costeña Veloz at 7:15, 8:00, 9:00, 10:15 and 10:45; Expreso Brasilia at 17:15 |
| Medellín | Expreso Brasilia at 7:45, 12:00, 15:00 and 18:30; Rápido Ochoa at 8:00, 14:40, 19:00 and 20:00 |
| Bogotá | Expreso Brasilia, 7 departures between 14:45 and 22:00; Copetran at 16:00, 17:00, 18:00 and 20:00; Berlinastur at 14:15, 17:00, 19:00 and 20:00 |
| Valledupar | Expreso Brasilia at 8:30, 10:00 and 15:00, plus Copetran, Cootracosta, Berlinas and others |
What the terminal does not publish matters as much. There are no fares, no journey times and no date on the timetable, and its frequently asked questions still say face masks are compulsory in terminals, which suggests the page is not kept up to date. Confirm the time at the window. Palomino, Riohacha, the Tayrona entrances, Minca and Taganga are not among its 13 destinations.
Tayrona, Minca and Palomino: the trips no one prices by bus
The buses to the Tayrona entrances and Palomino, and the shared rides up to Minca, are the trips from Santa Marta with the least published information. No cooperative running them publishes a fare or a timetable that could be read in September 2026. The only official line is from Parques Nacionales, which says the Calabazo entrance is 35 minutes from Santa Marta by private vehicle or urban bus.
The taxi is the one priced option, through Decree 235: 83,067 COP to Minca, 138,408 COP to the Tayrona entrance and 96,930 COP to Bahía Concha. Palomino has no fixed taxi fare, and Brasilia and Unitransco sell it by bus at 58,000 and 65,000 COP without publishing where they stop.
Two city bus routes have names that mislead. SETP’s “Vía a Minca” route does not reach Minca: it turns back at Ciudad Equidad, on the road towards it. Its “Bahía Concha” route ends in the Altos de Bahía Concha neighbourhood, not at the beach inside the park.
Taganga is simpler. The SM102 route runs through the market on Calle 11 and climbs Carrera 11 to Taganga, and a taxi goes by the meter plus the 5,590 COP zone surcharge, or 33,204 COP fixed from Gaira or El Rodadero. Parques Nacionales lists boats from Santa Marta, El Rodadero and Taganga to its Granate, Bahía Concha, Neguanje, Cinto and Cabo San Juan del Guía sectors. Neither DIMAR nor the city publishes a boat fare.
Before planning a Tayrona day
Tayrona takes no reservations. Parques Nacionales says tickets depend entirely on what is sold each day at the ticket office. The main entrance, El Zaino, is 32 km from Santa Marta along the Troncal del Caribe towards Riohacha, 45 minutes by private vehicle.
The park closes three times a year, from 1 to 15 February, from 1 to 15 June and from 19 October to 2 November, and 2026 has added closures of its own. Resolution 091 of 17 February closed it after blockades at El Zaino and Neguanje where unauthorised charges were being collected, and it reopened on 5 March. In June, land access through Calabazo and Zaíno was restricted because of problems on the Santa Marta to Palomino road, and all sectors were running again from 3 July.
Under Resolution 551 of 2025, a non-resident foreign visitor pays 81,000 COP in low season and 96,500 COP in high season, or 43,500 COP for the Bahía Concha sector all year. The park also requires the mandatory accident insurance under Resolution 273 of 2024.
Driving: pico y placa falls hardest on cars from out of town
Decree 213 of 8 May 2026 sets pico y placa for private cars for six months from its publication, on weekdays that are not public holidays: Monday for plates ending 1 or 2, Tuesday 3 or 4, Wednesday 5 or 6, Thursday 7 or 8 and Friday 9 or 0.
The hours depend on where the car is registered. Cars registered in Santa Marta are restricted from 7:00 to 9:00, 11:30 to 14:00 and 17:00 to 20:00. Cars registered anywhere else, which covers most cars driven in from other cities, are restricted from 7:00 to 20:00 without a break. The one relief is the day you arrive: a car entering the city may circulate that day if it shows the receipt from one of three nearby tolls, Neguanje, Tasajera or Tucurinca.
The restriction covers the area inside the ring formed by Carrera 1, the Batallón Córdoba, Cerro Ziruma, the Troncal del Caribe and the Vía Alterna, and the decree’s map leaves the Troncal and the Vía Alterna themselves free. Vehicles of registered tourism companies carrying up to 19 passengers, and electric and hybrid cars, are exempt. There is no exemption for rental cars. The fine is 15 daily minimum wages, and the car is impounded.
Fares the bus companies publish
The fares come from the companies themselves, and they differ by company and by direction:
| From Santa Marta to | Expreso Brasilia | Unitransco | MarSol |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barranquilla | 47,000 COP | 47,000 COP | 40,500 COP, 2 hours 30 minutes |
| Cartagena | 89,000 COP | 89,000 COP | 100,000 COP, 5 hours |
| Palomino | 58,000 COP | 65,000 COP | not offered |
| Riohacha | 74,000 COP | 85,000 COP | not offered |
| Valledupar | 79,000 COP | not listed | not offered |
| Medellín | 324,000 COP | not listed | not offered |
| Bogotá | 326,000 COP | not listed | not offered |
Brasilia’s and Unitransco’s figures are their tariffs in force from 1 December 2025. MarSol’s are what its booking engine showed in September 2026, for departures from its own office at Carrera 4 24-20, not from the terminal. Unitransco does not publish where its buses leave from in Santa Marta.
The direction changes the price. With Brasilia, Barranquilla to Santa Marta is 42,000 COP, 5,000 less than the trip out, while Cartagena to Santa Marta is 95,000 COP, 6,000 more. Berlinas advertises Santa Marta to Bogotá “from 140,000 COP” without a date, a starting price that cannot be compared with a tariff. Both Brasilia and Unitransco also ask for a yellow fever vaccination card, as set out in the guide to transportation from Cartagena.
What happens at the other end is covered in transportation from Barranquilla, transportation from Medellín and transportation from Bogotá.
City buses: 2,950 COP, in a system not yet officially running
Decree 237 of 23 January 2026 sets the city bus fare at 2,950 COP without air conditioning and 3,050 COP with it. A bus may only charge it if it carries the new fare sticker: a light blue octagon, 20 by 30 cm, with the city’s coat of arms, on the windscreen and the front side windows.
The strategic public transport system behind those buses, SETP, published a communiqué in April 2026, dated January, that speaks of working towards the system’s official entry into operation and of deficiencies in its fare collection and fleet control. Its own page on transport still shows the 2,700 and 2,800 COP fares of a 2024 decree. How to pay in 2026 is not published: card validators were announced in December 2024, and no later notice says they work.
What nobody publishes
- Bus fares to Tayrona, Palomino’s market buses and Minca. No cooperative publishes them.
- Fares and journey times at the bus terminal, or the date of its timetable.
- A fixed taxi fare from the airport into the city, or whether the 5,590 COP airport surcharge is added to fixed fares.
- The 2026 airport tax. The operator still shows its 2012 figures.
- Boat fares from Taganga, El Rodadero or to the Tayrona beaches.
- The state of the road to Minca.
- Pico y placa for taxis and motorcycles in 2026.
- How to pay on city buses in 2026.
The routes into Santa Marta from further away are covered in Bogotá to Santa Marta, Medellín to Santa Marta and Cartagena to Santa Marta, and every route on this coast is collected in the Caribbean coast guides.
40,136 COP from the city to Simón Bolívar airport, fixed by Decree 235 of 2026. From Gaira or El Rodadero the decree gives 30,264 COP in one article and 32,533 COP in another.
Decree 235 of 2026 sets no fixed fare in that direction. It sets a 5,590 COP surcharge for leaving the airport, and the ride itself falls under the meter.
At Calle 41 No. 31-17 on the Troncal del Caribe, on the Gaira-Mamatoco bypass. The terminal says it operates 24 hours a day, with ticket sales from 4:00 to 23:00.
89,000 COP with Expreso Brasilia or Unitransco, in tariffs in force from 1 December 2025. MarSol's booking engine showed 100,000 COP and 5 hours in September 2026, leaving from its office at Carrera 4 24-20.
Expreso Brasilia's tariff is 324,000 COP. The terminal lists Brasilia departures at 7:45, 12:00, 15:00 and 18:30, and Rápido Ochoa at 8:00, 14:40, 19:00 and 20:00.
Decree 235 of 2026 fixes 138,408 COP to the entrance of Tayrona park and 83,067 COP to Minca. Beyond Minca the fare is agreed with the driver.
No. SETP's route named "Vía a Minca" turns back at Ciudad Equidad, and the shared rides that go up to Minca publish no fare or timetable.
Parques Nacionales closes it every year from 1 to 15 February, from 1 to 15 June and from 19 October to 2 November, and the park takes no reservations.
Yes. Under Decree 213 of 2026, cars registered outside Santa Marta are restricted from 7:00 to 20:00 on their day, except on the day they arrive if they show a receipt from the Neguanje, Tasajera or Tucurinca toll.
About Voytara
Voytara publishes informational guides on how transportation works across Colombia, using figures taken from the operators and authorities that publish them. Every figure on this page was read from its issuer in September 2026 and is named with the body that published it. Where an issuer publishes nothing, this guide says so instead of estimating. Voytara does not sell transport services or operate tours.
