Santa Marta airport guide: the terminal is being rebuilt around you, and the taxi tariff changes one car at a time
Two things about Simón Bolívar are true right now and absent from every other guide to it. The terminal is under construction — a $75.300 millones expansion that was 14% complete in April 2026 and will lift capacity by 60%, because the airport has already outgrown its own master plan. And Santa Marta's 2026 taxi tariff does not take effect on a date: it takes effect vehicle by vehicle, as each meter is recalibrated. Which is why two taxis in the same week can legitimately charge you different amounts.
The short version
The airport is mid-expansion. $75.300 millones, 14% executed as of April 2026, aiming at 5,8 millones passengers a year against roughly 3,8 millones today. Expect works, expect them to be worth it.
It is already past its own plan. The master plan projected 3,5 millones passengers for 2025. It handled 3,8 millones.
The 2026 minimum fare is $8.600, up 7,5% under Decreto 235 of January 2026 — but it only applies to a given taxi once that taxi's meter and rate card have been updated.
Rodadero is closer to the airport than the city centre is. The official fare table says so, and it is worth knowing before you book a hotel.
The drives that matter are east. Tayrona, Palomino and Minca are why most people fly here, and none of them is an app trip.
On this page
The terminal is being rebuilt around you
If you land at Simón Bolívar in 2026 and find hoarding, redirected walkways and a boarding area that does not match the photographs, nothing has gone wrong. The airport is in the middle of a major expansion, approved by the Agencia Nacional de Infraestructura and reported by the Ministerio de Transporte in April 2026.
What is being built, in the government's own account:
- Terminal expansion, with enlarged domestic and international boarding areas.
- New check-in areas.
- Improved climate control — which on this coast is not a cosmetic detail.
- Platform reconfiguration, to work more aircraft at once.
The numbers attached to it:
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Investment | $75.300 millones |
| Increase in operating capacity | 60% |
| Target capacity | 5,8 millones passengers a year |
| Executed as of April 2026 | 14% |
The transport minister, Mafe Rojas, put the reasoning this way: "Santa Marta y el turismo están creciendo y su aeropuerto tiene que crecer al mismo ritmo. Estas obras no solo mejoran la infraestructura, están preparándonos para recibir más turistas, generar empleo y abrir nuevas oportunidades."
What it means for your arrival. At 14% executed in April 2026, the works will be visible for some time yet. No completion date has been published that we can find, and we will not guess one. Plan a little more margin at check-in than the terminal's size suggests, especially in high season.
It has already outgrown its own plan
This is the number that explains the construction.
The airport's master plan projected 3,5 millones passengers for 2025. It handled more than 3,8 millones. In the first two months of 2026 alone it moved over 630.000.
So the expansion is not speculative infrastructure hoping for demand. It is a terminal being enlarged because it is already full, which is a meaningfully different thing and tells you something real about how busy this coast has become.
The practical translation: high season here is busy, the terminal is working above the capacity it was planned for, and the margin you would allow at a quiet regional airport is not the margin to allow at this one.
What a taxi costs, and the rule nobody explains
Santa Marta sets its taxi tariff by district decree. The current one is Decreto 235 de enero de 2026, which raised fares by 7,5% and put the carrera mínima at $8.600.
And then there is the part that catches everybody:
The new tariff does not start on a date. It starts one taxi at a time. The 2026 fares apply to a given vehicle only once that vehicle's taximeter has been recalibrated and its tarjeta de control — the printed rate card — reissued. Until then that car is legitimately on the old schedule. This is why two taxis in Santa Marta in the same week can charge different amounts for the same trip and both be correct, and it is the most useful thing on this page.
What follows from that: ask to see the tarjeta de control. It is required to be in the car, it carries the rates that vehicle is authorised to charge, and asking for it is normal, not confrontational.
The last full schedule we can verify
We have the 2026 minimum. What we do not have is the full 2026 table — the airport and fixed-destination fares under Decreto 235 — from a source we can stand behind. So here is the December 2024 schedule, under Decreto 874 del 17 de diciembre de 2024, which is the last complete one we could verify:
| Concept | 2024 value |
|---|---|
| Carrera mínima | $8.000 (now $8.600) |
| Bandera | $5.824 |
| Espera, per 40 seconds | $113 |
| Surcharge for a call or app booking | $312 |
| Recargo nocturno | $1.248 |
| Recargo dominical y festivo | $1.248 |
| Salida del aeropuerto | $5.200 |
| Salida de la terminal de transportes | $1.248 |
| Fixed fare to Rodadero, Taganga, Gaira, Bonda, Troncal del Caribe, Estadio | $5.200 |
| Santa Marta to the airport | $37.336 |
| Rodadero to the airport | $30.264 |
| Taganga or Bonda to the airport | $52.728 |
Those airport figures are from 2024 and will have moved. We could multiply them by 7,5% and print the result, and it would look authoritative and be an invention. We would rather give you the real 2024 numbers, tell you the rise was 7,5%, and let you do the arithmetic knowing exactly what it is.
Where that sits nationally
Every big Colombian city sets its own minimum by decree, and they are further apart than most visitors expect:
| City | Carrera mínima 2026 |
|---|---|
| Cartagena | $12.250 |
| Santa Marta | $8.600 |
| Medellín | $8.300 |
| Bogotá | $8.000 |
| Cali | $7.100 |
Cartagena, four hours west along the same coast, has a minimum 42% higher than Santa Marta's. Advice written about one Colombian city is close to useless in another, which is why we write them separately.
Where the airport is
We will not publish a kilometre figure we cannot source. What we can do is read the official fare table, which answers the question that matters more.
Under the 2024 schedule, Rodadero to the airport was $30.264 and Santa Marta to the airport was $37.336. The airport is therefore on the Rodadero side of the city, and Rodadero is meaningfully closer to it than the historic centre is. Taganga, on the far side, is the most expensive of the three at $52.728.
Why that is worth knowing before you book. If you are choosing between Rodadero and the centre and your trip involves early flights, Rodadero saves you money and time on every airport run. If you are set on Taganga, budget for it — the official table prices that trip at roughly seventy per cent more than the same run from the centre.
Where people go from here
Very few people fly to Santa Marta to stay in Santa Marta. The reason this airport is outgrowing its master plan is what lies east of it, and those journeys are the ones worth arranging instead of improvising.
- Santa Marta to Tayrona — the park has published gate hours, a published tariff and closure dates. The gate, not the road, decides whether the day works.
- Santa Marta to Palomino — further east, into La Guajira's edge.
- Palomino to Santa Marta airport — the return leg, and almost always an early one.
- Santa Marta to Barranquilla — west along the coast, and a different proposition in Carnival week.
- Cartagena to Santa Marta — the long coastal run, if you are arriving overland instead of by air.
None of these is a rideshare trip. They are one-to-four-hour drives where the car has to wait, and where a driver cancelling leaves you somewhere with no easy second option. On the app question generally — what Colombian law says, and what the courts never decided — see Is Uber legal in Colombia?
What we tell our own passengers
- Ask for the tarjeta de control. In Santa Marta more than anywhere, it is the document that settles which tariff that particular car is on.
- Allow more time in the terminal than its size suggests. It is running above the capacity it was planned for, and it is being rebuilt at the same time.
- Staying in Rodadero makes every airport run cheaper and shorter than staying in the centre. Taganga makes it longer and dearer.
- The Palomino and Tayrona returns are early. Arrange them the day before, not the morning of.
- Check the plate before the name in any app car. The plate is on the vehicle and cannot be edited to match your screen.
- Heat and humidity are operational facts here. A twelve-minute wait outside with luggage is a different experience on this coast than it is in Bogotá.
Common questions
Is Santa Marta airport being renovated?
Yes. A $75.300 millones expansion approved by the Agencia Nacional de Infraestructura, reported by the Ministerio de Transporte as 14% executed in April 2026. It covers the terminal, the boarding areas, check-in, climate control and the aircraft platform, and targets a 60% increase in operating capacity.
How busy is Santa Marta airport?
It handled more than 3,8 millones passengers in 2025 against a master-plan projection of 3,5 millones, and over 630.000 in the first two months of 2026. The expansion targets 5,8 millones a year.
How much is a taxi from Santa Marta to the airport?
Under the December 2024 decree it was $37.336 from the city and $30.264 from Rodadero. The 2026 decree raised fares by 7,5%, and we have not been able to verify the full 2026 table, so we publish the 2024 figures and the percentage, not a number we calculated ourselves.
What is the minimum taxi fare in Santa Marta?
$8.600, under Decreto 235 of January 2026, a 7,5% rise on the previous $8.000.
Why do two taxis quote me different fares?
Because the 2026 tariff applies per vehicle, not from a date. A taxi moves onto the new fares only once its taximeter has been recalibrated and its tarjeta de control reissued. Until then it is legitimately on the old schedule. Ask to see the card.
Is there an airport surcharge?
Yes. The 2024 schedule set $5.200 for salida del aeropuerto, on top of the fare. There is also a $312 surcharge for booking by call or app, and $1.248 at night and on Sundays and holidays.
Should I stay in Rodadero or the centre?
If early flights or repeated airport runs are part of your trip, Rodadero — the official table prices it closer to the airport than the centre. If you want the historic city, stay in the centre and accept the slightly longer run. Taganga is the most expensive of the three for airport transfers by a wide margin.
Can I get to Tayrona from the airport directly?
Yes, and it often makes more sense than going into the city first. The constraint is the park's gate hours and not the drive — the detail is on our Santa Marta to Tayrona page.
Do I need to book a transfer, or can I just take a taxi?
For a daytime arrival into a Santa Marta or Rodadero hotel, a taxi is fine, and we will say so. Book it for pre-dawn departures, for the Palomino and Tayrona runs where the timing is fixed by something other than you, and for anyone arriving late with luggage and children.
Travelling through Simón Bolívar with us. A named driver, a vehicle you have been told about in advance, a price agreed before you travel, and somebody who waits when the flight is late. Airport runs at the hours the coast is not moving, and the drives east to Tayrona and Palomino where the timing is set by a gate, not by traffic.
Sources
- Ministerio de Transporte, 26 April 2026 — the expansion of the Aeropuerto Internacional Simón Bolívar: investment of $75.300 millones; terminal expansion, enlarged domestic and international boarding areas, new check-in areas, improved climate control and platform reconfiguration; a 60% increase in operating capacity toward 5,8 millones passengers a year; 14% executed; more than 3,8 millones passengers in 2025 against a master-plan projection of 3,5 millones; over 630.000 passengers in the first two months of 2026; and minister Mafe Rojas quoted as saying "Santa Marta y el turismo están creciendo y su aeropuerto tiene que crecer al mismo ritmo. Estas obras no solo mejoran la infraestructura, están preparándonos para recibir más turistas, generar empleo y abrir nuevas oportunidades."
- Agencia Nacional de Infraestructura — approval of the expansion and the start of works.
- Press — El Informador (Santa Marta) on Decreto 235 de enero de 2026: carrera mínima $8.600, an increase of 7,5%, with the new fares applying once each vehicle's taximeter and tarjeta de control have been updated, and the decree setting official values for urban trips, the airport and tourist destinations. Press instead of the decree itself.
- Press — Pulzo on Decreto 874 del 17 de diciembre de 2024, the last full schedule we could verify: carrera mínima $8.000; bandera $5.824; espera $113 per 40 seconds; call or app surcharge $312; recargo nocturno $1.248; recargo dominical y festivo $1.248; salida del aeropuerto $5.200; salida de la terminal de transportes $1.248; fixed $5.200 to Rodadero, Taganga, Gaira, Bonda, Troncal del Caribe and Estadio; Santa Marta to the airport $37.336; Rodadero to the airport $30.264; Taganga or Bonda to the airport $52.728. Press, not the decree.
- For the comparison table — Secretaría Distrital de Movilidad de Bogotá, Decreto Distrital 042 de 2026 ($8.000) and Alcaldía de Medellín, 30 January 2026 ($8.300), both official; and press reporting of Decreto 0051 de 2026 in Cartagena ($12.250) and Decreto 4112.010.20.1084 de 2025 in Cali ($7.100).
