Palomino River Tubing and Forest Hike

From $90 USD per person

The Palomino River starts in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and runs cold and clear through a jungle corridor before it opens into the Caribbean. This tour takes you along the length of that, on foot first and then in the water, finishing at the exact point where the river meets the sea. Not many people who visit Palomino ever reach that mouth from the water.

It runs from Palomino or from Santa Marta, which is why the duration is given as a range. From Palomino it is a morning. From Santa Marta it is most of a day, on shared transport.

Check live availability and prices — or read on for how the day unfolds.

How the day works

• Meeting your guide (about 15 minutes). Staying in Palomino, your guide collects you from your hotel by motorbike. Coming from Santa Marta, you meet the shared transport at Hotel Playa Blanca, Rodadero, CRA 3 # 9-70, at 7:15 AM.
• The forest hike (about 90 minutes, 40 of them walking). Through the forest around Palomino, in the transitional zone between Caribbean lowland and Andean foothills. Your guide covers the plant and bird life, and on a clear day you can see the two highest peaks of the Sierra Nevada, Pico Simón Bolívar and Pico Colón.
• Tubing downstream (about 90 minutes). Floating tire and life jacket, then the current takes you through rapids and slower stretches with jungle on both banks, down to where the river widens toward the coast and reaches the sea.
• Back by motorbike (about 15 minutes). Time to dry off first. From Santa Marta, the return runs on the shared transport instead.

What’s included

• Tour guide
• Hotel pickup and drop-off by motorbike, from Palomino
• Shared transport, on the tour from Santa Marta
• Floating tire
• Life jacket
• All-risk insurance

Not included

• Breakfast and lunch
• Extra purchases

Good to know

• Inside Palomino the motorbike is the only vehicle. The area this tour moves through has no road access, so pickup and drop-off are pillion on a bike. If that is not something you will do, this tour is not for you.
• Bring swimwear, a towel, a dry change of clothes, and a waterproof or plastic bag for anything you cannot afford to soak.
• Shoes that can get wet and still grip. There is a forest trail before the river.
• From Santa Marta the day starts at 7:15 AM at Rodadero and you make your own way to the meeting point.
• Sunscreen and insect repellent. You are in forest and then on open water.

Frequently asked questions

How is this different from the Seviaka tubing tour?

This one is the river and the forest. The Seviaka tour is longer, with a three-hour hike into Seviaka indigenous territory and time with the mamo, the Kogui leader, before the tubing. Pick this if you want the river; pick that one if you want the culture as well as the river.

Is the tubing rough?

There are rapids and there are calm stretches. You are in a tube with a life jacket and a guide. It is exhilarating rather than technical.

Palomino or Santa Marta departure?

From Palomino it is a morning and you are back for lunch. From Santa Marta it is a full day on shared transport, leaving Rodadero at 7:15 AM. Same river either way.

Can I keep my phone?

Only in something genuinely waterproof, and at your own risk. Plenty of phones have ended this tour in the Palomino River.

Do I need to be able to swim?

You are in a life jacket on a tube, but this is a moving river. If you are not comfortable in water, tell us before booking.

How do we get to Palomino in the first place?

We drive that leg. Our Santa Marta to Palomino transfer is the common one, plus Cartagena and Barranquilla.

Ready? Check your date and lock it in