Santa Marta & Tayrona

Santa Marta holds the continent's most shameless geographical record: the world's highest coastal mountain, forty kilometers from the beach. From the cruise ships' sea to the snow of the Arhuaco people runs a single road through five thermal floors, and in the middle sits Colombia's oldest city — founded in 1525, she has watched everything pass, which is why she doesn't hurry.

The sensible traveller uses her as a port: the center and its seafront for the first evening; Taganga for the cheap baptism dive; El Rodadero when the children come along; and Tayrona — non-negotiable — to walk between jungle and coves to Cabo San Juan, where you sleep in a hammock and wake with the tide.

The Guide's honesty: Tayrona closes three times a year so the Sierra can breathe — pauses asked for by its four original peoples, and honored, so check the dates before you build the trip —; the Lost City trek demands four days of mud and repays every one; and the Samarian sea is rougher than it looks: no flag, no swimming.