Santa Marta Colombia

Santa Marta is a major Caribbean port city and the capital of Colombia's Magdalena Department, with population around 455,000. Colombia's other Caribbean cruise port is Cartagena, located approx 170 km (107 mi) to the east-southeast. Columbia's principal port (and the country's largest by annual shipping volumes) is Buenaventura.

Santa Marta Port (locode COSMR) annually handles around 10 cruise ship calls and ~10,000 tourists. During season 2024-2025, the Port had booked 24 ship calls with estimated ~15,000 cruisers. In 2024, Colombia reported record-breaking numbers of international tourists - over 6,6 million (8,5% increase over 2023). Most tourists arrive from the USA and, Mexico, also from Ecuador, Chile and Peru.

The city is located on Santa Marta Bay (Caribbean Sea), approx 992 km (616 mi) from Bogota (Colombia's capital and largest city). Santa Marta was the first Spanish settlement in Colombia (1525-founded). It is also the country's oldest surviving city and South America's second-oldest - after Quito Ecuador.

The city's economy is based on shipping trade, port activities, tourism, agriculture, commercial fishing. Main agricultural products are bananas, cocoa, coffee, cassava.

The city is served by its seaport and Simon Bolivar International Airport (approx 16 km / 10 mi) from downtown. As downtown is close to the coast, the city has difficulties to expand. Rodadero (separate locality) is often considered as neighbourhood.