Cabo San Juan del Guía

Cabo San Juan del Guía is inside Tayrona National Park, on Colombia's Caribbean coast east of Santa Marta. It is a double bay separated by a rocky point, with a thatched hut on the rock that has become the standard photograph of the park.

It is reached on foot. The walk from the El Zaino entrance is around two hours through dry forest and along the coast, on a path that is hot, humid and busy in season; horses can carry bags. That effort is the filter, and it is why the beach feels different from a road-accessible one despite the numbers.

The park is Kogi, Wiwa, Arhuaco and Kankuamo territory as well as a national park, and the indigenous communities of the Sierra Nevada regard the area as sacred. The park closes for several weeks each year at the communities' request, for spiritual cleansing — a closure that is published in advance and is not negotiable. That arrangement is unusual and worth respecting rather than working around. Playa Cristal, reached separately by boat from Neguanje, is the swimming beach most Colombians choose, and Playa Nudista beyond Cabo San Juan is the quiet end of the park for anyone who walks a little further.

The bays themselves are golden sand with palms, and the western one is sheltered enough to swim in; most of Tayrona's beaches are not, and the park posts drowning counts on signs because the currents here have killed a substantial number of people. Accommodation is hammocks and tents at the site, booked in advance.

Two hours on foot through forest, past beaches signed against swimming because their currents have killed people, to two coves where swimming is permitted. Book the hammock before you walk. And check the calendar: Tayrona closes for several weeks a year at the request of the peoples of the Sierra Nevada, for whom this is sacred ground, and the closure is not negotiable.