Cabo San Juan is the jewel of Tayrona National Park: a headland where two beaches meet at a dramatic rocky point, with the Sierra Nevada rising behind and the Caribbean stretching ahead. It's reached by a two-to-three-hour hike from the El Zaíno entrance through forest that delivers you, slightly sweaty and completely rewarded, to one of the most beautiful beach scenes in Colombia.
The eastern beach has a hammock camp and rustic overnight accommodation; the western beach is calmer and better for swimming. The point between them offers rocks to climb for views along the coast. Camping and hammock sleeping can be arranged through the park's authorised concessionaire. Arriving at first light is magical — the beach is empty and the water is still. By midday it fills with day-trippers. Leaving it at sunset with a hammock booked is the real Tayrona experience.