The Pacific Beaches around Buenaventura

The beaches north of Buenaventura are stunningly beautiful. Mountain cliffs drop out of lush tropical jungles, vast expanses of hard sand beaches, secluded little bays and huge caverns at beach level bore into the cliffs. At high tide the beaches disappear under Pacific waves crashing into the cliffs. Retreating backwash clashes with incoming waves creating turbulent, churning waters.

They say Guachalito beach south of Nuqui on Colombia´s Pacfic  coast is the most beautiful beach in Colombia with its mix of wild jungle and mountains. But I think the coastline north of Buenaventura between villages of Juanchaco and Playa la Barra is not only more beautiful but even more remote, obscure and underappreciated.

Colombia is the only country in South America with access to both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. While Colombia's Atlantic coast is taunted for all its beauty, history and culture - the Pacific coastline remains a guarded secret.

There are only four viable access points to Colombia's 865-mile-long Pacific coastline. Bahia Solano and Nuqui lie west of Medellin in the Choco region. It´s a coastline of wild and remote natural beauty and pristine beaches which can only reached by boat or plane.

But there are only two roads leading to Colombia´s Pacific coast and both are port cities in southern Colombia. Tumaco in the Narino province near the city of Pasto and  Buenaventura in the department of Valle de Cauca near the city of Cali.

Buenaventura is a 3-hour bus ride west of Cali. If one is  coming from the north, Bueaventura can be reached by bus from the towns of Tulua or Buga. Being Colombia´s major port city on the Pacific there's a modern highway tunneling through the Andean mountains busy with trucks transporting containers to and from the port.

While I like to visit the beaches around the port city of Buenaventura in southern Colombia, I also have some  reservations.

‍Overcoming Buenaventura's Dicey Reputation

Colombians and the international travel advisories don't encourage tourists to visit Buyenaventura or the beaches in this area. A port city of 400,000, 60% of Colombia's sea imports and exports pass through Buenaventura. The port city is also a major transit route for  drugs leaving the country. In 2007 the cocaine wars made Buenaventura Colombia's deadliest city.

Today, while the city is still poor and rife with unemployment and gang violence, the murder rate is below the national average and the city is making a move to attract tourism. There is a tourism association of 120 businesses and they argue that Buenaventura is the best-kept tourism secret in Colombia today and promises a future for the town’s work force.

The culture of the Colombian Pacific is African inflected where an overwhelming Afro-Colombian population lives largely in small, scattered communities. Most are descended from slaves brought in by the Spaniards to work in gold mines. They have preserved their ancestral heritage of music and cuisine and it has been combined with a significant indigenous influence

Buenaventura is a busy, congested city. It´s poor city with abandoned buildings, graffiti painted walls and, in  my opoinion, it is one of the ugliest cities in Colombia. The center of town, running along Calle 1, is packed with hotels serving merchant sailors with restaurants and bars blasting salsa music. But enough about Buenaventura. Unless you´re arriving late you probably won´t be staying there

Heading Straight for the Beaches

Most tourists arrive at the bus station and head straight to the port to catch a boat to the nearby beaches without stopping in the city center.

The beaches can only be reached by speed boats or lanchas that leave from a dock at the Muelle Turistico or the tourist dock. Catch a taxi outside of the the train station to the Muelle Turistico 10,000 COP. ($3). The taxi will take you right to the dock where there are booths selling tickets to the various beaches outside of town.

Boats leave 3  times a day 8 a.m., 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to the most popular destinations - the beaches of Pianguita and Juanchaco.

A ticket costs from 70,000 - 140,000 COP ($20- $40) round trip per person depending on the beach one is heading to. There are speed boats going all the way up the coast to the landlocked, Pacific coastal town of Nuqui, a 120,000-200,000 fare ($33-$56) from Buenaventura. The trip takes about 8 hours. There are cheaper cargo boats going up the coast but the trip takes 20-24 hours.

Pianguita beach

The closest beach about an hour´s boat ride outside of Bueanventura is  Pianguita. The boat pulls up short of the beach making the passengers jump out in waist deep water wading into shore holding their bags over their heads to keep them dry. A cluster of modest hotels, bars and restaurants line the beach front at the jungle's edge.

Accomodations are rustic with plenty of places to stay inexpensively. Most offer a package deal which includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The silty brown sand beach stretches along a cove. The beach and town are locked in a small bay. At low tide one can walk to neighboring beach of La Bocana to the south. Both are  nice beaches that completely disappear at high tide towards morning and early evening. Just be sure to get back before high tide in the afternoon or risk crawling through the jungle to get back to your hotel at La Pianguita.

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At low tide the beach is scattered with plastic left by the withdrawing tide. Being so close to a port city, floating refuse is a problem, but not more so than it is around any other beach in the world in the proximity of a  major city.

The speed boats will ferry visitors up and down the coast stopping at the neighboring beaches of La Bocana, Maguipi, Juanchaco, La Barra, and Ladrilleros. They'll pull up at waterfalls for dip.

The water is warm and the people spend hours just standing in the shallow water talking as the pelicans dive bomb for fish. Beach vendors will crack open a coconut for a few thousand pesos.

At night there's not much to do. Pianguita is a safe laid-back pueblo. The tide comes up to the break wall in front on the restaurants. Join the crowd, grab a beer or an ice cream and watch the bats swoop. A few watch a soccer game on t.v. But most watch the fishermen standing waist deep in water under the restaurant lights. Every time one of them hooks a fish the crowd applauds and cheers.

‍Juanchaco Beach

is a small fishing village a one hour speed boat ride north of Buenaventura. The village is situated in the National Park of Bahia Malaga Parque Nacionoal Natural Uramba Bahia Malaga. This is a tourist destination famous for whale watching in the months of July, August and September - August being the best month to see whales breaching.

There a lot of economnical hotels and restaurants  in the village. Prices start at 100,000 COP per day ($28) with breakfast and often lunch and dinner included in the price. Economical lunches and dinners can be found at the local restaurants - mostly fish, rice and fried plantains. The bars serve cold beer and cocktails day and night.

There is a dock in town where the speed boats from Buenaventura depart and arrive. It is also where most of the tours depart. From the village one can book tours for whale watching, bird watching, visiting the mangroves, nearby waterfalls and other secluded beaches like Las Tres Marias and Playa Juan de Dios. Guided  canoe tours of the mangroves and waterefalls start at 50,000 cop per person ($14).

Juanchaco is a little busier than the villages to the north with more stores, bars and restaurants. The beaches are broad at low tide, with no waves and considered more family friendly.

But I didn´t like Juanchaco as much as little villages to the north - Playa de Barra and Playa Ladrilleros. There was a little too much strewn garbage in Juanchaco, the coastline wasn´t that beautiful and  there  are no  waves.

Walking north from Juanchaco  to Playa Ladrilleros is the magic spot where the coastline gets dramatic with shiny stone faced cliffs and caves. Not too many people walk the beach. Most visitors just want to sit around, eat,  drink and sun bathe near their hotel the locals say.

But if one likes to walk, then the coastline between Juanchaco and Playa de Barra is exquisite, challenging and photogenic. But hiking the beach is tricky.

One  musts respect the tides. At high tie the beach disappears and only at low tide can one safely walk the beach. One doesn´t want to get caught on  the beach with the tide coming in as the cliffs are steep and the jungle and lines the cliffs edges. Local guides are for hire to navigate the tides, cliffs and jungle trails. Their rates start at 30,000 COP ($8.5) if you want to play if safe. One can easily  walk from Juanchaco to Playa de Barrra in 2-3 hours at low tide, stop for lunch then take a car or motor cycle ride back to town at high tide on a jungle road.

There is a road connecting Juanchaco, Playa Ladrilleros and  Playas de Barra. It runs by the military landing strip in Juanchaco and most of it is paved to La  Barra. A  ride in a tuk-tuk is only 10,000 COP ($2.80) from Juanchaco to Playa de Barra.

Playa Ladrilleros

is a tiny village in the jungle on the edge of the cliffs overlooking the Pacific. It is north of Juanchaco and one could hike there in 30 to 40 minutes. There are plenty of restaurants, rooms and huts along the road and overlooking the sea with cement stairs leading to the beach, when there is a beach, at low tides.

The hotels and restaurants serve meat and chicken or fish. Fish is the obvious fresh option and comes fried or in a stew with rice, fried plantains and lemonade. There is also an abundance of shrimp here which they serve up grilled, fried, in soups and with fried rice.

Playa de Barra

is a village about an hour walk along the beach north from Playa Ladrilleros. De Barra is larger than Ladrilleeros and sits right on the beach. At low tide the beach is enormous and a walk to  the water is a good 5 minute hike. There are plenty of rooms, cabins bars and restaurants on the beach.

Playa de Barra is popular with  foreigners and Colombians who are looking for peace and quiet and  to get away from it all.

Not Many Visitors Come to the Beachs of Buenaventura. Why?

Most of the visitors are couples and families from Buenaventura and other cities in Valle de Cauca. More families go to Pianguita and more couples and solo travelers go to Playa Ladrilleros  and Playa de Barra.

But very few visitors are from the nearby city of Cali or from any other part of Colombia for that matter.  Colombians traditionally choose to go to beaches on the country’s Caribbean coast l- places like Santa Marta, Capurgana, Convenas or to the island of San Andres.  These destinations are farther and more expensive, especially for the Colombian's living in southern Colombia. But with cheap domestic flights most don´t find this a problem. While these destintions are further and pricier they are more desireable because they are much more organized, cleaner and offer more activities.

That is the  reason the beaches of Buenaventura are not well known. While close to Cali, inexpensive and easily accessible by car, they are dirty and not very well organized. Garbage is problem. Being close to a big city the beaches are  strewn with  plastic brought in on the high tides. The people in the  villages don´t do much to clean up the garbage in towns or on the beaches. And while most of the  residents in  these vllages live off of tourism they are not that organized or service  orientated.  

Bahia Solano and Nuqui are Pacific beaches a bit more organized for tourism, cleaner because they are far from a major city and they have no adverse travel advisories.

Everyone lays the blame for these problems on the Colombian government which has long ignored development along it´s Pacific coast. The government should do more to promote tourism to these Pacific towns. They could set up two  year schools dedicated to the studies of tourism and hospitality teaching the new generation how to work, market and cater to Colombia´s growing tourist industry.

But notwhithstanding the problems,  the coast between Juanchaco and Playa de  Barra is breathtaking and in my book a must see.

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