We visited Santa Marta twice, the first occasion we stayed on the outskirts of the city near the former home of Simon Bolivar who liberated much of the northern region of the continent from the Spanish in the 19th century. On our second stay we stayed in the old town of Santa Marta not quite as well kept as Cartagena but still pleasant enough. The city is an excellent base to see the most impressive attractions of Caribbean Colombia. It also is home to the Museo del Oro Tairona which house many indigenous artefacts of the Tairona people and a library named after Gabriel Garcia Marquez.