How to Get to the Pink Sea and Mud Volcano Near Cartagena

If wriggling around in a 10X10 mud pit with 30 other people and having tons of people in you photos sounds fun to you, please check out the typical tours of Volcun Totumo and the Pink Sea (Salinas de Galerazamba). 

If you’re sick of tours and Tripadvisor being the only suggestion on how to get there, read on. Especially if you want to have places like this all to yourself. (But please feel free to read the negative reviews of tours and compare it to my experience!)

Originally doing a day trip tour to the mud volcano and pink lake was HIGH on my must-do list, but the reviews scared me away. NO, I do not want to get rubbed down in a mud pit by a guy I don’t know. NO, I do not want the local abuelas washing me down afterwards and touching my goodies in order to get the mud out.

Everything I read about this day trip tours resulted in NOPE NOPE NOPETY NOPE NOPE NOPE.

…Then the world traveler in me came out to say, “Uh duh, just rent a car and go in the afternoon AFTER all the tours leave!”

So we did just that! We rented a car from the airport, drove ourselves there, were the ONLY ones at the mud volcano AND pink lake, and had an amazing, stressfree time!

Here’s how it’s done:

1. Rent a Car Online

We used Kayak.com to find the rental cars online in Cartagena. They’re mostly rented from the airport, but a taxi there should only cost 20.000 pesos ($5) or less. Book the car online BUT DO NOT BOOK THE INSURANCE!

If you book insurance online it won’t work for the rental agency or something. It’s the same price when you get to the agency, so just do it there.

ALSO! Check to see if your credit card covers rental car insurance! I use Chase Sapphire Reserve and it covers it as long as you make the booking with that card!

2. Take a Taxi to the Airport and Pick Up the Rental Car

As  i mentioned, the taxi to the aiport should only be about $5 or less (depending on where you’re staying). You should have already reserved the rental online, but you’ll pay for it at the kiosk at the airport.

You’ll need your regular license, passport, and a card to pay for the rental AND the deposit.

IMPORTANT DEPOSIT INFO: If you don’t get the insurance (for $11 per day) you’ll need to put down a $1000 USD deposit!. But if you get the insurance, the deposit lowers to $500. Sucks either way but I’d 1000000% recommend getting insurance. Mostly since I have multiple experiences with crashing rental cars….

3. Drive EAST to Volcun Totumo

I was going to simply say to plug Volcun Tutomo into your GPS but then realized you may not have service.

So let me start by saying; either get a SIM Card (see this post for a super easy way to understand foreign SIM cards) from the airport, or rent a portable WiFi device so you have GPS! Both ways to do each of those are hyperlinked accordingly!

Otherwise you’ll have to do what the sub-heading says, and just drive east and look for signs for Volcun Tutomo! 

4. Mud Volcano / Volcun Totumo Experience

First things first: GET THERE IN THE AFTERNOON! You’ll miss the insane morning rush of 300+ people, and will get there before the late afternoon tours.

We got there around 1:30PM and the entire mud pool was EMPTY!

It only costs 10.000 pesos to go up to the mud volcano on your own. And then you just need to tip the locals who help you. 

As I mentioned, I didn’t want to actually go in for sanitary and privacy reasons, but most people go in and get forced into “massages”, then a mandatory wipe down when you get out, followed by the lake bathing/scrubbing by the old ladies.

Whoever helps you will be expecting a tip, and the average amount is about $1-2 EACH, so 2.000-5.000.

NOTE: The level of the mud varies! This is important because when it’s low-mud-tide, you’ll be required to climb down and up a slippery ladder. When we went it was high-mud-tide (in February) and the mud was almost to the rim of the volcano!

5. How to get to the Pink Sea

Officially known as Salinas de Galerazamba and located just 15 minutes from the Mud Volcano! I would actually recommend going here FIRST if you plan on getting in the mud volcano, especially if you want to take photos of yourself there!

It’s very important to understand that the “Pink Sea” is only pink during certain times a year due to science! I read so many blogs and reviews complaining that the lake isn’t actually pink, then I went there and it was extremely pink, WITHOUT FILTERS OR EDITING!!!

If you go during the peak-pink season though, it’s definitely worth it! You’ll pay only about $2 for entry on your own, and then can drive around to the multiple lakes.

BTW, these are man-made salt lakes! And they’re used to harvest…well, salt! You can see the salt crystals all along the shores of the lakes! The salt is all natural but to reach it the land above it had to be dug out.

That being said, be very careful if you decide to try and walk in the water. The salt crystals are extremely sharp and painful, and definitely sliced my feet in a few places!

6. Returning Your Rental Car

You’ll need to return the rental car before 7pm if you’re returning it the same day. We did even though we paid for a full day, to avoid having the find and pay for parking near our accommodation.

Just note that you should refill the gas tank before you return it or they’ll charge 3x as much as gas stations! After you return it, simply take a taxi back to where you’re staying!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post! Just want to casually mention that this was not sponsored in any way, and the way I’m able to keep posting free info and guides is if you keep reading my posts! So please, if you found this post useful, give it a share on social media!