Ranchería Utta

La Guajira Peninsula


On the far side of the village, within walking distance of El Faro lighthouse, is the best ranchería in town. The adjoining rooms, fashioned from the traditional Wayuu cactus, have a few splashes of color, with hung blankets and the like. Bonuses are a large, clean restaurant and an owner who's happy to greet his guests.

Budget travelers can choose from enramadas (opened-sided shelters) where you can sling hammocks or chinochorros (deluxe hammocks), and 'shower' with a bucket of water and a ladle that staff will politely bring to you.

Utta is right on the beach and hosts the odd spontaneous Wayuu cultural event.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby La Guajira Peninsula attractions

1. Ojo de Agua

1.05 MILES

This remote-feeling and craggily beautiful crescent-shaped dark-sand beach is bound by 5m-high cliffs where iguanas roam. The beach gets its name from a…

2. El Faro

1.13 MILES

Wayuu and tourists alike head to El Faro, a small lighthouse at the edge of a rocky promontory, for stiff winds and tangerine sunsets. The view is…

3. Playa del Pilón

2.33 MILES

Playa del Pilón, far and away the most beautiful beach in Cabo, is a vivid orange-sand beach lapped by surprisingly cool waters and framed by low, rocky…

4. Pilón de Azúcar

2.58 MILES

Pilón de Azúcar looms over the eponymous beach and provides the area's most telescopic viewpoint, with the whole of Alta Guajira displayed before you and…