Rancheria Utta

We booked a 3 days / 2 nights tour with Rancheria Utta during our holiday in Colombia with a family of friends. Although price was far above similar proposal from other operators, we were attracted by the nice location and were expecting, accordingly, a better service. While the expectation about the hotel accommodation were overall met (Rancheria Utta is probably the most comfortable place to sleep in Cabo de La Vela and the restaurant is decent, too) the organization of the tour was a kind of disaster. The first problems showed up already in the booking process: the hotel does not accept credit card (you will have to bring cash from Riohacha to pay your stay, as there are no ATM’s in Cabo de La Vela either) and there was no way to pay the 50% upfront payment required via wire transfer from Europe, being their bank account not enabled for international payments. As a matter of fact, in spite of their confirmation and of constant exchange via WhatsApp until the night before, the pick-up was not arranged as planned: the drivers came late and unaware of the program, with extremely old cars (one broke the engine while still in Riohacha and had to be replaced, and I had to personally push the other to crank-up the engine on our way back), unsafe to drive in such a desert area and definitely not comparable with the 4x4 Toyota used by most of the operators which we met along our way. Most regrettably, the management did not even try to fix the issues or at least to show their willingness to somehow settle our complaints.

I spent 4 nights at Utta in early August 2023 with my husband and 2 kids. It was an experience like no other! The room was clean and pleasant, the staff very helpful (Ana, Will, I can't remember the other names), the hammocks wonderful, and the meals were tasty and generous. As we hadn't organised a tour beforehand (possibly a mistake) Ana gave us tips on where to go, including an amazing beach an hour's walk away that we had entirely to ourselves - unless you count the pelicans diving for fish! Yes it's hot, yes it's sandy, it's not luxurious, but it has everything you need and it was so quiet and peaceful. We enjoyed our afternoons in the hammocks or playing Parques on the table by the "bar", and evenings after dinner gazing at the stars on the beach. Lovely place.