Colombia / La Guajira Department
Palomino
Palomino is a coastal resort area in La Guajira Department, Colombia. Its longest mapped beach (Playa Palomino) stretches about 2.3 km. The sea averages 28.9 °C in October, its warmest month, and 25.1 °C in February; it stays at 21 °C or above all year.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
OpenStreetMap shows no lifeguard station within 1 km. Seasonal lifeguard posts are often unmapped, so check on site.
Services in the resort
- 18Restaurants, cafés & bars
- –Public toilets
- –Showers
- 1Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 71Hotels & guesthouses
- 6Campsites
- 1Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 2Cash machines
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 16 restaurants and 2 bars. Accommodation: 71 hotels and guesthouses.
Counted within 1 km of the beach (bus stops 1.5 km) from OpenStreetMap features and Overture Maps places, release of 2026-10. Unmapped does not mean absent.
Month by month
October at Palomino
Beach-day index 7.5/10 · Colombia median 7.4
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 25.3 °C | 25.1 °C | 25.3 °C | 26.1 °C | 27.3 °C | 27.7 °C | 27.2 °C | 28.0 °C | 28.8 °C | 28.9 °C | 28.2 °C | 26.7 °C |
| High °C | 29° | 29° | 29° | 30° | 30° | 31° | 31° | 31° | 30° | 30° | 29° | 29° |
| Low °C | 23° | 23° | 24° | 25° | 26° | 26° | 26° | 26° | 26° | 26° | 26° | 24° |
| Rain mm | 4 | 4 | 13 | 34 | 126 | 89 | 55 | 87 | 140 | 213 | 124 | 42 |
| Cloud % | 50 | 53 | 64 | 76 | 82 | 76 | 70 | 73 | 78 | 80 | 73 | 56 |
| Wind m/s | 5.6 | 5.8 | 5.6 | 5.3 | 5.0 | 5.4 | 5.5 | 4.8 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.6 | 5.4 |
| Daylight h | 11.5 | 11.8 | 12.1 | 12.4 | 12.6 | 12.8 | 12.7 | 12.5 | 12.2 | 11.9 | 11.6 | 11.5 |
| Record high/low | 32°/21° | 32°/21° | 33°/21° | 35°/23° | 34°/24° | 34°/24° | 34°/25° | 34°/25° | 34°/25° | 33°/24° | 32°/23° | 32°/22° |
| Beach index | 9.2 | 9.1 | 9.0 | 8.8 | 8.0 | 8.3 | 8.6 | 8.4 | 8.1 | 7.5 | 8.2 | 8.9 |
Long-term monthly averages: air from NASA POWER (2001–2020), sea from NOAA OISST (1991–2020); records are the extremes of 2001–2020. How the index works.
When to go
The beach-day index peaks in July and December–April; January scores 9.2/10 with highs of 29 °C, sea at 25.3 °C and 4 mm of rain.
In January that is 0.3 points above the median of the 95 beaches in Colombia covered by this atlas.
Across the year the sea averages 27.1 °C, warmer than 82% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
October is the wettest month (213 mm) and January the driest (4 mm); the yearly total is about 930 mm.
Daylight runs from 11.5 hours in December to 12.8 hours in June; in mid-January the sun rises at 06:16 and sets at 17:48 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces north (10°). Open water fills about 47% of the horizon close by, which makes it an open stretch of shore.
The sun sets over the sea in May–July; in mid-June it goes down at 18:17 local time on a bearing of 294°.
Sunrise is over the sea in March–September.
Straight out to the north about 500 km of open sea lies before the next coast, enough for large swells to build.
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 10 m deep and 13 m at 3 km, a shallow, gently shelving sea floor. Behind the beach the ground is about 9 m above sea level 500 m inland and 42 m at 1.5 km.
Within 1 km, the land is 68% tree cover, 26% grassland and 6% built-up land (satellite land-cover map, 2021): a largely natural setting. Water makes up 52% of that circle.
- Tree 68%
- Grass 26%
- Built 6%
Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m). Orientation from OpenStreetMap land polygons sampled in 36 directions; depths and heights from the GEBCO 2020 grid (about 450 m cells), indicative only.
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Almirante Padilla Airport Riohacha | RCH | 75.0 km | north-east |
| Simón Bolívar International Airport Santa Marta | SMR | 75.1 km | west |
| Alfonso López Pumarejo Airport Valledupar | VUP | 97.2 km | south |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 1 bus stop within 1.5 km and 1 mapped car park within 1 km.
No town of 1,000+ people lies within 10 km; within 30 km there are 1 (about 4.4K).
Photos
From above
Around the beach
Campsites
- Simon 480 m S
- Free Soul 550 m N
- Shain Wuunu 650 m NE
- Casa Juana Palomino 690 m NE
- El Ocelote 920 m N
Map and nearby beaches
Loading map…
Open in OpenStreetMap · Directions in Google Maps
- Playa Cristal57.4 km WCompare
Data on this page
- Air temperature, rain, cloud, wind, humidity: NASA POWER climatology 2001–2020, 0.5° grid.
- Sea temperature: NOAA OISST v2.1 monthly normals 1991–2020, nearest ocean cell 15.2 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w271537481; restaurants, cafés, bars and lodging: Overture Maps places (CDLA-Permissive-2.0).
- Towns and time zone: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Airports: OurAirports (public domain). Sunrise and sunset: NOAA solar equations.
- Photos: Wikimedia Commons, author and licence under each image.
- Satellite view: Copernicus Sentinel-2 (ESA), scene S2B_18PXT_20230128_0_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 6.6K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.