Montreal Gazette

It's not called the Parque de Los Novios -Park of the Newlyweds -for nothing. Young couples lock arms as they stroll past rows of freshly planted flowers. A Sinatra love ballad sung in Spanish echoes from a corner dive bar. Aside from a few mustachioed, sombrero-clad men playing a board game, it seemed as if everyone on this breezy August evening was on a romantic sabbatical. Yet this square in the centre of Santa Marta, a port city along the Caribbean coast of Colombia, was not always a street lamp-lighted refuge of romance. Just a few years back, the park was a tumbledown area trafficked mostly by prostitutes and petty criminals.

Wedged between the sea and the snow-capped Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta peaks, the city may be Colombia's oldest, but it has always been seen as the grittier and more industrial counterpart to nearby Cartagena -at best, a stopover point for visitors looking to trek through Tayrona National Park or hike to the Lost City, a well-known archaeological site nearby.

"Until five years ago, nobody would come here because of the guerrillas," said Michael McMurdo, a New York City-trained chef who has opened a Mexican restaurant, Agave Azul, in Santa Marta. "While there is still some sketchy stuff going on, I like it here because it still feels real and Colombian."

The town's transformation began with a government crackdown on illegal drug and paramilitary activity in the region. The efforts have paid off: tourism has now replaced crime as Santa Marta's claim to fame. The number of international visitors to Colombia in 2009 jumped 17 per cent from the previous year, helped along by the emergence of former rebel hideouts like Santa Marta as new tourist destinations.

The Colombian government has also spent plenty of money to revamp the city's parks and convert streets into pedestrian zones. But what the government started, a wave of polyglot businesspeople like McMurdo -restaurateurs, hoteliers, real-estate developers and nightlife impresarios -has continued, helping to resuscitate Santa Marta's colonial centre. Shops selling religious iconography and smoky billiards halls are giving way to Tuscan-style hotels and tapas spots that double as jazz bars. Even the once-grimy boardwalk now feels more like a smaller-scale version of Rio de Janeiro's Ipanema.

Perhaps the perfect monument to this city's rebirth is a gleaming new marina that anchors the waterfront; huge and visually spectacular, it wouldn't look out of place in Dubai. The terminal, which opened this summer, can handle more than 250 yachts and super-yachts.

On a recent late-summer evening, a stylish crowd of Colombians and expatriates mingled at Ben&Josep's, a new steak house run by a Spanish-Belgian duo, down the boardwalk from the marina. The steak house is just one of the additions to the city's seaside area, which has been spiffed up in recent years with greenery and dotted with statues of shapely, warrior-like indigenous women (also found in every souvenir shop around town).

Away from the beach, the city abounds with Spanish colonial charm. Among the streets off Parque Simon Bolivar, wanderers will find a whitewashed cathedral that claims to be South America's oldest. It may, in fact, be a 17th-century amalgamation of architectural influences, rather than the original structure, but the chandeliers and marble altar are still worth a peek.

To stay cool, visitors can grab some coconut water, sold outside the cathedral, or rest in the shade of the patio of the nearby Juan Valdez Cafe, Colombia's go-to coffee chain.

Of course there's more to Santa Marta's culinary offerings than coffee. The jumble of fare here is as multicultural as the city's mix of ethnicities and musical influences; African, Caribbean, European and Latin flavours vie for space on menus. At Gourmet Plaza Bistro, where the decor includes old TVs and typewriters, diners can sample home-cooked pechuga ricotta, a Colombian-Mediterranean hybrid, as well as tasty crepes. For gourmet ceviche, head to Donde Chucho, an upscale restaurant on a corner of Parque de Los Novios.

The city's reputation as an up-and-coming party spot is also growing, with bars and clubs of all stripes seeming to open weekly. On a late-night jaunt through downtown, one is as likely to hear European techno as the native rhythms of Cumbia or Vallenato music.

That Latin flavour is evident at La Puerta (the Door), a chic dive bar with retro iconography plastered across its walls of red, yellow and blue (the national colours), where the floor fills with dancers gyrating to the sounds of Colombian rap and reggaeton.

Santa Marta also benefits from the bounty of virgin tropical forests just kilometres from the city centre. For a relaxing getaway, grab a taxi or minibus to Taganga, a laid-back oceanside hamlet ringed by a horseshoe-shaped canopy of lush green hills. The strip of sand in town feels more like a dirt driveway than a tropical beach. But the sunsets are breathtaking, especially from the rooftop bar of the Mirador de Taganga Hotel along the town's southern fringe. The Caribbean waters there are also perfect for scuba diving.

On the other side of Santa Marta lies El Rodadero, a Cancun-like strip of stylish restaurants, open-air markets and highrise hotels along beaches that fill with well-to-do locals on weekends.

But aside from the protected shores of Tayrona National Park, the beaches around Santa Marta are not always the best places to relax. There is the occasional whiff of sewage, and vendors who can bombard tourists with offers of chairs, massages and -yes -drugs.

Though Santa Marta is no longer plagued by the kidnappings and killings that kept tourists away for decades, petty crime remains a problem. It's not unusual to hear stories of police officers planting drugs on tourists to exact bribes, or of pickpockets roaming the boardwalk. But the city has made great strides toward putting its bloody, drug-riddled past behind it.

IF YOU GO

Getting there: Colombia-based Avianca offers flights directly from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to Barranquilla, about an hour to Santa Marta by bus or taxi. Another option is to fly directly to Bogota, from which there are several direct flights to Santa Marta daily; they take just over an hour. Round-trip flights start at about $200.

Where to stay: Many of the hotels in Santa Marta feel musty and dated, but there are plenty of upscale hotels in the works. For now, try LaCasa (3-52; 57-311-390-4091), a gorgeous three-unit hotel with high ceilings, antiques and original marble floors. Doubles from 237,000 pesos, about $127 Canadian. For backpackers, La Brisa Loca ( labrisaloca.com)is a friendly hostel with a festive bar, courtyard pool and rooftop patio, though be sure to book a private room (about $40).

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