El Salvador

CITIES VISITED:

  • San Salvador
  • Santa Ana
  • Juayua (Ruta de las Flores)
  • El Tunco

PRO TIPS:

  • I FELT SO SAFE. Like truly, I think this might’ve been the country I felt the most safe in which was not on my bingo card. The turnaround is very apparent.
  • This is the smallest country in Central America so it’s super easy to get around! I mostly took ubers or chicken busses! You can practically use uber to get around the whole country (that’s how small it is), but the chicken busses are incredibly cheap (I spent $2 on a 4 hr journey across 3 busses).
  • Although the chicken busses are incredibly efficient, El Salvador would be a great place to rent a car as it’s so small that you’d be able to really see it all in a rental car. The roads all seemed pretty great (not what I would’ve expected) so no worries there. They are super strict on drinking/driving so don’t mess with that.
  • Until very recently, El Salvador was very dangerous. With the turnaround so fresh, there are still very few tourists visiting the beautiful country
  • When flying to El Salvador, you likely will go to San Salvador airport. I thought that meant I should stay in San Salvador for a night or 2 to orient myself. However, turns out that this country is so small that the airport is actually just as close to the beach as it is to the capital. As such, I’d recommend skipping San Salvador entirely & go directly to your first destination.
  • They use USD so it’s pretty easy in terms of cash. Some places take card, but a lot don’t so take some USD with you.
  • There wasn’t much English spoken so brush up on your duolingo or get your google translate app ready.

CITY: SAN SALVADOR

HOW LONG: 2 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at La Zona Hostel and it was pretty good. The free breakfast was basic. The beds were capsule style and comfy. AC worked (just make sure to set it to a comfortable temperate as one night it was too hot and the other night was too cold). The area is safe, but there’s not much going on. A few restaurants near-ish by. They had potable drinking water on site. Fairly easy to meet people. I met a group of Canadians to hang with so that was fabulous! Katie, in particular, became a good friend!

WHERE TO EAT:

Honestly no recommendations, except try some cheap pupusas when you come across them.

WHAT TO DO:

I didn’t love the capital 😦 We never could find the “cool/fun” center of town to stroll. It all felt very rundown and chaotic. However we always felt safe and given the history of the country, I understand why the city isn’t necessarily bustling (yet). We did a free walking tour was fabulous to get the background on what’s been happening in this lovely country.

The highlight (if you can call it that) was “hiking” to the nearby volcano, but it’s really just a 15 min nature walk. Overall it was nice to see but also if you are going to do the Santa Ana volcano, feel free to skip this one.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Again, not my favorite and would recommend skipping the capital.

Volcanic Crater
San Salvador
New friends on our way to Santa Ana

CITY: SANTA ANA

HOW LONG: 2 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

We stayed at Rick’s Hostel. The room was huge and the bed was cheap (literally $7.50) so I can’t really complain. BUT the hostel was pretty loud and I gotten eaten by mosquitos. No AC, but the beds had a little fan which did the job (and helped a little with the mosquitos). It was centrally located. Again it was $7 so I have no issues recommending it 🙂

WHERE TO EAT:

Nothing notable. I had some good pupusas from a random spot and a hot dog from one of the stalls in the main square.

When we went to see the ruins though we had a local dish of chicharron + yuca (literally from this town) at a spot right outside the main entrance to the ruins. Absolutely recommend stopping here for a meal.

WHAT TO DO:

Main highlights:

  • Hike Santa Ana volcano – It’s a long hike and slightly complicated to navigate but just talk with the hostel front desk. Basically you need to do it with a tour guide so get there early. The hike was not hard but not easy. It gets hot so bring water + sun protection. Bring cash for the various entrance fees and in case you want to buy a snack/water from the folks near the top.

  • Do the walking tour – there is a guy (Hector!!) that does a fairly famous walking tour here. I sadly didn’t have time but everyone I met who did it raved about it!!! I am very sad I missed it. He talks very candidly about his experience growing up in El Salvador and how its changes have impacted those around him.
  • Visit the ruins! Parque Arqueologico Tazumal is a nicely preserved Mayan City (it’s small so don’t expect a whole city though!). We took a chicken bus from Santa Ana to get there and back. You could take a very cheap uber (would recommend seeing what this costs as it’s probably the more efficient move.

  • We loved walking around & hanging in the main square in the evening. We met an El Salvadorian Tik Tok star who danced with us on his Live and then we got interviewed by a YouTuber. It was a pretty fun experience.

View from the hostel

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Santa Ana was far more charming than San Salvador! 2-3 days here would be plenty to do all the activities mentioned above.

CITY: JUAYUA

HOW LONG: 2 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at a fairly new hostel called Que Ondas. It’s a small but beautiful property at the edge of the small town and you feel like you are in a magical garden. The rooms are nicely done and have curtains. No free breakfast but wifi worked well. Plenty of spots to chill and read and socialize. Would definitely recommend this place.

WHERE TO EAT:

There are two great pupuserias that are a must try!

Cafes to check out:

WHAT TO DO:

  • Visit the other towns on the Ruta de Las Flores! Either rent a motorbike or hop on a chicken bus. All the towns are tiny, cute and charming. I only had time to visit Concepcion de Ataco, but I really enjoyed it! Pro Tip: Eat at Axul Coffee Artesanías – I had a croque madam here. Super cute vibe in the backyard patio & a cute store was attached. Gekos Cafe right off the main square also looked cute!

  • Do the 7 Cascadas (waterfall) tour! You do a nice hike that starts near town and you get to walk through upwards of 10 waterfalls. You even get to hike up one of them (it wasn’t too scary/slippery). You also get to do a facemask with the local mud & then finish the tour with a lovely swim in the last waterfall! Don’t miss this activity!

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Juayua was such a tiny, small town and I loved the slow pace of it. Also the flowers blooming around town were stunning. They don’t call it Ruta de la Flores for nothing 🙂 2-3 days here would be perfect. I’d recommend basing yourself in Juayua as it’s probably the biggest town and then just visit the other towns from here.

CITY: EL TUNCO

HOW LONG: 4 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

This was a unique one: Katie (who I met in San Salvador and went to Santa Ana with) went to El Tunco before me and met a Jamaican/American guy who ended up buying a hotel with plans to turn it into a hostel while they were in El Tunco. So by the time I showed up, Katie invited me to stay with her and a bunch of friends she had made that were now staying at the newly purchased hostel. Kemar literally was transforming the place into a hostel while we were there. It was pretty fun to be able to give input on what makes a hostel great and he was super receptive to ideas! It’s now called Karma Muse! It has AC (such a win) and is located about as close to the beach as possible. There are lovely hammocks where you can watch the waves crash on the beach. Highly recommend this spot!

WHERE TO EAT:

Finally a spot with smoothie bowls!!!

I loved the following spots:

WHAT TO DO:

Surf, read in a hammock, eat a smoothie bowl, find a friend with a pool, watch sunset, rinse, repeat.

Life here is so tranquil and just a series of chilling. I love it 🙂

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

This was probably my favorite part of El Salvador. The town is so small so you literally know all the backpackers in town by day 2. It feels like you and your friends are all just running around doing fun, chill stuff all day. One day we sat on the beach and read. One day our friends with a pool invited us over. One day people went to hike the waterfalls nearby. And everyday a bunch of people went surfing and everyday we all would watch sunset on the beach together and then grab dinner. Pure magic!

BUDGET FOR 10 DAYS IN El SALVADOR:

El Salvador was so cheap – what a gift before I go to Costa Rica which is unreasonably expensive!

  • Accommodation: $143 ($14.3 per night) – SO CHEAP 🙂
  • Food: $170
  • Activities: $30
  • Local Transportation: $105
  • Miscellaneous: $50 (visa + new pair of shorts)

Total: $498 (Daily average: $50)

Transportation to next destination: $225 for my flight from SFO –> San Salvador + $156 for my flight to San Jose, Costa Rica

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