Backpacking El Salvador: A One-Week Guide to Adventure

Everything you need to know for Santa Ana, La Ruta de las Flores & El Tunco

by Brianne Miers
Santa Ana Cathedral in Santa Ana, El Salvador

I went to El Salvador not really having any plans and not knowing what to expect. I ended up having a wonderful experience, so I wanted to share my guide on backpacking El Salvador to encourage other adventurers to give this welcoming country a chance.

Backpacking El Salvador: One-Week Itinerary

Why El Salvador? Since moving to Boston, I’ve become acquainted with many Salvadorans – Massachusetts is one of the top states where they settled in large numbers after fleeing the poverty and violence of their homeland in the 1980s. Every Salvadoran I’ve met; however, has retained a tremendous amount of pride in their native country, so over the years, I became interested in checking it out for myself.

When my friend, Todd, and I were deciding on a destination to visit over Thanksgiving, we knew we wanted to go to Central America – mainly because it’s budget friendly, you don’t have to deal with a major time change (only one hour), and I’ve enjoyed previous trips to Guatemala and Belize. We chose El Salvador, specifically, because we found direct flights (in case of changes). Also, since it’s the smallest country in Central America, we knew we could see a lot in a short amount of time.

Santa Ana Municipal Hall

Santa Ana Municipal Hall

1 Week El Salvador Itinerary

Planning a one-week itinerary for backpacking El Salvador was a bit of a challenge. I’ve only known a handful of friends who’ve visited the country – one couple only went to the beach and two others only stayed in the capital of San Salvador for work – and there weren’t many blog posts to provide me with advice and inspiration. 

While I knew I wanted to hike Volcán Santa Ana, see Lago de Coatepeque and tour the route of flowers, I was unsure of the logistics needed to make all of that happen. Just by looking at a map, I decided that Santa Ana – located about 100 km northwest from the airport – would be a good base for all those activities, so I booked a hostel there and hoped for the best.

a plate with breakfast food in Santa Ana, El Salvador, including an arepa, eggs, beans and rice and a plaintain

the breakfast I had every morning in Santa Ana (unfortunately the cafe has since closed)

Day 1: Travel & Santa Ana

I was hoping to find a tourist information stand at the El Salvador airport; however, that wasn’t the case – there were only a handful of car rental stands at the exit. Since taking the bus to Santa Ana would require going to San Salvador first and changing buses, Todd and I decided to split an Uber (about $50).  

The airport’s parking lot was a bit chaotic, but we eventually found the gray Hyandai, and from there, it took a little more than an hour to travel to Santa Ana. We had already booked a room for $30/night (two twin beds) at the family-owned Hostal Plaza Antigua. Built by the country’s president in the 1930s, it boasts beautiful architectural details like stained glass windows, mosaic ceiling tiles and marble panels on the walls.

Since it was a Sunday evening, there weren’t many restaurants open. So Alex, one of the hostel staff members, who actually spent much of his adult life living in the U.S., pointed us toward one of the more touristy options in town, Simmer Down. There, we each had a pizza, and I enjoyed my first local beer, a Suprema lager. 

After dinner, we headed over to join the fun at Parque Libertad, the city’s main square, which was packed with families eating take out, chatting and listening to music. We even met native Salvadoran who was visiting from Utah. Since I was feeling guilty for having pizza as my first meal in another country, I bought a cup of a traditional beverage called “shuco” – made from fermented corn – from a street vendor. I don’t recommend more than a sip! 

Tip:

  • I heard great things about Hostal Casa Verde, but that was booked. Although, in the end, I’m glad we stayed where we did because of the location.
  • The only thing I didn’t get to do in Santa Ana was see a performance at the National Theater of Santa Ana.
view of Cerro Verde and Izalco Volcanos from Santa Ana Volcano in El Salvador

view of Cerro Verde and Izalco Volcanos from Santa Ana Volcano

Day 2

At 7,749 feet (2,362 meters), Volcán Ilamantepc commonly known as Santa Ana Volcano – is one of El Salvador’s 23 volcanoes and the highest point in the country. Because hiking Ilamantepc was what I was most looking forward to, we made arrangements to get to Cerro Verde National Park early the morning after we arrived in Santa Ana. 

We paid $25 to Pepe, Alex’s nephew and fellow hostel worker, to be our driver for the day, so we weren’t at the mercy of the chicken bus.* It was about a 30-minute drive to the meeting point in the park, where we paid our $3 entry fee. For some reason we arrived at 8 a.m., and others didn’t start showing up until about 10 a.m., so we had a lot of time to kill. After getting a briefing from the guide, we finally set off for the short walk up to the checkpoint about 11 a.m. There, you’re supposed to pay an additional $6 fee, but the attendant wasn’t there that day, so we entered for free. 

Note: There’s a snack stand and bathroom at this entrance.

looking into a crater striped with tan and reddish layers of sediments and a bright-green lake on the bottom

looking into the crater on top of Santa Ana Volcano

Somehow along the way, our group had grown from about 15 to 50. Needless to say, hiking with that many people is impossible, so we quickly spread out and lost the guide. I struck out on my own and was able to enjoy most of the trail solo, stopping to photograph the surrounding landscape as it changed during the ascent from jungle to barren and rocky. It took me just over 2 hours to get to the summit, and it was so windy on the top, I didn’t stay long, despite the incredible views of the lake, Pacific Ocean and two other volcanoes that sit inside the park.

To fuel up after the hike, we walked over to a small food stall on the opposite side of the meeting spot, where a woman was grilling a variety of meats and vegetables. It was packed with both locals and tourists passing through, so it was clear she knew what she was doing. However, I didn’t do a good job explaining I was a vegetarian, so I got chicken soup, but it smelled delicious.

blue green-water leading to a tree-covered hill with a row of wooden houses on stilts along the shore

Luckily when Pepe picked us up, he agreed that we had time to swing by Lago de Coatepeque – Coatepeque means “Hill of Snakes” in the Nahuatl language. The 50,000 year-old volcanic lake with bright blue waters is a huge draw for both locals and tourists. Pepe used to sell jewelry there, so he’s a bit of a local celebrity. He led us through the narrow lake-front streets and on to the shore, to a double-decker ferry that was parked at the back of one of the larger restaurants. We paid our $5 and climbed on, and were treated to a relaxing, hour-long spin on the water.

Tips: 

  • You can’t hike Santa Ana on your own; your only option is the daily group hike. 
  • You can take the 248 bus from La Vencedora bus station at 7:30 a.m. To get back to town, it picks up at the same spot at 4:00 p.m. The ride is about 90 minutes. 

what's left of the stone stairs of a Mayan complex, leading from green grass to a blue sky

Day 3: El Tazumal

We were a little tired after a long first day in Santa Ana, so our second day was a little less adventurous. After breakfast, which we ate at the same cafe every day, we took a $6 Uber ride about 30 minutes west to the city of Chalchuapa. Our goal was to visit the Mayan ruins at El Tazumal – the most important Mayan site in El Salvador and one of the oldest in Central America.

Tazumal means “pyramid where the victims were burned” in the K’iche’ language; however, these days, the site isn’t as dramatic as the name suggests, as the majority of the original complex sits underneath the city. You can still get a sense of its former glory, though, by strolling around the pyramids and ball court – there’s also a stone with an impressive carving. Unfortunately the small museum was closed during our visit, and the site itself inexplicably closed within about an hour of our arrival. 

Since it was a short visit, we had time to take the 218 bus back to Santa Ana. We spent the rest of the day strolling around Parque Libertad, trying surprisingly good Mexican food at Free Moment, doing some souvenir shopping at Plaza Artisanal, a small food and crafts market, and having dinner and drinks nearby at Keka’s Place, which seemed to be a popular nightlife spot for young, trendy locals.

Tips: 

  • Even in November, the sun was quite intense, so definitely bring water and sunscreen. 
  • I’ve read on TripAdvisor that there are local guides available on site, but we didn’t see any.
photo of a white, 2-story church that sits on the top of a low, wide staircase in Ahuachapán, El Salvador

Parish of Our Lady of the Assumption in Ahuachapán

Day 4: La Ruta de las Flores

Our last full day in Santa Ana ended up being our longest. We ambitiously tried to tackle much of the La Ruta de las Flores, and we more or less succeeded. La Ruta de las Flores is the name of the popular tourist circuit that contains the picturesque towns of Nahuizalco, Salcoatitan, Juayua, Apaneca, Concepción de Ataco, and Achuachapan. 

Heading out first thing after breakfast, we walked about a mile to the bus stop and hopped on the 210 bus to Ahuachapán. Once we got off, it was a 15-minute walk through a fairly congested city to the main square, which was fortunately much prettier and calmer than the surrounding streets suggest. After photographing the church and square, we grabbed some lunch at El Garage Fast Food then set out for our second stop. 

colorful mural depicting the town of Ataco, El Salvador, with tables selling jewelry in front

From Ahuachapán, we hopped another bus to Ataco. For as big and busy as Ahuachapán was, Ataco was quaint and quiet. I’ve heard it’s the town on La Ruta that’s most favored by tourists, and I could see why. It’s compact, and its streets are lined with souvenir shops and cafes. Buildings are painted in bright colors and many have vibrant murals on the walls.

Next stop was Juayúa. Size wise, Juayúa is in the middle between Ataco and Ahuachapán and has a reputation for being preferred by backpackers – we saw a few familiar faces from the Santa Ana hike. Somehow we got on the wrong bus and had to double-back through Ahuachapán, so by the time we finally got to Juayúa late afternoon, we didn’t have much time. We wandered around for a bit, stopping to check out the church and square, and ducked in a few shops – including one where the owner was wearing a Red Sox hat.

Unfortunately, we messed up again and missed the last direct bus back to Santa Ana, so we had to transfer through Sonsonate. It was a very long journey, and we didn’t get back until about 9 p.m. It was pitch black then with few people on the streets, so we took an Uber from the drop-off point back to the hostel.

Tip: Doing this route in one day was a little crazy. I’d recommend not doing what we did, instead spending a night in Ataco or Juayúa to split up the route.

waves coming up on rocky beach with palm trees and red-roofed huts lining the beach in the distance

Days 5 to 7: El Tunco

After a whirlwind few days, we decided to slow down for the rest of the trip. On our fifth day, Pepe helped us negotiate an Uber ride to the funky beach town of El Tunco, which sits on the coast about 84 kms directly south of Santa Ana. After checking in at our small guest house, which sat on a small alley that ran between the beach and road, we set out to explore.

Our first stop was at Dale Dale Cafe, where we enjoyed a healthy lunch on the deck out back. While walking around, we discovered the town was pretty crowded with foreign tourists and most of the businesses catered to their needs – juice stands, liquor stores, souvenir shops, surfboard rentals – along with restaurants and high-end hotels.

Unfortunately El Tunco has no sand beaches, only rocks, and swimming isn’t really possible – I tried to take a few steps into the ocean and almost got knocked over. Given the strong waves, it’s no surprise that El Tunco has some of the best surfing in Central America. Although I’ve never tried it personally (yet), I loved watching all the surfers in action. 

After a tasty taco dinner at Jungle our first night, Todd set off to Guatemala. I spent the rest of the time indulging in some self care – soaking in the guest house pool and getting a massage at Day Wellbeing. I also treated myself to a manicure at Nuda Nails & Spa, which trains and employs local mothers, sipped a few drinks at a beach club, and watched locals dance in the streets. While El Tunco definitely wasn’t a local experience, it certainly was enjoyable.

Tips:

  • You can take a bus from Santa Ana to El Tunco, but you have to transfer through San Salvador. 
  • There are several tourist offices in El Tunco, so it was really easy for me to book an airport taxi and for Todd to book an overnight bus to Guatemala.

two guys walking on a narrow side street in the beach town El Tunco, El Salvador and one is carrying a surfboard

Is El Salvador safe?

Despite my family and friends knowing that I prefer to travel to far-flung destinations, I still got a lot of confused looks and surprised reactions when I told friends and family I was traveling to El Salvador. “Is it… safe?” they’d ask. Needless to say, El Salvador retains its reputation for being a dangerous place, and it’s partially justified.

The country still has one of the highest rates of income inequality in the world, and like most places with limited career opportunities, gang life is attractive to young people. However, since President Nayib Bukele took office in 2019, he’s taken drastic – albeit controversial, from a human rights perspective  – measures to crack down on gang violence, even declaring a state of emergency in early 2022 to get it under control.

While the country’s murder rate has plummeted since its peak in 2015 – when it was the highest in the world – petty crime is still common, as it is in most of Central America. According to the U.S. Department of State, “property crimes (e.g. robbery, burglary, theft, and theft of vehicles) are the most common crimes committed in El Salvador,” and most thefts reported to the U.S. Embassy involve someone losing their passport when their bag, backpack or purse is stolen. “Skimming” credit and ATM cards is also common. 

Personally, I never felt unsafe during my week there – on the contrary, I felt very safe and that people were looking out for me. However, I never take unnecessary risks. I wore simple jewelry, carried my bag close to me, used RFID blockers on my credit and ATM cards, and went to ATMs inside of banks. Since we were told by several locals that chicken buses get “held up” by gangs on occasion, we always took Ubers at night. 

There was also a very noticeable police and military presence in Santa Ana, particularly in and around Parque Libertad. Security was present at banks as well as larger restaurants and businesses. I asked the hostel workers what they thought of this, and they enthusiastically declared that the police and military were making the streets safer for everyone. On a lighter note – the most heavily guarded restaurant seemed to be Little Caesars, which I found amusing.

small sign that says "Aceptamos Bitcoin" is stuck on a large sign advertising a cafe called "Chef" with pictures of various foods

“Aceptamos Bitcoin”

El Salvador Currency, Outlets & Water

El Salvador uses the U.S. dollar, so it was nice not to have to think about a conversion rate or worry about what to do with leftover cash. Also, you may have heard that El Salvador uses Bitcoin as a form of national currency – it was adopted by the Legislative Assembly in September 2021, making it the first country in the world to do so. Most shops and restaurants have signs saying they accept Bitcoin, but I know nothing about it and wasn’t tempted to figure it out just for the trip. 

El Salvador also uses the same outlets as we do in the U.S. (type A and B if you’re coming from elsewhere), so that made things easy as well. As for water, we were told that Santa Ana has clean well water, so we drank it with no problems. At the beach, I switched to the filtered water that was provided by the guest house, since in my experience, beach areas don’t have good infrastructure.

bus painted in green, blue and purple with the number 249 at the top, and the word "Juayua" on the windshield

a “chicken bus”

Getting to El Salvador

Todd and I were both lucky in that we were able to fly direct to San Salvador – me from Newark on United and him from Atlanta on Delta. If you’re coming from another country within Central America, I recommend flying, since flights are short and rather inexpensive. 

However, if you’re backpacking El Salvador and the surrounding countries and have some time to spare, you can take a bus. They aren’t quick because of the border crossings, but they’re cheap – Todd paid only $45 to take an overnight bus from El Tunco to Antigua, Guatemala, which took about 8 hours (compared to about 5 hours by car). However, he waited until we were in El Tunco to book, and had a hard time finding a bus for the day and time he wanted, so be sure to book in advance if you have somewhere to be. 

Getting around El Salvador

Bus

Like most other countries in Central America, most people get around by bus (aka “chicken buses” because not all the riders are human). They’re usually crowded, but they’re cheap – each ride is usually less than $1 – and plentiful. Apparently there is a sort of schedule, but I was never able to figure it out (the routes do come up on Google Maps). The buses do have numbers as well as the name of the route’s final destination on the front, so that helped a bit.

Uber

Uber kinda operates in El Salvador. That is to say, the app technically works, and you’ll probably end up where you’re supposed to, but that’s about it. 

In Santa Ana, we found there were very few Ubers available, so the wait could be up to 20 minutes or more. The drivers also always wanted payment in cash – no exceptions – so you have to still negotiate the rates upfront. And even if you do, you might still have to pay more to actually get to our destination – on the way from Santa Ana to El Tunco, the driver asked for more money about half-way into the trip, and of course, there was little we could do but pay up. 

Traditional cabs are available as well, but we felt more comfortable with Uber, since the app provides a record of the trip in case of an emergency. And since our Spanish skills are limited, we could enter the destination and not have to try and explain where we were going.

Car rentals

I’m still a little torn on whether or not to recommend renting a car in El Salvador. It would’ve been considerably more convenient if we would’ve had one, and we wouldn’t have had to deal with chicken bus and Uber confusion. However, we were warned by several locals to not drive within the country “unless you know where you’re going.” Apparently, like the buses, there are concerns about gangs robbing cars at traffic lights or by pulling them over.

Hope this guide has inspired you to consider backpacking El Salvador!

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Banner image: Catedral de Nuestra Señora Santa Ana

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