Santa Ana Things to Do

The neogothical cathedral in the hart of the citycenter imediately will get your attention. Wathever you like it or not it is at least remarkable in the country. The catedral was build in 1905 as church but bacame a catedral only 8 years later.

When I entered the lovely patio of the town hall I almost fainted. Just in the middle of it there's a fountain ánd a real 'Manneke pis', just like in Brussels (in my home country). And that while people looked to us like they had never seen foreigners. They asked us all the time where we came from and how many hours it was with the bus and there was even a man trying to sell us a bed! Amazing

The mint green theatre is standing on the north side of Parque Libertad. It is built in a renaissanse style and It was inaugurated in February 1910. On the opening night an Italian opera company performed with the opera Rigoletto. The interior was grand with marble staircases, parquet floors and stained glass windows.
Only 23 years later it was converted into a movie and its original glory was lost. But since 1979 much of it has now been restored.

During the day, Monday - Friday, the theatre is open between 8 - 12 and 14 - 18. I was in the area around lunchtime so the theatre was unfortunately closed and I could only admire the exterior. Sometimes there are concerts and plays performed in the evenings.

The City Hall is a beautiful colonial style building on the western side of Parque Libertad. Above the main entrance there is a clock tower. If you enter through the main entrance you will come to a nice courtyard with palm trees and a fountain where you can sit down and rest for a while. Around the courtyard there are offices.
You can visit the courtyard of the City Hall on Monday - Friday between 8 - 17.

1 more image

With its neo-Gothic façade the cathedral in Santa Ana looks different than other churches in El Salvador. Construction of the big church began in 1906. In 1913 the cathedral was inaugurated, but all details were not completed. Inside there are high arches and in the front there is a marble altar from 1959. There are two bell towers, one where the bells are activated manually and one where the bells are activated with electricity.

The cathedral is open between 7.00 - 12.30 and 14.30 - 19.00.

Coatepeque Lake is considered one of the most beautiful crater lakes in Central America. On its shore there are hotels, restaurants and tourist establishments for practising acquatic sports. In the lake there is also a small island which was a Mayan site of some importance.

Coatepeque Lake can be reached from Santa Ana by an about 75 minutes bus ride, a little less by taxi. If you are not planning to go the lake shore but you are planning to visit the Parque Nacional Los Volcanes you can still enjoy nice panoramic views of the Lake from one of the lookout points on your way to the Parque. The photo attached is taken from one of these points.

4 more images

The Main Square, the center of the city life, is the main - perhaps the only - tourist site in Santa Ana. During the day-hours it is a lively and colorful place crowded with street vendors, food stalls and passers-by.

All buildings of some relevance in Santa Ana are lined up around the Main Square, with the most notably of those being the neo-gothic white cathedral and the neoclassic green Theatre, both built in the early 1900 in the heydays of Santa Ana as center of coffee export. The building on the third side, the City Hall, is a colonial administrative building of interest today for the lively inner yard more than for its architecture.

The Main Square is a good place to capture some some street-scenes and do some people watching. When the sun sets, not too the late afternoon, the Main Square gets deserted like all the rest of the city center and the feeling I had is that is better not to hang around.

Santa Ana is a great base for visits to nearby Mayan Pipil ruins in Tazumal/Ahuachapan, San Andres, Joya de Ceren. Also close to the Volcan de Santa Ana, Cerro Verde Ntl. Park, and Volcan de Izalco, made famous in the book about the 1932 revolt and massacre of Indian laborers: Cenizas de Izalco.