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Teopan Island on Coatepeque lake. The lake is the crater of an extict volcano with a small island densely forested. Nestled on one side of the island is the Teopan resort...a small complex of serviced bugalows and tree houses. It's a beautiful and peaceful place, the perfect retreat. There's tennis, swimming and best of all trails that let you explore the forest, where hundreds of birds and exotic animals live. Check the website for detailed information.
Wandering around northern Chalatenango, there’s always a chance that you’ll get lost. One day my friend Liam and I decided that we would set out from my home base in La Laguna, climb up to La Montañona, and then climb back down the other side of the mountain to reach the town of Las Vueltas. That was the plan, anyways. No problem making it up to La Montañona – we’d both been there a number of times before. In La Montañona, we tracked down my friend Orbe and asked her for directions to hike down to Las Vueltas – a trip neither Liam nor I had made before. I still don’t know whether the directions were faulty or whether we simply did not follow them correctly, but it eventually became apparent that we had lost our way. After a few hours spent zigzagging around rocky cliffs and through all sorts of underbrush, we finally spotted some signs of human life off in the distance. After passing...
The community of Petapa, located in the municipality of El Carrizal, used to be one of those many places in Chalatenango where you would literally find yourself at the end of the road. Nowadays, however, the road continues on into Honduras, thanks to the bridge pictured here. All the same, if you make it to Petapa, you’ll feel like you’ve made it to the end of the (very bumpy) road. Just a few yards from the spot where I took this picture, the Rio La Garza flows into the Rio Sumpúl (which forms the border between El Salvador and Honduras). Upstream along the Rio La Garza there are a number of nice little swimming holes which help make the area a popular day-trip destination for local residents.
Apaneca is a town located on the Ruta De Las Flores and is also El Salvador highest town. Probably what is the most worthy site here is the 400 year old church but it was destroyed in the January 2001 earthquake. When I was there it was still being rebuilt. There is also a decent central park here that you can linger in for a bit. There is a couple of more things to do in the area but I was only here for a couple of hours. I would have liked to been here for a little longer.
I don't know if you can consider this as off the beaten path but I didn't see any foreign tourists here and only a few locals. This garden has an interesting start to it. It originally was a lagoon in a volcanic crater. But in 1873, an earthquake hit the area and drained the lagoon leaving behind some very fertile land. Now its a garden that has some 3,500 speices of plants in 32 different zones. It's not the greatest botanical garden that I have been two but it's a great place to stroll around for a few hours. There are some bamboo walkways that go over some ponds and plenty of pathways. There is a area where you can grab some food, I just ate ice cream. In 2006, it cost only a dollar to get in. It's located in the southwest corner of San Salvador.
Casablanca is one of the lesser Maya sites in El Salvador. It's located in Chalchuapa City right along the highway. Most of the pyramids have been partially excavated by the Japanese archeologists. At least one is completely still covered (I climbed it to get a photograph). None of the pyramids are grand but it provides a decent place for a walk. There is a decent little museum here where they also do indigo dyeing. I wouldn't make this a trip on it's own but worthwhile to combine it with the nearby ruins of Tazumal. It only costs a couple of bucks to get in.
One of the many pleasures of setting down roots in a foreign land, as opposed to just passing through, is that your new neighbors and friends invite you to go with them to all sorts of off-the-beaten-path destinations that they believe merit a visit. Helping to teach English in the high school in La Laguna, I became friends with a young lady named Guadalupe, who hailed from the village of Cuevitas. One day she told me that she was planning on visiting an older sister who lives in a village called Valle de Jesús, and asked if I’d like to tag along. So, of course, I went. The end of a journey to a place like Valle de Jesús really does feel like the end of something. Getting there from my already relatively remote locale in La Laguna required a 2.5 hour walk to El Manzano, an extremely bumpy bus ride from there to San Fernando, and then another hour’s walk (in the dark). Valle de Jesús is...
The dirt tracks and trails that meander through the mountainous regions of northern Chalatenango lead to a number of beautiful, sweeping views and small, friendly villages. The village shown, Cuevitas, is a cantón of the municipality of Dulce Nombre de María, but it is most easily reached from the town of La Laguna (it's about a 90-minute walk, uphill most of the way). Another hour away on foot, beyond the village of El Ocotal, is a small forest preserve called El Manzano. El Salvador itself probably qualifies as being off the beaten path, and Chalatenango even more so. And a place like Cuevitas? It's truly, as Salvadorans say, in the “quinta mierda” (the fifth sh**).WARNINGWhile the rural areas of Chalatenango are safer than most places in El Salvador, it would be a good idea to talk to some locals (or even the local police) before heading into the countryside, because armed bandits...
In the Department of Chalatenango, alongside the road that leads from Dulce Nombre de María to the end-of-the-road border town of San Fernando, there’s a small ecological reserve known as El Manzano. Among the attractions at El Manzano there are a handful of hiking trails, including one that climbs “Candle Stick Mountain” which affords some truly majestic views from the top, a number of swimming holes (beware, however, that the water is surprisingly chilly), an athletic field, a small FMLN museum (consisting mainly of photos of guerrilleros who were killed during the war and some old propaganda posters), an even smaller arts and crafts store, a snack shop (whose products include bags of the coffee that is grown within the park), a cafeteria, and a few basic cabins (such as the one pictured on my El Manzano Hotels & Accomodations Tip) for rent. If you’re looking for a peaceful, rustic...
This picture shows one of the streets of "downtown" La Laguna. The mountain that overlooks La Laguna to the east (La Montañona) was an important guerrilla stronghold during much of El Salvador's civil war. Now tourists who make their way to the pine forests of La Montañona can visit the defensive tunnels, the underground radio transmission room that housed the clandestine Radio Farabundo Martí, and even an underground field hospital that the FMLN used during the war. The easiest way to get there, if you don't have your own sturdy vehicle, is to take a bus to La Laguna (there is currently 1 departure daily from San Salvador's Eastern Terminal at 12:10pm, plus a number of buses from the city of Chalatenango) and then walk uphill beyond that town's soccer field. It shouldn't take more than two hours to reach the tiny village of La Montañona, where some simple but pleasant cabins are...
Marriott San Salvador San Salvador
2 Reviews and 35 Opinions This hotel is a nice place to stay, clean, neat. Staff friendly and helpful. It is located in front...
Royal Decameron Salinitas Sonsonate
1 Review and 483 Opinions [placeholder]
Comfort Inn San Miguel San Miguel
6 Opinions
Reviews and photos of El Salvador attractions posted by real travelers and locals. The best tips for El Salvador sightseeing.
Q: I will be travelling to San Salvador on a last minute whim this Fri-Tue. If anyone knows of any family memebers or friends that I...
A: I may consider that. How much do you charge? I'm looking more for dining, drinking and cultural stuff. Not interested in all day tourist sites. Let me know and I will...
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