🌋 1 Week in El Salvador: A Unique & Active Itinerary

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📍 Itinerary Map

This itinerary takes you to El Salvador’s top destinations:

• Ruta de Las Flores – route featuring 7+ small towns with murals, cafes, and waterfall hikes
• Santa Ana – city with colonial architecture that is also the gateway to a unique crater lake
• El Tunco – small surf town known for world-renowned surfing
• San Salvador – the capital city is known for its historic center

Planning a trip? Here’s what to know about El Salvador.

🗓️ Itinerary Overview

Below is a great way to spend seven days in El Salvador (see below on how to extend or shorten your trip). This itinerary is well-researched, highlights major attractions, and reflects lessons from my travel experience.

My El Salvador trip planner has this itinerary prefilled with more details and tips.

All prices mentioned here are in USD 💵 .

El Tunco (Days 1-2)

Start in El Tunco; it’s one of the closest top destinations to El Salvador’s main international airport, Monseñor Óscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport. If you’re arriving by land like I did, it’s a common destination for shuttles.

• El Tunco is a small town on the Pacific coast and one of El Salvador’s most popular destinations. It’s known for world-class surfing, a laid-back atmosphere, and nightlife.

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  • Rent a surfboard or take surf lessons with legendary instructors (💰 $15+ for rentals, $30+ for private lessons)
  • Walk around the small town and grab a smoothie, enjoy a meal, or eat ice cream (💰 varies)
  • Lounge around El Tunco’s black sand beach and watch surfers (💰 free)
  • Catch the stunning sunset every night (💰 free)
  • Take the bus to a nearby beach, such as El Zonte or La Paz (💰 $1 or less)

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  • Day Cafe – a cafe with the best value for smoothies and salads. I ate here 5 times.
  • Tusell Tostadores – a small cafe where I had the best cappuccino in all of my Central American travels
  • Pupuseria La Guanaquita – a modest, local pupuseria that’s only open on Fridays and the weekends

My El Salvador trip planner includes reviews of all the El Tunco places I ate at over a week.

• From El Salvador’s primary airport, there are two ways to get to El Tunco:
  • The bus option takes about 2 hours and involves 3 transfers but costs only a couple of dollars.
  • The taxi/shuttle option takes an hour and is direct but costs about $40-$50.

• The town is tiny, so all accommodations will be within 5- to 15-minute walking distance from the beach. The most expensive places will be right on the beach.
  • Casa Makoi has a great location near the beach at a good value.
  • Wayo Loft is owned by one of the local surf legends and is within an 8-minute walking distance of the beach.
  • Hotel Roca is right on the beach where all the action is happening if you don’t have a tight budget.

Ruta de Las Flores (Days 3-4)

On the third day, head to the popular Ruta de Las Flores.

• Ruta de Las Flores (Route of the Flowers), one of the country’s most popular attractions, is a 22-mile-long route comprised of several small, charming towns.

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  • Visit Ataco for the street murals and coffee (💰 $5-$10)
  • Travel to Cafe Albania to slide down a giant adult rainbow slide, jump off a thrilling swing, or cross a zipline on a bike (💰 $10-$55)
  • Climb up a waterfall and pass through six others when hiking 7 Cascadas (💰 $10)
  • Eat at Juayúa’s Gastronomic Festival on the weekends (💰 $10-$15)
  • Eat at Nahuizalco Night Market for dinner (💰 $10-$15)

• To get to the Ruta de Las Flores from El Tunco, take the 287 bus to Sonsonate. If you’re not able to catch the bus, you can prebook shared shuttles or tour transportation to another nearby town.
  • Once you’re on the official route, take the 249 bus, which runs along the entire route. It runs between Ahuachapan and Sonsonate every ~30 minutes and costs less than $1.
  • Alternatively, if you’re comfortable with scooters, you can rent one and drive around the route.

For more details on how to get around and plan Ruta de Las Flores, see my El Salvador trip planner.

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  • San Jose Restaurant – a local place in the heart of Juayúa, serving traditional soups and rice entrees
  • Apaneca Food Court – a decent-sized food court in Apaneca that offers several desserts and traditional places to choose from

• The best town to stay in on the Ruta de Las Flores is Juayúa. It’s the largest and most lively town and centrally located on the route. (Also, if you’re following this itinerary and heading to Santa Ana next, there’s a cheap direct bus that leaves from Juayúa.)
  • Santa Fe is where I stayed, and I recommend it. It’s centrally located and one of the few places with hot showers.
  • Hotel Anáhuac is a charming, quaint hotel just two blocks from the center.
  • Mixtepek is a budget-friendly place further away from the center.

Santa Ana (Day 5)

Travel to Santa on your fifth day.

• Santa Ana is the second-largest city in El Salvador, but it has a much smaller city atmosphere than the capital. The city has colonial architecture and a rich cultural history. It’s also the gateway to Santa Ana Volcano, another top natural attraction.

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  • Hike up Santa Ana volcano to see the unique crater lake (💰 $6-$40)
  • Take a walking tour of Santa Ana’s center (💰 $10-$30)
  • Learn how to make pupusas at Casa Coco (💰 $15)

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  • Comedor y Pupuseria Claudia – this is my tour guide’s favorite pupuseria. They serve solid entrees and pupusas, so I ate here twice.
  • Sin Rival – a local ice cream shop that serves local fruit flavors. I came back for their zapote, which tastes like a creamy papaya.
  • Die Oma Café Bistro – a cafe tucked in a corner outside the historic center. Their latte and pastries were very good for the area.

• From Juayúa, catch the direct 238 bus to Santa Ana. The trip takes about an hour and costs less than $1. Alternatively, if you want to explore more of Ruta de Las Flores, you can take the 249 bus from Juayua to Apaneca, Ataco, and Ahuachapan (there are also microbuses that run between these 3 towns). Once in Ahuachapan, you can take the 210 bus to Santa Ana.

• Unlike El Tunco and San Salvador, Santa Ana has more affordable housing options.
  • Casa Coco is one of the most well-rated hostels that some of my friends rave about.
  • Casa Centro is located in the heart of Santa Ana and starts at around $50.

My El Salvador trip planner has more tips on visiting Santa Ana.

San Salvador & Departure (Days 6-7)

Finish your trip in San Salvador.

• San Salvador is the country’s capital and only 90 minutes away from Santa Ana. It’s also an hour from the airport, so it’s a good quick stop before departing.

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  • Take a walking tour of the city’s historic center (💰 $10-$30)
  • Visit notable attractions in the center, including the National Library, Jardín Centroamérica, and the National Palace (💰 free-$8)
  • Check out Custcatlán Park, which has undergone major renovations in recent years (💰 free)
  • Catch the sunset at one of Puerta del Diablo’s viewpoints (💰 free-$6)
  • Cheer for Alianza, the local soccer team, at Cuscatlan Stadium, the largest one in Central America (💰 $8+)

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  • La Parilla – a restaurant in the historic center that’s frequented by locals
  • Mia Pizza – serves doughy pizza in a diner setting
  • Pupusería La Bendición de Dios – a well-loved place that serves pupusas near the soccer stadium

• From Santa Ana, there are multiple buses to San Salvador, but I recommend taking the direct, comfier TUDO “especial” bus that only costs $1.30. The bus ride takes 1.5-2.5 hours depending on traffic.

• The best place to stay in San Salvador is within walking distance of the Historic Center since most of the tourist attractions are there. I stayed a bit west of 49 Avenue, and it was not easy to walk past the highway to get to the center.
  • Hotel Abrego is one of the better-value hotels located in the center
  • Hostel Cumbre is within a reasonable distance if you want to stay a bit further away

See how much I spent during my trip to El Salvador.

Itinerary Modifications

Here are some ways you can adjust the itinerary:

• Another popular place is Suchitoto, a colonial town that’s a 90-minute ride outside San Salvador. If the weather is hot and the lake isn’t having any issues with water contamination, you can also visit Lake Coatepeque.
• If you’re staying closer to 2 weeks, I recommend spending more time in El Tunco or Ruta de Las Flores. You can also stop by other destinations like Tazumal, which is El Salvador’s best-preserved Mayan ruin.
• If you’re staying closer to a week, I recommend visiting two places so you don’t feel rushed. I personally would focus on El Tunco and Ruta de Las Flores.

El Salvador Trip Planner 2025

Download my trip planner to make your travel preparation effortless. It features up-to-date travel information and a well-researched itinerary informed by firsthand experience. Each section is customizable so it can be as lightweight or as hyper-organized as you like.

My trip planners are built on Notion, which I use for all my planning. I genuinely love this tool and creating an account is free.