Heading up the mountain of Apaneca you will pass through San Juan de Dios, a small coffee oriented community. Just beyond the city you will come to Finca El Portezuelo, which is a farm that runs a variety of tours in the mountainous region.
From Finca El Portezuelo you can take a hiking tour up through the mountains into the cloud forest, where there are amazing wild orchid gardens and other plant life. The hike takes you through coffee plantations and ravines, ending in a series of geishers. The mud from the geishers is said heal the skin, and that combined with a nice soak in the hotsprings melts away the outside world.
Juayua is one of the best places for eco-tourism in El Salvador – in all of Central America actuallly. The landscapes are incredible, yes, but what makes it so great is that it is still a virtual unknown in comparison to countries like Costa Rica and Panama.
Juayua in particular is popular among tourists that come to El Salvador, but honestly the amount of people who end up here are quite few. The country is still a little more rugged than other popular eco-tourism destinations, but for many, that makes it all the more fun.
In Juayua it is a good idea to ask at your hotel guest for a local guide. Sure, you can hike around yourself, but Read more
The Area Natural Protegida Rio Sapo is home to the cleanest river in El Salvador, the Rio Sapo. It is located Southeast of Perquin, and spans an area of about 14,826 acres.
The Rio Sapo is formed by the Rio Guaco and the Rio Talchiga, which run over several waterfalls before meeting southeast of the city.
If you are heading to the Natural Park on your way to Perquin, take the turn off at Arambala and make sure you are driving in a 4×4 vehicle! The road to the park can get a little rough.
A cool way to get into the park if you have the time is to take the 8 km hike in from Perquin, which takes about Read more
El Salvador is known for its war-torn past, and although that is not what describes the country today, learning its history can help you better understand and appreciate its people and their heritage.
The city of Perquin, located high in the Morazan was known unofficiallly as being the guerrilla capital during the conflict. Now it is a peaceful city, but you can still appreciate its colored past by visiting the Museum of the Salvadoran Revolution, located in the center of town.
The Museum was founded right after the Civil War ended by a group of ex-combatants. It tell the story of the 12 years the nation spent fighting first hand through hundreds of photos, documents and weapons. It pays homage to the Read more
Past La Libertad to the west there are plenty of other beaches to visit: Conchalio, San Blas, El Cocal, El Majahual and El Sunzal. El Sunzal is located at Kilometer 42 from San Salvador, and it is one of the most popular surfing destinations in El Salvador, in all of Central America actually.
If you don’t know how to surf, but you want to learn, then El Sunzal is the place to go. Many of the skilled local surfers make a living by teaching foreigners and other Salvadorans who wan to learn how to surf. Renting a surfboard for a day costs only about $12–$15 dollars.
El Tunco (The Pig) is a large rock that splits the El Sunzal beach Read more
Another option for surfers on this side of El Salvador is Las Flores Surf Club, which is hailed as being “designed for surfers, by surfers.” The whole place is geared solely towards enjoying the water sports at Playa Las Flores.
Las Flores Surf Club is a 4–star boutique hotel in the Oriente of El Salvador, about 2.5 hours east of the El Salvador International Airport. They are so tuned into surfing that on the Las Flores web-site you can see a live surf cam from the beach, refreshed every 10 seconds!
At Las Flores it is all about enjoying the ocean: surfing is the main fair at Las Flores, but wakeboarding, kayaking, kneeboarding, kite-surfing and fishing are also Read more
Avid surfers are constantly searching the globe for hot new points to surf, and El Salvador is one of the ones that has been found, but is still being discovered. El Salvador is nice because it is less crowded than say Mexico or Costa Rica, but what makes it great is actually a little more… geographical.
Henry Morales, managing director of Wavehunters Surf Travel in California, explains: “What makes the surf so special in El Salvador is the topography. It’s the only country in Central American where there are 15 right point breaks.” For those of you who don’t know what that means to surfers, it is a very good thing. That is the ideal kind of wave Read more
There is more to Juayúa than just the food fair! The town gets its name from the Nahuatl, which means “Purple Orchids River.”
For nature lovers there is plenty to do in the “purple orchid rivers” of Juayúa. One of the most popular places to visit it “Los Chorros de la Calera” a set of waterfalls, as well as “La Laguna de las Ranas” (The Frog Lagoon). During the winter this lagoon is a hotspot for frogs and also makes for some great camping.
The chorros (the falls) are located a good 1 or 2 hour hike up, depending on where you park. It takes you along a narrow path that winds up and down hill. The path is wide enough for 2 people in Read more
One of the Gringo’s friends in El Salvador recently suggested publishing a bit on Playa El Tunco, one of the nicest surfing spots in the country. Since the beach is fun, funky, and a hotspot for other wandering gringos, it seemed like a fine idea to me!
El Tunco is pretty much your standard surf town; people are constantly walking up and down the streets in the board shorts, carrying their surf boards down to the beach. The beach isn’t the most ideal place to lounge about, but the surfing is great; just what you would expect from Central America, overhead waves, strong currents, and a long paddle, but the swells are insane and the atmosphere can’t be Read more
El Imposible National Park is home to many endangered animals, and one of the last stretches of El Salvador’s beautiful natural forest, however it is also one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world. All around, coffee plantains are starting to encroach upon the borders of the forest, some even using growing methods that are detrimental to the forest’s growth.
The park is considered the best place to view the natural forest and mountains of El Salvador. This tropical cloud forest carpets around 3,800 hectares of mountainous region and over 1000 species of plants, 103 species of mammals, 282 of birds, and 53 of amphibians and reptiles reside here.
Facebook
Twitter
Comments