El Salvador backpacking itinerary, Well I thorough for a while before creating this page, because I only spend a couple of days in El Salvador and I dont think Its enough to make an itinerary. However the reason I decided to write it, Its because if you want to travel all of Central America, It will be a shame to ignore one country. Especially if it do not have the best safety reputation among the other countries of central America. Plus you can easily and safely experience the country if you have some background information and you know what you doing.
El Salvador backpacking itinerary
Destination: Central America, El Salvador
Season: December 2017
Length: 2 days
Theme: Backpacking | City | Culture | Hiking | Sceneries | Surfing
El Salvador backpacking itinerary
El Salvador Itinerary at glance
Antigua in Guatemala → El Tunco in El Salvador 2D → León in Nicaragua
El Salvador backpacking itinerary
El Salvador backpacking itinerary
- The Icon for the transfer method
- The h for the number of hour of transportation time
- am or pm is the time of departure from the city
- The D for the number of days i spent in the city
- The ←→ for day trip
One thing you need to know about El Salvador, that the bus system are very basic and most of the time you will find your self in a mini bus. This is normal. It in nothing like Mexico, Costa rica or Panama. But they are very reliable and safe in my experience. Also the bus they only leave in the morning, but they can arrive at night depend on the roads, so you have to forget about night bus, which I really enjoy, because it save you time and money.
El Salvador Itinerary at glance
Antigua in Guatemala → El Tunco in El Salvador 2D → León in Nicaragua
El Salvador backpacking itinerary
El Salvador backpacking itinerary
El Salvador backpacking itinerary
Day 1-2 El Tunco
Funny enough I had traveled the entire country of El Salvador all the way from the top to the bottom by car. Including a 2 days stop in beautiful El Tunco. My aim was to get to León in Nicaragua from Antigua in Guatemala. And the most practical and economic way was by taking a mini bus all the way from Antigua to León, and I added my touch by stoping in El Tunco. Many people including myself decided to cut their stay short in El Salvador and spend more time in Guatemala or Nicaragua due to the bad safety reputation the country have. However in my experience, once I was in El Salvador, It was just like any of the other country of Central America. I had on issue what so ever and I did not feel unsafe in any time. So back to the itinerary.
Day 1-2: after a 6 hour bus ride, finally I was in El Salvador. My destination was El Tunco. I spend only 2 days in El Tunco. El Tunco is a very small town and its ideal for surfing and spending some quite time. Its not the best beach in the world, but I personally loved it, if you into surfing you will love it. Also its ideal to take some surfing class if you want to. I spend most of my time in El Tunco on the beach. From El Tunco you can go to other part of El Salvador, my friend Maximilian headed to San Salvador, which from what I heard have good night life. You can also explore other parts like Coatepeque Caldera or Santa Ana Volcano. However I decided to go to Leon in Nicaragua. Again I decided to take a mini bus from El Tunco passing through Honduras. The bus rid was going smooth until we entered Honduras, which I will tell you about it in my Honduras itinerary, which did not go according to the plan at all! Which was a good thing.
Top things to do in El Tunco
- Surfing
Accommodation in El Tunco
As I previously mentioned El Tunco is a very small town, you can walk the entire town in 15 minutes. I stayed at Papaya Lodge which was quite and good enough for a night sleep.
Transport From Antigua to El Tunco in El Salvador then to Leon in Nicaragua
One thing to mention in here, with regards to the transport safety in El Salvador. As I was traveling cross Central America, I heard a mixed opinion about traveling through El Salvador. Some people told me you must use a big bus company because the mafia will stop the shuttle. On the other hand other traveller informed me it is safe to use shuttle bus. So I thought I tell you my experience to help you make your mind.
It all depend on where you coming from and where you going to. In my case I was traveling from Antigua to El Tunco. I booked a shuttle services from Bigfoot Hostel Antigua which goes on a daily base to El Tunco, click here for more information and also here for La Ceiba, I did check with the hostel reception about the safety of the shuttle traveling through El Salvador and I was informed its pretty safe. So me and some other traveller booked a shuttle for the next morning to El Tunco. Its was pretty safe and we had no issue with regard to safety, however on the day I was traveling their was a blockade on one of the main roads. But we managed to find another route with the help of the locals. Do you own check before going to any city please.
Then from El Tunco, I booked another shuttle ($35) to Leon in Nicaragua passing through Honduras, The trip should usually take 8 hours in normal circumstances. However, I was in Hounders on the 1st of December 2017, when the election was happening and the people gone on riot. So the roads was blocked and fire was set up on the main road toward Nicaragua. That ofcrures delayed us a lot and the people refused to let any car go through. No body try to harm us in any way thou. Some of the local people volunteer to take us through an alternative route. Which was of road through some local villages and woods. Then finally after about 10 or 12 hours we made it to Leon.
El Salvador backpacking itinerary
