El Salvador - 73rd Country Visited - Travel With Deals and Points

El Salvador Planning:

I travelled to San Salvador from Managua. Basically, I was visiting Nicaragua and El Salvador on this trip, which I completed in May 2023

Capital of El Salvador 🇸🇻 is San Salvador

Flights:

Inbound Avianca Flight into San Salvador

I took a one-way Avianca flight from Managua, Nicaragua to San Salvador, El Salvador for 155$. Going the Other way was definitely expensive. So, I planned my route to be FLL->MGA->SAL->FLL. Leaving San Salvador was by Spirit Airlines for which I paid 3,000 spirit airline points+ 56.58$ in taxes and fees. Earlier on I applied for Free Spirit airlines credit card which offers 50,000 bonus miles, after spending 1000$ in first 90 days. Consequently, I had Spirit airlines miles in my account. So, in net I spent 56.58$ on my outbound flight from San Salvador.

Currency:

Currency of El Salvador is US Dollar. There is a 12$ USD tourist visa fee that needs to be paid at immigration.

Accommodation:

I stayed close to the airport on my first night since my flight landed at 8:00pm in the evening. I booked accommodation at “Argueta Hotel”, which is 5-8 minutes away in taxi from the SAL airport with Capital One points. Additionally, I stayed at “Hotel Pacific Sunrise” in La Libertad, El Salvador using Capital One miles. They offer complimentary breakfast. Besides, there are lots of hotels to choose from in La Libertad, El Tunco and El Zonte, which are all beach towns.

Particularly, UBER works very well in El Salvador and its very affordable for rides.

Boots on the Ground:

Places I visited are in Blue
Public transportation Bus and Airport are in Purple

I spend 2 days in El Salvador.

Day 1:

I headed north on Day 1 where I explored city of Santa Ana and visited Lake Coatepeque, which is a beautiful crater lake.

Lago de Coatepeque Crater lake in El Salvador — Lago de Coatepeque Crater lake

Undoubtably, I enjoyed great views of Lake Coatepeque from the lake side restaurants. More0ver water sports as well as boat rides are offered from a lot of lake side restaurants here. Its great way to enjoy the green waters of Crater Lake.

Day 2:

Especially enjoyed the town of El Tunco, did get to taste some Pupusas in El Tunco. Pupusas are the national dish of El Salvador, cannot miss out on this one.

Pupusas Menu at Los Amigos Restaurant in El Tunco

Surprisingly, surf lessons to beginners are offered at 25$ per hour on El Tunco’s shallow black sand beaches. Here I witnessed lots of people getting their first try on surfboard after their surf lesson.

Black Sand Beach at El Tunco, El Salvador — Black Sand Beach at El Tunco

Then headed to Tamarnique town to hike the Tamarnique waterfall. The hike to Tamarnique waterfalls is an organized group activity. When I went to town center they asked me to pay 20$ for the hike. For some distance they took the group in a 4-wheel truck. After that we had to follow our guide on the trail to get to the waterfalls. Basically, the first 2 closest waterfalls did not have a flowing stream. So, our guide made us hike to the 4th waterfall which was the most beautiful water fall in the area.

Tamarnique Waterfalls in El Salvador — Tamarnique Waterfalls

Lastly, I did get a glimpse of the seafood fish market at the pier in La Liberatad. Presently this Pier has El Puerto de La Liberatad which is fishing boat port.

Pier at La Liberatad where fish boats arrive with their catch.

La Libertad is called Surf Capital of El Salvador. Going for a walk on the pier and board walk, seeing fast and hollow waves at sunset time would certainly be a perfect way to wind up ones day, as was mine.

The waves gushing at the rocks at Surf city/La Liberatad pier

It was definitely a busy day for me.