I’d visited El Salvador in particular cause I wanted to climb the Santa Ana Volcano. This is the highest Volcano in El Salvador. It’s also an active Volcano and the last time it had suddenly erupted was in 2005.

Here is my 3 days itinerary on how I spent my time in San Salvador, El Salvador that perhaps could be helpful with planning your visit as well!

Day 1: February 18, 2022

🔶Flew into San Salvador, El Salvador (SAL-El Salvador Intl.) at 12:35 PM.

🔷Explored the Free Art Gallery in El Salvador’s airport. It’s about a 30 minute commitment. Plus it’s an excellent way to learn about the Salvadorian history.

🔶Before clearing custom you would need to purchase an entrance pass that cost $12 USD. They use US Dollars here in El Salvador. You can also use your credit card.

🔷The airport is very clean and modern looking with lots of Americanized and Authentic Salvadorian restaurants.

🔶Booked a 1/2 Day Tour in advance with EC Tours through Viator. My 1/2 Day tour included pickup from the airport; 3 hours walking tour in downtown San Salvador and then a drop off to my hotel. I paid a total of $89 USD.

🔷My tour guide was Yessenia and kindly note I’d communicated with EC Tours through WhatsApp prior to traveling to El Salvador.

🔶Yessenia and I explored Parque Cuscatlán; it’s this very chilled park in the heart of San Salvador. They have this trail where you can do some bird watching – the locals here participate in this activity around 6 AM. This park also has some modern artwork created by the locals as well as historical artwork telling the story of the civil war.

🔷For lunch, I’d tried some shredded mangos with chili pepper and salt in a plastic bag for $1 USD as I walked the street of San Salvador. There are lots of mango trees on the street. Please stop and appreciate them.

🔶I was then educated on the churches located in San Salvador. My favorites were the Basilica Sagrado Corazon because of its gothic style and it reminded me of the architecture in the Square in Brussels, Belgium. This church was gifted by the Belgium to the Salvadorian about 100 years ago. My other favorite was El Rosario church; it’s so simple from the outside, but once you see it’s beauty’s inside you’ll be blown away. It’s design and influence is very unique in the Americas. It’s very European savvy.

🔷Engaged with a local on the street. I’d refer to her as the “Cat Woman” cause she rescues cats and sells cat food in one of the local markets. She’d migrated from Guatemala to San Salvador many years ago.

🔶Had Pupusas, an authentic Salvadorian meal for dinner. Pupusas are these corncake kinda roti or tortilla filled with cheese and meat in it. I had two chicken pupusas that costs $2 USD.

🔷Learned to dance to some Salvadorian music. The locals enjoy dancing to live music on the streets in the late afternoons.

🔶Made my way to my hotel; I’d stayed at Hotel Villa Florencia Zona Rosa for 3 nights. Very affordable and safe hotel for family and solo travelers.

Day 2: February 19, 2022

🔶Caught the sunrise from my hotel room. FYI, I’d stayed at Hotel Villa Florencia Zona Rosa.

🔷Had a delicious authentic Salvadorian breakfast in the hotel I’d stayed at.

A typical Salvadorian breakfast comes with Fried Beans, Eggs, lots of fruits, coffee and orange juice.

🔶✅#bucketlist2022

So I’ve learned that El Salvador has 24 Volcanoes (17 are Active & 7 are Dead).

It took me about 2 hours to climb to the top of Santa Ana. And 1. 5 hour to climb down.

It was a challenging hike, but it’s important to go at your own pace, stay with the group you are touring with, follow your tour guide’s instructions, don’t take selfies on the rough edges..I’d highly recommend touring with a proper tour group and pay extra…safety matters!…it gets lonely in certain part of the trail, but there are security everywhere…

I’d booked my tour through El Salvador Positive – @elsalvadorpositive.tours using Viator. They were awesome. My tour guide Josue @alejosueromero was superb!

🔷After the hike; we had an authentic lunch at Lake Coatepeque. It’s a volcanic lake with a stunning view of El Salvador. Ended up having Fried beans with chicken, tortillas, vegetables and some rice. Yummy Salvadorian lunch. Food was fairly inexpensive; my lunch was included in my tour.

🔶Made my back to the hotel and passed out cause I was so soar.

Day 3: February 20, 2022

🔶Caught the sunrise from my hotel room again. FYI, I’d stayed at Hotel Villa Florencia Zona Rosa.

🔷Took a day tour to Ruta De Las Flores that is about a 1.5 hour drive from San Salvador. Ruta De Las Flores is made up of five colonial towns.

🔶So Ataco is one of the five towns that makes up Ruta De Las Flores. I was doing a travel blog on the local artists in El Salvador.

Here I’m posing with a local artist. His name is Franck. It was nice to engaged with him and learn about his passion for art. I got to learn a lot about his family and daily routines in El Salvador.

I was very impressed with his paintings, so I decided to purchase one with El Salvador’s National bird Turquoise-browed motmot, now hanging on a wall in my home in NYC.

🔷Another town is Juayua (one of the five towns that makes up Ruta De Las Flores).

And I’m standing on the second deck in a party bus. A party bus is the best approach to tour the city from high up. Its about a 20 minute tour and it cost $1 USD. It’s not one of those party buses that serves booze lol! It’s more of like they play Spanish music and talk about the historical places.

Here are a few phrases that gets me by in a Spanish speaking country:

➡️👋🏽 Hola! (Hello!)

➡️❓Como Estas (How are you?)

➡️😎 Asi Asi (So So)

➡️❓Como te llamas (What’s your name?)

➡️Me llamo ( My name is…)

FYI, I usually use my middle name Diana or G when I travel outside of the USA. I try to simplify things!

➡️❓Donde esta el bano (Where is the bathroom?)

➡️Gracias! (Thank you!)

➡️De Nada! (You’re Welcome!)

Thank you for virtually exploring with me!

🔶 Also do check out the Coffee Plantation in Ruta De Las Flores in El Salvador.

Before I’d travelled to El Salvador, I’d engaged with two travel bloggers in Dubai on the IG platform and had fabulous conversations on coffee.

So Yesenia and Nelson; El Salvador’s local tour – EC Tours El Salvador;

https://www.ectourselsalvador.com/ guides helped me scoped out a few family owned coffee plantations in El Salvador for a fun coffee blog I was doing on coffee beans in Central America.

The coffee beans in El Salvador are extraordinary rich cause they are fertilized in volcanic ashes…

The coffee and cappuccino in El Salvador taste are very rare and captivating. It’s super addictive.

🔷Also tour the others towns Nahuizalco, Salcoatitán and Apaneca. These towns have fabulous murals outdoor telling stories of the Salvadorians before the civil war.

🔶On Saturdays and Sundays they usually have festivals. I’d highly recommend scoping out the food festivals. It’s very inexpensive and tasty. It’s a great way to explore authentic Salvadorian street food.

Hopeful this blog gives you a taste of how the beautiful city of San Salvador is all about.

Thank you for your taking the time to read my blog.

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