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El Salvador
Photo: davidjoviera, CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Western El Salvador is a region of the country that is mostly rural, with colonial mountain villages, coffee plantations, and towering volcanoes.
San Salvador international airport (SAL) is the main gateway to the region with a number of flights from Central and North America, South America and one place in Europe: Madrid.
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San Salvador · Regional · ILS
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San Salvador is the capital city of El Salvador, approximately in the center of the country in a valley near the base of the San Salvador volcano. It provides a good base for exploring the rest of the country as it's a transportation hub, with most major roads running through it due to its central location.
Acajutla is a small Pacific coast city in Western El Salvador. It is the main port for El Salvador, is a regionally important transportation hub, and is increasingly popular among tourists who come for the mellow vibe of the town and for the beautiful beaches known for calmer waters than most Pacific coast beaches in Central America.
Ahuachapán is a small city in the western highlands of El Salvador. With its scenic colonial center and range of services for the traveler, it is a popular stop on the country's Ruta de las Flores, a well-known tourism route through mountainous small towns.
A village at a high altitude in the sierra of the same name and on the Ruta de las Flores. Apaneca is renowned for its coffee business.
Chalatenango is a town in Western El Salvador.
El Zonte is a beach town on the Pacific Ocean in Western El Salvador. It is a popular destination for surfers who regard it as one of the best beaches in Central America.
Colonial town surrounded by coffee plantations.
Surf's up in La Libertad, the most popular surfer's beach in El Salvador. It's also got a great malecon for evening strolls, with several good seafood restaurants with ocean views and spectacular sunsets.
Nahuizalco is a small town in the mountains of Western El Salvador. The town is known for keeping indigenous traditions alive and for its local hand crafts.
Salcoatitán is a small town in the mountainous highlands of Western El Salvador. The town is a quiet, scenic small town known for its slow pace and its weekly food festival in the town square.
Santa Ana is the second largest city of El Salvador and a very important one in terms of agriculture and coffee production (coffee plantations - called fincas - cover much of the land outside town and up the hills). Its historic center offers some of the best preserved architecture in El Salvador, including the Cathedral of Santa Ana, a marvel of neo-gothic architecture, the Teatro de Santa Ana, a beautifully decorated theatre of the early 1900s; and the Palacio Municipal in front of the main plaza with giant palm trees shooting out from its courtyard.
Santa Tecla is the second largest city in El Salvador. It is a suburb of San Salvador.
Sonsonate is a city of 73,000 people (2013) in southwestern El Salvador, near Acajutla. Holy week (semana santa) is celebrated throughout Latin America, but the celebrations are particularly fervent in Sonsonate.
Suchitoto is a town of about 7,700 people in El Salvador. It has become an important tourist destination partly due to its well-conserved colonial architecture and cobblestone roads that provide a sense of Spanish colonial living.
large Mayan archaeological site
site of San Salvador Volcano
park with two volcanoes
mountain scenery, wildlife, seclusion
Mayan village covered by volcanic lava flow, a
mountain rainforests, part of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve
San Diego and San Felipe Las Barras National Park is a large protected natural area in Western El Salvador near the border with Guatemala. The park boasts extensive tropical forests and part of Lago de Güija (Lake Guija), a large lake shared with Guatemala, as well as a smaller lake, Laguna de Metapan.
highest mountain in El Salvador
Mayan archaeological site
Articles and travel topics about Western El Salvador and El Salvador.
ItinerariesItineraries in North America
Wikivoyage
ItinerariesThe Pan-American Highway is a series of routes that passes through Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama in North America, and Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Argentina in South…
Wikivoyage
Culture & historyThe Maya civilization was one of the great Mesoamerican and Pre-Columbian civilizations. The Maya were renowned for having the most sophisticated and developed writing system in the Western Hemisphere as well as their…
Wikivoyage
ItinerariesRuta de las Flores is an official tourist itinerary in El Salvador. The itinerary follows a route through the Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain range visiting six towns that are emblematic of rural Salvadoran culture.
Wikivoyage
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