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El Salvador might be the smallest country in Central America, but there is a surprising amount to see packed into such a small area. In just 10 days in El Salvador, you can hike volcanoes, swim in waterfalls, explore colorful mountain towns and relax on black sand beaches along Pacific Coast.

In January, my boyfriend and I rented a car and spent 10 days roadtripping around El Salvador. Our trip didn’t always go exactly as plan, but we were able to experience so much of the country’s culture, landscapes and beaches. We hiked through clouds on a volcano, went jet skiing on a crater lake, found a hidden waterfall, stayed on the side of a mountain and finished the trip with a few relaxing days at the beach.

This 10 day El Salvador itinerary is based almost entirely on the route we took, with a few small changes and suggestions based on what I would do differently if I planned the trip again. I share everything you need to know about renting a car and driving in El Salvador, along with where we stayed, the restaurants we ate at, the excursions we took and all the hidden gems we discovered.

10 Day El Salvador Roadtrip Summary

Day 1: Arrive & explore San Salvador
Day 2: San Salvador → El Boquerón → Santa Ana
Day 3: Santa Ana Volcano & Lake Coatepeque
Day 4: Santa Ana → Tazumal & El Salto Waterfall → Los Naranjos
Day 5: Los Naranjos → Ruta de las Flores → Juayúa
Day 6: Seven Waterfalls Hike
Day 7: Juayúa → Pacific Coast
Day 8: El Zonte Beach Day
Day 9: El Tunco Beach Day
Day 10: Depart El Salvador

Renting a Car in El Salvador

This itinerary is designed as a road trip, so renting a car is highly recommended. Having a rental car gives you much more freedom to reach El Salvador’s more remote attractions and explore at your own pace.

After doing some research on Reddit and social media, we decided to rent our car locally instead of using one of the major international rental companies like Enterprise. It ended up being an excellent decision.

We rented from a local Salvadoran who rents out several cars rather than a traditional rental car company. The whole process was surprisingly professional and easy. He communicated with us through WhatsApp before the trip, met us at the airport with the car when we arrived and met us there again when we were departing.

We paid $45 per day, which included insurance coverage. The insurance included roadside assistance, damage, theft and collision coverage, third-party damage and civil liability. If we were involved in an accident, we would be responsible for a $350 deductible. For smaller damage, like a new scratch or dent, he explained that we could just pay for the repair directly, which would typically cost around $70.

I personally really liked knowing that our money was going directly to a local Salvadoran rather than a major international company. If you would like to rent from the same person, this is his facebook page, and his Whatsapp contact is +503 7221 2839.

Before renting, ask exactly what insurance is included, what your deductible is and what happens if you damage the vehicle. I also recommend taking your own photos and videos of the entire car before driving away.

There was one important lesson we learned from our rental experience. We specifically asked for a 4WD vehicle, and we were told that the Nissan Rogue we received was 4WD. It wasn’t until we were halfway down a rough dirt road and the car was seriously struggling that we looked up the exact model and realized it wasn’t actually a true 4WD. Thankfully, the car made it through everywhere we took it, but I would definitely do my own research on the exact vehicle before accepting it, especially if you plan on driving off road like us.

Driving in El Salvador

In general, I found driving in El Salvador similar to driving in other Latin American countries we’ve visited. Drivers can be a little more aggressive than what you may be used to in the United States, so you’ll want to drive defensively and pay attention to what’s happening around you. That said, we didn’t have any major problems with other drivers during our trip.

The main highways connecting popular destinations are easy to drive, and we had no issues getting between places like San Salvador, Santa Ana, the Ruta de las Flores and the coast.

The challenge comes once you leave those main roads. There are a lot of unpaved roads in El Salvador, and Google Maps will happily send you down them without any warning. Many of the roads leading to waterfalls, remote beaches, and mountain Airbnbs are dirt roads, and some are much rougher than others. This is why I strongly recommend renting a vehicle with 4WD for this itinerary, especially if you’re planning to visit the more remote places I’ve included.

Don’t panic when Google Maps sends you onto a dirt road. We encountered them constantly, and most were manageable as long as we slowed down and took our time. I was very thankful that my boyfriend is a confident driver and handled all of the driving during our trip. I personally would not have felt comfortable navigating some of the rougher dirt roads, particularly the steep mountain roads.

If you’re traveling solo or aren’t comfortable driving in those conditions, I would either choose accommodations that are easily accessible from paved roads or consider using tours and transfers for the more remote attractions instead.

The 10-day El Salvador Roadtrip Itinerary

Day 1: Arrive & Explore San Salvador

We arrived to El Salvador early in the morning and picked up our rental car from the airport. We drove about 45 minutes to San Salvador, El Salvador’s capital. It’s the best place to get your first taste of the country’s history, culture and cuisine.

Explore Centro Histórico

After dropping your bags at your hotel, Uber into Centro Histórico. From Zona Rosa, our ride cost around $5 and took about 15 minutes. (We didn’t drive ourselves because we secured a good parking spot, and Uber is so cheap and easy to use in El Salvador)

Most of the major attractions in the historic center are only a few blocks apart, so once you arrive, you can explore almost everything on foot. Here’s a few places you should visit around Centro Historico:

• Iglesia El Rosario – One of the most unique churches in El Salvador. The exterior looks simple, but inside you’ll find colorful stained glass that makes it stand out from traditional cathedrals elsewhere in the country.
• Plaza Libertad – Right outside the church, one of the main historic squares in downtown San Salvador.
• Catedral Metropolitana de San Salvador – Another important religious landmark overlooking Plaza Barrios in the heart of the historic center.
• National Palace of El Salvador – One of the city’s grandest historic buildings. We simply admired it from the outside, but you can take a tour if you have time.
• National Library of El Salvador – One of the newest additions to the historic center and it stands out immediately against the older architecture surrounding it. Definitely go inside, it’s free and there’s a deck overlooking Plaza Barrios on the 6th floor.

Before leaving the Centro Historico, head to Plaza Universitaria for lunch. It’s a new food court with restaurants serving all types of food, from coffee and desserts to Mexican and Argentinian meals.

After spending about 2 hours in the Centro Historico, we returned back to our hotel in Zona Rosa to rest.

Jardín Botánico La Laguna

If you still have time and energy in the afternoon, I highly recommend taking an Uber to Jardín Botánico La Laguna. This was a really nice botanical garden and much bigger than I expected. We arrived about an hour before closing and I really which we had more time there to explore. There are many different sections featuring native plants from El Salvador and other countries in Central America.

To end your evening, enjoy dinner at one of the many restaurants in Zona Rosa. We tried El Zocalo and Señor Gaucho, which were both delicious options.

Day 2: San Salvador to Santa Ana

Today the roadtrip around El Salvador begins! We’ll be driving west towards Santa Ana. Rather than driving directly there, I recommend choosing somewhere to stop on the way: either El Boquerón Volcano or Joya de Cerén Archaeological Site.

Both are roughly in the direction you’ll already be traveling, making this an easy way to add another attraction without dedicating an entire day to it.

El Boquerón Volcano

We chose to visit El Boquerón National Park, featuring a volcanic crater at the top of San Salvador Volcano. The park is only about 30 minutes from the city, and it costs $2 per person to enter.

Once you arrive, you’ll park and start the short walk to the crater. The trail was very well maintained, with stairs covering much of the climb. Once you reach the top, there are a few viewpoints looking directly into the enormous crater. The hike took us about 30 minutes total. Near the parking lot, theres bathrooms and a small exhibit, which we stopped at before we left.

You don’t need very long here, making it a great roadtrip stop between San Salvador and Santa Ana.

Joya de Cerén

Alternatively, you can stop at Joya de Cerén Archaological Park on the way from San Salvador to Santa Ana. It’s one of El Salvador’s most important archaeological sites, featuring the remains of a prehispanic Mayan village that was covered by a volcanic eruption. It’s often called the “Pompeii of the Americas”.

If you’re interested in archaeology and history, this would be a good alternative to El Boquerón. Since each stop only takes an hour it’s possible to visit both on the way to Santa Ana. Joya de Cerén happened to be closed on the day we were passing by (a Monday), which is why we just stopped at the volcano.

Continue to Santa Ana

From here, continue your drive to Santa Ana, about 1-2 hours, and check into your hotel. We stayed at Casa Vieja Guesthouse, a small guesthouse run by a lovely family. They accommodation was simple but they made us feel right at home in Santa Ana.

Spend the rest of the afternoon exploring the city. There isn’t a huge amount to do in Santa Ana itself, but the historic center is beautiful and definitely worth seeing. Visit Parque Libertad, the city’s main square, and admire the impressive Catedral de Nuestra Señora Santa Ana.

Pupusa Cooking Class with a Local

That evening in Santa Ana, we did what ended up being one of my favorite experiences of our entire El Salvador trip: a pupusa cooking class with a local woman named Maria.

I found this class randomly on Google Maps under “Authentic Pupusa Cooking Class with the Locals”. From there, I messaged the listed number on WhatsApp and arranged a class with Maria for later that evening. It ended up being a private class with just the two of us and Maria, who runs the cooking class out of her salon. Yes, she’s a hairdresser by day and teaches travelers how to make pupusas by night!

When we arrived, Maria already had everything set up for us. We started by making curtido, the tangy cabbage slaw traditionally served with pupusas, along with the tomato salsa. Then we made the pupusa dough and learned how to shape and fill them. Maria had several fillings prepared, including cheese, beans and meat, and we could mix and match them however we wanted. We each made around 5 pupusas before cooking them ourselves on the cooktop.

Maria also made us hot chocolate and sweet plantains, so there was no need to make dinner plans afterward. Once everything was ready, we sat down to eat with Maria and her daughter and spent the rest of the evening talking about their lives in El Salvador. That was my favorite part of the experience!

Maria doesn’t speak much English, so we did our class entirely in Spanish since my boyfriend is a native speaker and I speak conversational Spanish. However, she told us that she knows enough English to teach the class, so I wouldn’t let that stop you from booking if you don’t speak Spanish. If anything, you’ll probably pick up a few new Spanish words while you’re there!

The class cost us $15 per person, but we enjoyed it so much that we gave Maria $40 total. Find info about the class here, or message Maria directly on WhatsApp at +50368515122.

Day 3: Hike Santa Ana Volcano + Lake Coatepeque

Today is one of the biggest adventure days of this El Salvador itinerary: hiking Santa Ana Volcano followed by an afternoon at Lake Coatepeque.

Santa Ana Volcano

Leave early in the morning and drive toward Santa Ana Volcano, also known as Ilamatepec. The volcano is famous for its massive crater containing a bright turquoise lake. Under clear conditions the summit has views across the surrounding mountains and Lake Coatepeque.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get those clear conditions and we weren’t able to hike to the summit,. The day we visited was extremely windy and cloudy. For safety reasons, we weren’t allowed to hike all the way to the crater and never saw the famous turquoise lake. We were only able to hike as far as one of the first checkpoints, but even there we had almost no visibility. We were standing inside a dark cloud.

It obviously wasn’t the Santa Ana Volcano experience we had pictured, but I was still really glad we went. On our way back down, the clouds cleared slightly and we finally got some incredible views of the surrounding volcanoes.

Do You Need a Guide for Santa Ana Volcano?

Although we found differing information online about whether or not a guide was required for this hike, everyone we asked when we arrived said you must hike with a guide. We parked at the entrance to the national park and eventually found a tour that we could join, as there were a few getting ready to leave (I unfortunately can’t remember how much we paid the guide, but it was less than $10 each).

To avoid confusion when you arrive, it’s best to arrange a tour ahead of time. You can book a guided tour from Santa Ana here, or simply ask your hotel/hostel if they know of tours you can join. Arranging one locally will definitely be cheaper than booking online.

The tour guide will lead you to the start of the hike, where you’ll pay a small fee to enter the national park. Then, you’ll start the hike and they’ll take you as far as you can safely walk. Hopefully you visit on a clear day and you can hike all the way to the summit!

Afternoon at Lake Coatepeque

After the hike, drive down to Lake Coatepeque for lunch and a relaxing afternoon. Lake Coatepeque is a huge volcanic crater lake surrounded by mountains. It ended up being one of our favorite places in this part of El Salvador.

I highly recommend heading to Captain Morgan Hostel and purchasing a day pass. When we visited, it cost just $5 and included a soda or beer from the bar. There’s a large deck where you can relax overlooking the water, along with platforms where you can jump into the lake.

You can also rent boats and jet skis. We rented a jet ski for $40 for 30 minutes, and even though it was cold and windy that day, being out on the lake was so much fun.

We enjoyed Lake Coatepeque so much that we immediately wished we had stayed here instead of Santa Ana. It’s still close enough to Santa Ana Volcano to work as a base for exploring the area, but there is much more of a relaxing vacation atmosphere around the lake. Captain Morgan Hostel had a great location and amenities, so that would be my first choice of where to stay! Or for a more upscale hotel with direct lake access, Equinoccio Hotel also looks amazing.

Guided Tour Option

This day includes a lot of driving on windy, unpaved roads, so if you’d like to avoid navigating that yourself, a guided tour would be a great option! There are many tours from Santa Ana that take you to both Santa Ana Volcano and Lake Coatepeque in one day. Then you can avoid the stress of figuring out logistics and just enjoy the beautiful nature of El Salvador! (I kinda wish we did a tour for this day, which is why I’m suggesting it.)

Night in Santa Ana

Drive back to Santa Ana after your day of adventure. If you’re looking for somewhere to eat, I’d recommend Simmer Down, a fun pizza restaurant located right next to the Catedral. We ate there twice in two days because we really liked it.

Day 4: Tazumal + El Salto Waterfall + Los Naranjos

Pack up your hotel in Santa Ana because today you’ll continue west, stopping at an archaeological site and one of the best swimming spots we found during our trip.

Parque Arqueológico Tazumal

Your first stop is Parque Arqueológico Tazumal, an archaeological site in Chalchuapa. It’s a relatively small site, so you don’t need to dedicate a lot of time to it.

I have to admit that I didn’t feel like there was enough information available at the site for me to fully appreciate what I was looking at. However, it’s conveniently located along this route, so I still think it’s worth stopping to walk around before continuing toward the waterfall.

El Salto de Malacatiupán Waterfall

Next, drive to El Salto de Malacatiupán, a beautiful waterfall that is popular for cliff jumping (hence the name El Salto, which means jump in Spanish). Even if you aren’t into cliff jumping, the waterfall is surrounded by nature and is a great place to swim and hang out for a few hours.

Keep in mind that the road leading to the waterfall is unpaved, so I would only attempt this drive with a vehicle capable of handling rough dirt roads.

My boyfriend loves cliff jumping, which was one of the main reasons I had added this waterfall to our itinerary. However, when we arrived there was some confusion when we arrived about whether jumping from the waterfall was allowed, as there are many signs saying it is not. Eventually, we met a local who was familiar with the waterfall and showed my boyfriend where too safely jump. He also provided rope to help him get back out of the water. We gave him $5 for helping us.

Once my boyfriend jumped, several other people started jumping too. That said, only cliff jump if you are confident and experienced.

I personally decided to just relax and swim in the many natural pools around the waterfall. We spent about 3 hours here and ate pupusas that we had brought for lunch.

Spend the Night in Los Naranjos

After the waterfall, continue toward Los Naranjos for a stay in a remote AirBNB. This isn’t an essential overnight stop, but I loved adding it to our itinerary because it gave us a completely different experience from staying in the cities.

There are many remote cabins and Airbnbs tucked into the mountains around this area. We stayed in this Airbnb on the side of a mountain with an incredible view of a volcano, and it ended up being an amazing night.

Getting there, however, was an adventure. Our accommodation was at the top of a steep dirt road. The host offered to pick us up from a secure parking area along the main road and drive us up himself, but we were convinced our car could handle it.

Well, our car almost didn’t make it. It struggled to get up the very steep, dirt road that went on for at least a mile. Everything worked out in the end, but I absolutely wish we had taken our host up on his offer to drive us.

We made it to the cabin just in time for sunset and were rewarded we these incredible views. so the journey was worth it!

Don’t want to stay in the mountains?

You can also skip Los Naranjos entirely and drive straight to Juayúa, where you’ll be spending the next few nights. If you don’t enjoy changing accommodation frequently or don’t want to stay somewhere so remote, this is the option I would recommend.

Day 5: Ruta de las Flores

Enjoy a slow morning in Los Naranjos before packing up and heading toward the Ruta de las Flores. This mountainous route connects several of the prettiest towns in western El Salvador and is known for its colorful villages, mountain scenery, coffee-growing landscape and cooler climate.

Rather than driving straight to Juayúa, where I recommend staying, spend the day slowly working your way through the route.

Café Albania

Our first stop was Café Albania, near the town of Apaneca.

This is essentially an adventure park built into the mountains, with zip lines, giant rainbow slides and tons of elaborate photo opportunities overlooking the surrounding landscape.

To be honest, Cafe Albania is extremely touristy and I thought it was overpriced. When we went, one zip line cost around $20. But I still think it was worth visiting. There are several attractions like this throughout El Salvador, and if you’re curious about them, you might as well visit one during your trip. It’s great for getting those aesthetic instagram shots!

Concepción de Ataco

Next, continue to Ataco, which was probably the prettiest town we visited along the Ruta de las Flores. Spend an hour or so walking through town, checking out the colorful streets, shops and murals. Then find somewhere to eat for lunch.

Continue to Juayúa

In the afternoon, continue your drive to Juayúa and check into your accommodation. We stayed at a lovely studio apartment right in the center of town.

Juayúa makes a great base for the next couple of days, especially because this is where you’ll start the famous Seven Waterfalls hike tomorrow.

Around sunset, we went on one last drive to a lookout, called “Mirador Ruta de Las Flores” on Google Maps. Located around 15 minutes from Juayua, you can see five volcanoes stretching across the landscape from this viewpoint, so it’s worth the visit!

Day 6: Seven Waterfalls Hike

Wake up early because today you’ll be doing one of my favorite adventures of the trip: the Seven Waterfalls hike. This hike takes you through the lush landscape surrounding Juayúa, passing a series of waterfalls along the way.

Do You Need a Guide for the Seven Waterfalls Hike?

Yes. You might find information online suggesting that you can do the Seven Waterfalls hike independently, but based on our experience I would absolutely plan to go with a local guide.

You can book an organized tour here, which is probably the easiest option for most travelers.

However, we really wanted a private tour, so we found a local guide through Instagram and it ended up being a great experience. It was just the two of us and our guide, so we could hike at our own pace. We even had some of the waterfalls completely to ourselves, and our guide took tons of photos and videos for us throughout the hike.

Each waterfall we encountered on the hike was more impressive than the one before. The hike includes climbing up some of the waterfalls, so wear shoes and clothes that you dont mind getting wet. The guide provided ropes which made climbing up the falls much easier.

The last waterfall is called “Los Chorros de la Calera” and has a large pool that is amazing for swimming. We spent about 30 minutes here before hiking back to the starting point.

Our tour guide initially asked for only $10 per person, which felt incredibly inexpensive for the experience, so we ended up giving him around $40 total.

Our private tour did not include transportation, which is why it was so inexpensive. We drove ourselves to the trailhead, which required driving along another dirt road. Once we arrived, our guide arranged for us to park in someone’s front yard and we started hiking from there.

Eat pupusas & relax in Juayúa

After a full day of hiking, we took it easy for the rest of the evening.

For dinner, head to Pupusería Esmeralda for some delicious pupusas. They were some of the best pupusas we had in El Salvador!

Day 7: Juayúa to the Beach

After a week of volcanoes, waterfalls, cities and road trips, it’s time for the relaxing portion of this itinerary. You’ll spend the final three nights along El Salvador’s Pacific Coast.

I recommend leaving Juayúa fairly early because the drive to the coast can take considerably longer than Google Maps suggests. We expected the drive to take around two to three hours. Instead, there was an accident that completely blocked the road and our journey took more than four hours.

By the time we arrived at the coast, we were exhausted and hungry. We immediately got lunch at a beach side restaurant. Then we checked into our hotel, The Views Resort, put on our bathing suits and hung out at the beach until sunset.

Where to Stay on El Salvador’s Pacific Coast

There are several popular beach towns clustered along this section of the coast, but the three I would consider for this itinerary are El Zonte, El Tunco and La Libertad.

We stayed one night in El Zonte and two nights in La Libertad. If I planned the trip again, I would pick one place and stay there for all three nights. After moving accommodations almost every night earlier in the trip, packing up again after only one night felt completely unnecessary.

Here’s how I’d choose between these three towns…

El Zonte

El Zonte is a very small beach town with beautiful scenery and some really cool rock formations along the coast. It’s quieter than El Tunco but still touristy, and accommodation and restaurants can be relatively expensive.

The beach itself is worth visiting even if you don’t stay here. It’s a good place for both swimming and surfing, so I definitely recommend spending at least part of a day exploring the area.

Where to Stay in El Zonte

Modern Resort: The Views Resort (where we stayed, would recommend!)
Budget Hotel: Esencia Nativa

El Tunco

El Tunco is El Salvador’s most famous beach town and has become a major hub for backpackers, surfers and digital nomads. It’s touristy, a bit overpriced and definitely caters towards tourists more than most of the other places we visited in El Salvador.

But I have to admit, we really liked El Tunco. The town is cute, there are tons of restaurants and shops, and we really enjoyed the beach. Even though we stayed about 15 minutes away in La Libertad, we ended up driving into El Tunco 2 days in a row to swim, surf and get lunch.

I’m still glad we didn’t actually stay there, though. The hotels were more expensive and I imagine it gets loud and crowded at night, although we personally never stayed past sunset.

Where to Stay in El Tunco

Budget hostel/hotel: Papaya Lodge
Upscale hotel: Mirasurf Hotel & Waves

La Libertad

La Libertad is a larger, coastal city about 15 minutes east of El Tunco. The city has a nice waterfront area, where you can walk along the coast, grab food and enjoy the ocean views. That said, the beaches around La Libertad itself are not as nice as the ones in El Tunco or El Zonte. We preferred driving to El Tunco during the day to swim, surf and hang out on the beach, then returning to La Libertad afterward.

La Libertad is close enough to El Tunco that you can easily drive between the two, but we found the accommodation options here more affordable. We were able to find an oceanfront AirBNB with a kitchen for the same price as many of the basic hotels in El Tunco. So this is where I would recommend staying if you have a rental car, want to save some money and don’t mind driving to other beaches during the day.

Where to Stay in La Libertad

Oceanfront hotel: Hotel Pacific Sunrise
Oceanfront studio AirBNB: Cozy Oceanfront Escape for Two (where we stayed, HIGHLY recommend!)

Day 8: Beach Day in El Zonte

Spend your first full beach day exploring El Zonte, a small surf town located along El Salvador’s Pacific Coast. El Zonte is much quieter and smaller than El Tunco, but it still has plenty of restaurants, hotels and surf schools catering to travelers. The beach is especially beautiful thanks to the dramatic rock formations along the coastline, which were one of my favorite things about this area.

We stayed in El Zonte for one night during our trip, but even if you decide to base yourself in El Tunco or La Libertad, I think it’s worth driving over for the day.

Spend the morning walking around the small town before heading down to the beach. You can swim, relax on the sand or rent a surfboard if you want to get out on the water.

Grab lunch somewhere in town and then spend the rest of the afternoon enjoying the beach. We actually drove to El Tunco after lunch, but if you’re enjoying El Zonte you can stay there for the whole day.

If you’re staying elsewhere along the coast, head back to your hotel in the late afternoon and enjoy a relaxing evening.

Day 9: Explore El Tunco + Try Surfing

For your final full day in El Salvador, head to El Tunco, the country’s most popular beach town.

El Tunco has become a major destination for surfers, backpackers and digital nomads, so it definitely feels more touristy than most of the places you’ll visit earlier in this itinerary. You’ll find plenty of restaurants, cafés, shops, surf schools and accommodations packed into a very small area.

It’s expensive, gentrified and filled with tourists, but I have to admit that we really liked it.

Spend some time walking through town in the morning and grab a morning snack, like an acai bowl. There’s some really nice stores around town, so we did some souvenir shopping.

Then we walked to the beach and spent hours doing very little besides lounging and swimming. My boyfriend rented a surfboard from a shop right along the beach and went out to try the waves.

If you’ve never surfed before, this would be the perfect day to book a surf lesson. It’s a big part of the culture in El Tunco, so it’s the one experience I wish I had added to our trip. If I return, taking a surf lesson in El Tunco will definitely be on my list.

For your final evening, grab dinner somewhere near the beach and enjoy one last Pacific sunset before heading back to your hotel. The sunsets in El Tunco are incredible, so don’t miss it!

Day 10: Depart El Salvador

Unfortunately, your 10-day El Salvador road trip has come to an end.

Thankfully, the airport is pretty close to El Salvador’s most popular beaches, so you don’t have to drive far before your flight home. From El Tunco, plan on approximately 30–40 minutes of driving, although I would still leave plenty of extra time in case you encounter traffic.

Return your rental car, head to the airport and say goodbye to El Salvador!

Final Thoughts on 10 days in El Salvador

El Salvador surprised me with just how much there was to do within such a small country. In only 10 days, we hiked volcanoes, explored archaeological sites, jet skied across a volcanic lake, swam beneath waterfalls, road tripped through mountain towns and finished the trip surfing and relaxing along the Pacific.

There were definitely a few moments when things didn’t go according to plan, but those experiences are also what made the trip memorable. I hope this honest itinerary helps you avoid making the same mistakes!