El Salvador holidays

El Salvador's Pacific surf is genuinely world-class. Punta Roca (at La Libertad, 30 minutes west of El Tunco) is the headline right-hand point break — fast, consistent, and shallow over a sand-and-rock reef. Las Flores (further east at Playa El Cuco) is the longer, more-forgiving left-hand break that draws longboarders and intermediates. La Libertad village itself is a working fishing town with the morning ceviche market at the pier. El Tunco (the village of 200 people that has the bulk of surf-tourism infrastructure) has the legendary El Sunzal break for beginners and the more-challenging Roca de Sunzal for advanced surfers. The Tropictide and Garcia's Surf Camp run beginner-friendly packages; the splurge El Salvador Surf Club at El Sunzal offers the boutique-luxe surf experience.

El Zonte and the Bitcoin tourism story is the trip's genuine curiosity. In 2019 a Californian developer started giving Bitcoin to local kids and merchants at the small surf village of El Zonte — by 2021 the entire economy of El Zonte was running on Bitcoin (the local restaurants, surf schools, bodegas all accepted Bitcoin via the Lightning Network), and President Bukele used the example to push the September 2021 national law making Bitcoin legal tender alongside the US dollar. The result: a crypto-tourism crowd of remote workers, Bitcoin maximalists, and digital nomads who have made El Zonte the country's most-internationally-known village. Whether you find this curious or fascinating, the village itself has good surf, decent restaurants (Hope House, Cafe El Zonte), and the Beach House Bitcoin co-working space.

Pupusas (filled corn tortillas) are the national dish — eaten everywhere, cheaply, three meals a day if you want. The corn-dough patty is stuffed with cheese, beans, chicharrón (fried pork), or loroco (an edible flower with a mild artichoke taste), then griddle-cooked. They're served with curtido (the traditional sauerkraut-like fermented cabbage relish) and a thin tomato salsa. Every Salvadoran has strong opinions about which pupusería is best — locally famous spots include Pupusería Vivian in San Salvador, La Cocina de Mama Inés in Suchitoto, and any roadside pupusería on the Ruta de Las Flores. Beyond pupusas: yuca frita with chicharrón, sopa de pata (tripe-and-vegetable soup), pan con pollo (chicken sandwich with relish, the standard breakfast), and excellent specialty coffee from Apaneca-Ilamatepec (the Cup of Excellence winners from finca Las Mercedes, La Joya, and El Borbollon).

UK travellers don't need a visa for stays up to 90 days. El Salvador uses the US Dollar (officially dollarised since 2001) plus Bitcoin (legal tender since 2021, though acceptance varies — most merchants accept it via the Chivo Wallet app, but USD remains universal). Spanish is the universal language; English is patchy except in the surf-tourist towns. The country is genuinely small — the entire country fits inside Wales; you're never more than 3 hours from anywhere. The safety transformation since 2019 has been dramatic — formerly known for gang violence (MS-13 originated in Salvadoran communities in Los Angeles before being deported back to El Salvador in the 1990s), the country now has homicide rates lower than many US cities under Bukele's controversial state-of-exception emergency-powers approach.

Best for: surfers (Punta Roca, El Tunco, Las Flores are world-class consistently), coffee enthusiasts, Central America completists who have done Costa Rica and Guatemala, adventurous urban travellers comfortable with developing-country logistics, crypto-tourists (El Zonte is the headline), volcano hikers. Often paired with Guatemala (3-hour bus to Antigua) or Honduras (Copán Mayan ruins). November-April is the prime dry season; May-October is the wet season with afternoon downpours but bigger surf swells.