el tunco, sv
El Tunco is, and really always has been the touristic and backpacker center of El Salvador. In a country that has historically not really been that open for tourism, — at least in my lifetime, El Tunco sits as somewhat of an outlier. El Tunco consists fully of paved streets, modern buildings, an established nightlife scene, tourist shops, restaurants, hotels, and hostels. If you come to El Salvador and spend any real time in the country you will almost certainly make a stop and spend some time here. But El Tunco is a place that sets people on two different sides of the coin. A lot of people in the surf community and expat community kind of look at El Tunco as nothing more than a party town for tourists. It — honestly, is exactly that. But at the same time is a nice place to spend a few days. For me, there are other places in El Sal that I would spend more time than El Tunco, but going there to have a few nights of good food, good parties, and a large backpacking and traveling community is perfect. On another note, if what you are looking for is a lot of partying then Tunco is the place for you. You can find something to do here 7 nights a week, as compared to El Zonte where it's pretty sleepy, and for the most part if you are going for a night out, you will be going to El Tunco. Outside of the partying and relatively established nature of El Tunco, is home to some great waves. From El Tunco you can walk about 10 minutes along the rocky beachside and get to Sunzal — the best wave for learning in the country, and right out front you have La Bocana. La Bocana being one of the heavier and faster beach breaky type waves in the country. Also one of the best lefts that you are going to find in the country. Probably the best left actually, in a sea of rights. Long story short, if you aren't looking to party a lot, El Tunco is a great stop, but don't stay too long. There's a lot of places that are a lot more authentic, in my opinion. But you have great waves, food, nightlife and the largest concentration of surf schools in the country, so it's certainly a place to be hit.
El Tunco is located in the Northwestern part of the country of El Salvador. It's the main hub of tourism so it's realistically very easy to get here. All the shuttles from the other countries or within the country, — if you are going to the beach, are going to drop you off in El Tunco. If you are coming down from Guatemala it's about a 2-hour ride from the border crossing at Hachadura. If you elect to take a shuttle it will conveniently drop you off right in El Tunco. So getting here is significantly easier than getting to other places in the area like Mizata. A couple methods of getting here are outlined below.
BY SHUTTLE -
- From Antigua - A very common place for people to come from is Antigua, GT. They will drop you off directly in El Tunco, and once you get to El Tunco it's easy to navigate and you should be able to find your way around immediately. You can book the shuttle here. It's going to cost $40, and take about 5 hours.
- From Leon - Another common place to come in from is Leon. You can book your shuttle here. They will drop you off directly in El Zonte — you just need to tell them that's where you are going. They will also make stops in the other popular beach towns — Sunzal and Tunco. This ride will be much longer and take about 12 hours, and cost $45.
If you are already in El Salvador, navigating your way to El Tunco shouldn't be too difficult either. There is a bus stop right in front of the exit to the town and you can take a local bus from really anywhere.
- From the El Salvador Airport - This is assuming that you are flying into the country. To get to El Tunco from the airport you should probably get a shuttle if you think that will be easiest for you. You can book here, — it's going to be kind of expensive at $50. This company will also transport you to the nearby beach towns, Sunzal, El Zonte, etc. If you want to save money you can take a shuttle to the bus line near the airport. But that's going to be a tricky journey. The shuttle is just kind of a price that you have to eat.
DRIVING - To avoid all of the kind of hassle-loaded travel in El Salvador, you can just drive. Or rent a car at the airport. If you are overlanding it's easy enough, just follow Highway 2 down from the border of Guatemala, and you will arrive there eventually. If you are coming from San Salvador, I would recommend taking Route 4 down into La Libertad, and then up the 2 to El Tunco. The drive is beautiful.
HITCHHIKE - Probably one of the more common ways to get around in this part of the country is to hitchhike. Locals are extremely nice, and will pull over and let you hop in the truck-bed or right into the car, and they will take you up or down the coast as far as they are going.
HOSTELS, CAMPING, AND HOTELS (IF ANY)
Being the hub of tourism in the area, there are loads of options of where to stay in El Tunco. It is a really popular spot to come, and as a result you have ended up with a lot of hotels that are on the pricey side to even really expensive, due to a lot of people coming down for week-long surf trips, who have relatively endless budgets.
The hostels here will also be a little more expensive than the rest of the country, but you have options. In addition to hostels and nicer more established hotels, there's a lot of little, kind of run-down hotels that are owned and run by locals, where you can find cheap rooms with a few beds. I did this for about a week with a group of people I was traveling with, and it worked out great for me. There are options all over the place here, — far more extensive than this list.
Probably the most popular hostel to stay at here in El Tunco. It's right in the center of town, probably on the busiest street corner. It's a nice spot, walking distance to all the food, the beach, there's a place to store your surfboards that is safe, and there's a pool. It's extremely hot in El Tunco, so this may come in handy. It's nothing special though. None of the hostels in El Tunco are really anything special. This place is also quite expensive for a dorm room. It will be $20+, but is a good social option.
Nice little surf-hostel, hotel option. I didn't stay here but it looks fine, and is a nice option if you are looking for something chill. The kind of place you will have to just show up and inquire.
This is an excellent option but won't be the most social place on earth. The prices are great at $15 per night, per person, for a private room with only a fan. Be aware that it's very hot in El Tunco, so if you're someone who can't handle sleeping hot, then your prices throughout town are going to be doubled. But this is a great place if you are here to surf, you're on a budget, and need a quiet little place to sleep. It has everything you need, nice chill area, pool, etc.
I loved this little place. It was really mellow. A hostel/hotel, located above a really cute little local restaurant. I rented a room for about $20, for two people. The price was right, breakfast was included, and it was mellow. Parking included as well, if you happen to have a vehicle.
This is what I was referring to when I talk about the place that is locally owned and operated, and you can get a decent room for cheap. It was an odd little place, never really that full, but a group I was with got a few private rooms for like $30 or $40 per night, which is good in El Tunco. It's kind of back in town a little bit, but nothing is all that far away from anything here in El Tunco anyways. A good option if you are on a budget. They have a nice big kitchen, and a pool as well. Parking also included.
EATS
Similar to the hotel and housing options, the food options are really extensive here. You've got great local options, cheap pupusas and little tortas, and you also have a bunch of international food. I would recommend for the most part avoiding the food that you will find on the beach. It's tourist-trappy kind of spots, and the stuff in town will be priced better, and probably taste better in general.
Also make sure you eat local, and get pupusas and stuff here. There's lots of like nice places here that you may want to go into and pay too much money at, but remember that pupusas are the best street food in Central America.
Restaurants
My favorite place to eat in El Tunco. It's just a little spot on the corner right in the center of town that has really good, quick and cheap food. I always went with the torta de pescado. Like every day. But they have great burritos, breakfasts, tacos, etc.
Little corner spot that has good pupusas. They are open late, and the food is good and really conveniently located.
A lovely spot in town that serves delicious pizza. It's my favorite place in town to go out for dinner. It's not going to be very cheap, but the vibes are excellent, and the food is really good.
Burger spot conveniently located, serving up pretty good burgers.
Asian food spot. It's a good option if you want something different. I thought that the food was just fine here. Nothing special.
Healthy food spot serving vegetarian and vegan food, along with like rice bowls and stuff like that. A westernized spot for people trying to eat fresh and healthy.
Cool restaurant and bar that serves really good international food. It's not going to be cheap but the vibes and atmosphere are there. They have live music here pretty frequently as well. Good spot for dinner, drinks — get ready to go out.
An excellent local option. Come here. They have cheap food in a very traditional environment, and they also make some of the best pupusas in town.
Little restaurant located right along the river. I went here whenever I needed to do some stuff on my computer. They have decent food, and it's a nice atmosphere to chill if you need some chill time.
NIGHTLIFE
El Tunco is the nightlife hub of the entire country of El Salvador. Well, I guess if you're El Salvadorian and from the city it might not be, but for travelers it certainly is. Some people come here and they just party the whole time. You can most certainly do that here.
It's a 7-night-a-week town, and if you are looking for it, you can always find it. There are beach bars and clubs that are the center of the late-night activity here. But for being the center of nightlife in El Salvador, I guess the scene takes after the country. It's small — there aren't a million options. The options that do exist however, are almost always crowded and going off.
One of the best things to do here is to just get beers, and drink them on the streets. There's a specific tienda that I mention below where I spent many a long night drinking big bottles of Pilsen and rum, just sitting on the curb with the traveling surfers and locals alike.
Bars and Clubs
The undisputed king of nightlife and clubbing here in El Tunco. It's right on the boardwalk, and it is a really nice beach club spot. It's not too fancy, and it's just a sand floor. Almost everyone comes here at some point in the night if they are going out. It stays open late, and it's always rowdy.
Cool and really down to earth bar in town. It's a great place to come out for a night, it's not pretentious or anything, and will be full of cool people. Was one of my more favorite places to go.
This is a tiny little bar that's super-fun to go to with a small group. There's only a few seats inside, but things tend to pour out onto the street. A 'must hit' in my opinion.
This place is where you can book shuttles all around Central America. But it's also... a bar. It's an interesting spot, and worth a stop.
Bar and restaurant that pretty frequently had live music and events. Will be a cool crowd here, as a lot of the expats and locals from all over the area go here.
A small little tienda where they sell beer and the rest. For some reason, at least when I was here, everyone would always congregate here pre-game, and drink on the street. It doesn't have an address on Google, but I have linked the pin. I couldn't find a picture of it, so here's a picture of my friend 'Kat' smoking a cheeky ciggy on the ground at the tienda.
SIGHTS
The things to do and see in this part of El Salvador are not going to be very unique based on the location. Everything in the northern part of El Salvador is so damn close to each other that the sights and touristic things to do here are pretty much identical.
Outside of exploring the individual towns that each page is already outlining, the things to do will not really, if at all, differ. But there is loads to do here in this part of the country. It's all mentioned below. Well... most of it.
SUNSET AT THE BEACH
Most of the town will head down to the boardwalk to check out the sunset at night here. It's a great time to grab your first beer and sit with the other travelers, surfers, and locals and watch the last surfers in the water and chill.
SEE A COMPETITION
If you are lucky enough to be there at the right time of year you may be able to watch one of the few pro surfing competitions that come through El Sal every year. The ISA competition, which brings together some of the best surfers in the world, is hosted every year right out front of El Tunco, at La Bocana. They have other competitions throughout the year as well, and the town is where everyone hangs out when there is the WSL competition at Punta Roca as well.
The Tamanique Waterfalls are a series of waterfalls that are located really close to the beach towns in Northern El Salvador. It's pretty accessible from all of the towns. They are located in the town of Tamanique and you first need to get there, which is about a 25-minute drive from El Tunco, El Zonte, or Sunzal. When you get to town there is about a 30-minute hike down to get to the waterfalls. There's great pools to jump in and swim around. It's a really nice thing to do on an afternoon and doesn't take that long. Isn't very hard either.
Most people do a tour here to make the transport there and back easy. As with everything here, I will recommend going with my friend 'Rivas'. He's great, and knows El Salvador like no one else I met. He'll even take you to some other waterfalls that are local secrets.
His Instagram is here, — you can reach out directly there. He can help you with anything that you want to do in the country.
One of the best cultural things that you can do in El Salvador is travel throughout the 'Ruta de Las Flores'. — Or in English, 'The Route of Flowers'. It gets its name from the stunning flowers that bloom seasonally along it. There's a number of amazing towns that lie along it, and each is unique and worth visiting. More on this on the 'Ruta de Las Flores' page.
A great day trip from the beach towns is to go up to the Volcan de San Salvador. It's not the worlds most impressive volcano, but it's a great way to spend an afternoon. You see a lot of cool little spots in El Salvador while you do the drive up as well.
Best way to do this is through a tour. As with everything here I will recommend going with my friend 'Rivas'. He's great, and knows El Salvador like no one else I met. On this trip you will make a few other cool stops as well.
His Instagram is here, — you can reach out directly there. He can help you with anything that you want to do in the country.
El Salvador is right smack dab in the middle of the Central American coffee belt, which means they produce and export some of the best coffee in the world. A great activity in El Sal is to go visit, and tour a coffee farm. It's fun, informative, and you get to see an interesting part of the country. Not to mention have some good coffee.
Best way to do this is through a tour. As with everything here I will recommend going with my friend Rivas. He's great, and knows El Salvador like no one else I met. On this trip you will make a few other cool stops as well.
His Instagram is here, — you can reach out directly there. He can help you with anything that you want to do in the country.
LEARN TO SURF
Surfing is one of the main attractions in the country. Many of those who come to El Sal already surf pretty well, but if not it's a great place to learn. Sunzal especially, is one of the best learning waves in Central America. There's places to learn how to surf all over the place depending on what town you are in.
The Santa Ana volcano is El Salvador's main tourist attraction. Without a doubt. It's a stunning volcano, that's unique in the fact that it has a lake in the middle of it. It's one of the cooler-looking volcanoes, and certainly one of the most unique I have ever seen. If you are coming from the beach towns it's quite a trek. About 2 hours. There's more info on this on the 'Santa Ana' page, and if you plan on spending time there, or Lago de Coatepeque, then I would recommend going on a tour or busing yourself to the volcano from there.
The hike up the volcano isn't a short one. It's about 2 hours up and 2 hours down. It's a pretty steep hike as well. So if you're really out of shape it might be hard. But you should be fine. More detail on the hike are here at the Alltrails.
This isn't something to do in El Tunco, but even if you aren't staying in the town, it's one of my favorite spots to spend an evening. The local skaters here are rippers, and it's a very cool, fully graffitied skate-bowl. It's fun to just go hang out, watch the locals skate, and drink a few beers as the sun goes down.
A beautiful lake here in El Salvador. Something that surprised me entirely, and I didn't even know it existed. But I really enjoyed it, there's a very cool hostel, and a bunch of beautiful restaurants on the lake. Just a great spot, that's relatively unknown. More on that on the 'Lake Coatepeque' page.
Suchitoto is one of the coolest-looking places in the entire country. It's a small little town that is about an hour-and-15-minutes from downtown San Salvador. It's a cobblestoned street, red brick roof and white-painted houses 'magic town' on a lake. It's such a cool spot to check out. More on this place on the 'Suchitoto' page.
One of the stranger things that I did in El Salvador to be honest. There's this restaurant that is more of an amusement park up in the mountains on the way to Volcan San Salvador. There is this colorful slide, pictured here, that has become something of an Instagram-famous spot. People ride down it for $5. It's weird, random, and the place is also full of a bunch of animatronic animals like elephants and such. It's weird, but people seem to flock to it.
So this is a pretty weird recommendation but it could be fun if you want to do something weird and local. There is a ferris wheel and small amusement park on the Malecon or boardwalk in La Libertad. It opened recently as a part of the 'Surf City' national development campaign. It could be fun to go for an evening. Ride the weird roller-coasters and ferris wheel reminiscent, oddly, of Venice Beach.
SURFING
The surfing sections for Northern El Salvador are pretty much going to be the same. All of the individual wave recommendations below will be the same, but here I will go into a little more detail on the specific wave that exists here in Mizata. All of the waves in Northern El Salvador are pretty close to one another, which is why I will just include them all on every page.
A little on El Salvador surfing. Quickly. El Salvador is one of the most wave-rich places I have ever been. Such a small country, so many waves. If you like right-hand point breaks, this is one of the best places in the world for them.
The photos below are specific to El Tunco, — well... La Bocana.
El Tunco -
El Tunco is one of the most popular places to go surfing in El Salvador. There is the largest concentration of surf schools in the entire country here in El Tunco, so it's really popular for people to come if they are learning as well. El Tunco is also pretty conveniently located next to both a performance wave, and a learner friendly wave. It's about a 10-minute walk down the rocky beach to El Sunzal — the best learning beach in the country in my opinion, and La Bocana is right out front. La Bocana, which is also described below, is the best left in the country and is a punchy performance wave that is more reminiscent of a beach break or river-mouth wave than the countless pointbreaks that makes El Salvador famous.
If you are staying in El Tunco, it's going to be hard to ignore the influence that surfing has had. There are surf city signs all over the place, surf shops litter the streets, and it seems like almost every single one of El Tunco's young male locals is a surf instructor. So if you come here, and you don't at least try surfing, you're doing something wrong. If you already surf, you already know why you are here, and you're going to have a great time.
Photos courtesy of Sunzal Surf Co.
