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Calle Lago de Coatepeque, El Salvador
For the first stop of your El Salvador itinerary, you’ve got two choices on where to base yourself: Santa Ana city or Lake Coatepeque.
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Santa Ana, El Salvador
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Concepción de Ataco, El Salvador
Concepcion de Ataco or simply Ataco is the second largest town on the Ruta de las Flores. While we didn’t love it quite as much as Juayua, there’s no denying the town takes the cake for the most colourful!
Ataco is a rainbow of street art, large murals, mosaics and colourful flags. It’s a very pretty town, and you can easily while away a couple of hours just wandering around aimlessly exploring the gridded streets.
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Apaneca, El Salvador
Apaneca is a mid-sized town. The town itself isn’t really all that big, but there are a lot of activities to do around the area.
We found the area around Apaneca one of the prettiest of the whole ruta. It felt like there were coffee plantations in every direction, it was so open and green and you got some great views of the farmland.
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Juayua, El Salvador
Juayua is the biggest town on the Ruta de las Flores and was where we chose to base ourselves for our 5 nights exploring the region.
We made the right call as Juayua turned out to be our favourite town of them all! It isn’t as pretty as Ataco, but we liked the vibe in Juayua and it had everything we needed (good accommodation options, restaurants, cafes, ATMs, supermarkets etc.).
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Salcoatitan, El Salvador
Salcoatitan is another very small town. It’s sandwiched between Nahuizalco to the south and Juayua to the north.
This town is best known as the coffee town. Although coffee is grown all over the ruta, this town in particular lives and breathes coffee!
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Ruta de las Flores, El Salvador
The next stop on your El Salvador itinerary is the charming Ruta de las Flores region. Translating as ‘Route of the Flowers’ the ruta is a road in the Western Highlands, that connects five small quaint colonial towns.
The region is known for its coffee plantations, waterfalls, hot springs, local food markets and colourful towns decorated with murals. The higher altitude gives this region a cool climate, with a sea of green forest and coffee. It’s beautiful and there is so much to see and do.
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Nahuizalco, El Salvador
Nahuizalco is a cute but small town at the southern end of the Ruta de las Flores. It’s not as popular as its larger neighbours, but the town is best known for its Mercado Nocturno, or night market.
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El Zonte, El Salvador
After a very busy week of hiking volcanoes, scaling waterfalls and exploring towns, it’s time to slow down. El Zonte is CHILL and you’ve earned a few days to relax and take it easy.
Neighbouring El Tunco is the centre of the action on the Pacific Coast and is where most activities occur or depart from. You’ll get there in a couple of days, but for now, I’d encourage you to stay in El Zonte and soak up the slow vibes.
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El Tunco, El Salvador
El Tunco is the most popular tourist destination in El Salvador. A hub for surf, nightlife and all round good vibes. It has a reputation as a party town, which is true on the weekend, but avoidable during the week if you’re not into that.
Despite its popularity, it’s a very small town, so don’t be expecting Cancun, but you certainly won’t be bored here.