El Salvador for Older Travellers: How We Explored It Independently, and How Safe It REALLY Felt

In 2013, our plane was diverted, and we had to land in El Salvador. We were transferred to a hotel for the night and told NOT to leave the grounds. Just two years later, it was declared the most dangerous country in the world. But, in a remarkable turnaround, by 2024, El Salvador’s President Bukele declared the country to be the safest in the Western Hemisphere.

We had decided to visit during our 2026 tour of Central America. We were travelling independently, basically making it up as we went along. This post describes the logistics of how we did it.

Getting to El Salvador

We had been in Antigua, Guatemala, and found it to be not only beautiful but a useful transport hub for shuttles. There are many small tour operators, and we booked our shuttle through one of these. It cost $70 each, and the journey would take about five hours. Our shuttle was a small minibus which was completely full. We were at least double the age of everyone else!

The shuttle was taking us into Santa Ana, a traveller hotspot for Santa Ana Volcano, Cerro Verde National Park, Lake Coatepeque, and access to the Ruta de las Flores, our eventual destination.

The shuttle, though cramped, was straightforward and essentially, came with a guide who helped through the border crossing.

Safety

El Salvador has had a difficult recent past, but all that changed when the new president Nayib Bukele took over in 2019. A crackdown on gangs has led the country to being one of the safest in Central America. In fact, all the gangs are leaving here and supposedly raising crime rates in other countries like Costa Rica, which has recently elected a new President who has promised to tackle this surge.

El Salvador felt very safe wherever we went. There are soldiers, police, and tourist police everywhere, all heavily armed. It did not feel intimidating, but reassuring. On a city tour in Santa Ana with the wonderful Carlos, he introduced us to friends and market traders who all told the same story. Everything is better, the gangs have gone, it is finally safe. We walked around during the day and night and felt safe. Salvadorans were friendly and helpful, though I would advise you to learn a little basic Spanish, as little English is spoken. My translate App also came in useful.

Currency

El Salvador has adopted the US dollar, which makes life easier when travelling throughout Central America. ATMs are plentiful, but you will be charged for a withdrawal. Charges vary, and you may need to try several before finding the cheapest for your particular card. Card payments are accepted at most outlets, except of course, market stalls and small traders.

Getting Around

There are limited options for travelling throughout El Salvador.

• Chicken Buses. These converted school buses are cramped, noisy, and CHEAP. We used these for small local journeys, but nothing longer. This was a personal preference as we did know of travellers using the chicken bus network, but it is painfully slow and uncomfortable.

• Shuttles. These don’t really exist like they do in Costa Rica (extensive network) and Guatemala (can connect main destinations but options limited). There is a shuttle from Santa Ana, via San Salvador, to Nicaragua either via Honduras (see below) or the boat from La Union, but this leaves around 2 a.m.! The shuttle is operated by Gekko Trails Explorer.

• Local Taxi. As always, agree the fare.

• Uber. Our main means of transport. Reasonable cost paid directly through the app, but not always easy to get a ride, especially in more rural areas.

Our Itinerary

1. Guatemala to Santa Ana, El Salvador

Santa Ana could not be described as pretty, but it has a vibrancy about it. Santa Ana is busy, with market stalls set up along almost every pavement. Sellers offer everything from delicious fresh fruit, bananas were a bunch for less than 40p, to toys and second-hand goods. There are a lot of second-hand or vintage shops as Salvadorans recycle or mend everything. Stalls repair shoes, bags, belts, in fact anything, and as they all compete with each other, they have to do a good job.

Food options are limited really. Despite all the availability of fresh fruit and veg, not much of it seems to make its way into restaurants and cafés, which mostly focus on pizza, fried chicken, and tortillas.

Accommodation is limited and gets booked up. We used Booking.com. One day in Santa Ana would be enough; stay longer if you are visiting the volcanoes, lake, or national parks.

We organised a free walking tour through the GuruWalk app. Although ‘free’, a tip is expected; we gave $10 each.

2. Santa Ana to Juayua

Lovely little market town in the middle of the Ruta de las Flores, the route of flowers. Good central base to explore the towns and villages on the route. On the weekend you will find a food festival with lots of street food, mostly bar-b-q meat and fish. Worth a visit just for this alone.

We got an Uber from Santa Ana, which took an hour and cost $25 for the 35km trip.

3. Juayua to El Zonte

Typical surf town which featured as a checkpoint on the BBC’s Race Across The World. Small and charming with some nice eateries and bars. Some spectacular sunsets here. We stayed at a lovely place called Las Golondrinas on the edge of town. Could have stayed longer. Highly recommended. Again, we took an Uber from Juayua. I think we paid a private transfer $80 for the 91 km journey, which took about 2 hours.

4. El Zonte to La Union and onward to León, Nicaragua

Transfer by car cost $165 for the 220 km journey, which took 4 hours. The hotel organised it for us. A purely functional stopover to catch the boat transfer across the Gulf of Fonseca into Nicaragua. The boat transfer was a real experience. At first, the sea is calm as you are in the more sheltered waters; then you emerge into the open sea, and everyone got pretty well soaked. Sit close to the front to avoid most of the spray. The boat took about 2 hours and landed on a remote beach in Nicaragua, where we were met by the Border police and had everything checked. No drones are allowed in the country, and all bags were opened and searched.

Important: We had intended to go from El Salvador through Honduras into Nicaragua; however, the requirements for a visa for UK nationals to enter Honduras made this impossible. For this reason, we chose the boat transfer to miss out on Honduras altogether. We organised the transfer through Gekko Trails Explorer and booked everything online. The boat shuttle worked well and took us into León, Nicaragua.

Cost

We spent around $170 per day (for 2 people). Half of this was on accommodation as we chose nicer places in Juayua (Hostal Deyluwin) and El Zonte. The transfers also ate into our budget but there was no real alternative, especially for the longer journeys. We spent a little over $30 a day on food.