Field NotesEl Zonte
The rainy season nobody photographs
Nine days of afternoon storms in El Zonte, an empty point break, and the argument for visiting El Salvador in the months the brochures skip.
1 min read
An independent guide to El Salvador
The country changed. Most of what is written about it did not.
Surf, volcanoes, residency, property and what any of it costs — checked on the ground and dated, by people who live here.
Start here
Four questions people ask first.
The pages that answer what almost everyone wants to know before anything else.
01
Is El Salvador safe to visit?
El Salvador went from the highest homicide rate in the world to one of the lowest in the Americas. Here is what changed, what is still true, and what to actually watch out for.
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02
Things to do in El Salvador
The famous places and the ones worth the detour — volcanoes, surf, colonial towns, Maya ruins and coffee country, ranked by whether they justify the drive.
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03
Moving to El Salvador
How to move to El Salvador — residency routes, what it costs, shipping, healthcare, banking and schools, in the order you actually need to do them.
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04
Buying property in El Salvador as a foreigner
Can foreigners buy property in El Salvador? The rules, the rural land limit, the closing process, taxes, title risk and what it costs in fees.
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The places
Nine destinations, four hours apart.
El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America. That is the single most useful thing about travelling here.
La Libertad · 13.49°N · 89.38°W
El Tunco
The beach town that never quite goes to sleep.
La Libertad · 13.50°N · 89.44°W
El Zonte
Bitcoin Beach, and a very good right-hander.
San Salvador · 13.69°N · 89.19°W
San Salvador
A capital that changed faster than its reputation.
Santa Ana · 13.85°N · 89.63°W
Santa Ana Volcano
A turquoise crater lake at 2,381 metres.
Ahuachapán & Sonsonate · 13.86°N · 89.79°W
Ruta de las Flores
Five coffee towns on one mountain road.
Cuscatlán · 13.94°N · 89.03°W
Suchitoto
Cobblestones, a lake, and the country's best-kept colonial town.
The journal
Latest from the road.
Long-form dispatches from wherever we happen to be. No top-ten lists, no sponsored roundups.
Surf · La Libertad · August 28, 2026
Punta Roca, at six in the morning
The best wave in El Salvador belongs to the people who grew up on it. A morning at the point in La Libertad, and the etiquette of paddling out somewhere you have not earned.
Food · Olocuilta · August 19, 2026
The pupusa argument, settled on the airport road
Olocuilta makes rice-flour pupusas and has done since before anyone was counting. A morning at the highway stalls, and why corn is the wrong answer.
Guides · Santa Ana · August 6, 2026
The 11am rule on Santa Ana
You cannot hike Santa Ana volcano alone, the group leaves at eleven, and arriving at 11.15 costs you the day. What the hike is actually like.
Data
El Salvador, in numbers.
Ten series we keep current, sourced to the agency that publishes them. Free to cite with a link.
From the archive
“A country you love is one you learn to be bored in — where the third coffee of the morning is more interesting than the monument.”
The rainy season nobody photographs · September 2026