El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America and the only one without a Caribbean coast. Its Pacific shore has a long-standing surf reputation around El Tunco and Punta Roca, the Ruta de las Flores links highland coffee towns, and volcanoes rise directly behind the capital.
The guides here cover El Salvador as a whole. The dry season runs November to April. Distances are short — the coast, the mountains and San Salvador are all within a couple of hours of each other. The country adopted the US dollar in 2001 and later bitcoin as legal tender, and homicide rates have fallen sharply since 2022 under a prolonged state of exception with expanded police powers.