Playa El Tunco in El Salvador : One way ticket to Paradise

Playa El Tunco is perhaps the most popular destination in El Salvador, a paradise for backpackers and for surfers. It is a small village on the Pacific coast where the waves break the way they must to attract surfers from all over the world.

Some come for months (retired surfers), some come for weeks, some for a few days, some for a weekend (El Salvadorians from the capital) and some (like myself) just pass by on the way to Antigua in Guatemala or León in Nicaragua depending from which direction they travel.

There are plenty of hotels, hostels, restaurants, bars, beach bars in the village. In fact, this is all there is. The beach bars and the beach face sunset which is always very appreciated and draws crowds every single night.

If you come for a long haul (few weeks) you can rent very presentable accommodation with own bathroom and a hot shower right on the beach for only 10 USD/night incl surfboard. Cheap accommodation, cheap food, perfect climate (at least in January), working wi-fi, USD as local currency and surely more things I don’t even know about makes El Tunco a perfect winter destination and playground for a large number ‘hibernating’ surfers of all ages.

Playa El Tunco is a rocky beach – 10 months a year. The short ‘sandy season’ when the beach reclaims the sand from the ocean is in December and January. I was lucky to come just at the right time. The beach was sandy and kids friendly. The sand, as anywhere else on the Pacific coast, was black and took ‘hours’ to wash off but was pleasant enough to walk on.

The water? Well, it is Pacific. Cold … I suppose… but I haven’t tested it.

Even though I enjoyed my visit at Playa El Tunco, even though I enjoyed my lazy days in the hammock (sorry for the bad quality of the photo – someone else took it), even though I enjoyed the warm and dry climate (January) I wasn’t particularly unhappy to have to leave all that behind me and move on to the next destination.