Why Take a Surf Trip to El Salvador

Surfers have been frequenting Costa Rica for many decades and there are many reasons Costa Rica has been a popular surf destination. Outside of Costa Rica, other Latin American countries have not had the stable economies and trust of many travelers and therefore their tourism never blew up like that of Costa Rica. That being said, El Salvador has been largely unknown as a tourist destination up to this point. In the last year, I ended up making friends with a few surfers from El Salvador and they told me that the issues with war and crime are in the past and the government has been cleaning up the country. They also told me I was missing out on some of the best waves in Central America if I did not check it out.

Regarding the surf in El Salvador, the country of El Salvador has numerous right hand point breaks. Waves like Rincon or the best known point breaks in Baja are the norm in El Salvador. The country also faces directly south and has the best exposure to waves of all of Central America which generally faces west or southwest. In our summer , it is typical to see waves in the head to head and a half high range with waves much bigger when a good swell arrives.

There are quite a few surf spots that are worth mentioning in El Salvador so I will mention only a few. First, Punta Roca is a world class right hand point break that can be compared to the best right hand point breaks around the world. The wave is fast, powerful, hollow, and very long and perfect. Sunzal is further west down the highway and is a gentler right hand point break but is quite long and does maintain a nice shoulder for the longboard or fish. When it gets big, this break will fire off solid waves as well. Las Flores is another famous right hand point break on the wild east coast. This wave can get quite good and is the place to leave by boat to surf the perfect barrels of Punta Mango.

There are many budget options for the traveling surfer in El Salvador. It is easy to find an El Salvador surf camp if you look online. There are also many good options for upper end hotels for the surfer traveling with family on an El Salvador surf trip.

There are many reasons to go to El Salvador on your next surf trip. First, surf travel to El Salvador is really easy from many destinations in the US. From LA, it is a four and a half hour flight. Once there, you can be in the surf 30 minutes after getting your luggage. Next, the government has invested greatly in the highway system and this makes it easy to hit many different surf spots in a day. Also, food and accommodations are nicely priced and provide good value. The areas I stayed in were well maintained and felt very safe. I never felt unsafe the entire time in the country. Lastly, the waves in El Salvador are as good as you are going to find and with less crowds than you are going to see most anywhere in the world.