Boutique hotels in El Salvador

El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America, which makes it unusually easy to see: you can surf the Pacific at dawn, drive to a volcano crater lake by lunch and sleep in a colonial hill town the same evening. A new generation of boutique hotels has followed the surf crowd and the weekend visitors from the capital, from beachfront villas to restored townhouses.

The Pacific coast

The Costa del Bálsamo is the center of the surf scene. El Tunco and El Zonte have point breaks and a social, casual beach-town feel, Mizata is wilder and less developed, and the east coast around Las Flores offers a single luxury beach resort on a long bay.

Colonial towns and coffee country

Suchitoto, above the Cerrón Grande reservoir, is the most atmospheric colonial town, with cobbled streets and arts. The Ruta de las Flores, taking in Juayúa and Ataco, links weekend food markets, murals and coffee farms. Santa Ana is a handsome city beneath a volcano, and Lake Coatepeque fills a crater nearby. In the far east, Perquín is a mountain town built around the memory of the civil war.

San Salvador

The capital is a busy gateway with a handful of design-minded small hotels. Most visitors spend a night and move on.

When to go

The dry season from November to April is the best time for the coast and mountains; the rains turn the highlands green. Check official travel advice before you go, and take hotel-arranged transfers in the capital.