Where to stay in El Salvador

The coast

• El Tunco is the surf village most people go to - small, walkable, black sand, a bar strip, and the best point break in the country next door at Sunzal.
• El Zonte is quieter, prettier, and is where the Bitcoin experiment ran.
• Both are 30 to 40 minutes from the airport, which makes them a legitimate first night.
• El Cuco and Las Flores in the east are for surfers who want fewer people.

Inland

• Suchitoto - the best-preserved colonial town, on a lake, cobbled and quiet.
• Santa Ana - the second city, a spectacular theatre, and the base for the Santa Ana volcano and Lake Coatepeque.
• The Ruta de las Flores - a chain of small mountain towns, cool, with weekend food festivals.

San Salvador

• Stay in Santa Elena or San Benito, which the FCDO names among the safer districts, or near the major malls.
• Soyapango, Ilopango, Mejicanos, San Martin and San Marcos are the districts that saw the heaviest security operations and are not places to book a room.
• Many visitors skip the capital entirely given the airport's location.

Practical

• Avoid walking alone, particularly on remote trails - that is the FCDO's phrasing and it applies to volcano paths as much as to streets.
• The volcanoes are climbed with a guide and, on Santa Ana, with a ranger escort at set times.