Copán Travel Forum

Is it difficult to hire a driver to take to me to the El Salvador border? Also, is there anything to see near the border in El Salvador? I know this sounds like a strange question but I'm trying to get to every country I can.

best thing in el salvador is probably the beaches, and that's far. also big volcanoes.

but to get there from copan along your way south or north is pretty far out of the way and is a silly excuse just for an extra passport stamp

Or you could take a bus from Copan Honduras to San Salvador, stay there for a day and then take a bus to Guatemala City if that is where you are going.

There's nothing far in El Salvador. It's a tiny country, you can cross it from north to south in three or four hours!!

You don't need to hire a driver to get to the border, just take a bus! Anyway... if you get to the border by late evening, spend the night at Santa Rosa de Copan (a nice colonial town about one hour before you get to the border), or at San Ignacio (another tiny and charming town some 15 minutes after the border).

The beaches in El Salvador are okay, but they are nothing you haven't seen somewhere else. I loved visiting lakes with volcanoes around them.

The best I visited was Lago de Coatepeque, near Santa Ana. You can stay at some hostal by the water, swim and watch the sunset behind the volcanoes. It was awesome!!

Another good one was at Suchitoto, it's a charming town with a very interesting history of civil wars and revolutions and indigenous massacres. Crazy! But it's nice, the town and it's lake down the street.

Most of the travelers avoid El Salvador because it's dangerous. Their cities are, so are they in Honduras and Guatemala and Nicaragua. So you better enjoy their country-side and its people...

Where you visit will also depend a lot on where you cross. If you cross on the panamerican highway into eastern El salvador there is little to see on the Honduran side or the Salvadorian side, except the Gulf of Fonseca, which is quite nice. It is a hectic border crossing point that I don't like much.
The border from La Esperanza to Perquin has recently re-opened after being closed for many years due to border disputes. Perquin is probably the safest place in El Salvador and well worth the visit. There is a nice hotel (the Perkin Lenka), the civil war museum and open countryside with pine savannah to walk in as you please (unlike anywhere else in the country). I visit this area every month or so, but I have still never crossed the frontier from here.
The frontier in the extreme south east of Honduras has some nice areas on each side. The town on the Honduran side is Nuevo Ocotopece, which doesn't have much to offer, but from there you have access to cloud forest at Guisayote national park. The El Salvador side has the pleasant town of La Palma which is well known for its artesania. The hills around are very atractive and include El Pital, which is the highest point in El Salvador. From this crossing point you have the easiest access to the capital, the beaches and the well known tourist sites such as Cerro Verde and Coatepeque lake.
El Salvador should not just be considered a country to tick off. Its a great place to visit, with beautiful scenery. There is crime, but I have lived here and travelled extensively for 9 years without any problems by taking sensible precautions.

Tom