Mix and Match your places of interest
Combo Mix and Match 3 –New in 2025!
We adapt to our Clients
In 2025 we had several world travelers ask for what we had considered close to impossible. They all were travelers with very little time in El Salvador, in fact the one that made me decide to add this tour only had one full free day arriving at night on arrival and on his departing day a 9:00 am departing flight.
What our clients wanted to combine into one full day!
This was the third time since early 2025 that a solo traveler wanted to 1) Climb/hike the Santa Ana Volcano which take a fit person an average of four hours, 2) a guided visit to El Salvador only UNESCO World heritage site, Joya de Ceren, an archeology site I have always considered a must see for those visiting El Salvador and 3) a tour of San Salvador or at least the historic downtown area with its key features like the Rosario Church, the main cathedral, the National palace and our new Chinese built public Library, BINAES. This tour starting and finishing in San Salvador is possible with a well-planned day our driver/guides and local guides we work with. It does require a day or two to set up (a must) and a traveler who is not too budget restricted.
Pick up time and the Santa Ana Volcano Hike
We arrange for one of our bilingual driver guides to pick you up at your hotel in san Salvador between 5:30 and 6:00 am, then the drive to a place known as Bosque’s de Tibet where one of our local partners will be waiting to be your private guide on your hike in the protected area of the Santa Ana Volcano. If traveling with your luggage our driver guide can stay with the vehicle to reduce any chance of danger to zero or if they want they will join you on the hike, help with photos and videos of the hike to share with you at the end of the day. Starting the hike around 7:00 am you will be back at the vehicle around 11:00 am and hungry enough to have a quick meal of pupusas or local, safe and inexpensive street foods before starting the 50-minute drive to Joya de Ceren.
Joya de Ceren and how we work sustainably
Although bilingual site guides are sometimes available our guides know well the history of Joya de Ceren and many time show you the site personally. When bilingual site guides are available and showing how we work sustainably our driver guide will use a site guide and we pay the tip at the end. Joya de Ceren can be full of school students or empty with only a few other small groups of tourists, like many tour companies in El Salvador we are known by all the local staff at Joya de Ceren and are given priority to enter between large groups students when the site is full. This is how we can keep to our schedule.
A little recent history about Joya de Ceren
The site was intervened in 2019 and 2020 thanks to financial support from France. The intervention when slower than expected as more discoveries were made while trying to improve the infrastructure of the site and its protective roof structure. The site is now easier to visit with virtually all the main finds being protected under the newly constructed roofed structures. Work was also done renovating the small museum we visit after seeing the main site. We generally spend just a little over and hour visiting this site, this to allow us to get back to the historic downtown area of San Salvador.
San Salvador’s historic downtown
Going back to just prior to Presidents Obama´s visit to El Salvador. San Salvador old down town has been changing. Initially rerouting several bus routes, then by two mayors developing a new and revitalized downtown and more recently under President Bekele’s years in office with international interventions and financial tax benefits to those investing in the restoring of the central area, downtown is changing almost daily. Our guides will fill you in on older structures like the National Theater and Palace both of which have been retrofitted after being damaged in earthquakes going back to 1986. Architecture like that of the Rosario Church and art deco from more recent periods are seen everywhere, the new library adding a contrast that many initially criticized are today found full of people of all ages from mother with infants to university students studying. The views for the 5th floor mezzanine and 7 floor art gallery are one of a kind and now a main attraction for those visiting the center of San Salvador. Our bilingual guides make this experience even more fulfilling as they add their personal views about current politic, economy the educational system and past history about the civil conflict that El Salvador suffered back in the 1980s.
A full day and real feel for what little El Salvador offers
Who would have thought that in one very full 10 to 12-hour day you could climb a prominent volcano, visit the Pompeii of the Americas and discover an ever changing San Salvador
Included in this tour:
• Transportation in vehicle with A/C
• Bottled water(1-2 bottles/person)
• All Entrance fees
• Local guide fees
• Bilingual guide
Tour Duration of Tour including transportation:
9-12 hours
Difficulty level of Tour:
Moderate to dificult
Not Included
• Snacks and Meals
• Lodging
• Optional Tips to local guides
• Cost of optional activities including: Mountain bike, Jet ski, Buggy, Zip line/Canopy, Kayak, Rafting or other activities not mentioned in tour description