Santa Ana, El Salvador: Best Things to Do, Where to Eat and Best Places to Stay

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You could probably see everything you want to see in the city of Santa Ana in one day, but we chose to use this as our first base in El Salvador and explored the surrounding area from there. It was perfect! El Salvador still feels off the beaten path, and visiting now means you’ll hopefully experience it before the crowds arrive. Whether you’re backpacking, vacationing, or slow-traveling, Santa Ana deserves a spot on your El Salvador itinerary.

After exploring the area I created this guide which includes all the best things to do in and around Santa Ana, including the best places to stay and the best places to eat.

Top things to do in Santa Ana

If you’re anything like me you want the fun parts first. So lets dive right in to the best things to do in Santa Ana. If you also need some more practical help like where to stay and where to eat, just scroll further down and you’ll find everything you need.

Santa Ana is definitely a cute city you should spend some time exploring. However, it’s not a huge city and many of the main attractions are located outside the city itself. I’ve therefore split this list in two parts. Firstly, the best things to do in the actual city of Santa Ana. Secondly, I’ve listed all the day trips you can do if you use Santa Ana as one of your bases in El Salvador like we did.

Explore the city on foot

Set aside at least half a day and just wander the streets on your own. Walk around and marvel at the cute and colorful buildings. When you get to the city center there are a few highlights you shouldn’t miss. The first one is Cathedral de Santa Ana. It’s placed right in the middle of the city center and with its strikingly white facade you won’t miss it. After I left Santa Ana I read that you can actually climb to the top of it, so give that a try. My guess is that it would make for an amazing sunset view.

Right outside the cathedral you‘ll find lots of locals relaxing in the shade of Parque Libertad. Not a big sight in itself, but a nice spot for some people watching and look at all the vendors selling everything from ice creams to pupusas. On the other side of the square you’ll find the Teatro de Santa Ana. A beautiful historic theater from the early 1900s.

Take a historic walking tour

If it’s one thing I regret missing out on in Santa Ana it’s the walking tour. I didn’t learn about it until our last day and we had already made plans so there was no way to add this to the agenda unfortunately. However, I heard so many people at my Hostel rave about this guided tour and how good it was, so I really think it’s something to prioritize. Especially because they got to learn much more about the recent events in El Salvador.

Book the best walking tours in advance

Guided Walking Tours in Santa Ana

Santa Ana Historical Night Walk

Best Day Trips from Santa Ana

Either rent a car, take the bus or book a couple of guided tours to explore more of this fascinating area. We did a mix of guided tours, arranging a private driver or just booking an Uber, and it was the perfect mix for us.

Hike the Santa Ana Volcano (Ilamatepec)

This is probably the most popular thing to do around Santa Ana. If you’re staying at a Hostel, for example Casa Verde where we stayed, they organize daily trips which takes you both to the Volcano and later on to the lake. However, if you want to organize it yourself it’s quite easy to take the local bus here. You can take the local bus, route 248, to Cerro Verde National Park. It will take you about 1,5 - 2 hours.

No matter how you choose to organize this, you do need a guide for the actual hike. You will get a guide once you come to the national park. It’s important to know that the guided tours start at around 10 AM every day, so you can’t show up at any time looking for a guide. When you get to the park entrance you pay a symbolic entrance fee and wait for a guide to be allocated to you. The fee for the entrance and a guide was under 5 US Dollars per person when we visited in 2025.

The hike takes about 1-2 hours and at the top you will be able to look down into the crater lake filled with steaming turquoise liquid. It’s quite the sight! We spent about 40 minutes at the top before descending down again. It’s not a strenuous hike, but pretty rugged with sharp rocks so bring good shoes, or more specifically not open-toe shoes.

Book your hike to the volcano in advance

Tout to Volcan Santa Ana Hike+ Lago Coatepeque Viewpoint

Santa Ana volcano hike with privileged early access. Go safe and skip the crowds

Lake Coatepeque

This is another popular place to visit around Santa Ana. However, we didn’t see the hype. Yes, it’s a nice enough lake, but not somewhere I would spend lots of time. We got mixed messages about the possibility of swimming here, one guide said the water was too dirty to swim in, while our driver said it was fine. Unsure about the swimming, we ended up just going to the area with restaurants and skipped the swimming part. I never got a clear answer on this unfortunately. We thought it was an okay stop after our volcano hike, but not somewhere we would spend the day. So my advice is to do the tour and if you end up loving it more than we did you can just come back and relax another day! If you want to get here yourself you can take the local bus, route 220, or a tuk tuk for about 30 minutes directly from Santa Ana.

Ruta de las Flores

Ruta de las Flores is a range of cute towns not far from Santa Ana. We considered spending a night here, something I know many people choose to do. However, we ended up skipping it and going there as a day trip instead. We based this decision on what time of the week we were able to visit. All my research said that this area was pretty slow on weekdays, but it was well worth spending a night or two here during the weekend when the towns truly came to life with markets and lots of people. As we didn’t end up spending the night I can’t give any personal tips on how it was, but based on everyone I talked to it seemed like a fun place to spend the weekend.

Our Hostel arranged a private driver for us that first took us to the Seven Waterfalls hike in Juayúa, then to the cute towns of Juayúa, Ataco, Nahuizalco and Apaneca to wander around. They were indeed very slow during the day, but still incredibly charming.

If you want to organize it yourself you can either rent a car for the day or take the local buses between cities. However, if you only have one day I don’t recommend traveling by bus since they dont run that often so you might have trouble seeing all the places you want. It’s probably a great option if you choose to spend the night in one of the towns.

Seven Waterfalls Hike (Los Chorros de la Calera)

This is technically a part of Ruta de las Flores above, but since so many choose to do it separately I’ve split them up. This might be the coolest thing to do from Santa Ana in my opinion. You start with a trek through a clouded forest close to Juayúa, then as you move on up you will climb through jungle trails and rappelling through waterfalls and up slippery rocks. You need a guide with you to help find the ropes and correct routes. Also know that everything you bring will get wet! At the end you will be rewarded with some stunning swimming pools to swim in under the waterfalls.

As I said, we did this the same day as the rest of ruta de las Flores and this was absolutely the highlight! Just remember to bring water shoes if you have and a dry bag. A good reason for having a driver or doing this as a guided tour is that if you take the local bus here you probably have to wait quite a bit for the return bus. In my experience the others I met on the hike had to wait a couple of hours for the next bus back to Santa Ana or to the next town, which isn’t all that fun after a wet hike.

Tazumal Mayan Ruins in Chalchuapa

We took an Uber for the 20 minute ride from Santa Ana to the Tazumal ruins. I’ve lost count of how many ruins I’ve seen throughout Central America now, and I won’t say Tazumal rival some of the bigger ones in the neighboring countries, but Tazumal was absolutely the most impressive one I saw In El Salvador. It’s well preserved and you’ll be able to see pyramids, tombs, and ball courts that date back over 1,000 years. There’s also a small, but quite interesting museum on the site.

Joya de Cerén

This is in the middle of Santa Ana and San Salvador so you can really get here from either side, or choose to stop here on your way between the cities if you’ve rented a car. I took an Uber from San Salvador, but if you’re not heading there I recommend doing this as a day trip from Santa Ana. Joya de Cerén is a UNESCO World Heritage site often called the “Pompeii of the Americas.” It’s a preserved village buried by a volcanic eruption around 600 AD, giving rare insight into everyday Mayan life. It’s a completely different experience than all the other Mayan sites I’ve visited because it actually shows how people used to live and not just the temples.

Ruins of San Andrés

The ruins of San Andrés are just a 10 minute drive from Joya de Cerén and worth a quick detour. This is a pretty small site and parts of it was closed of when I was there in 2025, and it looked like it would be for a very long time. I personally don’t think this was worth a trip in itself, but if you go to Joya De Cerén and have some extra time it’s worth a visit.

Best places to Stay in Santa Ana

Santa Ana has lots of budget-friendly and mid-range options, but there are two places that stand out which I would personally book if I go back to Santa Ana.

Hostel Casa Verde

This hostel is famous for a reason. It’s super clean, has a pool, a rooftop, and big kitchens if you want to cook. Plus, the owner Carlos is a legend — he’ll help you plan your hikes and day trips like a pro. Even if you’re not usually a hostel person, stay here, we did and loved it! All our trips were planned from here and it was amazing!

Remfort Hotel

If you want something a bit more private and upscale, Remfort Hotel is a beautiful boutique option. It has comfy beds, air conditioning (important!), and a small pool. Great for couples or anyone wanting a bit more luxury without breaking the bank.

Where to Eat in Santa Ana

I won’t say that I found that many amazing places to eat in Santa Ana, but those I liked were pretty good. Full disclosure, it might be different for you if you like the local dish Pupusa. I’m sorry to say it wasn’t my favorite, and many of the most popular places are Pupuserias. Here’s a couple of places I tried and liked.

Hostel Casa Verde

This is where we stayed and they have really god food. You don’t have to stay here to eat here, just come over for a visit. I loooved the food here and we ate here so many times. The salmon with mashed potatoes was probably my favorite! It’s also one of the most popular Hostels in Santa Ana so you’ll most likely meet someone else eating there to talk to if you want to socialize a bit.

Simmer Down

A very cozy place right next to the main square. It’s clearly a place more directed towards tourists, but I still liked it. The pizza was really good and the whole place had a nice vibe to it.

Street Food at Parque Libertad

They have so many different things here, you’re sure to find something you like, or something you just want to try for fun. I’ts a great place to test out the pupusas or tamales. Another plus is that it’s very budget friendly.

Pupusería La Ceiba

If you’re in El Salvador, you’re basically legally required to eat pupusas, and La Ceiba is one of the best places to do it. I personally don’t love the Pupusas, but if it’s one place you should give it a try, its this one!

Final Thoughts on Santa Ana

I have to say that I really liked Santa Ana, but mostly because of all the activities you can do from here. It’s nice to have a base for some time when your traveling a lot, and Santa Ana was a great place to base ourselves for a while. I don’t think it rivals Suchitoto when it comes to charm, but hiking to the volcano, swimming in the waterfalls and exploring Tazumal was absolutely wort it! I don’t think you can plan a trip to El Salvador without visiting Santa Ana.

I truly hope this guide will help you plan your next adventure!

If you’re planing a trip to El Salvador and have questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me on social media. I would love to connect and help out!