Highlights of El Salvador

An enjoyable tour around this lesser visited Central American country which is small enough to get around without really long drives but has varied lush landscape and interesting things to do and see. We used decent hotels, had a great guide and comfortable transport. The itinerary includes a walk up a volcano, colonial towns and markets, ancient ruins and a little time on the coast. Muy bueno!

El Salvador is a beautiful country and the people are wonderful. We saw a lot of wildlife. The cacao and coffee processing plants were fascinating. Our tour guide was knowledgeable, helpful and worked hard. The food was varied and interesting.

El Salvador is a beautiful country that is just coming into its own regarding tourism. Our guide Dio was incredibly knowledgeable - I honestly feel that one of the highlights of this trip was just how much I learned about the country - its history, culture, etc. The accommodations were all characteristic as well as being extremely comfortable. The itinerary was a good mix of nature, villages and beach relaxation.

A fabulous trip. I haven’t been with Explore for about 20 years, but it was as wonderful an experience as ever. A good combo of activities, walking, and interacting with local communities. I enjoyed the healthy and mostly light local food tremendously. I was lucky again to be part of a great group - a perfect combo of adventurous Brits and Americans - exactly the tonic I needed. In my Explore review I failed to mention how grateful I was for the sessions regarding the civil war and also the turtle research. Most of the accommodation was spectacular. I thoroughly enjoyed every experience to swim! We were also lucky to have an amazing, patient, and knowledgeable guide, and a prudent, skilled and smiley expert driver. I highly recommend this trip. Whilst I personally might have made a few changes to the itinerary, I was very happy with 99.9% of the trip. Most grateful. Thank you.

Great country with friendly people. Varied itinerary which provided a fabulous introduction to El Salvador

The highlight of the trip was our Tour Leader Dionisio who was fantastic. The hotel selection needs improvement. The only hotel I enjoyed was the igloos by Santa Ana Volcano. The rest of the hotels were below average. Two of them had no hot water, it was always lukewarm. Another one had a large gap under the front door which allowed a scorpion to crawl under it and give me a scare. One was super damp, like the room was always humid, even with the AC on. Another one, the room was dirty, not like dirty as in, not cleaned after the last occupant, but dirty as in, lacking in deep clean - dirty baseboards, discolored grout in the shower, water stains on the walls. These are just older, tired hotels. I would pay more for a trip with nicer accommodations. I had zero views from any of the hotel rooms other than igloos. Overall, I enjoyed the trip, the group was fun, the guide was fun, the bus was clean, it was a good time.

Thanks to the expertise and dedication of the tour leader, this tour was unforgettable adventure through a beautiful country.

Our tour leader, Dionisio, was fantastic--super friendly, knowledgeable, immediately took care of any issues that came up. It was a small group of 6 so we were very comfortably transported in a van with 2 extra seats which was nice. The hotels varied from fairly basic to actual resorts. I was pleased that several had large swimming pools so I could do laps. The itinerary was excellent and we got to see the highlights of El Salvador including climbing a volcano, learning how to make pupusas, and spending an hour talking with a former civil war rebel! As to the sea turtle research, it was very interesting to watch but we tourists didn't do anything--our "help" was simply that our financial input enabled them to do more research. There were a few optional activities offered (small additional cost); I really enjoyed the indigo dyeing (essentially tie dyeing).

Well organised and a good standard of hotels. Varied itinerary at an easy pace allowing free time to use the hotel swimming pools and other facilities. A colourful and interesting country, beautiful scenery and very safe and friendly people. Our guide Dionisio was excellent. Friendly, informative and very helpful, ensuring everyone had a wonderful time, making the most of our travels in El Salvador.

Excellent insight into life in El Salvador.