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Tucked away in the mountains and coffee plantations of the Ruta de las Flores region of El Salvador, Cafe Albania is an outdoor amusement park.
The park has multiple adrenaline-inducing activities like ziplining, an extreme swing and a sky bike. It’s home to one of two rainbow slides in El Salvador, which became very famous on social media a few years ago.
We spent a morning chasing thrills at Cafe Albania, and it was one of our best days in El Salvador.
Was it expensive? Yes. Was it kitschy? Kind of. Was it natural or cultural? Not at all. But we had SO much fun and felt like kids again.
If you’re an over-planner like me (or a budgeter like Brayden) you’ll probably want to know about what a visit to Cafe Albania El Salvador entails, what activities are on offer and how much it’s going to cost.
Read on!
About Cafe Albania
Cafe Albania is an outdoor adventure park located on a scenic coffee farm, with a range of fun and adrenaline-inducing activities.
It first started as a labyrinth (aka maze), but it’s grown into so much more than that, and it’s a fun day out for all ages.
Cafe Albania is home to one of two rainbow slides in El Salvador.
The original slide, on the outskirts of San Salvador at Picnic Steak House, became famous on social media a few years ago, and the activity has become synonymous with El Salvador.
If you somehow missed the craze, the rainbow slide is a giant, rainbow-coloured adrenaline slide that you hurtle down on an inflatable tube. Sounds like fun, right?
While Cafe Albania isn’t the original, in my opinion, it’s a way better option if you want to experience the rainbow slide in El Salvador.
To be frank, San Salvador isn’t really a great city to visit, so you’d be wasting valuable time in your itinerary to get to Picnic Steak House.
Instead, you could visit Cafe Albania, which is located on the Ruta de las Flores, one of the best regions of El Salvador to visit, and not go out of your way at all, just for a slide.
Cafe Albania has recently expanded their rainbow slide, so there are now two sections totalling 320 metres long! The first, original slide is 140 metres and the new second slide is 180 metres.
Where is Cafe Albania
Cafe Albania is located in the town of Apaneca, which is in the Western Highlands of El Salvador in the Ruta de las Flores region.
This gorgeous route connects five small towns, with colonial architecture, murals and churches, and is full of coffee farms, waterfalls and hot springs.
How to get there
FROM RUTA DE LAS FLORES 🌸
I highly recommend spending a few days staying in the Ruta de las Flores region. While some people will do a day tour from other parts of the country just to visit Cafe Albania, there are so many other great things to see and do here. So come and stay a few days!
If you’re already on the ruta, you can catch bus #249, which will drop you right outside the entrance of Cafe Albania.
If you’re coming from the north of Cafe Albania (in Ataco), take the bus towards Sonsonate. If you’re south of Cafe Albania (Juayua, Salcoatitan or Nahuizalco) take the bus towards Ahuachapan.
If you’ve got a car, it’s an easy drive from all the towns along the route and there is a large parking lot on site.
FROM SANTA ANA ⛪️
If you’re coming from Santa Ana, you can take bus #238 to Juayua, and then switch to bus #249 to Ahuachupan and get off at Cafe Albania.
If you’ve rented a car or a scooter, the trip should take just over 1 hour.
FROM SAN SALVADOR 🏙️
If you’re coming all the way from San Salvador just for the day, I’d recommend renting a car or joining a tour. The drive will be at least 1.5 hours, if not more depending on the traffic.
There is public transport and it’s quite straightforward, but it involves taking two buses and would take a lot of time out of your day.
If you do want to take the bus, you need to take the #205 bus to Sonsonate from Terminal de Occidente. In Sonsonate, switch to the #249 which runs all the way along the ruta, passing by Cafe Albania.
🌈 Want someone else to take care of the transport? This tour from San Salvador hits a few highlights of the Ruta de las Flores in one day, including Cafe Albania, Ataco town and the Santa Teresa hot springs
FROM EL TUNCO/EL ZONTE/LA LIBERTAD 🏄🏼
If you’re on the Pacific Coast, again, I would recommend driving or joining a tour if you’ve only got one day to visit Cafe Albania and the Ruta de las Flores region.
The drive will be around 2 hours, give or take, depending on which town you’re coming from.
There is a combination of buses, but it would be tricky to time the trip for a one-day visit as there are only a couple of departures per day.
If you do want to take the bus, you need to take the #287 bus to Sonsonate. It only leaves twice per day, once quite early in the morning and once after lunch so be sure to check the current times with your accommodation. In Sonsonate, switch to the #249 which runs along the ruta, passing by Cafe Albania.
Opening hours
Cafe Albania is open from 8:00 am – 5:00 pm Monday – Friday, and 8:00 am – 6:00 pm on Saturday and Sunday.
The park is very popular, and it can get very busy on the weekends, with long lines for the attractions. I’d highly recommend planning your visit for a weekday if possible, and arriving first thing in the morning before the tour buses get there.
Entry cost
The pricing structure is a little confusing, so let me explain.
You have to pay a fee to enter the park. For adults, it’s $5 USD. For kids under 130 cm tall, it’s $2 USD and for kids under 100 cm tall, the entry is free.
The entry fee doesn’t include any activities but it is redeemable inside the park, either on food or drinks at one of the restaurants, or on your activities.
Each activity has a separate fee, and you need to pay at the front counter and get a token for the activities you want to do. You can come back throughout the day if you need to.
The current prices for each activity are:
- Rainbow slide – $10
- Zipline course – $13
- Bike zipline – $10
- Surfboard zipline – $10
- Maze/labyrinth – $3
- Big swing – $5
- Wing swing – $1
They have recently introduced a package bracelet, where you can pay $40 and get one turn on every activity. It is pretty pricey, but the activities add up quickly and if you want to try all the thrilling attractions, then this bracelet is good value.
Attractions at Cafe Albania
Rainbow slide (tobogán)
- 💰 Cost: $10
- 🎢 Thrill: 4/5
Undoubtedly the best thing to do at Cafe Albania, the rainbow slide El Salvador has become world famous!
I was worried it would be a bit of a letdown, as Brayden and I both really like rollercoasters and thrilling rides, but this was so much fun.
It wasn’t so thrilling as in we were scared, but you pick up some pretty decent speed and the strategic bumps on the slide make you feel like you get air time!
When we visited they were still working on the second section of the slide but that has now opened.
You go down the original one as normal and then take a few steps to the next slide, which goes down at a right angle to the first one. It’s even longer and looked much steeper so I reckon it would be even more thrilling!
They let you bring your phone/GoPro on the slide with you so you can take photos and videos. It’s just as fun watching other people go down after you and seeing everyone’s different reactions.
Zipline (canopy)
- 💰 Cost: $13
- 🎢 Thrill: 3/5
We didn’t do the zipline here, as it didn’t look that fast or thrilling, but it’s pretty cheap for a zipline if you want to give it a shot.
I think there are 5 lines in total that fly above the different attractions around the park. They spread the course out with some elevated suspension bridges and rope towers to navigate between the lines.
If you’re scared or thrilled by heights, you might find it a little scary, but otherwise, it might not give you an adrenaline rush.
Bike zipline (bicicleta)
- 💰 Cost: $10
- 🎢 Thrill: 3/5
What is a bike zipline you ask? Also known as a sky bike, it’s a custom bike rigged up to zipline wires.
You jump on and pedal your way across the wire, 30 metres above the ground. The bike is hooked onto the wire, and so are you so it’s impossible to fall off, but it’s still pretty thrilling to be on a bike so high up!
Brayden did this one and enjoyed it. One of the guides rides a bike on the wire next to you, and he kept telling Brayden to slow down he was pedalling too fast! They let you bring a GoPro or phone with you, so long as it’s safely strapped to you.
Surf zipline (tabla de surf)
- 💰 Cost: $10
- 🎢 Thrill: 4/5
Even more wild than a bike zipline is a surf zipline! Yep, it’s a custom-made metal surfboard rigged up to a zipline wire, and you stand on the board and ‘surf’ across the wire.
You start from a higher point than the bike so you get some momentum, as you don’t have anything to pedal with.
We didn’t see anyone doing this while we were at Cafe Albania, it didn’t look like it was operating at the time. But I’ve seen a video on their Instagram, and it is pretty cool.
Maze/labyrinth (laberinto)
- 💰 Cost: $3
- 🎢 Thrill: 1/5
Personally, I don’t get the attraction of mazes. This is the biggest natural maze in El Salvador, and it’s what Cafe Albania started out as.
Brayden gave me the choice of doing the maze or going on the rainbow slide again. Of course, I chose the rainbow slide so we didn’t actually do the maze.
It looks quite challenging though. The goal is to make your way to the centre, where there is a platform and a bell, that you ring to mark your completion. I guess you then have to find your way out again though?
There is a shorter maze you can do, which was $2 when we visited.
Big swing (pendulo)
- 💰 Cost: $3
- 🎢 Thrill: 5/5
We didn’t see this swing until we had our bags on our backs walking out the door and I am SO disappointed we missed it. This looks like the most thrilling and adrenaline-inducing attraction in the whole park.
You strap into a harness, stand up on a platform and the guides release the floor out from under you and you drop down and start swinging.
It would be one of those stomach-dropping feelings and you can’t help but scream. It looks epic (check out this video) and if you like extreme sports, you have to do this one!
Wing swing (trapez)
- 💰 Cost: $1
- 🎢 Thrill: 1/5
This one is for the kids or the Instagram lovers. It’s just a normal swing with some decorative angel wings and a nice view over the coffee plantations.
Amenities
There are bathrooms throughout the park and places to sit down.
You’re not allowed to bring any outside food or drinks (water is fine) but there are several cafes and restaurants around the park.
You can use your $5 consumable entrance fee at any of them if you haven’t redeemed it on your activities.
Near the maze area was a cafe/bakery-style place, as well as a bigger restaurant with pricier main meals. We ate near the entrance near the big swing, which was the cheapest place we found with more fast food kind of options.
We got a hot dog and a burger (it was actually pretty good!) for $15, and used our $10 worth of credit to have lunch for only $5.
You can browse their menu on their website.
When we visited, redeeming the entrance fee on activities wasn’t an option, so we ate at the park, but I probably wouldn’t bother now you can use your entrance fee to offset the cost of activities. There are nicer places to eat in Apaneca or Ataco.
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Cafe Albania El Salvador: Final thoughts
If you’re looking for a fun day in El Salvador where you can act like a big kid again, we highly recommend Cafe Albania.
It’s pretty expensive, but these kinds of places always are, and the rainbow slide is totally worth it. We thought it would be a letdown, but it was actually a lot of fun and we’re so glad we went (even if it hurt the budget for the day!).
But don’t just visit Cafe Albania for the day. The Ruta de las Flores region has so much to offer, and you really need at least a few days to experience the waterfalls, coffee, cute towns and hot springs.
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