Our El Salvador Trip Cost: Is El Salvador Cheap?

June 17, 2024

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So you’re planning a trip to El Salvador and want to know what things cost? I got you!

We spent two weeks in El Salvador as part of our 6-month trip around Central America and tracked every cent we spent.

So is El Salvador cheap? I’d say yes. We found El Salvador to be on the lower end of the budget scale in Central America and it was one of our cheapest countries.

Our El Salvador trip cost averaged $122 USD per day for two people, which is $61 USD per day per person.

Partly because things were cheaper overall there, but also because there were fewer big-ticket activities like scuba diving, car rental, etc. that added up in other destinations.

The inland areas of the country (Ruta de las Flores, Santa Ana region etc.) are much cheaper than on the coast, where popular destinations like El Tunco have much higher prices.

I’ve divided this post into two sections. The first is an overview of average costs in El Salvador for standard travel categories like accommodation, eating out, tours and activities and transport. I’ll share an array of random prices to give you an idea of typical costs.

The second part is our El Salvador travel budget report, with our actual expenses and daily averages for each category.

A spread of United States Dollars notes, all $1 or $5 spread messily across a table

Table of Contents

What things cost in El Salvador

If you’re planning a trip to El Salvador, you probably want to know what it’s going to cost!

I don’t like giving an exact daily budget, because it depends on a thousand factors and is completely personal to your travel style, interests, desired level of comfort etc.

Instead, what I find more helpful is to share some actual costs for common travel expenses, to help you piece together a realistic budget for your trip, based on your preferences.

These costs were accurate at the time of writing, but in a post-pandemic world, I’m sure you know how quickly prices can change, and how much costs are rising all over the world.

Chances are some of these costs will be outdated by the time you travel to El Salvador, but I hope it at least gives you a helpful baseline of what to expect.

💰 Read more about El Salvador’s currency and managing your money in our El Salvador travel guide

Our El Salvador Trip Cost: Is El Salvador Cheap?

Accommodation

There is a range of accommodation styles available in El Salvador, from dorm beds in hostels to fancy beachfront resorts.

We always opt for a private accommodation with a private bathroom. Ideally, we would have access to at least a fridge and a coffee machine, if not a full kitchen, whether that be shared or private.

We were able to find this standard of accommodation pretty easily within our usual budget, which is ideally around $40 – $50 USD per night, but we’re happy to go up to around $60 USD if it’s needed and worth it.

The coast was much more expensive for accommodation than the inland areas we visited. El Tunco, in particular, is quite pricey because it is so popular but still very small, so accommodation is in high demand. The quality wasn’t that great there either.

The inland areas have much cheaper options, with plenty of hostels. There are also a lot of small guesthouse-style hotels (commonly called ‘hostals’ in El Salvador), that have private rooms but shared amenities like kitchens. We mostly opted for these over Airbnb in El Salvador.

🛌 TYPICAL COSTS FOR ACCOMMODATION

Dorm bed at Samay Hostel in Juayua on the Ruta de las Flores: $13 USD
Private room with bathroom at Hotel Anahuac in Juayua on the Ruta de las Flores: $40 USD
Room at Casa 1800 a fancy boutique hotel in Ataco on the Ruta de las Flores: $165 USD
Dorm bed at Captain Morgan Hostel on Lake Coatepeque: $13 USD
Private room with bathroom and shared kitchen at La Canasta in El Zonte: $55 USD
Room at Palo Verde a high-end sustainable hotel on the beach in El Zonte: $250 USD
Dorm bed at Papaya Lodge, the most popular hostel in El Tunco: $20 USD

A Canva graphic with a mix of images and text labels showcasing what things typically cost in El Salvador, this slide is about accommodation.

Eating out

Eating out in El Salvador can be pretty affordable if you stick to the local options, but once you hit the coast there are soooo many nice cafes and international options that are too tempting to avoid.

Pupusas are your go-to food in El Salvador if you’re watching costs. The country’s national dish, it’s essentially a stuffed tortilla/flatbread, with your choice of fillings. You can get things like beans, jalapeños, chicharon, chorizo, other meats, vegetables etc. all with cheese. They are served with a cabbage salad called curtido and a tomato-based salsa. They’re usually between $0.75 – $1.50 USD, and 2 – 4 will do a meal, depending on how hungry you are.

By the time we hit the coast and had been eating pupusas multiple times per day for a week, we splurged a lot on the good restaurants. There was Vietnamese food, bao buns, good Mexican, and so many things we hadn’t eaten for months, we had to take the opportunity! There was a good frozen yoghurt shop that may have done some damage to the wallet too…

The cafes in El Salvador were excellent, and even in remote towns, you could get a decent, barista-made coffee. Of course, this never comes cheap though, so if you’re on a really tight budget, stick to making your own coffee.

El Salvador’s beer, Pilsener, was one of my favourite beers in the region, and was usually pretty cheap, around $1.50 USD or less. Cocktails are of course more expensive, but they weren’t too pricey.

🍫 Read more about typical food and drinks to try in El Salvador

🫓 TYPICAL COSTS FOR FOOD

Pupusa with cheese and jalapeño: $0.75 USD
Pupusa with meat or seafood: $1.50 USD
Bao buns x 2 with meat: $8 USD
Fancy cafe breakfast: $12 USD
Barista-made coffee: $3.50 USD
Pilsener beer from a casual beach bar: $1.50 USD
Margarita cocktail from a fancy beach club: $7 USD

A Canva graphic with a mix of images and text labels showcasing what things typically cost in El Salvador, this slide is about food and drink with a range of sample costs for different meals.

Tours and activities

We didn’t spend anywhere near as much on tours and activities in El Salvador as we did in other countries. I feel like we did tons of fun activities, but they just weren’t that expensive, and we didn’t need to do all-day, guided tours to do most of them.

The Seven Waterfalls Hike is one experience we did where we had to have a guide, but it was only $20 USD per person. The same goes for the Santa Ana Volcano hike, but if you opt for the guided group, not private, it’s only $3 USD per person for the guide and $6 USD for the national park entry.

Entrance fees to nature preserves, waterfalls etc. were all very affordable, and on par or cheaper than neighbouring countries.

We did spend quite a lot on surf lessons in El Zonte and El Tunco. This isn’t a necessary expense, but Brayden really wanted to focus on improving and getting some helpful pointers from instructors. He could have just rented a board each day much cheaper, but the lessons were worth it for him.

🥾 TYPICAL COSTS FOR TOURS AND ACTIVITIES

Seven Waterfalls Hike with a guide: $20 USD
Santa Ana Volcano hike and entry: $9 USD
Surf lesson 90 minutes: $40 USD
Entry to Salto de Malactuipan waterfall: $1.50 USD
Hot springs spa resort: $7 USD
One slide down the rainbow slide at Cafe Albania: $10 USD
Day pass to Atami Escape Resort: $20 USD

A Canva graphic with a mix of images and text labels showcasing what things typically cost in El Salvador, this slide is about tours and activities with sample expenses for different experiences.

Transport

Transport was SO cheap in El Salvador. Given how small the country is, their chicken buses are quick, efficient and so much easier to navigate than in neighbouring countries. We never paid more than $1.50 USD for a trip, and more commonly it was $0.50 USD.

Where we were relying on tourist shuttles for the very lengthy trips in Guatemala, we travelled all over El Salvador exclusively by chicken bus and it was dirt cheap. We didn’t have any ferries to factor in like in Honduras, and we barely even used taxis or Ubers.

We opted for tourist shuttles in and out of the country, which I’m glad we did as it would have been a nightmare day navigating multiple chicken buses and borders, but the trips weren’t cheap ($40 – $50 USD).

🚌 TYPICAL COSTS FOR TRANSPORT

San Salvador to El Tunco chicken bus (~1 hr): $1.20 USD
Juayua to Santa Ana chicken bus (~1 hr): $0.80 USD
Scooter rental 24 hours in El Tunco: $25 USD
Tourist shuttle El Salvador – Nicaragua: $45 USD

A Canva graphic with a mix of images and text labels showcasing what things typically cost in El Salvador, this slide is about transport.