El Salvador- A solo traveler/beginner friendly getaway for an affordable price.

El Salvador has been on my list for a while and I needed a 30 before 30 destination (this is #8). Win/Win. So over the 4th of July weekend, I took a quick little trip to San Salvador. While I will not go into details about how my trip that started as a joint trip turned into a solo one, I will go into the details about how affordable El Salvador is and how you can plan a weekend for yourself for under $500 (hotel, flight, and activities). This blog will be a 2-for-1. I will recap my trip and at the same time "plan" a hypothetical trip that can be copied. Please remember I traveled during the holiday my prices are not going to be indicative of the rest of the year.

First things first: The Flight.

I flew Avianca. Avianca S.A. is the largest airline in Colombia. It has been the flag carrier of Colombia since December 5, 1919. While the airline was foreign to me, learning that Avianca is the world's second oldest extant airline after KLM I went ahead and pulled the trigger on those tickets.

Because I traveled during the holiday my tickets were originally $390, but who paid that? NOT, I. Due to Avianca's partnership with Star Alliance, I was able to use my United mileage points to save about $185 off the price of my ticket. Sign up for rewards programs, even if you don't fly often there are other ways to earn points and those points accumulate quickly. Avianca is a "budget airline" so you technically have to pay for a carryon but if you are reading this blog then you know about Takeoff luggage (promo code:Breeleaves) so we aren't going to worry about that. You also have a fanny pack for all your essential items like passport, cards and keys and uour suitcase is packed with packing cubes. So you aren't complaining about not having space in your bag for souvenirs.

For purposes of this plan, I will be using the weekend of 10/13-10/16.

*American Airlines has another RT, NonStop flight for $357 that allows you the standard baggage allotment of a personal and a carry on.

After the flights were secured I had to get housing. ORIGINALLY, the goal was to stay at a Marriott property but at the last minute the plans changed and I ended up having to stay at a gorgeous boutique hotel. That was a change, I was not upset about making.

The hotel I ended up selecting was Nico Urban Hotel. Located about 45 minutes drive from International Airport Monsenor Arnulfo Romero. There is a highly-rated Italian restaurant on the property and across the street there is a bar that has 3 for $10 cocktails, a burger spot, a taco restaurant and a ramen restaurant. I also loved the fact that it was within walking distance of the El Salvador Art Museum and other attractions. Breakfast was included and my room had its own little outdoor lounge area. The hotel was a bit pricey (they even raised the price for this blog so I am not including it; if you want to check them out they are on booking.com and hotels.com)

Below are some options of highly reviewed hotels in San Salvador for the dates 10/13-10/16.

As far as activities I kept it simple. I wanted to get on the rainbow slide, eat pupusas, and go to the beach. Outside of those three, anything else was an additional excursion. For my first full day there, I went on Viator and booked an excursion for $89 pp. This tour included pickup and drop off at the hotel, admission to the rainbow slide, and one back-and-forth trip across the bicycle zipline. Luckily for me the day I went it was raining so I couldn't get on the bike, but the nice men who run the excursion let me get on the Tarzan swing as an alternative. Since I was on the excursion solo, the tour driver took a detour and allowed me to get souvenirs as well as find pupusas because we had time to kill.

The next day I went to the beach, via Uber motorcycle. The beach is always a great "free" thing to when you are on vacation. Fun fact: Due to all of the volcanic ash that was left over from previous eruptions of the many volcanoes on El Salvador, the beach has black sand. But be warned this is a family friendly beach so do with that information as you wish.

So all together using my "itinerary" if you were to travel to San Salvador, El Salvador on October 13th through October 16th your total would be (not including Ubers)

Flight: $310, Non Stop, RT.

Hotel: Cinco Hotel - $285

Excursions + Transportation: $90

Food (not including breakfast): Estimate $150

Transportation: Estimate $80

Roughly $800 for a 4 Day, 3 night trip to El Salvador.

Overall, I loved the warm weather, the black sand beach and how safe I felt. I had no real qualms about walking alone. Everything was within 5/10 minutes of the hotel and there was wifi everywhere. As a frequent solo traveler, I recommend El Salvador for a beginner. Granted you have to know basic Spanish phrases or the El Salvadorian's will look at you and not respond, but if you try they will try.