San Miguel

Introduction

San Miguel is the third largest city in El Salvador and center of agriculture and production. It is less cosmopolitan than the capital San Salvador in the West but the surrounding areas of San Miguel are very beautiful with many beaches around the city. The weather is amazing, very warm and subtle and so the "Wild East" offers tourists the opportunity to get off the beaten path and see an authentic El Salvador.

Sights and Activities

• San Miguel Volcano is a stratovolcano and one of the most active in the country.
• Downtown San Miguel Av. Roosevelt is the place to find the Metrecentro Mall, bars and nightclubs which also hosts the biggest carnical in Central America in November.
• El Cuco is a quintessential beach with dark sands, lined with vendor huts and seafood restaurants and shaggy palms.
• Playa Las Flores is next to El Cuco and is regarded as one of the best surf spots in all of El salvador.
• Playa El Esteron is located on the other side of El Cuco and is one of the most beautiful and secluded beaches in all of El Salvador.
• Intipuca Beach is next to Playa Esterone and is famous for El Salvador's first microbrewery and where the river joins the ocean is hugely popular for stand up paddleboarding.

Events and Festivals

San Miguel Carnival

November in San Miguel is party time, with beautiful dancing girls and parades to honor the San Miguel patron saint. Bands from the region play reggae, samba and funky, local merengue on the streets.

Getting There

The Pan-American highway travels through El Salvador and is a safe route for entering the country and travelling between San Miguel in the east and San Salvador in the west.

Getting Around

From San Miguel bus terminal there are regular one hour bus rides to El Cuco where you can get a taxi to Playa El Esteron and Intipuca Beach.

Eat

San Miguel, like any other modern city, has a lot options, either fast food restaurants or, for sit down restaurants there are a few options in Metrocentro.

You can find the best sea food in central america fresh from the coast of San Miguel at El Cuco, Playa Esteron, Intipuca Beach and Playa Las Flores.

Drink

For nightlife you can head to Ave. Roosevelt in San Miguel which has numerous bars and clubs open until the early hours of the morning and is also host to the biggest carnival in Central America in November.

Intipuca Beach is home to the first microbrewery in El Salvador and offers an array of hand-craft beers by the beach.

Sleep

San Miguel has the most modern hotels in the eastern side of El Salvador, right in front of Metrocentro you will find a four star hotel, Comfort Inn a few kilometres ahead there's another good option,the Hotel Tropico Inn. There are also budget hotels located next to the bus terminal.

• La Tortuga Verde (La Tortuga Verde will cover the $5 taxi ride from El Cuco), ☎ +503 73389646, e-mail: [email protected]. Beach resort, turtle sanctuary, swimming pool, jacuzzi, yoga and meditation temples, health and beauty spa, restaurant and bar, shuttle service to El Cuco, Intipuca Beach and Las Flores surf spot. Other tours include, stand up paddle boarding, island boat trips, water-skiing, wake-boarding, para-sailing, volcano and nature hiking, hot springs, lake tours, and kayaking through mangroves. Dorm $6, Private $20-30, Bungalow $50-100, House $100-150.
• Hotel Miraflores, ☎ +503 7890-4751. Playa Las Flores, El Cuco, San Miguel Incredible view over one of the best waves of El Salvador, Las Flores point break. Nice rooms with amenities such as a swimming pool, hammocks, board rental, massages, restaurant service, sundeck, boat trips and tours.
• Las Flores Surf Club, Located at "Wild East", El Cuco, San Miguel. Ph: USA Offices: (888) 899-8823. Surfing resort with facilities and equipment that include a private beach access road, beachfront palapas with hammocks, beach shower, boat house with enclosed surfboard storage, restaurant, infinity pool, swim-up bar, massage table and canopy.
• Comfort Inn Real San Miguel, Final Alameda Roosevelt Y Ca a la Unión, Esquina Opuesta, ☎ +503 2600-0200, fax: +503 2600-0203. The Comfort Inn Real San Miguel has 86 single and double rooms, two meeting rooms, pool, gym, restaurant and tequila bar that serves regional and international dishes. Prices range between $80 - $140.

Keep Connected

Internet

Internet cafes are available in pretty much every town and charge around US$1-2 per hour. There is almost always wifi (usually free of charge) in hostels, mostly in midrange and luxury hotels (but less so in budget hotels and guesthouses), but connection speeds and reliability varies dramatically. Be aware that many high-end hotels charge between $3 and $10 per day for internet use although some will let you log on and print an airline boarding pass free of charge.

Phone

See also International Telephone Calls

The international country code for El Salvador is 503. The general emergency number is 911.

To place a call within El Salvador, simply dial the eight-digit number beginning with 2 for landlines and 7 for cellphones.

The main companies are Movistar, Tigo, Digicel, and Claro, with Tigo reputedly giving the best overall reception. When using your own cell phone, the roaming can cost anywhere between $1 and $4 a minute and internet charges are extremely high as well. It's better to buy a local SIM card, which can be bought for about US$25-30 and have much lower rates. Especially when you are in the country for a longer time and wish to use internet and make a call regularly, this might be a better option.

Pay-as-you-go phones can be purchased in the airport, the cheapest of which cost $60. Make sure to ask if the phone can take international calls and how much this costs, as packages vary and can be restrictively expensive. Look out for promotions such as free incoming calls and cheap international calls for US$0.10 a minute with certain networks.

Post

Correos de El Salvador is the country's postal service. Most towns in El Salvador have post offices marked by a blue sign reading correos. Post offices are open Monday through Friday from 8:00am to 5:00pm in larger cities, and 7:00am to noon and 2:00 to 5:00pm in small towns. To mail a standard letter or a postcard from El Salvador to the United States costs around US$0.70 and US$1 to Europe and Australia. It might take anywhere from a week to the USA to a few weeks further afield. If you'd like to send a package, it might be better to use an international company like TNT, DHL, UPS or FedEx, as they are fast, reliable and not overly expensive.

External Links