Discovering the Ruta de Las Flores at your own pace feels like passing through a short summary of all the great things that El Salvador has to offer. Starting from Sonsonate, the route brings you through a number of gorgeous villages, each with its own particularity and unique architectural beauty, to finish off in the biggest coffee trade-centre of the country Ahuachapan. Village-hopping, nature hiking, coffee tours, tasting local gastronomy, discovering old forgotten traditions and much more.. this is Ruta de Las Flores!
In case you don’t fancy doing it on a bus, you can easily do this itinerary from Santa Ana!
First Stop: Nahuizalco
This indigenous village has widely expanded over the last decade currently becoming the second largest village along the Ruta de Las Flores. Although the population boom, the place has still an atmosphere to an overgrown village rather than a small city. In the center of town, just in front of the church, there is a park where to chill during the day and all around the streets surrounding that same park beautiful murals can be seen decorating every wall.
Although the several comedores around the park and the sleepy atmosphere of the town during the day, the real deal starts in the evening with a big gastronomical night market counting countless stands serving the best-of-the-best of local food.
Second Stop: Salcoatitan
Differently to the previous stop, this town is way smaller and everything worth a visit can be found around the main road passing through it. Just before entering on the right, visitors can find a nice little park which host a massive old Ceiba.
Right next to the park there is a small history of printing museum and also nice church (in front of which, during weekends there’s a small food market). A short walk around town is a good option to see the few beautiful murals scattered in some streets.
Third Stop: Juayua
With its beautiful church, streets and plenty of activities to do, Juayua is one of the most visited towns of the itinerary. Tere’s a Tourist Information Centre just next to the main town’s plaza for those wanting to stay over for the night and make the place a base for exploring the area.
The church is worth a visit to see the Cristo Negro (Black Christ), the park to relax in the shadow and market to get some tasty fresh fruit to munch on while strolling around. The tourist centre also organises guided walks to Los Chorros de Calera (15$), a trek visiting 7 waterfalls varying in size not far from the city.
If you love tasting local food, make sure to be around during the weekends for the weekly Feria de la Gastronomia which runs all year round. A great variety of dishes (varying in prices) from french fries to home-cooked cooked meats can be tasted but finding real traditional food seems to be increasingly difficult.
Fourth Stop: Apaneca
This town can be simply described with one word: Coffee. Although the small village center is very nice to walk around and sit down to sip one of the tastiest coffees of the whole country, most of the attractions of Apaneca are outside town. The most interesting thing to do is to visit the Coffee Labyrinth (Finca Asturias) which is apparently the biggest labyrinth in the whole of Central America.
Alternatively you can drive to Laguna Verde and walk up a few nature trails in the area or if you fancy treat yourself (but not your wallet) to one of the canopy zip-line tours close-by. Around town you can also find several companies that can arrange coffee tours, should you wish to know all the process from picking to brewing.
Fifth Stop: Concepción de Ataco
The streets full of murals of Ataco are probably the nicest for a stroll around town. Small local tiendas, several recently opened coffee shops and many other sweet shops are sprouting all around the main plaza.
You can easily spend a couple of hours enjoying the great relaxed vibes and mountain breeze on a bench of the pretty park in from of the church (worth a visit). But if you really wanna see something awesome make sure to walk up to the Hotel/Cafè Balcón de Ataco or Mirador de la Cruz both of which offers great views over the city.
Last Stop: Ahuachapan
The region’s capital for coffee trading, this city is located right at the end (or the beginning) of the Ruta de Las Flores. Once again, the city center is a nice place to stroll around and the park offers some great spots to relax eating a freshly cut sandia (watermelon); although some beautiful murals have been taken away not long ago the beautiful town’s church and surrounding are still worth a visit.
For those who have their own transport, close to the city you can find a place near a Geothermal plant where a small house-owner charges a small fee to see the Ausoles (small several geysers) in the back of her yard.
Don’t expect to spend more than 15min walking around the place but its a great interesting stop for those looking for something different!
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