Surf City El Salvador: Exploring El Tunco Beach

My family and I have been living in and exploring Costa Rica and Guatemala for the past ten years. We also go to the US often to explore different cities, but we have never done much exploring in the other countries of the region. Finally, we decided to start exploring them and headed over to El Salvador. The first place we visited was Suchitoto and then decided to move to the El Salvador beaches. That’s how I ended up in Surf City El Salvador, which is El Tunco Beach, a really popular place for surfing!

Also, it’s one of the best places to enjoy exotic Salvadorian fruit. Make sure to read my post about it and choose the best one for you

El Tunco Beach (Surf City)

El Salvador is slowly coming up as THE hot surf spot in Central America and for very good reason. So we couldn’t miss the opportunity to try some of the waves of the area.

We arrived during mid-afternoon and had plenty of time to explore the beach and tiny town. We stayed in Tekuani Kal, located directly on the beach and about a 3-minute walk from the town center which was nothing more than a few hotels, bars, restaurants, and too many surf shops.

We instantly fell in love with the place. Maybe it’s the energy, maybe it’s the gorgeous volcanic beaches, maybe it’s the fact that even though there were people there, you felt like the place belonged to you. And what impressed us most of all was the amount of foreigners hanging out here, either learning to surf or being surf groupies.

The one downfall of the beach trip is that it’s really not swimmable. This is because the tides are extremely strong, and the waves are big. I would have had heart palpitations if B-boy wanted to go swimming and my husband had to go with him.

Gratefully, our hotel has a great pool, and he could get his swimming fix there, completely safely.

Surf City El Salvador

But when in Rome… I insisted that my hubby and son take surf lessons. I figured since they are both adrenaline junkies what better sport for them to start learning. International Dad proved me right, he was soooo into it that the next day he took another lesson and is now dreaming of when he can surf again.

B-boy, on the other hand, did not feel comfortable at all. His instructor was great and very patient. But after a couple of times, he came out to K boy and me. He didn’t feel it. His thing has always been climbing, his element is Earth. The water is too unknown for him. The instructor tried really hard to get him out there, and he went out one more time.

Then B-boy came up to me and said: “Mama, I don’t want to go back out there.” That was good enough for me. He enjoyed it enough not to be scared of it if he ever decides to take it up again in years to come.

Overall we really enjoyed our stay in El Tunco, people were great, the hotel wasn’t anything too outstanding, but it was good, clean and right there in the middle of all the fun. We were also able to experience a new sport. I would highly recommend visiting the area if you are looking for a fin beach vacation.

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