Why did I go hiking Santa Ana Volcano in El Salvador?

I was once warned not to go to El Salvador by someone who had family there, because I would certainly be kidnapped. But I didn’t heed this advice, and ended up having a wonderful time in El Salvador in January 2023.

I understand there has been a lot of improvement in the last few years in terms of safety there. Also, I heard some very sage advice from a fellow traveler, in terms of when to know if a place is safe or not: if the person that is giving you the advice has been there, and been there recently, then you should heed the advice. Otherwise, no.

Is El Salvador safe?

I decided to go to El Salvador because I wanted to add another trip after Cancun, and Belize flights seemed too expensive. So I searched where I could fly for cheap, and El Salvador came up. I googled what there was to do there, and it seemed like a fun ecotourism destination for outdoor adventures, so I bought the flight!

Hiking Santa Ana Volcano

The top site to see in the whole country is the Santa Ana volcano. I read mixed reports online about if it was safe to go there, but I took my usual approach of asking the hostel about a tour, which made it super easy to get there! And as a bonus, two Canadians who were traveling joined me on the adventure. I stayed at Hostel Casa Verde Santa Ana and booked my volcano tour through them. 10/10 recommend!

The hike itself was intermediate in terms of difficulty, with beautiful views. The best part was at the top, where you could see the crater lake inside! Wow! There were police around the top to keep people from going down into the crater, maintain public safety, keep away people with malicious intent, etc. We had a break at the top to take photos, and there were two locals selling popsicles, which was amazing under the strong sun.

More adventures in El Salvador

After we hiked back down, the tour driver took us over to the nearby Lake Coatepeque. We had lunch at a restaurant on the water, where the Canadians rented a jet ski! I hung out in the hammock at the restaurant. When they got back from their jet ski adventure, we went for a little wade/swim in the lake, before heading back to the hotel. It was a lovely day out.

Overall, I felt safe in Santa Ana, but I did experience a lot of verbal street harassment from men. I imagine there aren’t too many solo female travelers there, so it was a bit uncomfortable, but I never felt unsafe. In general, the locals were very friendly and helpful.

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