Is El Salvador Cheap? Is it a good destination for the budget traveller?
El Salvador is one of the cheapest countries in Central America. But can you live on 10 USD a day?
Does El Salvador make a good destination for the budget traveller? Just as a reminder, you can see here a complete list of all my posts from El Salvador.
So let's start with the basics.
So let's start with the basics.
Where to stay in San Salvador (budget option):
I was staying at the Hostal Cumbres del Volcan which is probably the cheapest option in town.
It's located in the safe Flor Blanca area of the city.
A bed in an 8-bed dorm sets you back just 8 USD a night.
If you score a good deal on a bed for the night, you are more than ½ way there.
There was no chance of a weekly discount. I asked!
I had the lower bunk. Great for fixing up the mozzie net. My roomies were mostly ok. Of course, you get the asshole who rustles plastic bags, bangs the door or turns on the light at 1 am. That's dorm life. The beds were, I'd say, the best ever.
Filtered coffee and water are both offered for free.
This essentially saves me 3-4 bucks a day.
Over a month that's 90-120 USD. Over a year, a huge saving.
So a guest house now has to not only provide a safe, bug-free place to rest, water and coffee are an essential part of the deal.
There is a well-equipped kitchen so it's great for keeping costs down.
It takes a few days to find everything you need.
But steer away from the Super Selectos supermarkets. Though they are well stocked, they are much pricier.
Instead, head to the Despensa Familiar. The same ones as in Guatemala and the Bodega in Mexico. They don't have everything, but they have most things.
For everything else, the markets in downtown San Salvador are a backpackers dream.
So let's start cataloguing basic food supplies:
For breakfast, I typically eat fruit. Fruits that are in season. Fruits that are sweet and cheap.
With 2 large melons for 1 USD, 3 or 4 mangoes for 1-2 USD and a bag of bananas for 50 cents, fruit is cheap. A ½ a melon, a mango or 2 and a banana and that's breakfast taken care of, for about a dollar.
It's located in the safe Flor Blanca area of the city.
A bed in an 8-bed dorm sets you back just 8 USD a night.
If you score a good deal on a bed for the night, you are more than ½ way there.
There was no chance of a weekly discount. I asked!
I had the lower bunk. Great for fixing up the mozzie net. My roomies were mostly ok. Of course, you get the asshole who rustles plastic bags, bangs the door or turns on the light at 1 am. That's dorm life. The beds were, I'd say, the best ever.
Filtered coffee and water are both offered for free.
This essentially saves me 3-4 bucks a day.
Over a month that's 90-120 USD. Over a year, a huge saving.
So a guest house now has to not only provide a safe, bug-free place to rest, water and coffee are an essential part of the deal.
There is a well-equipped kitchen so it's great for keeping costs down.
It takes a few days to find everything you need.
But steer away from the Super Selectos supermarkets. Though they are well stocked, they are much pricier.
Instead, head to the Despensa Familiar. The same ones as in Guatemala and the Bodega in Mexico. They don't have everything, but they have most things.
For everything else, the markets in downtown San Salvador are a backpackers dream.
So let's start cataloguing basic food supplies:
For breakfast, I typically eat fruit. Fruits that are in season. Fruits that are sweet and cheap.
With 2 large melons for 1 USD, 3 or 4 mangoes for 1-2 USD and a bag of bananas for 50 cents, fruit is cheap. A ½ a melon, a mango or 2 and a banana and that's breakfast taken care of, for about a dollar.
Then I might get some pupusas for a midday snack. 3 for a dollar is pretty standard.
And dinner, I cook a meal of rice and veg. You can buy convenient bags of mixed veg for 25 or 50 cents. 2 large tomatoes cost 13 cents. You can buy small bags of rice for 60 cents which you can stretch to last 4 meals. And with 4 tortillas for una kora, a ¼, a home-cooked meal for about a dollar, a dollar 50 max.
Tins of sardines are expensive at 1.50 USD a can (in the UK you can get for ⅓ of that) but necessary twice a week if like me, you are not eating meat.
Tins of sardines are expensive at 1.50 USD a can (in the UK you can get for ⅓ of that) but necessary twice a week if like me, you are not eating meat.
Sometimes I forgo the lunchtime snack of pupusas and head to the Cafetería Samsil, see the image below, a local chain that serves up filling meals of rice, noodles, pasta, veg, chicken, pork.
Without an added beverage, I can get a good vegetarian feed for less than 3 USD, typically just 2.60 USD and just eat more fruit later.
So food for the day, around 4 USD or 5 USD, sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less.
Without an added beverage, I can get a good vegetarian feed for less than 3 USD, typically just 2.60 USD and just eat more fruit later.
So food for the day, around 4 USD or 5 USD, sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less.
What I don't spend money on, for which I have enough ideas and material for a blog post in itself:
A ride into town where you'll find the cheap Despensa Familiar supermarkets and the markets is between 10 and 20 cents. It's peanuts but I walk. It only takes 30 minutes. I save myself a few dollars a week.
A ride into town where you'll find the cheap Despensa Familiar supermarkets and the markets is between 10 and 20 cents. It's peanuts but I walk. It only takes 30 minutes. I save myself a few dollars a week.
Laundry costs 3 USD for a wash, 4 USD for the drier.
The guys laughed when I added my laundry powder to my 25-year-old ORTLIEB dry bag, filled it up with water, shock it up, put my T-shirt in, then left it for an hour, before rinsing and hanging it on the washing line.
I travel light. I don't even have enough clothes for a ¼ of a load. Just makes no economical or financial sense.
Every opportunity to save a dime.
This is why I can stay away, seemingly forever.
The guys laughed when I added my laundry powder to my 25-year-old ORTLIEB dry bag, filled it up with water, shock it up, put my T-shirt in, then left it for an hour, before rinsing and hanging it on the washing line.
I travel light. I don't even have enough clothes for a ¼ of a load. Just makes no economical or financial sense.
Every opportunity to save a dime.
This is why I can stay away, seemingly forever.
Attention to detail, I calculate everything and then make the choice.
The flight from Mexico, I took the morning flight over the evening flight which arrived at 7 pm and would necessitate taking a taxi for 30 USD.
In taking the less than convenient early morning flight, I could take bus #138 which runs up until dusk and costs just 60 cents.
The flight from Mexico, I took the morning flight over the evening flight which arrived at 7 pm and would necessitate taking a taxi for 30 USD.
In taking the less than convenient early morning flight, I could take bus #138 which runs up until dusk and costs just 60 cents.
Can you live on 10 USD a day in San Salvador,? It would be a pretty tough challenge and if you're running out of cash, you can get free cash withdrawals at the Banco Hipotecario.
In Mexico, last year, I could but I doubt it anymore. The 5 USD a night beds in San Cristobal and Oaxaca are long gone. With crazy inflation, the cost of a cheap bed is now 8 USD or so, a bit like here.
The basics are highlighted above. Of course, sometimes I splurge. A café with a slice of cake, I found for 2.10 USD. But these extravagances are just a weekly occurrence.
In Mexico, last year, I could but I doubt it anymore. The 5 USD a night beds in San Cristobal and Oaxaca are long gone. With crazy inflation, the cost of a cheap bed is now 8 USD or so, a bit like here.
The basics are highlighted above. Of course, sometimes I splurge. A café with a slice of cake, I found for 2.10 USD. But these extravagances are just a weekly occurrence.
The one luxury, the last sin, that I can't seem to forgo is an afternoon or evening beer.
I scrimp and scrape on accommodation and food and for that, I can enjoy a cold beer at the end of a hard day of being a backpacking blogger, determined to make a name (and an income) for myself.
My favourite place to enjoy that beer is not some local alehouse or dive bar. My favourite place to drink a beer is either the hammock at the beach or failing that, on the rooftop or balcony of wherever I am lodging with a beer bought from the supermarket.
I think of all those weeks in CDMX with Miss CDMX. We never had a 'locale', a place where we went every day.
With Covid an' all, we got used to dining at home. Miss CDMX is a damn fine cook (I would make her backpacker food, pasta, or lentils and rice and also rösti which was a hit), our only ritual it seemed was a take out cheese pizza from Little Ceasar near the Insurgentes metro washed down with supermarket beers. We didn't need a restaurant to wine and dine.
Beer in El Salvador
A small PILSENER 1 USD
A large PILSENER 1.19 USD
A large BRAHVA, imported from Brazil, the one I drank in Guatemala, 1 USD. I found a 12 pack of small Brahvas for 76 cents a can.
I scrimp and scrape on accommodation and food and for that, I can enjoy a cold beer at the end of a hard day of being a backpacking blogger, determined to make a name (and an income) for myself.
My favourite place to enjoy that beer is not some local alehouse or dive bar. My favourite place to drink a beer is either the hammock at the beach or failing that, on the rooftop or balcony of wherever I am lodging with a beer bought from the supermarket.
I think of all those weeks in CDMX with Miss CDMX. We never had a 'locale', a place where we went every day.
With Covid an' all, we got used to dining at home. Miss CDMX is a damn fine cook (I would make her backpacker food, pasta, or lentils and rice and also rösti which was a hit), our only ritual it seemed was a take out cheese pizza from Little Ceasar near the Insurgentes metro washed down with supermarket beers. We didn't need a restaurant to wine and dine.
Beer in El Salvador
A small PILSENER 1 USD
A large PILSENER 1.19 USD
A large BRAHVA, imported from Brazil, the one I drank in Guatemala, 1 USD. I found a 12 pack of small Brahvas for 76 cents a can.
So living as a low budget backpacker in San Salvador can be done on 15 USD a day. A far cry from those supposed backpacker orientated books that promote, Travelling the World on 50 USD a day. Is that even backpacking?
The low budget backpackers dream of living on 10 USD a day, is slowly becoming just that, a dream. And as prices continue to rise, 10 USD a day is little more than a wet dream.
I am not complaining. As long as I can keep the budget low, it's good. It's 2022, people have to live.
The low budget backpackers dream of living on 10 USD a day, is slowly becoming just that, a dream. And as prices continue to rise, 10 USD a day is little more than a wet dream.
I am not complaining. As long as I can keep the budget low, it's good. It's 2022, people have to live.