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San Salvador
Capital of El Salvador

San Salvador

San Salvador is the capital and largest city of El Salvador and of its eponymous department.

Plan a trip to San Salvador→From Guatemala City

It is the country's largest agglomeration, serving as the country's political, cultural, educational and financial center. The municipality of San Salvador has 525,990 inhabitants (2024). The Metropolitan Area of San Salvador, which comprises the capital itself and 13 of its municipalities, has a population of 2,404,097. The urban area of San Salvador has a population of 1,600,000 inhabitants.

See

Worth seeing

San Salvador has wide avenues and boulevards, including the two widest boulevards in Central America: Boulevard de los Proceres and Boulevard de los Heroes. Other important boulevards include Alameda Roosevelt, Paseo General Escalon, Av. Jerusalem, Boulevard Constitucion and Av. Juan Pablo Segundo.

  1. 01
    Metropolitan Cathedral Of San Salvador
  2. 02
    National Palace
  3. 03
    Monument of Memory and Truth

    Inaugurated in 2003, this 85 metre long wall made of black granite contains 25,000 engraved names of victims of the Salvadorian Civil War.

  4. 04
    Rosario Church

    A striking modernist Church famed for its unassuming exterior and breathtaking interior filled with rainbow-colored light streaming through its arched concrete structure.

Do

Things to do

San Salvador has many theatres, including the beautiful Teatro Presidente (near Zona Rosa), where the symphony regularly performs expensive and inexpensive concerts, and the Teatro Nacional (downtown), which has been restored to its full splendor. Here you can step back and experience the grandeur once reserved for the city's elite in the early 1900s.

  1. 01
    National Theatre of El Salvador
  2. 02
    Teatro Presidente

    33 Ave Norte.

Eat

Where to eat

The restaurant scene in San Salvador is influenced by many different cultures. Food options include Italian, Korean, Japanese, Thai, French, Chilean, American, Peruvian, Mexican, Spanish, Middle Eastern, German, Chinese, Argentinian and others. Local food options include Tipicos Margot where one can purchase the famous Salvadoran Pupusas.

How locals move

Getting around San Salvador the local way

  • Get inFrom the airport offers limited colectivo services up into several major hotels in San Salvador.
  • Go nextThe rent a plane service is available to go to Santa Ana, San Miguel and La Union (on Tamarindo, near the Gulf of Fonseca where you can board a ferry to take you to the other Islands).

From Wikivoyage: San Salvador, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see file page), Wikimedia Commons.