I recently travelled back to my home country, El Salvador, for a short visit to see my family. I know that at the moment El Salvador is not a hot tourist destination, and I find that sad. It’s such a beautiful country full of beautiful things to do, Paul Walker used to travel down there to surf often! If you travel with a local and/or a guide you will find some natural beauty that rivals any tourist destination in the world. Yes, it’s possible that I am biased here but take away the violent history and I believe that El Salvador is an amazing place to visit. One example of such beauty is Turicentro Los Chorros.

Located at a short 20 minute drive from San Salvador it is a popular destination for locals, especially with it’s inexpensive cover charge of $1.50 US for the day for locals and $3 for visitors, seniors and children under 5 get in free. You’ll also need to pay for parking if you’re driving, parking is $1 for cars, pick up trucks, or mini vans.

The reason I love this place is that it’s a natural spring and yes, it has been slightly modified to make it more appealing for people to swim but overall you are swimming in a cool natural spring, and stand or sit under the waterfalls, or sit on the steps and wait to have little minnows tickle your toes.

Swimming in an environment surrounded by leafy trees you may be lucky enough to see some of the birds of El Salvador in their natural habitat, like a parakeet or two. If you’re not into swimming in crystal clear natural springs, you can also take a walk up the stairs to a corridor called The Garden of The Poets, it’s a bit calmer and more private to take a stroll and see the memorial plaques to poets and famous writers of El Salvador.

Have little ones that you need to entertain? Los Chorros also has a huge man-made pool with water slides to spend the time in case you get hungry, there are one or two local canteens with kid-approved food and snacks.

On a very hot Salvadoran day (of many!) it’s the best way to cool off. You can rent a locker for your valuables and just hang out from 8 am to 4 pm, which are the hottest hours of the day. You can buy souvenirs or, in case you forgot something, you can get your Los Chorros swimming essentials at one of the kiosks. I recommend visiting on weekdays when it will be less likely to be super busy, most locals will go on weekends or holidays.

As you can see, I spent all of my time swimming in the natural spring pools so the pictures of the corridor and the “water park” area are not that great but you get to see the beauty of one of the best places that my country has to offer. I can’t wait to go again on my next visit home.