El Salvador Backpacking Budget 2026: How Much I Actually Spent as a Solo traveller

I spent 225 days travelling solo around Latin America in 2025 and 2026 as part of my mid 30s career break, and as part of my mission to give accurate and relevant information to other travellers, I tracked everything I spent in the duration of my time away.

My El Salvador Backpacking Budget Breakdown is no exception, covering everything I spent during the week I travelled through this Central American country. From accommodation, food and drink, transport and activities, to everything you may forget to budget for like data, laundry and toiletries.

El Salvador was never originally on my radar, but due to the difficulty of getting a visa sorted for Honduras, most British citizens will at the very least pass through El Salvador on their way between Guatemala and Nicaragua as they will need to cross the border by boat, avoiding Honduras entirely.

I was keen to max out some relaxing pool and beach time for the last part of my travels, so I stayed in the surf town of El Zonte, close to El Tunco and then up at Shalpa beach for a couple of nights in a destination hostel. I had originally planned to spend just 4 or 5 days in El Salvador but after finding out about Mirador Espiritu de la Montana, I added on a couple of days to camp out overnight and watch the sun rise over three different countries. It ended up being one of my favourite experiences in Central America.

Read on for my full El Salvador budget – but bear in mind this only reflects the more expensive coastal towns rather than the cheaper inland cities and destinations. I’m also a solo traveller, so I’ve highlighted where this has affected my budget and how much I’ve spent. You’ll be able to see see where you can travel differently to make your budget stretch further, or where you’ll be able to save money if you’re travelling with someone else.

My El Salvador Spend: At A Glance

El Salvador Backpacking Budget Breakdown By Category

You can see my personal El Salvador backpacking budget broken down by category as follows:

Accommodation Costs in El Salvador for The Solo Traveller

I stayed in hostels over the week I was in El Salvador and they were surprisingly expensive for a country I had heard was pretty cheap, however they both had swimming pools and were situated along the surfing coast of El Salvador, which is quite gentrified compared to other places inland.

One of the hostels I stayed in, Lagarza, was also one of the best hostels I stayed at during my travels too, and was well worth the cost: double dorm beds and a beautiful infinity pool overlooking the ocean and beach.

If you’re a 30 plus backpacker and worried about making the right choice when it comes to hostels, I’ve written about how to choose the best ones here.

Cost of Food and Drink in El Salvador

My total spend on food and drink came out at an average of £21 per day for my time in El Salvador, which was more than I expected but it turns out the coastal surf towns are quite boujie! I did buy some yoghurts for breakfasts but groceries were priced at a premium in El Zonte. I imagine that in the cities and towns further from the coast such as Santa Ana, you can get more for your money and costs would be less.

Most of the week in El Salvador was booze free, but I did meet up with a friend I’d met the previous year in Rajasthan one night for drinks. I was craving a good G&T something silly, so I splashed out on those instead of taking advantage of the $2 beer all night!

There were more basic street food style options available, but there are also a lot of Westernised restaurants along the coast at varying price points, some of which were really quite expensive.

The following table shows my personal breakdown on food and drink spend in El Salvador.

Transport in El Salvador: Getting Around As A Solo Traveller

I’ve broken down the cost of transport in El Salvador by type in the following table:

Local Buses vs Tourist Shuttles

Navigating the local buses will save you a lot of money in El Salvador, but I opted for tourist shuttles to avoid multiple changes and shorten the journeys I was taking given I only had a week in the country. I booked my shuttles online through Gekko, and I really recommend them – great communication, thorough and reliable.

Taxis

From El Zonte I used Uber to get to El Tunco and Playa Shalpa, both 10-15 min drive in opposite directions from El Zonte. The Ubers were easy to get and cheap!

Border Crossing via Boat from Nicaragua

As well as my internal shuttles and the one onwards into Guatemala, I also booked my border crossing shuttle from Nicaragua into El Salvador with Gekko, which cost £55.

Brits need a visa to even transit overland through Honduras now, and unfortunately the visas are tricky to get, requiring an in person visit to an embassy, so the boat border crossing is full of Brits and sometimes dubbed ‘The Brexit Boat’ (even though it has nothing to do with Brexit!)

I had heard wildly varying stories of the boat crossing: some said it was fine, some reported back that it had been a rough journey and that they’d gotten really wet on. It’s totally dependant on the sea conditions and luckily we had water as flat as glass to cross over with, so not only was it an enjoyably smooth journey, but we also arrived early into La Union. The whole journey was organised well by Gekko, and it includes a pick up at your accommodation, which was appreciated given the early start.

Activities and Experiences

My time in El Salvador was activity light – I was mostly there to chill by the pool for a few days before heading to Guatemala, my final country on my big Latin America trip.

The one activity I did was camping at Mirador Espiritu de la Montana before heading up the coast. We camped out under the stars and watched the sunrise over three countries with volcanoes in the distance and the ocean on the other side. I paid £31 for this which included the transport, tent, sleeping bag and mattress for the night. It was one of the best things I did in Central America and I highly recommend doing this on arrival in El Salvador or before leaving for Nicaragua.

Despite spending the rest of the week in surf towns, I’m not a surfer myself, though lessons are around £20/$25 each.

Miscellaneous Costs to Budget For in El Salvador

The miscellaneous costs you don’t think of can really add up whilst backpacking.

Data

I usually buy a local sim card to save on data costs; they are significantly cheaper than an e-sim. However in El Salvador I wasn’t able to get a local sim given I was going straight from the border crossing to the overnight camping at the mirador, so I bought an e-sim on this occasion. Making sure I always have access to the internet makes me feel a lot more comfortable and safe, especially as a solo female traveller.

If you also need to buy an e-sim, I used Airalo. You can use code CHARLI4330 for £2.50 off of your first purchase.

Toiletries

I didn’t need to buy anything other than painkillers whilst in El Salvador, but I did notice that as with the majority of places in Latin America, suncream was very expensive – around $20 for a bottle.

Laundry

Laundry varied drastically between the two hostels I stayed at in El Zonte and Playa Shalpa. The latter did a whole load for $10 with no need to weigh it, so I got pretty much everything I was carrying washed for that price, which was excellent.

Massage

Not something I had planned to do but with a back spasm that led to me barely being able to move, was wholly necessary. It was also one of the best massages I’ve ever had! Highly recommend Lua Massage if you’re in El Zonte. Magic hands.

Backpacking El Salvador Solo: How It Affects Your Budget

Travelling solo does tend to mean you spend more than those travelling with others, but generally speaking El Salvador felt very solo traveller friendly – both in terms of budget and otherwise.

If you’re craving a private room after some time on the road, solo travellers don’t have the advantage of splitting the cost, and sometimes those private rooms are just too expensive. Given the cost of hostels were quite high during my time spent in El Salvador, private rooms definitely weren’t an option. I was only travelling here for a week, so it didn’t become a problem for me. I had recently enjoyed quite a few private rooms during my time in Nicaragua, and luckily I got to experience one of the best hostels of my trip in El Salvador, complete with infinity pool and dorms with double beds!

I travelled by shuttle through El Salvador, which are the same cost per traveller, and the few solo taxis I did take were cheap as they were through Uber, which runs surprisingly well. I think the only thing I couldn’t split was the tent cost at the mirador, but there’s every chance I would have paid out for my own one even if I had been travelling with someone…a chance for a makeshift ‘private room’!

OveraI didn’t feel like I was at a disadvantage financially for being a solo traveller in El Salvador.

What Pushed My El Salvador Budget Up 

Choosing to focus my time on the coast made my week in El Salvador more expensive than if I’d stayed inland; I think that if I’d had another week exploring the cities and countryside the overall daily spend would have been brought down on average. The hostels were pricy in the surf towns, especially at my time of travel (early March) and this brought up my daily average spend.

I spent £38 on a massage but very much needed to given I couldn’t move properly! An unexpected cost but thankfully not only did it really help my mobility, it was also one of the best massages I’ve ever had.

In El Salvador I travelled via tourist shuttle, which were significantly more expensive than a local bus option, but for the journeys I had lined up there was no direct option. I would have had to at change at least once in San Salvador, but it was likely I would have also have had to stay overnight, and I didn’t have time to spare as I was coming to the end of my trip and keen to get into Guatemala.

Ways to Spend Less in El Salvador

Spending more time inland in El Salvador rather than on the coast will help your budget a lot; everything is cheaper but especially hostels.

Opting for longer and less comfortable journeys on the local buses that require changes instead of splashing out on the tourist shuttles is an easy way to save money, as is the old classic of choosing hostels with kitchen access and cooking for yourself to save money on eating out.

Final Thoughts: Is El Salvador Worth the Cost?

El Salvador is a lovely country that feels very safe and easy to travel, and whilst I spent more than most will spend there given I only stayed in the gentrified surf towns along the Pacific coast, it’s a country well worth investing time and money to explore.

I am sure my overall average daily spend would have been reduced had I spent time travelling in places like Santa Ana, La Ruta de la Flores and San Salvador in addition to the surf towns; reports from other backpackers were usually that El Salvador was overall cheaper than other parts of Central America, and all of those people had been travelling in these places in addition to the coast.

If you’re planning a big Latin America trip, you can find my full budget breakdown for 7.5 months of travel here.

El Salvador Backpacking Budget FAQs

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