COSTA DEL SOL

- La Paz department, Hotel Pacific Paradise

Costa del Sol, is, like its more famous namne in Spain, a coastal area with amazing beaches along the Pacific Ocean. But unlike its Spanish counterpart, this area in the La Paz department of El Salvador it is not touristy at all. The coastline is extremely beautiful with its surrounding hills and mountains, high palms, and wide long, untouched white beaches but it is very undeveloped. There are very few people on the beaches, only a few hotels, very few stores, and almost no restaurants at all can be found. On top of that the area is very rundown with neglect buildings, roads and cottages in bad shape. The area is situated just about one hour southeast by car from San Salvador, but despite the proximity to the capital there are not many people on the beaches, as mentioned. Probably because there are only one rundown, small road with a lots of holes and drifting cattle (that takes a additional hour to drive this short distance), ironically called Boulevard Costa del Sol. You cannot reach the beach without entering one of the cottages or hotels, because a huge, neglect wall, hides and blocks the sea from the road.

The service is often unfriendly and everything from buildings to public toilets are in bad shape. Desite the good location next to the sea, and the fact that some rich people have walled properties at the beach, mostly pour people and stray dogs live there. There are plans to develop the area, with money from American companies, and build hotels and roads. Let's hope that will happen, otherwise it will be hard to attract more international tourists there! The town of La Libertad seems more popular, because it is a popular surfing destination.

If you rent a cottage, the staff can be really rude, especially if you ask for "luxuries" like a working toilet (the lack of water is a big problem in the country), and the service non existence. But if you stick to one of the few large hotels, everything will work out just fine, just like in any modern hotel around the world. That said, it is still highly recommended to visit the Costa del Sol area if you are in El Salvador, but only stick to the hotels and stay there, and rent a good car to get there via the bumpy road. The waves are really high, so the beach is often flagged red. So it is a good place to surf, but can be really dangerous to swim. As long as you are prepared to all the discomforts, Costa del Sol is a really beautiful, undiscovered place where you get a good value for money.

We stayed for a few days at the 4-star Hotel Pacific Paradise. It was a good hotel right next to the beach with only 3 floors. It was not the most modern one but it had large rooms with working AC, a decent breakfast, good diner including free drinks, nice palms and large pool areas. The small lobby looked a bit spartanous though. Some international tourists stayed at this hotel during our visit.

Sorry for the bad quality on some pictures, they were taken from a car window on a very bumpy road.

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