IMMERSIVE Episode – El Zonte Adventure: Coffee, Caves & The Ultimate Beach Escape in El Salvador

But don't worry, I'm still just as excited as the first day to explore more of this country. And today, it's El Zonte on the Pacific coast. Let's get stuck in.

After spending the night in San Salvador after arriving back from Suchitoto, I've now left my hotel and now heading off on a walk to the bus station.

Catching the 102 bus to Elizonte. This bus station also has buses to El Tonco. On Google Maps put in Punto de Buses Ruta 102 you'll find the bus station. The ticket costs $3 in total, half of it for the ticket and half for my bag.

Before Elzonte you'll need to flag down your stop. If you want the surf beach, that's the second stop. If you need the Bitcoin beach, that's the third stop. I have arrived into Elzonte.

I was too early to check in, so I headed straight down to the main township to grab lunch at Merendero El Toco, which has great views of the surf beach. For $5 I had a burger and chips and a Coke and watched the surfers do their work.

The waves are huge. Surfers get my ultimate respect. I can't really swim that well. So the fact they can go in deep water, grab a board, and have the stamina and endurance to surf a wave. Pretty incredible to me.

I checked in to my Airbnb. Arrived into El Zonte. The bus was fairly painless in the end. A tad confusing at the start, but got there in the end. And I walked into the mini, minute little township by the water and it's lovely and quaint. Black sand beach, lots of surfers, lots of maybe high-end restaurants. Staying here is more expensive than El Tunco.

But I managed to find what I think is a reasonable deal on Airbnb and that is a little private sort of guest room really. But all these come with two beds, so divided by two, it's pretty cheap. I think this is about 75 Canadian a night. I'm gonna hammock. I'm gonna read my book. There's a pool over there that I can go in. There's a kitchen over there. But I went for lunch and lunch is $34. So if wanna cook pasta, it's probably gonna cost the same. So I'll weigh that one up. But it's absolutely tipping it down in a minute.

This is not beach weather, it's thunder. I assume there's lightning and unless you're in the water, what are you going to do? So thought I'd chill here in the hammock, read my book and then I'll go out towards the beach this evening, see what's going on and I might try and find some laundry as well. The rain was incessant. It stayed for the rest of the evening. I did manage to pop round the corner to El Vikingo for an expensive Thai meal at $20. It tasted great. Right, day of exploring.

It's not raining yet so I'm getting out there. Gonna check out the beach, the cathedral cove and get some breakfast and some good coffee. I'm really looking forward to checking out Elzonte. Gonna head out, out onto the road, a 10 minute walk down to the beach. Really looking forward to it. Sunny day, let's hope the rain holds off. I did read that the rain does hold off until early afternoon so I made the most of the morning. My first thing to see is Cueva Elzonte.

which is near Bitcoin Beach. So I'm walking to there now. Cueva Alzonte is a mesmerizing natural wonder. It's located right on the beach and if you go in low tide you can walk through it. There are dramatic caves, stunning rock formations and the soothing sound of water as it approaches the area. I wonder what it looks like. I'm excited.

I haven't seen a black sand beach in 10 years.

It was absolutely stunning, giving me Hawaii vibes. There's something quite magical about Black Sand Beach.

To get to Quaver I had to walk right down the end of the Black Sand Beach of this part of Bitcoin Beach.

There is hardly anyone here, but it is 8.30 in the morning.

The sand is so warm and the sound of the waves is so blissful.

I'm about to approach Quaver and someone told me it looks like Cathedral Cove in the water, so here goes.

There is a gap in the beach and I need to traverse some rocks and now I see the gap in the cave. This looks awesome.

This is incredible. In high tide, this would be full of water. But now, I'm walking through the gap to the other side of the beach and there's no one here. Why is there no one here?

picked a spot, sat down and reflected on my trip so far. This really is the type of place you can sit there with the waves in the background and maybe wish all your problems away, or at least for the morning anyways.

I left my stuff on the beach and took a dip in the water. It is so warm. There's only one family in the distance, but otherwise, I the whole beach to myself. This is dreamy.

So I've arrived at El Zante beach, only a 10 minute walk from town and arrived to this amazing thing. You can only visit that in low tides, it's low tide at the minute. I think it gets low tide another 12 hours later, so about 8.45 ish. But this beach is magical, reminds me of Hawaii actually, Black Sand Beach. There is no one really here. This is pretty sensational. I say in El Salvador this is a must because...

El Tunco gets all the parties and all the stuff but here there's no one here. I know it's a tad more expensive but what do you expect for 40 quid a night? you've a beach to yourself, there's a family in there. They're probably annoyed that I'm here but no rush, all day here. Well not in this bit because this will be full of water but I really enjoy this bit I think. Can sit over there. Yeah, lovely. El Zonte was one of the first places in El Salvador to accept Bitcoin.

and surf classes here can cost between $10 to $50 an hour. Now it's time for a coffee and headed to Point Break Cafe and my word, this coffee was sensational. Almost as good as Ix canal in the previous episode. A coffee and bagel is $5 and it's situated just behind the beach and opens around 9.30, give or take. I knew the rain was coming so I went back to the beach to take advantage of it.

found a great local recommendation for dinner at Papousa Ria JC. It's one dollar a papousa and has so many options including vegetarian and vegan options. Get stuck in.

This is my last morning in El Zonte so I got out early and headed to the beach again. Today I'm heading to Santa Ana and that is two buses but first I wanted to walk the rest of the beach and get another coffee at point break. Early morning walk along the beach.

I actually went to go to the cafe first. It says it opens at 8 but it's Latin America so it says 8, could be 9. So she told me come back in 20 minutes so I thought I'd go for a walk first. Lovely morning. Tide is definitely out today. I didn't go down this side of the beach yesterday so looking forward to checking it out. It's the same same but why not? Yeah. Today I'm going to Santa Ana. There's two buses. So one to San Salvador, then I've got to transfer to different bus station and then get another bus.

and then a book to three nights there because I want to stay somewhere for bit of time and have two or three full days. So Santa Ana, volcanoes on the list, got some mine ruins on the list so should be a good couple of days. There is a river which splits El Zonte so I headed down there to take a look and I saw some locals doing some fishing. The majority of hotels and hostels are on the side that I'm staying at.

If want the quieter but more expensive side, then Bitcoin Beach is your place to go to. But honestly, it doesn't matter. They're a 10 minute walk from each other.

Now it's time for another sumptuous coffee or two.

This is absolutely up there with some of best coffees I've ever had and I don't make that statement lightly. I'm now jumping on the bus to Santa Ana to hear my reflections on El Zonte. I was pretty unlucky with the weather but I took advantage of the morning time to explore as much as I could. Cueva El Zonte was a dream. Bitcoin Beach is a dream. Point Break Cafe Coffee is a dream. The prices? Not so much of a dream.

But can't have it all, can you?

If you're a surfer, this is the place for you. And for me, it was a place of reflection, a bit of chill time, doing a bit of reading, walking on warm sand on a black sand beach, taking a dip in the water, drinking great coffee and just enjoying a bit of downtime. Stormsara was inconvenient, but in a weird way, I quite enjoyed the torrential rain.

But for you, I would take a visit, get down to the Pacific coast, enjoy the views, enjoy the sounds and chill in a dreamy little place on the coast. For me, it's the last leg of my El Salvador trip as I head to Santa Ana to climb the volcano and see the city and the surrounding areas. I'm excited.

and buzzing for a new chapter in my El Salvador journey. Be sure to follow the podcast so you don't miss the next episode and I'll see you in Santa Ana. Ciao.

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