Surfing El Salvador

El Salvador hosts some of the longest, fastest right-hand point breaks on the planet. Punta Roca — the world-class cobblestone point near La Libertad — has hosted WSL events and is regularly compared to J-Bay and Rincon for shape and length. The country's Pacific coast is essentially a string of similar points, all firing on the same Southern Hemisphere swell.

Las Flores on the eastern coast is the other headliner — a near-perfect right-hand point in a remote, palm-fringed setting that has become a destination resort. Between Punta Roca and Las Flores sit a dozen more quality points: Sunzal (gentler longboarder-friendly right), El Zonte (hipster surf town with consistent reef break), Mizata, Punta Mango. The drive between them takes a few hours; the wave quality is consistent.

El Salvador had a rough reputation for decades, but the surf coast is safe, the surf tourism infrastructure is excellent, and the country uses the U.S. dollar as currency. Add warm water (26-28°C), affordable prices, and a wave quality that punches well above what most surfers expect, and El Salvador is one of the most underrated surf trips in the Americas.