La Libertad, El Salvador

La Libertad, El Salvador
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2010.05.05.124022_El_Tunco_El_Sunzal_El_Salvador.jpg
Author: Hermann Luyken


La Libertad is a resort town on the coast of El Salvador. Today it is a major tourist destination with a population of around 36,000 people (2011 estimate). The town is particularly popular among surfers.

Sir Francis Drake landed on the shore on what is today La Libertad in the 16th century when he was on his way north towards California. La Libertad was just a nondescript coastal village that saw occasional activity, such as when the first steamboat arrived there in 1857. An iron pier was built here in 1869, but for the rest of the 19th century, the village had less than five hundred inhabitants.

La Libertad only began to boom in the 1970s, after it was discovered by surfers. After the Salvadoran civil war was over, the government put in put a number of tourist projects including the construction of a broadwalk and an amphitheater. Accommodation providers and restaurants soon mushroomed in La Libertad.

Visiting La Libertad

There are buses to La Libertad from the capital, San Salvador.

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