If you're one that's decided to travel to El Salvador, go see what wonderful salvadoran families and charming rural coastal communities are really like. Los Cobanos Village Lodge is a little "oasis" nestled in the middle of one of these communities; it provides a cozy coastal get-away but yet still offers the flavor of salvadoran life. I've stayed here many times and enjoy my stay everytime. When living in San Salvador the lodge was my favorite weekend destination; great service, very comfortable accomodations, beautiful views from the room's balcony, friendly people. It always felt like a relaxing "home-away-from-home" rather than a busy resort. Everytime I had friends from the states visit, we'd make sure to spend time here as well and they still talk about what a great get-away it was. As well, many friends flew to El Salvador last summer for our wedding, and Village Lodge is the hotelito I chose for them to stay at; they loved it and have wonderful memories. During that weekend my dad and brothers hired a local fisherman from Los Cobanos to go dorado fishing; not only did they have a successful fishing trip, they were lucky enough to swim with the big sea turtles and still talk about when they're going back. This little lodge is wonderful and I highly recommend it if you're looking to see the real El Salvador and the beauty of the communities it has to offer.

O.K. regarding Los Cobanos Village Lodge, here is the deal:

We got there early morning, around 7:30-8:00 a.m. nice 45 minutes trip from the capital city San Salvador, there wasn’t much traffic, nice road. We were excited because we had made arrangement with the manager and a boat was waiting for us for a diving trip. We were a party of four and the guy from the boat was friendly and very handy, in matter of minutes they had everything all set.

There we were, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean -2.50 miles from the coast to be exact, and guess what?? We are looking for humpback whales!!!!!!! And guess what?? We found them!!!!!!!!!!! Or I think they found us!!!!!! A mother and her calf, the most amazing adventure of all, and it happened in Los Cobanos Village Lodge’s back yard. We were lucky to be accepted by them and we could swim for a while with them. I don’t think we will ever find the words to describe this moment. Sorry folks! We were to busy to manage a camera, no photos to prove the event.

After the most memorial time of our lives, we visited two diving sites: “La rajadura” and “Acuario”, visibility: 6 feet, were we disappoint it? Well, not really, there were beautiful fish and the sites were very interesting. After a “hard” morning of diving –we were back at 2:30 pm- It was very reassuring to finally be back at the lodge, very comfy, friendly staff, cozy rooms. It was nice to just hang at the pool and get some sun.

Should we recommend “Los Cobanos Village Lodge”? Absolutely, we are going back, there is so much to explore!!

The place has a very nice and relax atmospher. It is extremly well managed by it owners. Rooms are very well desing, excelent ventilation, and shini clean.

The architecture is very well tought using local material, like wood, palm, but with well finished surfaces. The place has some times, great sideshore winds that make a for a good winsdurfing and kitesurf side, If there si no wind you can catch some nice longboard rides in regular days, and nice waves on big days.

I am a regular client, they make you feel at home.

Cheers

Aldo Miranda

I stayed at Los Cobanos Lodge for 4 wonderful days. The staff were incredibly kind and helpful. They cooked delicious meals and arranged for someone to come to the lodge and cook pupusas for us on a night they weren't normally available--we were extremely grateful. One young woman who worked there walked with us to town to show us where we could buy a few things we needed. She showed us a crazy shortcut over a harrowing bridge, but I loved every second of it. They really made us feel very comfortable. Even though they spoke English, they helped us speak Spanish and were very patient--that was especially appreciated.

I was ecstatic that our room had a balcony overlooking the beach and t. It was a prime spot for sunrise and watching the fishermen head out for early-morning trips. It was beautiful.

I must confess--we spent A LOT of time in the pool. More than I ever imagined we would. It was so relaxing and comfortable there that we had a hard time leaving the lodge.

We did venture out for a long walk on the beach a few days. Close to the lodge, there are a number of small restaurants and small houses lining the beach. But when we went out further past a rocky area of the shoreline, we found the beach to be completely desserted and lined with large, unoccupied vacation homes.

I would definitely go back to Los Cobanos.