The history of the Mayans, one of the oldest civilizations of the Americas, is fascinating. The Mayan civilization started as early as 2600 AD in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. Over the next several centuries, they expanded beyond Yucatan, and on to modern day Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and the western part of El Salvador. El Tazumal in El Salvador is an archaeological site of Mayan ruins dating back several centuries.
In this article, we will share all the details that you need to have the best experience of visiting Tazumal Archaeological Park in 2023.
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Tazumal El Salvador History
The Town of Chalchuapa
Chalchuapa, the town where the Tazumal Archaeological Park is located, is one of the oldest settlements in El Salvador. Over the course of several centuries, the culture of this town grew with the influence of several groups like Mayans, Teotihuacan people, and Toltecs. The first settlement in Chalchuapa dates back to 1200 BC.
The Tazumal Site
Tazumal was a Mayan settlement that started in 100 AD and continued to be an important site until 900 AD. Some theories suggest that the construction stopped at the site around 260 AD due to the eruption of the nearby Ilopongo volcano. The construction resumed few centuries later, and continued between 600-900 AD. From 900 AD, the population of Tazumal became a further blend as the Pipil people started inhabiting it. The settlement of Tazumal was abandoned in 1200 AD.
Restoration and Importance
In the 1940s, archaeologist Stanley Boggs started the excavation and restoration of the Tazumal site. Restoration work continues even to this date, that you can notice during your visit to Tazumal Archaeological Park.
Tazumal may lack the grandeur or scale of some of the other Mayan sites in Mexico and Central America. But it still is one of the most important archaeological sites in El Salvador. This site also has the tallest pyramid of El Salvador.
Che Guevara, a prominent figure of the Cuban revolution, visited Tazumal in the year 1954. You can see a sculpture of Che outside the entrance of the archaeological site.
If you are interested in traveling to Cuba, you can check out our Cuba blogs.
Check out our YouTube video about Tazumal ruins for a mini tour of this Mayan ruins site of El Salvador.
Are you more interested in active exploration of nature in El Salvador? Then consider these hikes:
- Tamanique Waterfalls Hike
- Santa Ana Volcano Hike
- Seven Waterfalls Hike
How to Reach El Tazumal?
Part of the Chalchuapa town, the archaeological site of El Tazumal is conveniently located midway between Santa Ana and Ahuachapan, the last town along the Ruta de las Flores.
However, on your trip to Ruta de las Flores, you are more likely to choose another town over Ahuchapan for staying. So, it is the most convenient to visit the Tazumal ruins from Santa Ana.
Visitors also often choose to explore this Mayan ruins site from the capital city, San Salvador. But these are usually not just independent visits to Tazumal only, instead are a part of the Mayan route tour, which covers visits to other Mayan sites like Joya de Cerren and San Andres.
In this section, we will share with you all the different options you can choose from for visiting Tazumal from nearby towns and cities. The distances from those towns and cities to the archaeological site are as follows:
- From Santa Ana: 14 km (9 miles)
- From Ahuachapan: 20 km (12 miles)
- From San Salvador: 80 km (50 miles)
Using Public Transport
El Salvador has a good network of public transport, like buses connecting different parts of the country. Nothing fancy, but the system works.
If you know which bus to board, and the name of your destination, it can be fairly easy to travel around by bus in El Salvador. It is also the cheapest way of traveling in the country. Most routes cost a few cents up to a dollar for regular buses.
For visiting the Tazumal ruins, take the following buses based on your starting point.
- From Santa Ana: Board Bus #202 or Bus #218 from your nearest bus stop.
- From Ruta de las Flores: Take Bus #249 from your town to Ahuachapan, from where you can board Bus #202.
- From San Salvador: Bus #202 starts from San Salvador. So, it is a direct bus from the capital to Chalchuapa.
If you are looking for places to stay in Santa Ana or San Salvador, check these:
Take an Uber
From the bigger cities, like Santa Ana or San Salvador, you can also book an Uber to the Tazumal archaeological site. Of course, it will cost more but the ride will be faster and more comfortable.
From Santa Ana, a one way Uber ride will cost less than 10 USD, whereas from San Salvador, it can set you back by more than 50 USD.
Book a Tour
For visiting Tazumal and other important archaeological sites in El Salvador, you can consider these combo tours. These are day trips from the capital city, San Salvador.
Rent A Car
Another option for not just visiting the Tazumal ruins, but also exploring the entire country of El Salvador, is to rent a self-drive car.
The rental car price is a few times of what public transport can cost in El Salvador. However, if you rent a car, you can have the flexibility of moving at your own pace and the option to stop wherever you like, even where no one else does.
The best place to rent a car is the San Salvador International Airport as the availability and options are better there. Some of the popular car rental companies are Alamo, Enterprise, National, Avis, Budget and Hertz. Or you can also take a look at the aggregator Discover Cars for best deals across companies.
Do You Need a Guide to Visit the Tazumal Ruins?
We visited the Tazumal ruins on our own. It is fairly easy to walk around and explore all the structures at the site.
However, what we would have preferred is more elaborate description next to each of the structures. At the ticket office, I had asked if they had any map for reference. They didn’t. The only knowledge aid reference at the Tazumal site is a board with the site map displaying all the structures and a numbering legend to help visitors locate those structures.
At the Teotihuacan pyramids in Mexico, visiting the museums provided excellent context for our self-guided tour of the site. There is an onsite museum at Tazumal also, the Stanley Boggs Museum. But unfortunately it was closed at the time of our visit. So, we wished that we could read more about the Tazumal history at the archaeological site itself, rather than before or after the visit that we did.
Also, supposedly, the written descriptions inside the onsite museum at Tazumal are only in Spanish. Depending on if you know Spanish or not, you may need someone to interpret the text even if you do get to see the museum.
So, to conclude, you can visit Tazumal ruins very much on your own and see all there is to see. But, to get an in-depth context about everything that you see there, and to learn more about the Mayan civilization, it can be a good idea to get a guided tour of the archaeological site at El Tazumal. You can ask for a guide at the time of purchasing your tickets from the ticket office.
El Tazumal Archaeological Park: Entrance Fees
The entrance fees for the archaeological site of Tazumal varies by nationality. Here are the entrance fees for 2023:
- Foreigners: 5 USD
- Central Americans and Resident Foreigners: 3 USD
- Salvadorans:
- Adults: 1 USD
- Seniors above age 60 years: Free
- Children below age 12 years: Free
- Students: Free
- People with special abilities: Free
- Residents of Chalchuapa: Free
El Tazumal Archaeological Park: Visit Hours
El Tazumal Archaeological Park is open from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, Tuesday to Sunday. The site is closed for visitors on Mondays.
Couple of structures at the Tazumal Archeological Park in El Salvador.
El Tazumal Archaeological Park: What to See
The sitemap board at El Tazumal lists the following as the structures (or their remains) to see at the archaeological site.
- Ball Court
- Main Pyramid
- Columns Building
- Oratory
- Temple
- Possible Ball Court
- Archaeological Window
- Small Temple
Of all these structures, the most prominent one is the main pyramid. The construction of this pyramid happened in phases, between 100 and 800 AD. Reaching a height of 24 meters (79 feet), it has a basal platform as well as couple of side platforms. The western platform of this structure is called the Columns Building.
To the southwest side of the main pyramid lies another important structure where the restoration work is still going on.
From the list of structures on the sitemap, one name that caught my attention was “Possible Ball Court”. Why possible? It is because you cannot really see the ball courts or its remains. All you see are two mounds. They have not been excavated. But, the appearance of the mounds led archaeologists to believe that the area could be concealing a typical Mesoamerican ball court.
What to Wear? What to Carry?
- Clothing: For visiting El Tazumal, wear comfortable clothes. It can get hot during the day, so you would want to choose fabric that dries fast.
- Footwear: You will be walking around mostly on flat surfaces, on grass. So, any kind of footwear should be fine for Tazumal.
- Sun Protection: There is not much shade at the site. So, for protection against the harsh tropical sun, apply sunscreen. Wear a cap or a hat and put on your sunglasses.
- Hydration: To keep yourself hydrated, carry drinking water in your reusable water bottles.
Get More Out of Your El Tazumal Trip
You can explore the entire site of El Tazumal ruins in less than an hour. Probably a bit more, if you are going on a guided tour. So, it is possible to pack in other activities to make a full day trip out of your Tazumal visit.
Here are some options to help you decide:
- Option 1 – Visit the other Mayan ruins sites of Joya de Cerren and San Andres. But it is best to book a combo tour for covering all three sites in one day.
- Option 2 – After visiting Tazumal in the morning, spend the afternoon at the hot springs waterfalls of El Salvador. This is what we did and can vouch for this amazing experience. This can be a self-guided activity, no need to book a tour.
- Option 3 – Visit Tazumal site early in the morning, and then head to Juayua for a gastronomical high at the town’s popular food festival. You can plan for this only during the weekends though, as the feria gestronomia takes place in Juayua only on Saturdays and Sundays.
How is it like to travel in El Salvador? Check out the YouTube video below about our first impressions about the country. For more videos about traveling and living in Latin America, subscribe to our channel.
Travel Planning Logistics
- Accommodation: For several years now, Booking.com has been our platform of choice for booking accommodation while traveling. You can apply all the desired filters and shortlist the ones that meet your criteria. On continued use, you will keep unlocking their Genius benefits. For long term stays, we use Airbnb. Of late, we have also started browsing Hostelworld for finding hostels.
- Tours: When traveling to new destinations, you can plan ahead and book your activities. Check for highly rated tours on Viator and Get Your Guide.
- Packing: From swimwear to sunscreen, hiking pants to insect repellents, buy your vacation packing essentials on Amazon.
- Flights: We always start our flight searches with Skyscanner and Momondo. They are aggregators that display flight options, compiling information across airlines and combinations. What we like the best about these flight aggregators is that you can put “Anywhere” as your destination, so that you find the best flight deals from your city of departure.
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