"El Salvador’s national parks system consists of six parks, a national bird sanctuary, a nature reserve, and the Jiquilisco mangroves. Among them, visitors can enjoy a variety of landscapes, from volcanoes to valleys, as well as native fauna, including eagles, hawks, and pumas. Arguably the jewel in the national parks crown is El Imposible, or “The Impossible,” so named for its deep and dangerous gorge that claimed the lives of many farmers and their mules en route to the Pacific port region with loads of coffee for export. Eight rivers flow through this park, which is best visited with a tour guide."
A nice opportunity to enjoy nature. Hire a guide to make the best of your experience and support locals at the same time... and take a picture at the top of the little rock!
Tony P
Google
First thing's first:
OPEN 7 days a week, 8am - 5pm. Get there by 3 if you want to do the little hike
Guides are available & mandatory, please tip them well as they do NOT get a salary 😭
Getting there:
Have a car? It'll take you an hour from the highway junction, as the road is an absolute disaster, but doable (rented a Kia Picanto).
No car? Buses or trucks from Cara Sucia, be there for 9am to try to catch one of them.
Now, the hikes are amazing and we did a 5 hour one with multiple lookouts and a swimming area.
Totally worth it, visit as it's a gem in ES
Leti H
Google
A beautiful park to visit, amazing views, walks trails with great areas to explore, falls
A Y
Google
Entered from the north. Difficult to access as you need private transport or it's a long walk. Saw no one else but the ranger but that just meant the animals were more inclined to come out.
Martin Gill
Google
The road there goes from south east (some 5 km east of Cara Sucia village). After that it's about 13 km of mostly unpaved road. As of today it's in semi-decent condition - passable in a sedan car but caution si required. Took us about 45 minutes to get there. After that you'll reach a visitor center where you'll pay the entry fee (6 USD + 1 USD for car). Once that's out of the way you can visit the forest. I'm not sure if you have to hire a guide or not. When we got there there were no guides there so the man who sold us the tickets let us in by ourselves. We made a small loop of about 3 or 4 km (through El Mulo viewpoint and one another). However inside the forest signs are quite scarce and there is no usable map at the visitor center so a good orientation sense is necessary. Overall not the easiest place to find and get around.
Ramy Ghabros
Google
Went on one of the most thrilling and beautiful hikes here, jumping waterfalls, enjoying the scenery and fresh air
Megan Szewczyk
Google
Beautiful national park! The road to get there is a cobblestone road uphill. It tacked on an extra hour or so to our drive, more than what Google Maps said. We made it in a Hyundai Accent rental car very slowly during the dry season. Recommend something larger with higher clearance. The map says the road just ends....keep going just a little further, and you will pass through the gate for the park. Continue past the gate for the visitor center and parking (parqueo).
Unsure if a guide is absolutely required, we did see a couple hiking without one. We are glad that we had a guide (Rosachichila) as we wouldn't have found the Mayan petroglyphs on our own. The guides are not employees and rely on generosity from the hikers. Tip generously and enjoy the beautiful hike! ❤️🙏🏼🇸🇻
Sylvia Martinez
Google
This place is amazing! You can spend the whole day inside this forest and you wouldn’t get bored, rivers with so clear and cold water, fishes, the perfect place for breath and forget the traffic of San Salvador!