Hotel Reviews & Information

The resort itself was immaculate. An employee was seen each day keeping the paint on the buildings looking fresh and even the guards were seen picking up stray bits of trash. Our maid was a bit hit-and-miss. Sometimes giving us enough bottled water. Sometimes not. Sometimes giving us 2 clean towels and sometimes 4, and a facecloth only once. We found that the glasses might be in a plastic bag, but not clean.

You would be disappointed if you enjoyed lazing on the beach. The beach with the lounge chairs (those hard plastic kind) was sandy enough but the water came in with the tide and until the tide came in there was an ugly rough, stony sea bottom to look at. (We were not impressed with the "salt water" pool that the tide filled daily- we saw them clean it once and realized how disgusting the bottom of the pool actually got.) The trips in a bus to the "Beach Club" were therefore worth it. There the beach was very wide and deep. The sand was of dark(volcanic)smooth sand. (You had to wear shoes of some sort because the dark sand got very hot.) The waves were huge and gorgeous. It was a lot of fun, even though you had to watch the undertow. The site had palapas and a bar and grill for lunch, as well as an outdoor shower and small pool.

The four off site trips really made this trip worthwhile. The Craft and Culture tour brought us to four different villages, showing their particular "crafts": Folk painting, ceramics, textiles and woodwork. Another tour took us to the Volcanoes, and a very picturesque fishing village. Another day we went to the Santa Leticia Coffee Plantation. Very enlightening. The work it takes to make a pound of coffee! I'll never take coffee for granted again! For this tour we were reminded that we might want to wear long pants and sleeves for the cooler weather up in the mountains. When we asked how cold we should expect the temperature to be they said in the 70's! Needless to say we wore our shorts and t-shirts. Our final and best trip was to Copan in Honduras. Amazing. The only negative aspect were the uncouth French Canadians with whom we had our lunch. Apparently they don't realize that the rest of us don't want to share a delightful appetizer if they have just re-dipped their corn chip in it, or worse, a spoon after licking it! Naturally we did not hold this against the resort and found that the lunches we had on our off site trips were even better than at the resort buffet!

We went to this resort knowing it was not adult only, but we were told that for the a-la-carte dinners we were expected to "dress up". Men in long pants and a collared shirt, women in dressier clothes. Although the a-la-carte restaurants were not enclosed and not air-conditioned we felt that certain Canadian guests went a bit to far getting comfortable for dinner. Some men had dinner in their "wife-beater shirts" and bathing trunks and the women in a bikini and cover-up.

We enjoyed all our a-la-carte meals except those at the "Mayan Steak House". They couldn't grill a steak to save their lives. We guessed that having been the buffet style beach grill during the day, the service reflected that and was not very good.

We were not impressed with the evening entertainment. An M.C. who played immature games was excited but not exciting. He spent most of the evening telling us to applaud with "Plausie, Plausie!" We would not have done it spontaneously, that's for sure!

The resort itself was beautiful, nicely landscaped, with beautiful pools and also ponds and walkways. We loved the fact that staff in the buffet were willing to help with anything. It did not matter that they were the coffee servers, they would help you with anything else. It was too bad that the main desk limited the one dollar bills that we could get (for tips). As a result, we were unable to tip as frequently as we felt was warranted.

The alcohol was plentiful but limited to local brands. Even Cuba had a larger selection of international brands.

The resort had a lovely farewell cocktail hour for guests who were leaving, but I think the morning send-off on the bus the following day would have given us a better last impression if it had been done more thoughtfully. All the busses arrived at the Airport at the same time, so the majority of the guests had to stand in line outside the small airport waiting for their turns to be processed. Our bus was decrepit with a broken windshield. Not nearly as good a last impression as our first impression.

Would we recommend it. For the side trips, yes! For the service and people, yes! For the seaside, no!

This is not a new resort. It is popular with El Salvadorians and people from surrounding countries, so it does fill up on the weekends with those travellers. Decameron plans on adding 200 rooms/year until it reaches 1000 rooms.

We thoroughly enjoyed the tour of San Salvador. Actually, we only heard positives from other travellers about the tours that they took.

Now for the bad news. We are not sure what is the cause, but the week we were there March 22- 29, many travellers became ill (some with terrible diarrhea, others with vomiting, some with both) and if Immodium didn't help, were off to get antibiotics from the doctor. As the tap water is non-drinkable, both my husband and I were very careful not to drink the water. We also did not use the water for brushing our teeth. We did not over indulge nor did we consume too much alcohol. We had taken precautions of using Pepto Bismal the week before we left. However, we both were affected, my husband seriously enough that he was taken to the hospital. We have travelled to other countries and have not become ill. Considering how many people we spoke with or heard of that were ill, there is a problem. So, please make sure you take the necessary precautions.

We had our room key within minutes of arrival and shortly after getting to our room, our luggage was delivered. In short the administrative organization at the resort is first rate. We soon found out that the rest of the staff was friendly and efficient.

The room was good and the air conditioning effective. Every room has an ocean view which made the room that much nicer. There are ample pools, beach chairs and bars throughout the resort. I would recommend bring an insulated mug to avoid having to make many trips to the bar for refills.

The weather was constant with sunny days and 33C temperatures the norm. It was a welcome change not to have to worry about whether there would be any sunshine.

The food in the buffet restaurant was good however the food in the four a la carte restaurants was very good. We enjoyed all four: the Bambu (Thai), Pastafari (Italian/Jamaican), El Mediterráneo (seafood) and the Mayan Steakhouse.

The nightly shows at 2200 hours were excellent with very talented dancers who put on entertaining shows. The disco was a good size and generally stayed open until 0200 hours.

The sunsets over the Pacific Ocean were stunning and not to be missed.

This resort is not strictly for tourist from the northern climes as it is very popular with Guatemalans and regional conventions. The former clients typically come for the weekend while the latter are there during the week. It makes for an interesting mix of clientele.

The only caution that we’d give people about this resort is its beach. The beach slopes steeply down to the water and there is a breakwater about 75 yards offshore. The breakwater protects the beach in the storm season. The tides on the Pacific coast here are very high which means that at low tide, the beach is exposed and there is only shallow water out to the breakwater.

During our stay the tide was out more often then it was in during the daylight hours. To compensate for the disappearing water, there is a large manmade tidal pool about four feet deep that has water when the tide is out.

As well the resort provides a free school bus that makes three trips daily of 30 minute duration to the Costa Azul and its magnificent wide beach. The resort has rented a compound on the beach and there is a bar that serves food. There appears to always be waves on the Costa Azul so boogie boarding and bodysurfing are possible. You can walk a long way along the beach.

The resort offers a wide variety of day trips. We took the day long trip to Copán, Honduras for US $95. We were lucky that the trip went on the week that we were there as this trip is sometimes cancelled due to insufficient participation. On our trip there were only 10 tourists on the 26 passenger bus. The trip was a long one that passed through western El Salvador, part of Guatemala and then into Honduras and the Copán site. The route took almost 15 hours with about two hours at Copán and one and a half hour for lunch in shopping in the nearby Copán Ruinas. We left at 0600 hours and returned at 2045 hours. This trip is highly recommended as Copán, a UNESCO world heritage site, had some of the most skillful stone carvers of the Maya world and their impressive work is on display.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the full sized copies of the stelae and other sculpture from Copán that are displayed throughout the resort. They give the resort a fascinating look and serve as a good warm up for a trip to Copán itself.

Our departure was again expertly handled by the resort’s administrative organization. It was hassle free.

In conclusion, we thoroughly enjoyed our trip to El Salvador and our stay at the Royal Decameron. Our only regret was only staying for one week instead of two weeks.

If you have any questions, you can mail me at t_letter at hotmail.

Generally, we thought the a la carte restaurants were better for the first week, but by the second week, the buffet restaurant had improved the temperature of the food (common complaint was that the food was not being kept hot enough) and had met with the same quality as the a la cartes. No question, breakfast was the best! Could have been better if they had mangos available, though! The staff was constantly topping up our coffees and water, and removing empty plates, always with a smile.

The only minuses we encountered could be improved by the Decameron management. For example, we wanted to do deep sea fishing - offered at the on-site tour office - but our Nolitours rep put the kibosh on that when she found out that 5 of us would be crowded onto a 22 foot panga that had previous problems with water leaking into the boat! We subsequently sought our own fishing trip through Julio, who we contacted through www.akwaterra.com. His cell number is 7888-4552. He personally picked us up, accompanied us on the fishing trip (he speaks English and Spanish fluently), and drove us back to the resort afterwards. Unfortunately, the fish weren't biting much that day, so we only managed to catch two mackerel, but we saw lots of turtles, dolphins, mantarays and sailfish. We talked to the Nolitour rep and gave Julio's contact info to her, although I'm not sure she can actually do anything about sending any business his way. Apparently Decameron keeps a pretty tight reign on any tour operators.

As in previous reviews, check-in was well-organized and swift. HOWEVER... leaving was a major headache. My husband is a pretty big guy, and when we were crowded onto a packed bus to go to the airport, his knees were jammed against the seat in front for two long hours. Of course, once we got to the airport, everybody was anxious to get off, but since five other buses had preceded us and had disembarked, there was no room on the platform for us, so we had to wait a good 20 minutes to get off. Granted, it was the end of Spring Break so there were lots of people, but I have never encountered such a delay in any of our other trips. In addition, we had to pay $30 CAD for overweight luggage, so we were not happy about that. We will be writing a letter to Air Transat about their maximum luggage weights in the near future - there is no way you can limit your luggage to 20 kg for a two-week vacation!

If you don't go on any of the crafty type shopping tours, unique and/or handmade souvenirs are hard to find. The airport only had high-end stuff and the usual key chains, t-shirts, perfumes, liquor, glassware, etc. There is not much shopping in nearby Sonsonate, and there is nothing within walking distance. Coffee prices varied from $3 US at some of the shops covered in the crafts tour to $9 US at the airport.

The only other tour we took was the San Salvador Volcano & Coatepeque Lake trip. It was excellent, and Coatepeque Lake reminded me a lot of Lake Okanagan in B.C. We also stopped in La Libertad, one of their main fishing ports, and wandered onto a huge wharf where the local people were selling everything from turtle eggs to sharks to mantarays. The wharf rose about 30 feet above the ocean, and was the docking station for all the local fishermen's boats. These boats and their contents were hoisted from the water by a huge crane, and placed on a device that resembled a wheelbarrow that was used for placing the boat at its mooring spot. Alena in the Explorer office was our tour guide, and she did an excellent job.

The resort itself was spotless and new. All the equipment in the gym was new, and the tennis courts looked clean and well-maintained. My husband went golfing twice a the 9-hole course at Veraneras, although it too was quite virgin and raw. Still lots of construction going on around the area, as it will eventually be a golf course community. Maybe next year it will be a little more on the professional level.

All in all, it was a wonderful vacation, but we were ready to come home too. I guess that's what all vacations should be like... otherwise, it would be called "retirement"!

Cheers, everybody!

Hint:
Bring food for the plane and bus ride because you will be starved by the time you finally reach El Salvador, then you have a 2 hour bus ride the resort. You do get beer, pop or water on the bus, but no bathroom. The ride gives you an idea of the countryside and the Decameron guy tells you about the people and the country and and some of the tours. Other reviews talk about the ocean view drive to the resort, but we went inland on both of our trips, to and from. Looking at the winding road following the oceanside, I suspect cross-country is much safer. Drivers here, including the Nolitour bus drivers are maniacs. The hotel was a welcome sight, and check-procedures were very quick as we had received a package at the airport where we tagged our luggage which was delivered to our rooms (sometime later than we did, so if you want to swim immediately, bring a bathing suit in your carry-on). Our room had 2 double beds, a shower only (fine with us) and a TV which carried mostly English channels. No fridge, though which would have been nice. Our ground floor room had a walk-out patio straight out to the beach.

Unfortunately the tide was uncooperative the week we were there, so if salt-water swimming is your thing, there is the big salt-water pool, which fills and refreshes naturally when the tide is up (still rather stagnant in my opinion), or a second location that the hotel offers where the waves are always large, and the beach is wide and dark sand.

We went there twice to experience the "power" of the Pacific and walk on a stone-free beach. There was only a handful of local children who didn't even bother us at all. There were no pushy vendors anywhere, actually, not sure why, either they haven't got the hang of the tourist thing yet, or there is a quiet force somewhere keeping them out of our faces. Either way, it is a challenge finding little trinkets and souvenirs to take home. (We took a cab into Sonsate one day ($30) and shopped the local market to find stuff like that, and T-shirts, booze, and coffee). We didn't take of the Nolitour packages but they ranged in price from $40 to $95 and took a morning or the whole day.

Nolitours will give you the spiel on your first morning and you can plan which sights, if any, you would like to see. Decameron works with them on most tours, and also offers some of their own. We chose to do our thing. We would like to have gotten a closer look at the volcanoes. Also the Mayan Ruins were an opportunity that we passed up on, but they would take an entire day out of your holiday. Maybe if we had gone for 2 weeks we may have done some of these packaged tours.

A great feature at the resort is the huge pool, with a bar and lounge area that service both the pool and the beach (no swim-up pool, although people did take their drinks into the pool, usually spilling more than they drank... there's a good reason for no bar in a swimming pool!) There were 3 more smaller pools, also, located near the alacarte restaurants. All the pools are only open from 8:00AM to 7:00PM. There is a bar at each of the small pools, but we found that the pool by the Seafood Restaurant didn't serve alcohol on Sunday. Maybe it was family day there or something. We didn't pursue the problem, just moved to another pool when we thought needed a drink. There were always chairs available, and lots of umbrellas, though sometimes in the afternoon, a shady place was hard to find. If you just wanted to relax, there was always an palapa available on the beach. Also, there were only animation staff at 1 of the pools so avoiding them easy. If you like that sort of thing, then use the pool by the Towers. There was a volleyball net on the beach but we never saw anything going on there.

We tried 3 out of 4 alacarte restaurants (Seafood, Steakhouse, ThaiFusion, but not the Pasta), and went back to the buffet for the rest of our dinner meals. We didn't find the alacartes to be that great, although maybe the "dining out" experience might appeal to some. We preferred the choices at the buffet and the option of choosing our own dining time. The alacartes need to be booked ahead, and sometimes the plans of the day needed to be formed on the basis of when supper was booked. This is holiday time, and we didn't want to be held to a rigid schedule. This is the 2nd Decameron we have been at that does this, and if the restaurants had been magnificant, it would have been fine, but they were just alright. All the food was good, hot, or cold as it should be, enough choices, and different entrees daily. There was the customary omelette station at breakfast, and a station that served different things for supper, roast 1 night, turkey another, pasta, etc. We didn't hear of any problems with people getting sick from anything other than too much booze and overindulgence in sunshine. (+30C everyday... bring heavy duty sunscreen). And by the way, no bugs either, not sandfleas on the beach or mozzies on the grounds.

The resort grounds were beautiful and large, and you can walk the length of the beach beyond the resort. We also rented bicycles 1 day and went on a long bike ride off the resort. We did this again the next day, but needed to sign a liability waiver to go off the property. The ride was just as enjoyable, despite the traffic on the road. The ground is very flat so biking was easy. And there isn't much except small farms and natural vegetation in the area. It is quite untouched by tourism so far.

We stopped for a beer at a roadside restaurant. (at 9:00AM because it was really hot!) The beer only cost $.70 each so we left a large tip. We had a great time at this resort, excellent service by every area of staffing, particularly the front desk. They could help you with almost anything. They can exchange travellers cheques for you (US$), or arrange the cab for you. We even got to try out the medical staff...because my husband had an altercation with a very big wave..they brought in an English speaking staff-member to make sure we understood what was being done and said.

The Salinitas is quite isolated and quiet, but there is lots to see and do right at the resort. I would recommend it to anyone for a relaxing holiday and think it falls into the 4 Star category.

We arrived and San Salvador and like everyone else's review, we got through customs and on the bus extremely fast. Nolitours were very organized in getting us through. At the bus they had beer, pop and water waiting for us along with a small snack for the long 2 hour bus ride. We were very tired from the long plane sit, so the 2 hour bus ride there wasn't too enjoyable, we just wanted to get to the resort. The buses were fine, but no washroom, so go at the airport.

Upon arrival at the resort, we walked through the main lobby, which didn't look too rich, and we wondered, "oh know, what did we get ourselves into"

Check in, was extremely fast and our luggage was delivered to our rooms, which is a nice touch. OUr rooms were just a room, but very clean. A small pet peeve is that they don't have stocked up fridges in the room. Balcony very small which you can't sit on only stand., and the washroom only has a shower.

The grounds are the most beautiful we have seen and the pools were amazing. One even had a deep end, over 6 ft. The beach was alright for the pacific ocean, but because of the tides going in and out, somedays there was no water, just rocks, didn't bother us, but could other people. Never had to reserve chairs. Plenty around.

Food was fine. The buffet wasn't large but had adequate choice. We liked the chicken at the snack bar. WE didn't do any ale cartes , but heard mixed reviews about them. One thing is that you do not have to dress up to go for supper.

They offer many tours. We went on the culture and craft, which was very nice and safe and the guys went on the canopy run which they loved.

Some minuses of the place for some people are the locals and their kids that come in during the weekend and all conferences they hold, which really filled up the place. Also you have to deal with**********

So all in all, for the money, the place is wonderful, people are very friendly, food was adequate and sunshine and heat plentiful. I would give the place 4 star.

Flights were on time, even somewhat early. Very well organized when we arrived; very short time before getting our luggage, going through customs and boarding bus for our hour and a half drive to the resort. Given a box lunch and drink as we boarded the bus. This was a first. Drive didn't seem long: gave us a chance to see the country and Emerson gave us some info on his country.

Check in was the best organized that we've ever seen. Had our keys in a few minutes compared to other resorts where you wait forever for room assignment.

The weather is georgeous; it might be 34C but the constant breeze from the ocean keeps you confortable.

The four pools are crystal clear but do close at 7 PM.

Beautiful grounds; well landscaped. Great view of the Pacific Ocean wherever you are. Keep in mind this is not the Caribbean: sand is brown, water is dark. Swimming is restricted to high tide; at low tide you can walk the immediate beach. A salt water pool extends into the ocean. Lifeguards on duty. There is a shuttle to a nicer beach 3 times a day; make sure you wear your sandals, sand is very hot. A good lunch is served and open bar at this beach.

Activities all day long; never get bored.

Staff is always pleasant; some only speak Spanish. Service is excellent. These people are well organized, work hard even through the night (washing, cleaning, etc.)

Check out was as simple as check in. No long wait at the airport; seats are preassigned.

Perhaps a stop along the way to/from the airport or a bus with a toilet would make the hour and a half drive more comfortable. We met people of all ages,singles,couples, families.

Many excursions available. We enjoyed the combined coffee gourmet plantation and mayan excursion very much; the only one we took.

We found El Salvador a safe place; however any outing is escorted by a tourist police. Surveillance throughout the resort.

We recommend this resort; looking forward to going back.

The trip to the hotel is very scenic, travel through the city is brief as you only go through the suburbs. The roads are quite winding in some areas, so hold on to you seats. Must say though the highway system from airport to hotel is very good.

Upon arrival at the resort you area greeted with a cold drink. In the lobby you will receive another packet wit a map of ground, restaurant hours tour information and other details. Also you can purchase you safe key and lock at this time for $2 per day.

Very shortly after you get to your room your luggage arrives at you door. The rooms are bright and spacious. We had a ground floor room a king bed. All rooms face the ocean.

The only downside to the resort is that your vacation comes to an end.

We would return here and are planning on it for next year. We have been to Dominican, Mexico, a Decameron in both Panama and Jamaica, and this is by far the best.

To start with the Air Transat flight from Toronto was just amazing. Top notch people and professionalism was shown to all. They helped us out with the kids and made things really enjoyable. The new Airbus plane was also nice and comforting.

We arrived in San Salvador and things were as smooth and pleasant as anything we have ever experienced. In no time you are on your bus on the way to Salinitas. Yes the bus ride is long and takes about 1:45 minutes but we took it in stride. Check in was again unbelievable. We were in the pool about 1/2 hour after pulling in on the bus. They take of everything. All rooms are ocean front which makes things nice during the day. You can easily access your room for whatever you need.

Safety seems to be a concern with this country and resort but you can put those fears to rest as this place is top notch and I'm sure that in a couple of years it will be commanding the $1000 a week, not $500-$700 like it is now.

The trip to Playa Azul (the decameron spot with huge waves) is a must. It is free and you get to see more of the country side during a 20minute bus ride. The beach there is incredible with beautiful waves all day. It was the highlight of our trip.

Food was great if not excellent. The a la cartes were of the fine dining level. No complaints in regards to food and cleanliness. The beer is bottled Brahva which I found to be great. Needless to say we are going back and will take advantage of this place while people still have some trepidation about it.

Cons: (as little as they are)
-should have screen doors on floor level rooms so you can leave the sliding doors open at night
-yes language is a bit a barrier but we had no issues with it
-the main beach is great from 9:00AM to about 2:00PM, after that the tide goes out and the beach is basically none existent. I could see this being an issue for some
-the flight(5hr) and bus ride(1hr 45min) are an all day affair but it's the price to pay to guarantee you will find heat for your vacation
-no idea about night life as we were in bed by 8:30PM every night

Good luck

Yes, the bus ride from the airport to the resort is 2 hours one way. We usually like to be 30 minutes or less from the airport to the hotel, so this was new for us. However, the buses are very comfortable and you get a great roadside view of four provinces and their volcanoes – Le Paz, San Salvador, Libertad and Sonsonate – as well as the capital San Salvador. The drive seemed to go by very quickly. When we did get to the hotel, check-in and baggage delivery to the room was the fastest we’ve every experienced (a couple of minutes due to the number of staff on) so all in all I wouldn’t let the transit time necessarily discourage you. At some resorts, we’ve stood in line to register for an hour, so given the fact that you gain an hour when you go there from Toronto, we figured we just about broke even. And were better entertained by the scenery.

The grounds are very well kept, the lobby, bars, restaurants, sitting areas, beach fronts look new and fresh with, for example, new cushions and furniture, and the rooms are relatively large, new and well-furnished with air conditioning. The resort has at least 1 KM of oceanfront, and is at least 500 M deep, so it is very large as most resorts go. Lots of places to sit, read, lots of places to walk. Loads of chaises everywhere. It takes about 15 minutes to walk from one property boundary (the Bambu Bar and Restaurant and Pool) to the far end at the other property boundary (the Mediterraneo Restaurant and Pool), so it’s great for people who like to stroll around. It also has 5 pools - 4 fresh water plus 1 saltwater pool built in to the oceanfront wall so that it is renewed/flooded every time the tide is high. Very interesting, and fun to puddle in and around. With respect to the fresh water pools, one day we started at the Mediterraneo pool and swam through and walked between all the other pools - Pastafari, Akan, and Bambu – to the other end. It takes about a half hour. You have to modify your swimming stroke through the kiddy sections of the pool, but that’s half the fun.

The beach was kept very clean, with new cabanas and lots of chairs. It is different, though. The tide in the Pacific is generally much higher/more pronounced than in the Caribbean, so the beach undergoes quite the transformation when the tide is high and low. We thought it was actually more fun than your standard beach, because you could swim offshore half of the time, and the other half you could explore the tidal pools. There is always lots of beach to lie on even at high tide, so that’s not an issue. There is a stone break wall along the length of the beach, about 100 metres out from the high tide mark, and when the tide was in you could take a one or two person kayak and paddle around inside the break wall.

There are two shuttles to and from the resort to the hotel’s separate beach club (going to the beach club at 9 and 11, coming back at 2:30 and 4:30) for people who want to jump around in some REALLY large waves. It was another interesting bus ride, to a beach to the west of the resort, and took under 30 minutes one way. It’s a nice beach club with food, bar, beach cabanas, volleyball, and the beach is very wide and long. We went a couple of times and it was well worth it.

Bar service was excellent. We’re wine drinkers, and the house wines were all from Chile. Very good. Also had diet soft drinks, which aren’t always available at all inclusives. Although we had no trouble being understood in English, knowing and speaking some basic Spanish is fun and really helps pave the way, so we'd highly recommend bringing a travel Spanish book for some key phrases.

Now the food. Although there was a good variety of food available, and lots of it, with no fewer than 5 different buffets/restaurants, we felt that the food was just a bit better than standard fare. The food that is meant to be served cold was actually pretty good (the breads, salad bars, fruit, etc.) however the hot food was different. For the most part, we found it was mass produced, overcooked, and not particularily hot or flavourful. The food at the snack bars is a good example – the salad bars were all excellent (three kinds of lettuce!), but the hamburghs and hotdogs were overcooked, dry, and not very hot. There were some exceptions. They had omelette, pasta and hot sandwich bars at different times of the day, but the rest of the hot food was just OK. The a la carte restaurants, all four of them, were very well decorated and the service was extremely good. They took a lot of time making the food look good on the plate, but once you put your fork in, for the most part you were back at the buffet. Dessert consisted of two or three tortes made with a lot of gelatine and not a lot of flavour, and some small cookies. Hey, we’re not saying that we lost any weight while we were away! It’s not that the food was bad, it just that we found the hot food and desserts weren't all that great. With that said, the service was always friendly and attentive, and my husband thinks that we were a little hard on the food because we spend so much time cooking for ourselves at home. As it was one of the better all-inclusive places that we've eaten at, please take the above with a grain of salt so to speak.

Overall, it was excellent value for money, and we’d certainly go back again. We didn’t take any tours this time, but people we spoke to said they had a great time on the volcano and coffee tours.

We went with another couple and we all thoroughly enjoyed our stay!

We flew Air Transat from Toronto and all went well through customs etc.

They were quite efficient at the El Salvador airport and we were off the plane and out to the buses in very short order. Enjoyed some "refreshments once aboard the bus. The rep that travelled with us was very good and spoke pretty good English! About 2 hours to the Decameron (including a bathroom stop at a gas station where you could buy more beer & coolers real cheap!) Once you got your luggage to the bus, you don't have to deal with it again as they unload it at the resort and deliver it directly to your room.(a nice touch)

Approximately 10 minutes after arriving I managed to have lost my entire purse! Geez! Talk about a panic. I thought I had left it on the bus and we were running around trying to find out where the buses were parked to no avail. Suddenly our friend spotted a group of employees standing around a rock outside the 'disco" where we had stopped for a smoke break! One of the employees had found the purse and they were looking inside for my information. I ran up and one of the girls confirmed my name, then handed me the purse and asked me to check that everything was in it. I checked and all was still intact. WEW! What a good feeling to know the honesty and integrity of the Decameron staff! A HUGE THUMBS UP! Needless to say the fellow who found it received a healthy tip!

Checkin was very quick and our rooms were very spacious (we were in 1115 & 1116). We had 2 3/4 beds, a setee and a table and chairs. Large closet. HINT....the air conditioner has a remote control! Once set the air worked great. Water pressure and temperature were great. Never noticed much difference even at peak water use times. The maid leaves 2 bottles of water daily. Plenty of towels, etc. but no kleenex so take your own. We rented the safe at $2.00 per day.

The buffet and a la cartes were all very good. I'm usually a fairly picky eater when away from home, but actually gained weight. The only a la carte we didn't try was the Mediteranian. The Italian and Steak house were excellent. Try the chicken parmesan at the Italian. It was to die for. We tried the Thai a la carte too but preferred the other two. The typicall fare (hamburgs,fries,hotdogs,salads) at the bar lunch buffets, but lots of variety on the large buffet.

The staff were wonderful. Surprisingly quite a few spoke very good English. Some next to no English but they tried, and I was told they are teaching English to the ones that aren't so fluent.

The bar service was good, and the way the Decameron is spread out there is rarely much of a wait at any of them. We tipped fairly regularly but it didn't seem to make a difference as far as the service goes. Everyone was treated well regardless of tips. If you are a rye drinker, pick up a bottle at duty free as we didn't find any at any of the bars. They have cigarettes/matches at each bar.

We only went to one show and it was typical (a little audience participation and then dancing) We never attended the disco so can't comment on that.

Another bonus was you could always find a lounger on the beach or at the pools. Another benefit of the way it's laid out.

We booked ground floor as we wanted to be able to sit outside on our patio. The upper rooms have very narrow balconies that you can't fit chairs on. We enjoyed our morning coffee's and nightcaps on our patio. Coffee is available at the bar from 5:30 am until 7 am when the buffet opens. Be sure to take insulated cups for the coffee & beverages as they use only the small plastic cups.

We did a couple tours (arts and crafts, volcano & lake). We enjoyed both of them, but had a hard time deciding which ones to take. There is a police officer with you on all excursions which is different from other places, but was very reassuring. We have been to Cuba and Dominican and didn't find the Salvadorians to be any more threatening, when out and about at the markets, etc. We took some goodies from home to hand out to the children while out on our tours.

Anyway, I hope we've been of some help if your trying to decide to try this resort. In my opinion it is better than any others we've been to!

We are both in our 30’s and have traveled to several Central American countries both independently and on packages.

Decameron Salinitas is situated in the district of Sonsonate on the Pacific coast of El Salvador. This part of the country is nearby to a lot of the major attractions of El Salvador and the hotel tour service, Decameron Explorer, or a local taxi will take you to most of these, more about this later.

We stayed at the hotel for a week from Jan 18th-25th; previously we visited just before the rainy season in April of 2006. The weather both times we visited was very hot (30’s oC) with more humidity during the April visit.

Travel by Air Transat from Toronto was very good, we paid the extra $100 each way per person for Club Transat upgrades which were well worth the money with extra legroom, a choice of hot food from a menu, free drink service, priority check in and larger luggage allowances (15kg hand baggage, 40 kg checked baggage).

At the airport in El Salvador things run very smoothly and passage through customs and immigration is very easy provided you correctly fill in the forms that you are given on the aircraft. San Salvador airport is air conditioned so don’t worry about the “sauna effect” that some destination airports have. Once outside though it is a different matter, it’s a cauldron, and I strongly recommend that you have some summer clothes to change into on the aircraft for arrival (zip-off pants are a good idea). We have several very, very small criticisms of the vacation but they are really only very minor, the first being that in the two trips to this resort that we have taken, the 2h bus trip from San Salvador airport to the hotel have been on buses that have had less than stellar air conditioning. The return trip has always been on modern, very comfortable, well air conditioned buses though. I suggest taking a portable battery operated fan for the outward trip. All the tours take place on modern, well air conditioned micro buses or large coaches. The trip to the airport is very interesting and you will have commentary from guides on the bus together with check in information (make sure you put the tags that the Nolitours reps give you at San Salvador airport on your checked baggage, this is for porter delivery of the baggage to your room). The trip passes fairly quickly and there are plenty of things to see on the way such as the large factories that a lot of North American clothing products come from and the volcanoes that you see on the way. Your bus may or may not stop on route to the hotel, I’m sure that if you request a stop for the bathroom the guides will accommodate your request (most of the buses have bathrooms onboard though).

Check-in is a simple affair, both times we visited we were directed to the disco area to receive our all-inclusive bracelets and door keys (proper keys, not cards) together with towel vouchers. The disco is to the left after you leave the hotel lobby area from the bus. Your bags will be delivered to your room in a short while so it might be a good idea to pack your swimwear in your hand baggage in case your bags are at the back of the bunch so you can have a quick dip meanwhile. Locks for the hotel safe can be rented at the disco during check-in for $2 a day and an extra key for the room can be arranged at the lobby later for a $15 deposit.

The hotel has expanded quite a bit since our last visit in April, with the addition of two extra towers and a new restaurant) and we were concerned at first that the “personal” feel of the hotel might have disappeared due to more tourists staying there but happily the hotel still feels very uncrowded and there are plenty of beach chairs, palapas, pool space and minimal lineups for bar service, etc. It has the look and feel of a luxury hotel and the staff are very attentive and accommodating to you, this is why we returned to this hotel.

Rooms are large and have great views from any floor. Ground floors have a small seating terrace area and upper floors have a balcony which is too small to sit on. In terms of noise we only had a few problems and we were in room 2114 on the ground floor of block 2. Quieter rooms in the same block would have had higher numbers such as 2120 etc (2nd block, 1st floor, room 20 etc). Block 1’s quieter rooms would have the lower numbers (to the right of block 1 when facing the beach). Noise is not a significant problem anywhere really though as most noise from the bars stops at 11pm when the disco starts (and the disco is not near the accommodation blocks). The only problem that you might have is the one night of the weekend when there may be a beach party that has a disco for a more local crowd that goes on until late.

The food at the hotel is very good, it’s not 5* gourmet, but for a mass market all-inclusive hotel catering to both Latin Americans and North Americans it’s just fine. I will say that the spinach filled beef medallions I had at the Pastafari restaurant were truly excellent though and would have been very happy with this meal at an expensive Ontario restaurant. There is recycling of food but it is creative and there’s enough variety that for a one week stay you shouldn’t become bored with the food unless you’re a picky eater. My wife is a vegetarian that also eats fish and always had a fair choice of items to eat at every meal. The ceviche (mixed seafood cooked in lime juice) is always very good though. Tiny criticism # 2….there’s not much fruit available for dinner….stock up at breakfast and lunch!! We tried 3 of the a-la-carte restaurants (you can book as many as you like for every night of the week if you wish and you can book 3 at once I think). We tried the Pastafari (Jamaican/Italian (?) fusion) restaurant, Bambu (Thai) and Fusion (Seafood) restaurant. Pastafari was definitely the best for the both of us and the crispy shrimp at the Fusion restaurant were also very good. Bambu was so-so but it really depends on what you order from the menu and your personal taste. We didn’t try the Grill restaurant but reports were positive on the whole.

The main buffet has theme food nights most nights. We especially enjoyed the El Salvadoran night and you must try the pupusas here. Bambu restaurant serves pizza during the day together with burgers, fries, salad etc. The Grill restaurant also doubles as a snackbar serving burgers and fries during the day and also late at night after the buffet closes and after the Grill changes from the a-la-carte restaurant. You won’t go hungry at anytime of the day! There’s also coffee, tea and pastries available at the main beach bar by the saltwater pool from 5.30am – 7am for the earlybirds.

The beach at the hotel is very picturesque with nice golden sand. It is mostly rocky in the water however and the best sea swimming is at the hotels beach club which is accessed by reserving a place the day before at the lobby for either a 9am or an 11am departure returning at either 2.30pm or 4pm the same day. The trip to the beach club takes about 30 mins in an old school bus which is fairly airy with all the windows open. The beach at the hotel is great for lounging and there is a swimming section that is roped off that is fine at high tide. There’s also a salt water pool which is a very neat feature and is available at all times except perhaps at very high tides when the rollers come over the natural volcanic rock breakwater. At low tide the beach is full of great rock pools to explore. Watch your feet though, I found a 5” puffer fish in one of the deeper pools a little further out (tip: volcanic rocks are not usually orange-don’t step on orange things!!). Surf shoes or sandals are a good idea in the rock pools as the volcanic rocks are sharp in places.

The massages at the hotel are very good and very reasonably priced from $30ish to $50ish (all prices US$) for 50 mins (you can pay more for 80 mins) from a choice of Swedish massage at the lower end to aromatherapy, hot rock or deep tissue massage at the higher end. The massage huts are by the well equipped (and air conditioned) gym, facing the sea, and the Temascal ceremonial sauna hut (the big white “igloo”). You book massages and other treatments (chocotherapy…yes..with chocolate, and sea salt exfoliation etc) at the gym and then pay at the lobby. Bring your receipt back to the gym before your reservation time. You can pay for anything at the hotel with a credit card. Outside of the hotel you can occasionally use credit cards but you will sometimes be asked for id so be prepared. The Temascal is highly recommended. It’s free and you book it in the gym for one of the three daily sessions. A nice little old native lady will take you through a 30 minute cleansing ritual in the steamy “igloo”.

Tours: Decameron Explorer is the hotel’s tour company and admirably does not fleece a captive audience. All tours are reasonably priced for their content and quality unlike some other resorts. All the guides are top notch, speak good English or French and are permanently happy. All tours within El Salvador will be accompanied by tourist police (a little about safety later). The tours ending at 2pm such as the flower route or waterfall tours (both highly recommended) run from $35 to $40. Full day tours or some of the evening tours can be more expensive. The Guatemala tour is a very long day but is also very good and the trip there passes by some active volcanoes on the Guatemala side (you also get a nice new stamp in your passport). The route of flowers (or Arts and Crafts as it’s called in the brochure) and the Guatemala trips are great for cheap souvenirs.

You can also book a taxi for your own trip although your Nolitours rep will probably not recommend this to you. Francisco (or some of the other lobby staff) at the front desk in the lobby will be able to recommend a taxi driver and you can use him to help you negotiate a price and time with the cab driver as the drivers generally do not speak English. We spent nearly 11 hours with our excellent cab driver, Julio, in a comfortable Nissan cab and drove 2.5 hours north to a charming colonial town called Suchitoto, the scene of a lot of fighting during the civil war. Around this town there are plenty of things to see including a beautiful lake, el Lago de Suchitlan, where you can take boat tours to islands in the lake. The town itself is really pretty and you’ll be lucky if you see more than a handful of other tourists. There are souvenir stalls with great prices (4 T-shirts for $15 etc) depending on your haggling skills etc at the side of the lovely white church. The lake is a 5-10 minute cab ride out of town but you can also see it at the end of some of the town’s streets. Included in our 11h trip was a stop outside San Salvador in the mountains for lunch and a great view over the city followed by a visit to a shopping mall (the multiplex) where prices were actually not that good, they were the same or higher than in Canada. You can arrange your own itinerary with your cab driver though, we used the Lonely Planet Guide to Nicaragua and El Salvador for our itinerary. The beauty of stepping out on your own is that your itinerary is free and flexible and you don’t have to rush from one stop to another like you do in some tours. Incidentally, for the whole day in the taxi we paid $130 and the taxi would comfortably fit three tourists and we had four in a taxi in our last visit. This is a cheap way to see a lot more of the country. Decameron Explorer will also rent you a car and driver for the whole day but they charge $175. I have no hesitation recommending a taxi booked through the front desk though. Both times have been great experiences and you are helping local people. A little rudimentary Spanish goes a long way though.

Your departure tax is included in your vacation price if you booked through Nolitours.

Security: A lot of tourists wonder about security in this part of the world and the hotel certainly takes security of its guests seriously, so seriously in fact that leaving hotel property on your own such as when booking a taxi is quite a process involving filling in a form or two and sometimes leaving an itinerary at the desk before your departure. However, we found in our two extended taxi tours of the country that there were no real security problems as long as you took some small precautions such as not flaunting your cash, keeping your jewelry at home, taking cabs at night and being smart when you use your camera. Your cab driver will accompany you where necessary but most of the time you will be fine on your own. El Salvador is only really dangerous in certain areas of the larger cities (San Salvador, Sonsonate, La Libertad) where there’s not much for tourists to see or do anyway. Nearly all of the towns and areas in cities that tourists visit are perfectly safe with a little common sense.

In summary this hotel is excellent value. There were many other repeat visitors including ourselves and that speaks volumes to the popularity and quality of this reasonably new hotel.

email - jonesdv@rogers.com

The Salinitas is adding two additional blocks of rooms (3000 and 4000 blocks) to the existing hotel and they look beautiful. Although we couldn't see inside the rooms, we were told that they are very large like apartments. Like the 1000 and 2000 blocks, they are also all oceanview rooms. There is an additional pool and Bambu restaurant opening with the new section in January.

The majority (about 80%) of guests were from Quebec, about 10% from Ontario and the remainder from Central America. We were told that more rooms will be allocated for Toronto departures as of January 2007. Because of the high numbers of French speaking guests, alot of the staff speak French in addition to Spanish. With the increasing numbers of English speaking guests, the staff are now learning English.

The buffet has a different theme each night and the list is available at the front desk. Themes included Mexican, Salvadorian, International, Mediterranean, Hawaiian, Spanish and Grill night. All in all, the food was good and there was something for everyone.

We tried all 3 a la carte restaurants and found them all good. The Pastafari is an Italian-Jamaican fusion restaurant. If you like Jamaican jerk chicken, you will be disappointed by their very mild attempt. The shrimp & linguine was good. The Mediteranneo restaurant had very good red snapper and salmon among other options. The Maya Grill (the daytime snack bar turned into an a la carte after 5:30) has great steaks.

Fairly recently, a cappucino/expresso machine has been added to the pool bar area (open at 10 a.m.). For the early risers, coffee & pastries are available there at 6 a.m.

If you are snorkellers, there is no snorkelling at the hotel or their beach club (30 minutes bus ride away). Although there are some dive trips offerred through the hotel, none are to sites suitable for snorkelling. We did put a suggestion (at the tour desk's recommendation) in with the front desk to organize some snorkelling tours.

The Decameron Explorer tour office (next to the gift shop) offers a good variety of tours. Mario speaks very good English and is very helpful with information about the resort, El Salvador in general and the tours. We did the Mayan Route tour (4 Mayan ruin sites), Copan Ruins (through El Salvador, Guatemala and into Honduras) and the Santa Leticia coffee plantation tour. All the tours were excellent. A tourism police officer accompanies the tours (except the ones out of the country into Guatemala & Honduras). At present, the tours are done in French & English.

The property is quite large, so there are lots of places to walk. If you like a quiet place to sit, go to the extreme right (if you are facing the ocean) to the pool by the Pastafari restaurant or the palapas there on the beach, or to the left of the pool bar to the palapas. Although there is music at the pool, the only times it got loud were between 11 and noon (pool aerobics) and later in the afternoon for pool volleyball. If you are on the beach to the left, you can barely hear the music at all.

The weather was beautiful and we were told that the temperatures are between 24 and 28 Celsius year round. We had very little humidity, always a nice breeze and very few bugs. It was interesting to watch the tides and how they varied during the time were there according to phase of the moon.

We had two massages - aromatherapy (great) and hot stone massage (aromatherapy plus hot stones, even more wonderful). We chose the 80 minute option for $50 U.S. for aromatherapy and $55 for hot stone. The massage huts are on the beachfront and the waves are very soothing.

There is a good gym there with 2 treadmills, elliptical machine, 3 bikes, weight bench, free weights, incline bench and universal weight machine. The gym opens at 6 a.m.

The only problem we had was with poor water pressure from our shower. We reported it to the front desk and it was fixed. The staff at this hotel are very accommodating and anxious to please their guests.

If you have any questions, you can e-mail us at paws@rivernet.net and put El Salvador in the subject line so we know it isn't junk mail.

I travelled to the Royal Decameron Salinitas from November 9 - 16, 2006 with three co-workers. We chose this resort as we wanted somewhere that none of us had previously visited.