An important Mayan archaeological site composed of a major city with a sophisticated drainage system, a broad ceremonial center and more. The apogee of this culture was between 1.200 A. C. and 850 D. C.

Visiting "El Tazumal" you'll see jade and mud sculptures, a figure of the god Xipe-Totec; in addition to the most important finding in the archaeological site "La Virgen del Tazumal" (Tazumal Virgin), which was found by the historian Santiago Barberena in 1892, who moved it to the National Museum. It was also found graves containing more than 116 jade vessels, alligators structures and more.

"El Tazumal" is the perfect place for archaeology lovers, its main structure is 24 meters height. This site was formally registered in 1940 by Stanley Boggs, surrounding this place there are craft shops and a workshop of jade and leather where you can buy beautiful souvenirs of this interesting tourist site.

"El Tazumal" is located 82 Kilometers away from San Salvador, on the shores of the Chalchuapa municipality, in the Department of Santa Ana.

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With more than 1,400 years, Joya de Cerén is the most important archaeological attraction of El Salvador.

The archaeological ruins of Joya de Cerén represent the lifestyle of the Mayan civilization before the spanish colonization. You will see houses, storerooms, utensils, orchards and more. There are 15 structures discovered.

Joya de Cerén was discovered in 1976 by accident when a tractor crashed with some of the ruins. After this incident, the american archaeologist Payson Sheets conducted a complete investigation in the area. The investigations were interrupted by the civil war and restarted in 1989.

Joya de Cerén has a very complete museum where you will see ceramic utensils, historical literature and more to understad the lifesttyle of the Mayan civilization.

Joya de Ceren was declared world heritage by UNESCO in 1993 for being the only location in the whole Mayan culture where you can appreciate the day to day living styles of the popular pre-Columbian inhabitants. All was well preserved thanks to the ashes of the volcano"™s eruption.

Joya de Cerén is just at 30 minutes from San Salvador, If you want to visit this interesting place in company of your family and friends, take the CA-8W highway to Santa Ana.

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There are not only ruins in San Andrés, here you can visit a Regional Museum, where you will learn shocking details about the people settled in this place, their customs and way of life. This site has also interesting and colorful objects discovered in the archaological excavations. It is situated at "Valle de Zapotitán" (Zapotitán Valley), between the shores of "Rio Sucio" (Dirty River) and "Río Agua Caliente" (Hot Water River). Today this zone is very famous for its fertile land.

Visit the small museum built in honor of the Mr. Carlos De Sola who was an executive of the General Direction of Culture, Youth and Sports.

San Andrés is one of the largest Prehispanic centres of El Salvador. The first reports about this archaeological site are from late nineteenth century.

The first archaeological investigations were conducted during two seasons in the years 1940 and 1941. During 4 decades the archaeological work in San Andres were stopped and not resumed but until the end of the decade of the 1970s under the leadership of the archaeologist Stanley Boggs.

In short, the investigations conducted in San Andrés during the years 1940-1941, 1977-1978 and 1996-1997 have revealed important findings and provided valuable data which enable not only internal characteristics, but also the contacts that San Andrés maintained with other Prehispanic settlements of El Salvador and the Mayan area.

San Andrés is located about 30 minutes from San Salvador, in the highway leading to Santa Ana.

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