""This Hidden Central American Surf Town Is Known as 'Bitcoin Beach'-Here's How to Visit," reads a fresh Travel + Leisure headline, which might leave a strapped but itinerant surfer with Central American habits or aspirations feeling just a little more squeezed in these increasingly precious times. El Salvador's El Zonte is no secret on the international surfing circuit, but to see it featured in T+L's margins suggests something else altogether."
"The strife that took place in El Salvador in the 1980s, '90s, and has in some respect lingered ever since is precisely what's kept it relatively quiet-and cheap. And any surfer who's been around long enough also knows that the little Pacific shoreline produces a procession of some of Central America's best right-handers, including Punta Roca and El Sunzal/El Tunco, which have been hosting WSL and ISA surf events in recent years."
El Zonte, a surf village on El Salvador's Pacific coast, attracts international surfers with reliable right-hand breaks such as Punta Roca and El Sunzal/El Tunco. An anonymous 2019 Bitcoin donation prompted widespread local acceptance of cryptocurrency and drew digital nomads and crypto-minded visitors. The influx of tourists and crypto-enabled services has pushed up prices and encouraged more modern accommodations. Decades of conflict and persistent poverty had kept the area relatively affordable, but growing popularity and media attention are making budget travel and shoestring surf trips more difficult in the once-sleepy village.
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