The white church
A front on the square.
ElmerGuevara — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Rosamar78 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · ElmerGuevara — CC BY-SA 3.0 · ElmerGuevara — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Christopher Arturo Aragón Vides — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Christopher Arturo Aragón Vides — CC BY-SA 4.0
Suchitoto is a quiet colonial town in El Salvador that keeps its old architecture and cobbled streets and looks out over wide Lake Suchitlán. It has become an important tourist destination, with small hotels, cafés and arts and cultural spaces, and its white church on the square is its best-known sight. Nahua peoples lived here before the Spanish arrived. In April 1528 the first site of the town of San Salvador was set up nearby, then abandoned. Suchitoto prospered on indigo from the seventeenth century and gained the title of town on 22 March 1836, and the indigo and coffee trades fuelled building around courtyards. The lake is man-made, formed in the 1970s by the Cerrón Grande dam, which flooded villages and archaeological sites. You walk stone streets between low white houses with coloured doors and tile roofs, ending at a square before the church. From the edge of town a road drops to Puerto San Juan, with boats, a ferry and a green lawn over the water and islands. Near town is the Los Tercios waterfall, with a wall of stone columns. The town is 34.2 km in a straight line north-east of San Salvador. Arrive in the morning, before the heat. The church is a place of worship, so dress modestly. The stones are uneven, so wear comfortable shoes. Agree boat prices first, wear a life jacket, and carry your passport or a copy.
A front on the square.
Boats and green islands.
Stone columns near town.
Central Suchitoto, Cuscatlán Department
No, it formed in the 1970s with the Cerrón Grande dam.
A day works from the capital, and a night is quieter.