If, while visiting El Salvador, you find yourself looking for the place that you saw in the travel magazines, you should head to the small town of Alegria. Alegria was once the coffee capital of El Salvador but has since moved on to become the country’s flower-growing capital and is one of the most picturesque and fragrant places to visit in the entire country.

Tourist Offices
There’s a tourist office in town that will be able to give you a map.

Sightseeing
There are approximately 230 flower nurseries in Alegria and you are welcome to visit nearly all of them—they are all privately owned so you should find out who is open to visitors and who isn’t. When you find out where you can go, you don’t have to pay a fee, just knock on the front door and you’ll be let in—if they’re home. You’ll also have the chance to visit the fabled Laguna de Alegria, which the locals attest to having medicinal powers. The lagoon is a crater lake on the Volcán de Tecapa and has a furious sulphur smell, so you might want to let the locals keep its healing powers.

Getting there
Alegria is reachable by bus from Berlín, Santiago de Maria and Villa el Triunfo, as well as by direct bus from San Salvador.