Sonsonate

Sonsonate is a city of 73,000 people (2013) in southwestern El Salvador, near Acajutla.

Understand

The economy of Sonsonate is mainly based on coffee, dairy products, and the largest sugar plant in the country.

Get in

Chicken buses are the easiest and cheapest way to get around in El Salvador. From the Terminal Occidente in San Salvador, take the Ruta 205 bus toward Sonsonate (usually painted a shade of dark aqua green). The trip will take over 2 hours and costs about US$2.

See
  • 🌍 Cathedral of the Holy Trinity (Sonsonate Cathedral). The church of the parish of the Holy Trinity was blessed on April 1, 1887. 
  • El Pilar Parish. This temple began to be built in 1732 in the El Pilar neighborhood, until it was completed in 1840. It is in the Baroque style and the façade is divided into three sections. On both sides there are two towers with their respective bell towers. 
  • El Angel Parish. The current building was blessed in 1966. 
  • El Pilar neighborhood. It is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Sonsonate, and the one that best conserves its architectural complex. The buildings are built for the most part of adobe, with a gabled tile roof. It contains two temples of historical importance: the Virgen del Pilar and Santo Domingo. 
  • Rafael Campo Park. It is considered the nucleus where the city developed since colonial times, and the center of the oldest buildings. It is surrounded by the cathedral, town hall and other buildings of commercial importance. 
  • 🌍 Monument in honor of the railway workers. A distinctive symbol of the city is a locomotive located on the eastern side of the city, at the access of the San Salvador-Sonsonate highway. The machine symbolizes the history of the railway in El Salvador, in which Sonsonate played an important role. 
  • 🌍 Museo del Ferrocarril, Blvd Oscar Osario, ☏ +503 7496 0678. More trains and railroad history on display. 

Do

Festivals
  • The Patron Saint Festivities of Sonsonate. The festivities are celebrated from January 25 to February 2 of each year, in honor of the Virgen de la Candelaria. The patron saint festivities include the Mail parade, handicraft fair, cattle fair, and the musical festivals known as "Artistic Parade" and "Verbena Sonsonateca". The festivities culminate on February 2 with a procession and mass in honor of the Virgin of Candelaria. 
  • Lent and Easter. In El Salvador, the towns in which Holy Week is most solemnly celebrated are Sonsonate and Izalco. Lent opens with its traditional processions on Fridays of Lent. And on Palm Sunday with the procession of Jesús de las Palmas. 

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