This place is really incredible & should be on your El Salvador Itinerary, but there are some things you should know… Definitely would recommend doing this trip on your own as it is manageable & much cheaper. Hotels & online offer tours to this place anywhere from $40-70. When we rented a car for our entire stay that cost about $30-40 per day but through a local as rental car companies are much more expensive. And from El Zonte where we had stayed to Tamanique was about a 30-40 min drive when coming from the surf city beach areas. Or we heard from hikers in our group they took a local bus for around $1.50 from El Tunco. Once you arrive in Tamanique you ask for the local tourist office where you check in & pay $7 pp. They will offer you hiking poles & I recommend taking one, there were many people on the hike that told me they wished they had taken one. Especially during rain season the trail is a bit slippery & wet. The terrain is very rigid. Here at the office we waited for other people to arrive before making our way down the road that leads you to the falls. They appoint you a guide for the day which is a must as people who have gone on their own have gotten injured and/or lost. This guide is strictly a person a young adult from the ones we had seen that takes you to the falls. They are basically and escort that takes you there & back nothing more. At least the young girl we had was this way. She didn’t explain anything really, and to be honest with her petite size & my partner & I being quite tall & fit people along with the two other guys in our group which were big construction worker grown men. I mean if something happened to us I don’t know how much help this little girl would be, no first aid kit, no radio, no special equipment. She didn’t seem to have any extra skills then just knowing the route as she does it multiple times a day. So you’re really on your own as far as safety so you have to be careful & mindful when doing this excursion. Hiking shoes would be best but in sneakers it’s doable. Seen some guys in flip flops now that I would not recommend. And definitely if you have some water shoes bring them for when crossing the river or getting into the fall as it’s full of rocks that can be slippery & barefoot slows you down. Between falls we went barefoot to not waste time putting on & taking off our shoes. And even barefoot was better as you didn’t slip as much. But the place is absolutely amazing and something out of this world. The views, the power of the water, again you have to be careful yourself when entering the falls as the water is extremely powerful especially in rain season. The trail is steep & it’s all down hill, lots of stairs, well kept trails though with railings so use them. You really should be fit to do this hike with ease otherwise like another review wrote it’s a place you could get injured or die if you don’t take care. All in all it’s an incredible hidden natural gem of El Salvador & I do recommend this place but keeping some things in mind.

Trail and waterfalls show. Difficult trail due to large unlevel to get to the waterfalls, requiring some skill on the trail. In the end it is worth too much, as the visual and bathing in the water rewards all the challenge. I highly recommend getting to know. I took 2:15 h back and forth, already with the bath and the stops for photos.

Pretty awesome place. Although getting there and ticket purchase could be better organized. Hike shoes highly recommended don't wear flip flops. It's a tuff hike up/down the mountain