• 1. Where to Stay
• 2. Where to Eat
• 3. What to Do
• 4. Insider’s Tip
• 5. An Oddball Day

Mercado Municipal de Antiguo Cuscatlan, a covered market, offers an assortment of cheap meals and produce.   (Photo: Roberto Rodriguez/ComindoComida.com)

You’ll have to leave the city center and head to the bustling Santa Tecla district for an authentic market. The Mercado Municipal de Antiguo Cuscatlan, on Jardines de la Hacienda, heaves with technicolor tropical fruits (jocotes, mangoes, zapotes), traditional wooden and clay crafts (bowls, vases, figurines), and small food stalls selling freshly prepared seafood cócteles, papusas, and spicy sopa de gallina (traditional chicken soup). You can even follow your lunch with a quick haircut and a shave.

Published on May 12, 2011 as a web exclusive.