Sea Turtles in El Salvador
Posted on | January 4, 2012 | No Comments
We found this fantastic article on Sea Turtles in El Salvador
El Salvador is a very prominent and important location for ensting sea turtles and is now acknowledging the fact and putting together programs that will secure the existence of these majestic creatures!
Tags: Central America > El Salvador > Endangered Species > Sea Turtles
A Look at Akwamar Sunzal, El Salvador
Posted on | January 1, 2012 | No Comments
Akwamar Sunzal, El Sunzal, La Libertad, El Salvador is one of those places that you find in a million! Located on the volcanic cliffs of El Sunzal with a never ending horizon across the Pacific Ocean.
Described as a Surf Lodge and Retreat, Akwamar Sunzal is far more than a surfers lodge, it is a tranquil paradise that needs to be soaked up and enjoyed for the laid back atmosphere, the views and the mix of Salvadoran hospitality and Anglo/American attention to detail.
Check their website out here… Akwamar Sunzal
Yes, Akwamar Sunzal is located on one of the Top 10 surf breaks in the world but surfing is not the only thing on offer… Ocean Kayaking, Hiking, Mountain biking, Horseback Riding, Fishing, Diving, Ruta Las Flores, Santa Ana Volcano and much, much more await you at Akwamar Sunzal.
With great rates and a warm, friendly welcome, you can be assured of a great holiday at Akwamar Sunzal
New flights for Costa Rica…
Posted on | June 17, 2011 | No Comments
Air Berlin has announced a new route to Liberia, Costa Rica from Dusseldorf.
The German carrier Air Berlin will start offering flights from Dusseldorf to Liberia in Costa Rica from 12 November 2011. The new flight will operate every other week on Saturdays, and will stop in Cancun, Mexico.
This new route offers a great alternative for travellers across Europe to visit Costa Rica.
For holidays to Costa Rica click… Holidays To Costa Rice
For holidays to Costa Rica or any other Central America destination click… Holidays to Central America
Hidden Trails Becomes Certified Costa Rica Travel Specialist
Posted on | March 31, 2011 | No Comments
Hidden Trails is proud to announce that it recently achieved the status of Certified Costa Rica Specialist from the Institute of Tourism in Costa Rica!
Following a recent initiative to further enhance our knowledge and help in providing clients with the very best holidays in Central America we undertook the examination process from the Institute of Tourism Cost Rica and successfully passed with flying colours!
We hope to continue with our ongoing commitment to Central America and provide unrivaled information, advise and holidays in Costa Rica and throughout the whole region.
Click here for HOLIDAYS IN COSTA RICA
To view the rest of our fantastic holidays in Central America click… HOLIDAYS IN CENTRAL AMERICA
Hidden Trails Launches Equus Trails…
Posted on | March 1, 2011 | No Comments
Hidden Trails Limited have great pleasure in announcing the launch of their new website www.equustrails.com specialising in horse riding holidays worldwide.
Equus Trails has a large number of ‘new’ riding holidays on offer and some exclusive rides only available through Equus Trails. With regular newsletters and competitions Equus Trails is on the road to great success.
This month Equus Trails are offering the opportunity to win a riding holiday just visit http://equustrails.com/win-a-horse-riding-holiday/ and sign up… Thats It!
We will post new rides here as we find them and keep everyone informed with a Newsflash letter. If you would like to sign up for our newsletter then visit http://equustrails.com/
El Salvador to Host ISA World Masters Surfing Championship 2011
Posted on | February 17, 2011 | No Comments
La Libertad, El Salvador is to host the ISA World Masters Surfing Championship 2011
The impressive waves of Punta Roca will host the best surfers from over 30 countries as they compete for team and individual medals in this prestigious surfing event.
Located at the coastal town of La Libertad, Punta Roca is considered by many as one of the best waves in the world. With the ideal swell, waves can reach up to 12-to-15 feet, extending for over 500 yards. Often called the “Jeffrey’s Bay of Central America,” it is a perfect right point-break. It is most likely that perfect waves will show up at the 2011 ISA World Masters Surfing Championship. In order to ensure favorable conditions, the ISA hired surfing forecast guru, Sean Collins of Surfline.com, who studied the swell, weather and wind patterns at Punta Roca in October for the last five years, concluding that the period with most consistent waves was 16 to 23.
ISA President Fernando Aguerre said, “It is great to have another ISA World Masters Surfing Championship in warm Central America. We will hold the tournament in the perfect waves of Punta Roca. The ISA Masters is a great event, where camaraderie and fair play allow the best over-35 year old surfers in the world to perform and enjoy spending time with their peers from around the world.”
The surfing event will take place between October 16 to 23, 2011. If you want to be there then take a look at our website and we can arrange your trip or for more information on El Salvador http://www.hiddentrails.co.uk or http://www.centralamerica360.com
Hidden Trails Launches German Website
Posted on | January 7, 2011 | No Comments
We have launched our German website www.centralamerica360.com/de
The website has been prepared and created to reach the growing German travel market for Central America. With an increasing number of German tourists visiting Central America it is a positive step forward for Hidden Trails.
Zentralamerika 360° is focusing solely on Central America and aims to offer the same high quality holidays throughout Central America as are on offer through Hidden Trails in the UK.
Over the coming weeks we will be launching the website in several other languages to capitalise on the improving world economy and to promote Central America throughout Europe.
Tags: Central America > Mittelamerika > Mittleamerika > Zentralamerika
New Road for Kuna Yala, Panama
Posted on | December 22, 2010 | No Comments
Once only accessible by air, Kuna Yala, an autonomous region in Panama, home to the Kuna indigenous people, can now be accessed via road. The new Llano-Carti road travels through the Nusagandi Nature Reserve within the Kuna territory.
Kuna Yala is famous, not only for the Kuna but also for the beautiful white, palm fringed, sandy Caribbean beaches on the approximately 365 islands, rich in Kuna culture and tradition.
Lining a significant amount of Caribean coastline in Panama Kuna Yala is a fantastic ‘away from it all’ holiday destination.
For more information on Kuna Yala or to book a holiday in Panama then visit our website www.hiddentrails.co.uk
Hidden Trails Limited Goes Global
Posted on | December 18, 2010 | No Comments
We are very pleased to announce the first stage of our global expansion into new and exciting markets.
Through partnership and collaboration we recently launched our new website www.centralamerica360.com aimed at the American market and providing information on all destination in Central America.
It is planned that by the end of January the site will be live in FOUR further countries namely, Germany, France, Portugal and Spain.
We are currently going through the localisation of the website and putting in place the infrastructure to enable us to fully support our operations in these countries.
Central America 360° will operate under our main company, Hidden Trails Ltd, and all bookings will ultimately go through Hidden Trails providing full and comprehensive security and guarantees for clients and operators alike.
It is hoped that the Central America 360° ‘brand’ will significantly increase the number of people that Hidden Trails Ltd sends to all Central American countries and also educates clients in the fantastic holiday destination that is, CENTRAL AMERICA.
We are still in the process of ‘polishing’ the website but wanted to let everyone know our news and plans for 2011!
Should You Travel To Guatemala…?
Posted on | December 15, 2010 | No Comments
We received today a notice from the Australian government concerning the “Safety and Security” of tourists in Guatemala.
When reading through the rather long list of “risks” in Guatemala it does make you wonder whether the country is overrun by robbers, muggers, rapists, terrorists, drug gangs and a whole host of other pretty nasty groups who will no sooner look at you than take your belongings and run.
Reading through the Australian advisory, they are not the ONLY country to put out similar warnings, regarding the issues in Guatemala most people would NEVER even consider visiting this fabulous and fascinating country let alone jump on a flight and see for themselves.
Having traveled extensively in Guatemala and having very good friends there we feel that many of the issues highlighted are often scaremongering. We are not pretending that Guatemala is particularly safe, we are just trying to point out that it doesn’t have to be that dangerous either!
We do not deny that there are issues in Guatemala, drugs are a serious problem. The result is that there are many gangs ‘fighting’ for control of this dangerous but lucrative business. You do NOT see running street battles in the tourist locations. If you are very unlucky you may see a clash between gangs but these generally occur in areas far away from the tourist routes. There are problems in some tourist areas with robberies, theft and petty crime, some quite violent, often involving guns, but provided you maintain vigilance and avoid putting yourself into dangerous situations i.e. not walking alone at night, not carrying expensive cameras, jewelry etc then for the most part you should be fine.
Guatemala is a relatively poor country. In poor countries there is always, unfortunately, a risk of petty crime. Rich tourists displaying wealth in the form of jewelry, cameras etc is generally not wise in most poor regions of the world.
There is an interesting list of recent crimes involving foreigners http://guatemala.usembassy.gov/recent_incidents.html
Reading through the list, obviously compiled from local reports, suggests to me that, although very unpleasant incidents, they are no different to what you would find in many other countries, possibly including your own!
STOP! ENOUGH!
There is far too much negative ‘hype’ regarding Guatemala and many of the countries in Central America. This ‘hype’ is unnecessary and causes a lot of damage to countries that do not necessarily deserve to be tagged as “dangerous”, “Unsafe” etc etc
If you have traveled then you will be aware of some simple, basic rules that will generally keep you safe from petty crime and out of potential unsafe situations… IN ANY COUNTRY.
1 ) TRAVEL WITH A REPUTABLE TOUR OPERATOR
2 ) DO NOT FLAUNT CAMERAS, CASH, JEWELRY AND OTHER VALUABLES
3 ) BE AWARE OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS
4 ) BE AWARE OF PEOPLE AROUND YOU
5 ) GET A BASIC KNOWLEDGE OF WHERE YOU ARE STAYING
6 ) LEARN THE LOCAL CURRENCY AND EXCHANGE RATE AND DON’T CARRY LARGE NOTES
7 ) IF THERE IS A ‘SITUATION’ TRY AND LEAVE QUICKLY BUT CALMLY
8 ) TRY TO AVOID PUBLIC TRANSPORT WHERE POSSIBLE
9 ) IF WALKING KNOW WHERE YOU ARE GOING AND BE CONFIDENT OF THE ROUTE. DO NOT WALK ALONE AT NIGHT.
10 ) ENJOY GUATEMALA AND THE PEOPLE. NOT EVERYONE IS TRYING TO STEAL YOUR MONEY AND PASSPORT!
The list above is a very simple list that should be used when you are traveling anywhere. Use a little COMMON SENSE and your journey will be far more pleasurable and safe.
I have personal experience of crime in Spain including theft on the metro in Madrid and theft from a car in Barcelona.It doesn’t mean that I would never travel to Spain again!
The majority of tourists to ANY country travel trouble free.
Here is a statement from the UK Travel Advisory…
20 British nationals required consular assistance in Guatemala in the period 1 April 2009 – 31 March 2010 for the following types of incident; deaths (4 cases); hospitalisations (5 cases); and arrests (4 cases). During this period assistance was also requested with regard to lost or stolen passports (52 cases). http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/north-central-america/guatemala
Of course 1 incident is 1 too many but in terms of the number of visitors and the number of assistance required the number are very low.
Guatemala is trying to reduce the number of incidents by increasing the number of rangers and police in the areas where there have been previous issues and it does seem to be working.
So, lets ask the question again…
WOULD YOU TRAVEL TO GUATEMALA?
The answer, in our mind at least, should be absolutely YES!
Check out the holidays we have in Guatemala and see for yourself what this fantastic country has to offer www.hiddentrails.co.uk
Tags: Guatemala > Holiday in Guatemala > Safety in Guatemala