The San Miguel bus terminal is a nice, clean organized station. There are a bunch of vendors selling food, drink as well as a ton of other random items you may need. There is even a fried chicken place upstairs. Buses are lined up and well marked for which ones are going where. And, like all other stations, someone is most likely to help you find where your bus is before you even get a chance to look for yourself. There are also decent looking bathrooms in the back of the station.
San Miguel to San Salvador (301)
From San Miguel to San Salvador there are two options: 1) regular ‘chicken bus’ or 2) Super Especial. The chicken bus, also called the Directo, leaves about every 15 minutes and takes about 2.5hrs and starts around 3am until 5pm. The Super Especial takes about 2hrs and leaves less frequently – the current schedule (2017) is 5am, 6am, 7am, 8am, 11am, 12:20pm, 1:40pm and 3pm (see photo of ticket below) and costs $5. The regular buses pull up right inside the station and the Super Especial pulls up outside next to the gas station beside the terminal. Just ask around and someone will point you the way. You will arrive at the Terminal de Oriente.
San Miguel to La Union (324)
From San Miguel to La Union you have both regular ($1) and Especial ($1.50) buses. The regular bus takes about 1.25 hrs and leave every 15 minutes and the Especial takes less than an hour and leaves every 30 minutes.
San Miguel to El Cuco (320)
Bus 320 goes from the San Miguel terminal to El Cuco. The trip takes about 1.5hrs and buses leave every 30 minutes from 5:30am to 4pm for $1. On Sundays this bus only runs 2 times per day and asking 5 different people we got 3 different answers, including from the bus drivers. To our best knowledge there are only two on Sundays, one in the morning and one in the evening. 10am and 3pm were the most common answers, possibly 6am. Will try to clarify this soon.
San Miguel to Alegria
Grab the bus heading to San Salvador and get off in El Triunfo. You will then have to cross the street (use the overpass) and there you will find both mini buses and regular buses heading to Santiago de Maria. The large buses are likely heading to Usulután and passing Santiago de Maria. Once in Santiago de Maria the driver will drop you where you need to meet the bus to Alegriá.
San Miguel to Perquín (Perkin)
Bus 332 goes from san Miguel to Perquín (3hrs, $1.50). But it only goes 4 times per day with the last being mid day. The other option is to take bus 328 which goes to Gotera (2hrs) and then we understand there are pickups that go the rest of the way leaving every hour. We know from one traveller comment below that you can do a day trip and leave at 9:30am (332) and return at 4pm.
One very helpful traveller named Tony left some good comments below, adding much more information for you. He says:
I traveled from Perquin to San Salvador a couple of weeks ago. That trip took 5 hours. It’s worth mentioning not all routes 332 reach Perquin. 332 is subdivided by letters. I am certain 332-F reaches Perquin, and I am also certain 332-D doesn’t. I have no idea about other letters.
My route:
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1. Pick-up from Perquin to San Francisco Gotera. $0.75. Runs every 30 minutes.
2. 332 from San Francisco Gotera to Terminal de San Miguel. $0.75. Every 15 minutes or so. From Gotera, it doesn’t matter which letter it is. You’ll get to San Miguel. The issue starts after Gotera, at that point, the bus may enter into a side road and never return to the highway depending on its letter suffix.
3. Super Especial from Terminal de San Miguel to San Salvador. $5.00. Runs every hour until 3 pm. Takes almost 3 hours. I was surprised when I heard others have made this trip in 2 hours. The difference in my case is probably due to repairs underway on a large stretch of the highway.
I heard from the pick up drivers doing the Gotera-Perquin route that pick ups run every 30 minutes from 3:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. At least M-F. I have no idea about weekends.”
Sleep
Not a lot of people stop in San Miguel for more than a night or two, if at all. I was happy to find a nice chill place to rest while I caught up on some writing and was grateful for the hospitality shown at the Hotel Caleta. Simple rooms (with TV and A/C if you want it) and a nice green garden to take the heat out of the day. The manager Roberto was very kind and helpful and made a good breakfast too. I also liked that it wasn’t too far to walk to the ATM and the supermarket. There are a few banks along the way but there is an ATM inside the Despensa Familiar Catedral if you want privacy when taking out your money. And, if you need a break from rice and beans there are chain restaurants, including a Subway, at the park.
Help your fellow traveller
If you have taken any of the buses on this page, please drop us a comment below about how the trip went, what time you left, how long it took and what it cost. And, definitely let us know if we have anything wrong.
Lets help each other in our travels!
We took the bus from San Miguel to León, Nicaragua and it was incredibly simple and $12 (not including border fees).
We took the bus from San Miguel Central Bus Terminal to Santa Rosa/ El Amatillo ($3) I think it was the 330. At approx 9am we saw them leaving every 15 minutes. We then had to swap onto another bus at Santa Rosa to El Amatillo (approx 2 hour journey total). Once at the Honduran border we walked across through customs and got a collectivo for $7 to Guasuale which left when it was full (approx 15 mins waiting then 2.5 hours). We then walked across the Nicaraguan border and 200m up a hill to a bus station on the right of the road. There were buses here to Managua, León and Granada. We took the bus to León (terminating in Managua) which cost $2.
We didn’t need to take any taxis/ cycle taxis throughout the journey although they tried to convince us.
We also were able to pay with dollars throughout so didn’t need to exchange money at each border.
Thought we’d share our experience because of how useful this has been on our travels!
Today, at 7:30AM, I took a bus from San Miguel to Gotera (1 hour) and cost 50 cents. After a 10 minute wait, I caught a bus to Perquin and arrived by 11:15AM. It was a regular size bus and not a truck for $1.
Today I travelled from San Miguel (Salvador) to Leon (Nicaragua) by chicken bus.
1. At 6.30am I took a bus from San Miguel to Santa Rosa, 1 hour, 1 dollar (from bus terminal to a street where next bus departed immediately).
2. Santa Rosa to Amatillo border, 20 min, 1 dollar
Easy exit from El Salvador. OK entrance to Honduras.
3. There is an express shuttle direct to Guasule (3 h, 6 dollars, I think) but won’t depart until full. Since there was nobody, instead of waiting I took a frequent bus to Choluteca (2.30 h, 4 dollars). It made some stops but driver mentioned that they need to arrive on time, so no long stops.
As I arrived to Choluteca I took a shuttle to Guasaule that departed immediately (30 min, 2 dollars).
The border crossing here is the worst, be ready to wait.
At 2.15pm I was finally outside eating and buying a sim card.
4. At 3pm I took a bus to Leon (chicken bus that goes to Managua).
Important! Some shuttle drivers tried to lie and said there wasn’t any direct bus to Leon until six, that I should go to Chinandega and take a bus there. They were lying. There’s a chicken bus and I took it.
Also, I took a pcr is San Miguel and received results same day by night.
It’s a long day of travelling but it was extremely cheap and most people where nice. Depart as early as possible and it should be fine.
We took the bus from San Miguel to Perquín today (a Tuesday).
We arrived into San Miguel at 11:10am and were told that there was supposed to be a direct bus to Perquín at 12:40pm.
Bus drivers tried to persuade us to take a bus to Gotera and wait there for a bus onwards to Perquín. Instead, we waited for the direct bus, which didn’t turn up.
The next one was meant to be at 13:30pm but we mistakenly got on a bus to Gotera at 13:20pm where we then waited 10-15 mins for the Perquín bus that was clearly the 13:30pm bus from San Miguel.
Either way, we made it into Perquín around 17:00pm.
Sept 10 2021
Took the bus from San Miguel El Salvador to San Lorenzo Honduras.
Take the bus going to Santa Rosa de Lima and tell the driver you want the bus to the frontera. He will drop you in Santa Rosa at the right place. Get on the bus to the border, and ride it to the end. There you can walk across the border or take a bicycle taxi for a dollar. When you get across there will be buses going to Choluteca and you can get off anywhere. I got off in Santa Rosa before heading into Tegucigalpa the next day.
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I took the bus today, on a Sunday, from San Miguel to Perquin at 3:20PM. The bus was simply labeled as 332, no letters added, but with Perquin clearly written on the front. A return schedule was posted inside the bus stating a 7:45AM departure back to San Miguel. Hopefully this information can be of some use to somebody in the future.
I forgot to add it still costs $1.50 and took closer to 2.5 hours, not 3, with plenty of stopping for passenger pick up and drop off.