Salinas is a coastal city

City

A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...

 located in the Province of Santa Elena

Santa Elena Province, Ecuador

The Province of Santa Elena is a province of Ecuador in the coastal region. Created in 2007 from territory that belonged to the Guayas Province, it is one of the two newest provinces of Ecuador, along with Santo Domingo de Los Tsáchilas. Its capital city is Santa Elena, from which the province...

, Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

. It is the seat of the canton that bears its name. The west

West

West is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.West is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of east and is perpendicular to north and south.By convention, the left side of a map is west....

ernmost city on mainland Ecuador, Salinas is an important tourist

Tourism

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

 center. Recently, Salinas was the center of controversy during the contentious "more fun, less sun," debate . It is the site of the ISA World Junior Surfing Games Ecuador

ISA World Junior Surfing Games Ecuador

International Surfing Association in Ecuador is a part of the The International Surfing Association is recognized by the International Olympic Committee as the world governing authority for surfing and all its waveriding disciplines, including bodyboard, kneeboard, longboard, tandem, skimboard and...

 in 2009. There are two major yacht clubs in Salinas, the first is Salinas Yacht Club, which is a good bit smaller than the Puerto Lucia Yacht Club, in Santa Elena, in an area known as 'La Libertad' which, in Spanish means; 'The Freedom Town'. Puerto Lucia boasts a hotel, several restaurants to eat, a private beach and apartment block buildings, as well as the large marina and port.

Formerly a small fishing village until the June 30, 1929 was established as a rural parish of Santa Elena, which belonged to the December 22, 1937, when by official decree signed by the Commander in Chief, General Alberto Enriquez Gallo and published in Official Gazette No. 52 of December 27 of that year, was elevated to the rank of Canton. Its cantonal head is modern and progressive spa town of Salinas, the main tourist attraction of the Ecuadorian coast, and is composed of the rural parishes Ancon, and Jose Luis Tamayo Anconcito (Muey).

Political division

Salinas is divided into four urban parishes. They are:

• Alberto Enriquez Gallo
• Carlos Espinoza Larrea
• Santa Rosa
• Vicente Rocafuerte

Museum XXI Century Salinas

Located in the canton street Salinas Guayas and Quil Pier and is known as "The Museum of the Great Peninsula" , has an archaeological room, a temporary exhibition hall, a lounge and a naval parade, are the component cultural museum.
The Archaeological room has a complete sample of the cultures that settled in this great peninsula, real cultures Valdivia, Machalilla Engoroy (CV) of the Formative period ( 4200 BC - 500 BC ), and Jambelí Guangala Regional Development period (500 BC - 500 ) and maintenance-Integration Guancavilca period ( 500 - 1530 ), which include human and animal figurines, ceremonial and utilitarian vessels, bottles, whistle, stone axes, beads necklaces Spondylus, horns and whistles and a variety of both cylindrical and flat seals.

The Naval Room

On displays is a model of a raft-Guancavilca Manteña reproduced according to the description of Samano 1526. The Guancavilcas large rafts were in their black-colored vessels, hands and stone metate for grinding grains, spherical stone weights for nets and pointed to the divers who were also used to hit and release Spondylus shells attached to rocks ; copper objects such as axes and hatchets handle coins and Spondylus shell accounts, circular and rectangular shapes that were marketed along with the copper material, in Mexico and Peru, are evidence of the last thousand years of navigation our country.
A model that reproduces the galleon Jesus Maria de la Limpia Concepcion known as "The Captain" takes us back to colonial times and the exhibit showcases the salvage in that galleon wrecked in 1654 off the coast of Chanduy.
Coins of 1, 2, 4 and 8 reales cobs or crushed calls were made in silver and transported on ships to Panama and from there to the Caribbean to be transported to Europe, fragments of silver cutlery and plates and pottery known as majolica bars, tin, silver, cannonballs both bronze and iron and lead for muskets.
A gold cross with Latin inscriptions, an earring with pearl bases, burner and silver candelabra, a buckle, metal earrings agate and correspond to the material used for personal use by the passengers on this ship and ran aground off the coast of the town of El Real.

Punta Carnero Beach

People travel from all over the world because of the Surfing in Ecuador

Surfing in Ecuador

See also: List of surfing areas for a list of global surfing areasEcuador has many beaches for surfing: the coast of Ecuador is 2,237 km long. Waves good for surfing are available in Ecuador year-round, and surfers enjoy the mild year-round weather, especially in the northern region where the...

 offers ideal climate all year round. Punta Carnero is a beach located approximately ten minutes south of Salinas. Its name, “Ram Point” in English, stems from the rocky headland located at the southeast end of the beach. Punta Carnero Beach has been chosen many times to be the venue of not just national surf competitions, but also at an international level.

The beach extends for approximately 1.6 miles (2.57 kilometers) and is relatively wide, with white to gray sand, medium waves and a prevalent inland breeze.

Many who travel to Punta Carnero also take a visit to other famous beaches are found just off the coast of Ecuador by 972 km is known the world over, the Galápagos Islands

Galápagos Islands

The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part.The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a...

 an area of volcanic islands distributed around the equator

Equator

An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass....

 in the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

.

Other attractions

Other attractions of popular activities include:

• The diving on the island of Peel in Ayangue.
• Deep sea fishing
• The Chocolate, a large cliff that is the most salient point of the Peninsula of Santa Elena.
• Central Church of Our Lady of Mercy.
• Main Salinas Malecon and Chipipe
• San Lorenzo Park Civic.
• Paseo Artesanal Los Cedros.
• Malecón de Santa Rosa.
• Park and Central Church of José Luis Tamayo.
• Pacific Mall.
• Anconcito Malecon.
• Whale Museum
• Whale watching
• Parasailing