Activities in Matagalpa
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Cecocafen
Like the Ruta de Café without the luxurious haciendas, this community-based initiative for small-scale, sustainable tourism arranges visits and homestays in small coffee-producing villages. Cecocafen, three blocks east and one block south of the Museo de Café, not only arranges tours, but also supports women's groups and builds schools while it promotes Fair Trade coffee.
Although it can work with individuals, Cecocafen is set up for large groups, who usually contact them well ahead of time about visiting communally operated coffee producers, who work small family plots (averaging only five manzanas), such as Cooperative El Roblar, a women's organic coffee and veggie-gr…
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Reserva Natural Cerro Apante
This must be among the easiest-to-access reserves in Nicaragua, with walking access (for hearty souls) right from town. Or, you could even hitch most of the way to the top of the cool, misty 1442m peak on the access road.
Either Intur or Marena may be able to find guides, if you'd prefer, and Matagalpa Tours offers Guided Hikes (Reserva Natural Cerro Apante) to the top.
There are two other entrances to different sectors of the park; one is just north of town on the road to El Tuma, the other on the road to Guadalupe-Samulali, off the Matagalpa-Muy Muy road.
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Matagalpa Tours
Matagalpa Tours does rural community tourism, and takes you to tiny towns (perhaps on mountain bikes?), such as the indigenous community of El Chile, known for its beautiful fabric arts. Among other offerings, it arranges one- to six-day guided hikes through the mountains; gold-mine tours and a Matagalpa City Tour; it has English- or Dutch-speaking guides, too. Spanish lessons are also offered.
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Hiking
Hiking maps with precise instructions (after going under the barbed-wire fence, take the small path to the left of the big bend in the stream…) are sold by Centro Girasol Café.
Routes include: Ruta Cerro El Toro (3-6 hrs - See the bullshaped rock and wonderful city views); Ruta de Cafe (3-7 hrs - Climb up into the organic coffee farms in the mountains around town); Ruta de la Guerra 1978 (1½-5 hrs - When Matagalpans fled the city in 1978, they hid at Cerro Buena Vista and Cerro Apante, there are fine views); Ruta de la Guerra 1979 (1½-4 hrs - The National Guard later retreated to scenic Cerro El Calvario, along paths now lined with pottery studios and forests); Ruta Sa…
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Finca San Antonio
There's a simple, four-room hospedaje on this dairy and coffee farm, which has some of the best access to Reserva Natural Cerro El Arenal, including a waterfall on Río El Ocote.
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Finca Shamballa
Located inside Reserva Natural Cerro El Arenal, this swish spot offers tourist packages that include not just food and horseback riding, but also aromatherapy and massage.
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Finca La Ponderosa
Four kilometers north of Matagalpa, this ecological finca offers horseback tours through organic coffee, after which you can swim beneath a chilly waterfall.
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Finca la Leonesa
This San Ramón finca has camping, lodging and horseback rides to abandoned gold mines. You can explore 1500m-long tunnels, so bring a flashlight.
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