Things to do in Nicaragua
-
Playa Pie de Gigante
This glorious white crescent of sand snuggled into the wildly forested mountains has long been famed for cheap lobster, best enjoyed with a servicio of rum at one of the ramshackle seaside restaurants, and great surfing. The popular sandy beach break right in front of 'town' gets hollow and fun when conditions are perfect, and has reliable peaks year-round.
There's an endless tube about 45 minutes north that's also good for beginners. Special-name waves include Chiggers and Outer Chiggers, close to a rocky reef, and Hemorrhoids - this tube is for serious surfers, as it dumps you right onto gravel.
You'll need to hire a boat to most of the breaks, including the point break…
reviewed
-
La Gran Via
Chinese food comes hot, fresh and in large portions; the soups are great. Lunch specials are a better deal.
reviewed
-
Aeropuerto 79
Just south of Masaya on the main road, this fairly spectacular spot - colorful tilework, beautiful gardens, sculptures of large-breasted women - has well-prepared typical food, and specializes in exotic meat, such as armadillo, rabbit or deer. It was a Sandinista military depot during the revolution, and a nearby plane crash in 1979 inspired the peacetime name.
reviewed
-
A
El Timón
This excellent beach restaurant is the place to go for a more upmarket seafood dinner, with professional service and delicious seafood; the pulpo al vapor (steamed octopus with a tasty garlicky sauce) is highly recommended.
reviewed
-
B
Rincón Don Chato
It looks like a regular formica diner on the main drag, but this nifty nitch has the best batidos, or fruit shakes, in town - the pineapple-celery in orange juice is amazing. Also on the menu are Nica classics with your choice of meat, plus veggie burgers and other vegetarian options. Good breakfasts.
reviewed
-
C
Arena Caliente
Everyone loves this locally owned and operated shop, which rents boards and arranges inexpensive group transportation to the best breaks. It also offers budget surf packages where prices vary depending on your choice in lodging (or camping) and other options.
reviewed
-
Vuela Vuela
One of Estelí's best restaurants, serving delicious roasted meat, good salads and sandwiches, and big breakfasts (presto 'coffee' though…hmmm). Not the cheapest place, but worth the splurge if you've OD'd on gallo pinto.
reviewed
-
D
Big Wave Dave's
The classic expat joint serves famously good breakfasts and wonderful comfort food - big burgers, bigger organic-leaf salads and more - all day.
reviewed
-
E
Pizzeria San Juan
Taste for yourself why they call this the best pizza in town, on the relaxed patio out back or phone in for delivery.
reviewed
-
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…
reviewed
Advertisement
-
Refugio de Vida Silvestre La Flor
Between July and December - peaking in August and September - some 30,000 female Olive Ridley turtles, and a few hundred very endangered leatherback turtles, visit Refugio de Vida Silvestre La Flor to nest. And you have to see turtles laying eggs on the beach, not to mention tiny baby turtles making their death-defying run for the water, at least once in your life. Several hotels, including Hotel Nina and Casa Oro Hostel, run night tours, including transportation. Bring insect repellent.
The reserve, south of San Juan del Sur along a shocking road, is managed by Fundación Cocibolca, who have been aided in their efforts by strong new pro-enviromental legislation, which…
reviewed
-
Las Isletas
One of the most enjoyable ways to pass the time is touring this miniature archipelago of 365 (OK, maybe fewer) tiny tropical islands, topped with rare birds, colorful flowers, mansions hung with hammocks, and a few hotels and restaurants where you're welcome to sit back and enjoy it all for a while. Catch a ride with a tour company or hire a boat yourself.
There's even a Spanish fortress, the 1784 Castillo San Pablo, with great views of Granada and Volcán Mombacho, plus a fine swimming hole nearby. The residents of Isla de los Monos (Monkey Island) are friendly, but may run off with your picnic lunch!
Formed 10,000 years ago when Volcán Mombacho exploded into its current…
reviewed
-
Catedral de León
Construction of León's most famous building began in 1747 and went on for over a hundred years. The largest cathedral in Central America, it was voted by the Nicaraguan National Assembly as the country's 'building of the millennium'. This architectural jewel is also home to Rubén Darío's tomb, guarded on one side of the altar by a sorrowful lion.
According to local legend, the city's leaders feared their original grandiose design for the structure would be turned down by Spanish imperial authorities, so they submitted a more modest, but bogus, set of plans.
The fairly sober facade (more triumph-of-the-will Neoclassicism than fluttering cherubs) fronts an interior that…
reviewed
-
Convento y Museo San Francisco
The oldest church in Central America and the most striking building in Granada (that is to say, Nicaragua) boasts the big blue birthday cake facade of Iglesia San Francisco which, incidentally, houses the region's best museum.
The museum is through the small door on the left, where guides (some of whom speak English) are available for tours; tips are appreciated. Museum highlights include top-notch primitivist art, a scale model of the city and a tribe of papier-mâché Indians cooking, relaxing in hammocks and frolicking on comelazatoaztegams, a sort of a 360-degree see-saw.
The reason why you're here, however, is the Zapatera statuary, two solemn black basalt statues…
reviewed
-
Los Agüizotes
Los Agüizotes is an important celebration, featuring spirits of the dead and characters from indigenous horror stories (many originating during the Spanish conquest). The Headless Priest and La Carreta Nagua (Chariot of Death) are used throughout the year to scare children into better behavior, but on the last Friday in October make their way through the streets of Monimbó and Masaya.
Costumes are prepared the night before in a ceremony called La Vela de Candil (Vigil of the Candle). They are placed on a table with a large candle in the middle, and those watching over it throughout the night keep themselves awake with fireworks, live music, alcohol and dancing, after…
reviewed
-
F
Museo de Café
There's a lot of information in the Museo de Café, almost all of it in Spanish, and very little actually pertains to coffee. Staff, however, who also operate a tour desk, are highly caffeinated, offer free cups of coffee, and also sell bags of the stuff.
This is actually more of a Nicaragua and Matagalpa history museum. It begins with a nice archaeology display, then segues into high-school-quality exhibitions about the city and region, from photos of beauty-contest winners past and present through a list of Latin America's great liberators, from Bolivar to Martí.
reviewed
-
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.
reviewed
-
La Casita
La Casita is surrounded by gardens framing a mountain stream and is the perfect place to relax amid all the jungly loveliness. Here you can enjoy chai tea, homemade yogurt or the signature mariedas, a small loaf of whole-wheat bread with different toppings (veggies, hummus, cheese, whatever). There is a little shop selling spices, seeds, top-quality handicrafts and other interesting items in front, or you may prefer to wander out back and enjoy the finca (farm).
It's hidden about 1km south of town along the Interamericana, just past Cecalli.
reviewed
-
Petroglyph
There's a spectacular Petroglyph not far from town; if you do Da Flying Frog canopy tour, ask to be taken by. Otherwise, walk toward Rivas, passing the Texaco station, and make a left after the bridge. Pass a school and then a gate on your right. Continue to the old farmhouse; if anyone's around, you should ask permission to cross the land.
Otherwise, follow the irrigation pipes to the river, where you'll find the stone, showing an enormous and elaborate hunting scene carved perhaps 1500 years ago. If you continue upstream, you'll come to a small waterfall.
reviewed
-
Centro Turístico
Enter through the mock Spanish fortress to a long stretch of lakefront with shady paths, sandy beaches, trees that seem designed for hammocks, restaurants, picnic areas and playgrounds, and free mangoes (if you can beat the parrots and street kids to 'em) all over the place, starting in late February. The Centro is also home to some happening nightspots.
Before splashing headfirst into the water with all the smiling families, you may like to take a good look at the river draining into the lake nearby and contemplate its contents...
reviewed
Advertisement
-
Casacada San Ramón
One of Ometepe's classic hikes is to San Ramón waterfall. This excellent four-hour trek follows a steep, clearly marked trail to the mossy, 40m (131ft) waterfall that you see on all the postcards. The trail has been ravaged a bit at lower elevations by the owners of Estación Biológica San Ramón, but the payoff is still delicious.
Bus service is convenient: take the morning bus from Moyogalpa or Altagracia, then exit at the ecological station. Buses return from San Ramón in the early afternoon.
reviewed
-
Xolotlán
The malecón is a bit depressing on off days, especially if you're pondering almost beautiful Lago de Managua, more properly known as Xolotlán, since 1927 one of the most polluted bodies of water in Central America. Foreign governments are helping clean it up, and in the meantime families turn out on Sundays and partiers on weekend evenings, not to swim but to enjoy the quirky collection of seaside kiosks, and the rickety theme park rides at the west end of the complex.
reviewed
-
Turicentro Estelimar Science Museum & Pools
A good excuse for a 2km walk toward Jinotega, Turicentro Estelimar Science Museum & Pools has a small science museum with some pretty fabulous solar- and pedal-operated dinosaurs made out of old car parts, plus displays involving alternative energy, gears and hydraulics. There are also three attractive pools where you can relax afterward and big cabañas that are a good deal for groups and families.
reviewed
-
G
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.
reviewed
-
Central Market
The best place to eat on the cheap or buy fresh veggies is the beautiful, clean Central Market, with several inexpensive eateries serving comida corriente (a mixed plate of different foods typical of the region) made from whatever's fresh that day. After-hours, two of the best fritangas (sidewalk barbecues) in town set up right outside, on the corner closest to the cathedral.
reviewed