Monumento Nacional Cañon de Somoto
Northern Highlands
The Coco (or Wangki), Central America’s longest river, runs all the way to the Caribbean, but its first impression may be its most spectacular. Gushing…
Must-see attractions in Northern Highlands
Northern Highlands
A steep yet worthwhile hour’s hike from the cemetery and embedded in a boulder-crusted ridge is the town cross, originally placed here in 1703 by…
Estelí
Be sure to stop by this moving gallery devoted to fallen revolutionaries, with displays of faded photos, clothes and weaponry. Check out the exhibit (with…
Casa Museo Comandante Carlos Fonseca
Matagalpa
Commander Carlos Fonseca, the Sandinista equivalent of Malcolm X (read: bespectacled, goateed, intense, highly charismatic), grew up desperately poor in…
Reserva Natural Macizos de Peñas Blancas
Northern Highlands
What is possibly the most enchanting nature reserve in northern Nicaragua has the mossy, misty, life-altering cloud-forest scenery you’ve been waiting for…
Northern Highlands
If you’re looking for comfort with your virgin cloud forest experience, then Selva Negra – part family resort, part coffee farm and part rainforest…
Northern Highlands
Nicaragua's highest peak, Cerro Mogotón (2107m) towers over the coffee fields of Nueva Segovia, close to the Honduran border. Once off-limits due to land…
Templo Parroquial de San Rafael Arcángel
Northern Highlands
Beginning in 1955, the revered Father Odorico D’Andrea turned this antiquated cathedral into a labor of divine love. It’s impeccably restored, with a…
Northern Highlands
This destination for wildlife lovers is where you’ll find the best remaining patch of virgin cloud forest (although deforestation is a serious issue),…
Northern Highlands
Artist and naturalist Alberto Gutiérrez is, some might say, a bit of a hermit – but a welcoming one who loves showing off his orchid-studded property,…
Northern Highlands
Surrounded by ethereal cloud forest, La Bujona is a wide wall of water that crashes over the rock face in various streams. It feels far from civilization…
Northern Highlands
Both coffee enthusiasts and nature lovers will be enamored with this fantastic private reserve with comfortable cabañas (dorm/room per person including…
Northern Highlands
In Tisey’s lower elevations, just 5km from Estelí, is the inspiring Salto Estanzuela, a gushing 36m waterfall that careens over a bromeliad-studded cliff…
Northern Highlands
The jewel of Ciudad Antigua is the sensational Santuario de los Milagros, with its gorgeous brick arches and enormous wooden doors. Check out the Christ…
Northern Highlands
A small layered waterfall feeds this lovely, round swimming hole enclosed by rock walls. The water flows from a local spring, so it's clean, and unlike…
Northern Highlands
This lookout point near Coyolito is perched at 1100m in the dry zone and offers fine views down the valley.
Northern Highlands
The lowest settlement in Miraflor, Coyolito is also the warmest and closest to Estelí. It offers magnificent views, especially from the Mirador La Meseta,…
Northern Highlands
Climb the steep staircase that disappears into the trees at the northern end of town to find the final resting place of Father Odorico D'Andrea, set at…
Northern Highlands
This friendly community is surrounded by coffee farms managed by three working cooperatives. Sontule families once worked for just four prominent…
Reserva Natural Tepesomoto-Pataste
Northern Highlands
Somoto's 'other' natural reserve, around 15km to the southwest of town, is rarely visited but has a hiking trail and is a popular spot for horseback…
Northern Highlands
Two blocks east of the Parque Central you’ll find the town’s primary roadside attraction, where Nicaragua's most famous writer Rubén Darío was born…
Matagalpa
This absorbing museum features large, glossy, printed displays in Spanish and English on the roots of modern coffee production in the region, as well as…
Museo Precolombino de Chagüitillo
Northern Highlands
This worthwhile little museum has two rooms of Chorotegan pottery and an exhibit on local hero Domingo Sánchez Salgado (aka Chagüitillo), one of the…
Northern Highlands
Surrounded by forest, this impressive 15m waterfall a short walk from the highway fills a large deep swimming hole. When it's quiet it's absolutely lovely…
Northern Highlands
The beauty of Jinotega’s cathedral (c 1805) is in the sanctuary, where you’ll marvel at the chestnut and gold-leaf altar, and pristine white arches and…
Northern Highlands
A fine place to immerse yourself in the collective-farming world of Miraflor, this small village is in the high zone, which means there are hundreds of…
Northern Highlands
Just outside Jalapa you'll find Cerro de Jesús (1885m), the largest mountain in the area. It is dominated by the Jesus Mountain coffee plantation, which…
Northern Highlands
Best known locally as the birthplace of poet and revolutionary hero Leonel Rugama (to whom there is a small monument here), this small village has some…
Northern Highlands
There are not many activities for visitors in this village, but it has some fine homestay options and it's only a 30-minute walk from Cebollal. It's also…
Matagalpa
Graveyard fans should check out both the Foreigners Cemetery (and nearby National Cemetery) on the eastern edge of town, where you'll find great views and…
Northern Highlands
This petroglyph site alongside a stream just outside town features a swirl of moons, snakes and dancers 3m long and 2m high carved into rocks. The site is…
Santuario de la Virgen de la Piedra
Northern Highlands
The principal sight in town is the lovely Santuario de la Virgen de la Piedra, where a statue of the radiant Virgin of Guadalupe blesses a kneeling…
Northern Highlands
The first settlement to cater to tourists, Cebollal remains the most popular. You can stay with one of many families or in more comfortable cabañas and…
Northern Highlands
A large farm that grows organic shade-grown coffee and is in the transition zone between the pines and cloud forest. It has a 'tobaggon' – a butt-bruising…
Northern Highlands
About a 20-minute drive further north from Sisle along the road that hugs the lakeshore, near the community of Yanque, you'll find the Comedor Norita,…
Matagalpa
Originally constructed in 1751 and used as a jail for indigenous rebels in the late 1800s, this church was rebuilt in 1917 by Franciscan friars. The…
Northern Highlands
The undisputed star of the town center is Nicaragua’s finest Parque Central. Former mayor Fausto Sánchez was a botanist, and he planted hundreds of…
Northern Highlands
This archaeological site up on a hill outside town features more than 60 zoomorphic petroglyphs, including many depicting deer. The path is not at all…
Estelí
You'll still see some murals around the streets of Estelí, and although many of the original revolutionary pieces have been lost to development, there are…
Northern Highlands
This faux control tower lookout at the Parque El Avion offers fantastic views of the town, its tiled roofs and palm trees jutting out of a canopy of green…
