Planning to visit Nicaragua during Christmas and New Years.
What is the best place to visit in terms of local atmosphere ?? Between Leon, Managua, and Grenada.
Would the hotels be booked solid during those times?
I visited Antigua, Guatemala a few years back during New Years, it was great, looking for similar experiences. Thanks for any advise.
I haven't been to Granada but was just in Leon and it is pretty damn festive all the time. I imagine Christmas and/or New Year's there would be lots of fun. There's always some sort of street party or celebration in the park in front of the cathedral. Great cultural town.
Fun... as long as you don't mind being deaf and having your nerves racked from constant assaults by fire crackers and home-made "mortars" that may well end up in your face if you're not careful. If there's one time of the year that I choose NOT be anywhere near a city in Nicaragua, then it's Christmas. Believe it or not, New Year's tends to be a bit quieter on the fire cracker front.
Thanks for the info. I don't mind some fire crackers during New Years. Should be fun.
I guess I will try Leon for Christmas and Grenada for New years.
Enjoy :-)
Nah, you will be fine. It's just that fire crackers really do my head in.
But a small word of warning nontheless:
Be careful - loads of injuries happen every year because fire crackers, rockets and home-made mortars are fired without any regard for the safety of anyone. Everyone on the streets will be pissed out of their faces as well, which obviously won't help things one bit.
I had one of the most memorable experiences in Nicaragua in a town 2 hours north of Managua called Esteli. My wife (from Nicaragua), the kids and some of her family went to a midnight mass on New Years Eve in the cathedral in Esteli which is a very beautiful building inside and out. There are many statues and hand carved wooden pictures depicting the Stations of the Cross. They had the church decorated in elaborate nativity screens on the side altars and other decorations of silk cloth and ribbons hanging form the pillars.
It was very warm and the doors of the church were open and the warm night air drifted in. The church was packed with people dressed in their best outfits. They had a marimba band playing beautiful Spanish songs during mass. At the mass the priest used incense and it filled the church with a beautiful aroma.
Afterward we went to a cliff top restaurant (on the right when you first enter town on the Pan American highway). From the top of the restaurant you can see the surrounding valley and the city lights below. From our table we watched the fireworks exploding over the town and ate, drank and danced on the open air dance floor to the band till all hours of the morning. The whole experience was just beautiful and one of my most memorable in Nicaragua!
