The wife and I are both in our young 40's - been to Costa Rica 4 times. We don't like crowds or organized activities, prefer tranquillo beaches with cool bars and restaurants to hang out and people watch. Our favorite places in CR are Puerto Viejo and Montezuma - anywhere in Nicaragua that is similar?
We will probably visit sometime in October or November and will have a rental car to get around. Our budget is about $60/night for lodging
Any suggestions?
check out vianica.com :: Granada is a great base town for cool bars and restaurants to hang out and people watch. With a rental car I'd check out Las Penitas or Poneloya beach near Leon or La Boquita, Pochomil and Montelimar. San Juan Del Sur is an interesting waterfront community but, I didn't find it that tranquilo, especially at night.
Love love love Granada! We stayed at the Hotel Terrasol, which is a great little place well within your budget. Victor and Katja (the owners) really take care of you, and the town is just so charming and really unspoiled. We saw very few other tourists when we were there.
For info and pics from our trip: http://patrinadoestheglobe.blogspot.com/2008/07/nicaragua.html
Time is the question, how much time?
Rainy season is at its peak...so be prepared.
Though using a rental in CR makes sense, consider using local busses, shuttles, and taxi hire in Nica. No two venues are more than 2 hours apart, and you dont want drive in Managua, makes San Jose like a country club. Roads are poorly marked as well, and there are recent reports of tourist getting shook-down for minor legal issues in order to get bribed. You have been warned.
Nicaragua is great contrast to Costa Rica, and the colonial charm of Granada is worth at least 2 nights. Ometepe is a really slow pace and detached from the everyday politics and feel of mainland, allow 3 nights if possible. Its also a lot easier to get there without a car on the ferry, and the roads are almost mud paths on the island, no fun.
If you loved the caribe feel of CR, which I do to, then you have to fly to Corn Islands at the end, via Managua. Allow 3 nights there for sure, its rustic, raw and another culture in itself.
Leon is the cultural bedrock of all things Nica, with the University as the epicenter, and lots of Arts from dance to poetry to murals and museums, at least 2 nights there. The Volcanoes nearby and to the north are lovely, a cool respite, as its mostly low land and inland in Nica, and man, Leon and Granada are HOT, like really HOT! Try to get a hotel with a pool in Granada :)
Moon Nicaragua Guidebook, 2nd edition, is great.
Enjoy, Nicaragua has some of the most humble, good hearted, hard working, salt of the earth folks you could ever meet. If possible, hit Massaya (fun) market for donations to a Orphanage in Granada. $50 goes a long way.
