nicaragua for 10 days next month

Add Esteli/Somoto Canyon, skip Jinotega, nothing going on there. Don"t mis the chocolate factory in Matagalpa and do your laundry at www.cuentaconmigo.info....:-).....have fun

Looks pretty good to me, only one idea after Leon maybe head up to Esteli, nice little town and check out Miraflor cloud forest and then down to Matagalpo and Jinotega.

Leon is great and if you like volcanoes don't miss Cerro Negro and Telica. For the beaches Las Penitas is fun but Jiquilillo is even better. Small village, deserted beaches, great surfing or playing in the waves, fun beach walks, kayaking possible too. If you like hiking, you could hike up to the Cosiguina crater lake from Potosi (another small village).

Somoto canyon near Esteli is supposed to be great (we skipped it and were sorry we did when we heard others rave about it). We spent two nights in Miraflor and were not blown away. If you choose a good place to stay (we were at Neblina del Bosque, certainly NOT recommended), if you can get a guide to explore the cloud forest with and if the weather is good (we had terrible weather there early December) it may be worth it. Hopefully others had a better experience than we did. We visited El Tisey and that was certainly off the beaten path... we liked the views and birds, the lodge was fine but they served small amounts of food.

Matagalpa is a busy loud city but the surroundings are nice. We enjoyed the hike up Cerro Apante. The bus ride to Jinotega was nice and we liked the park in Jinotega, the cemetery and the walk up to the cross. We hiked at Selva Negra, pretty but we didn't see much wildlife (again, this was just our experience, we only saw a few cool ducks and an agouti which was great).

If I had 10 days in Nicaragua (bear in mind that we love hiking) I would spend a day exploring Granada (including the isletas by kayak), second day I would go to Masaya volcano (and market) and Lake Apoyo (for the views, wildlife and to swim). Then Ometepe Island for 2 days : volcano hike or walk in the cloud forest or walk to waterfall, walk and swim at Charco Verde, swim at natural spring pools (Ojo de Agua). Then make the trek to Leon, explore the city, Cerro Negro and Telica and relax at the beach (Las Penitas). But if you think that is too much rushing around you could just as well spend 10 days around Leon if you want to take the time to explore the peninsula as well (Jiquilillo, Potosi) and if you like to climb volcanoes like we do (San Cristobal was hard but great).

Enjoy !

Leon, is right on the "gringo trail". Matagalpa, Jinotega, Esteli and Ocotal are less so.

Don't miss the museums in Leon. My favorites are the Museum of Myths and Legends and the Museum of Revolution. Be sure to climb out the window and up to the roof of the Museum of Revolution to have a beautiful panoramic view of Leon. Expect high temperatures in Leon.
http://retirenicaragua.wordpress.com/2012/08/17/viva-la-revolucion/
Leon is a working city. I prefer it much more than Granada, which caters to the tourists.
In the mountains outside of Matagalpa, don't miss Selva Negra. It is a completely self-sustaining coffee farm. Beautiful place. You'll feel like you are in Bavaria. http://retirenicaragua.wordpress.com/2011/09/19/a-walk-through-the-black-jungle/
We loved Esteli. The murals are incredible. http://retirenicaragua.wordpress.com/2011/09/12/stop-leaning-against-the-wall-its-wet/
I've included some links to my blog of some of the places you want to visit. Enjoy. You have a good itinerary.

oops. I wanted to include Somoto Canyon, too. http://retirenicaragua.wordpress.com/2011/09/02/somoto-canyon/

thank you all a bunch. i'm following through on all the links.

Hi,
I'm heading to Nicaragua on Saturday. I only have a week there. I was thinking of going to Somoto Canyon. Worth it huh? My trip will also be Ometepe for 3 days and then I have one more day.....Granada or Treehouse hostel for a hike around there?

Thanks for input! I can't deside what is best to do.

Megan, you should start a new thread with your questions, this one is fairly old. You will get more responses. Ometepe for 3 days is good, Granada is just so so IMO, sorry can't help with the Canyon.