Isla de Ometepe

Planning to spend a few nights on the Isla de Ometepe (2-4 nights?) and we are trying to deicde where to stay. Can anyone offer information to help us choose which area to stay in : Altagracia, Santo Domingo, Balgue, Moyogalpa?? We were leaning towards staying at Charco Verde based on travel reports we've read but would like to hear some more advice about other spots to stay.In case is matters wrt where we stay, we aren't really considering climbing the volcanoes, however would be interested in other light hiking, kayaking, horseback riding. Advice?

Also, we'd like to visit the Ojo de Agua. Where is this located on the island and where would it be most convenient to stay to get there?

I stayed at Santo Domingo. Quit nice and reasonably central to everywhere.
Ojo de agua, is about 2 kms from Santo Domingo.

Wouldn't stay in Altagracia. I did stay in Moyogalpa for 1 night. Charco Verde and Santo Domingo are your best bets. Anywhere on the island though feels isolated.

I stayed at Charco Verde. It´s a really nice place, with an almost resortish feel to it (but not in a nauseating way).

It´s very isolated feeling, so if that´s what you´re looking for, you should at least stay there for 1 night.

If you are interested in light hiking, Charco Verde has great, easy trails to walk around on their preserve. You can rent kayaks and it is a nice little trip to the nearby little uninhabited island-- I am blanking on the name but a solo horse lives there and is very friendly. I believe CV can also arrange for horseback as well. It is, however, a bit of a chicken bus ride to Ojo de Agua from CV. If you are not into chicken buses, I might bet that they could arrange transport for you at CV if you stayed there. I really really like Charco Verde.

I am not sure there is any reason to stay in Altagracia-- I only saw it from the bus window but there did not seem to be anything too interesting to check out. Also with Moyogalpa-- it's the "commercial center" (as much as there is one on Ometepe) but if you are going to Ometepe for nature, I don't think one would choose to stay in Moyogalpa.

Hi I was on Ometepe for the 1st time 2 weeks ago and loved it! We went to Charco Verde for a visit and it was very nice, however I would recommend going over to the Maderas side of the island. We stayed at La Omaja which was nestled into the side of the volcano and thus protected from the strong winds. As we drove past Villa Paraiso, it looked pretty, but the wind and waves were so high I said a silent prayer of thanks that we weren't staying there. The view from La Omaja was incredible with the lake to the front and Concepcion off to the left. It was a 5 minute walk down the driveway across to a pier on the lake. There is lots of kayaking (an island with monkeys is very close, but we didn't go and I don't remember the name), horseback riding, bicycling, and plenty of hiking to see the waterfalls and/or petroglyphs. Another reason I loved staying at La Omaja were the employees and owner Jamie. They were very sweet, friendly,helpful and Jamie speaks english. Our cabana was simple, but clean and the food good. The area here is very idylic with little traffic except for bicycles, walkers, and livestock. I felt like we had an excellent combination of good accommodations while having the tranquil island experience, yet more activities available than we had time to do, and easy access to a very friendly community full of eager children and shy, but smiling and waving adults. The down side is that it is a $30 taxi ride from the ferry terminal. Ojo de Agua would be easy to visit on the trip there or back.The other place on this side of the island that we liked was Hacienda Merida - right on the water at Samoza's old dock, some people describe it as gringo summer camp, but it looked fun! WE bought 2 gallons of bottled water to bring to the island with us, if you are able to I would recommend it. Hope this helps - have a great trip!

Wow, thanks for all the advice. I was leaning towards Charca Verde to start and I think I will end up staying there after your additional positive comments.
Thanks again.

I liked Santa Domingo, and Villa Parraiso. Central and east to arrange all your guides, kayaks, bikes, and taxi...nice beach, great cabinas, and the cafe there is wonderful, the swiss owners are top notch!

Another question.....from where the ferry arrives on Isla de Ometepe, is it easy to arrange transport to either Charco Verde or Villa Paraiso?

Are there chicken buses, taxis? What is the approx cost?

And is it easy to travel between areas ie from Charco Verde to Santo Domingo if we'd like to try and stay at both places? Or would it be best to just pick one place and make day trips to wherever we are not staying?

Unless you have a about 4 nights, pick one place.

Transport is easy to arrange from the ferry to both locations. There is a chicken bus that meets all the ferries to get you where you are going. If you miss that one, there is another an hour later when the next ferry comes in. I want to say it might be approx 1/2 hour at least to Charco Verde from the ferry, can't recall exactly. To Villa Paraiso it is way longer, because I am not sure if any of the buses go direct... I think they all go to Altagracia, loop around, then go down to the isthmus to the other side of the island. My memory really sucks but I think from Charco Verde to Villa Paraiso by chicken bus it was at least close to 1 1/2 hours, so must be longer from the ferry.

Depending on the deal you work out with the taxis at the ferry, it might be around USD 20-30 to Charco Verde, more to Villa Paraiso.

I am sure that Charco Verde or Villa Paraiso can arrange private transport or taxi for you to visit the places you want to see, and of course will be way quicker than the bus. I agree with #8 about picking one place unless you have several nights there.

Surprised no-one mentioned Hacienda Mérida. A stone's throw from the lake shore under volcán maderas, they offer bike hire, kayaks, horses, walking up the volcano or to the waterfall of san ramon. It's reasonably priced, very relaxing and friendly. They have free internet and good food. The owner (think it was Alvaro) speaks english and is very helpful and knowledgeable about Nicaragua. The chicken bus (to San Ramon) will drop you there. You're guaranteed fantastic sunsets.
Have a good trip

Thanks for all the advice.

Hi,

A warning to anybody planning to stay in Posada Chaco Largo whilst in Chaco Verde. There is a high risk of theft on the premises, especially if staying in the dorm room which faces the beach. After speaking to locals we realised this happens very often (that room in particular), and a group of four of us were unfortunate to have many items stolen three nights ago including a laptop, two digital cameras, two mp3 players and the majority of items in our day packs. The owners of Chaco Largo are extremely unhelpful and deny that this is an existing problem (claim this was the first time), even though police and other locals say this happens many many times. They then started accusing one of my friends in the room of being suspicious because he went for a walk shortly afterwards to ask around the town and claimed they saw him waiting for a bus to go to the ferry terminal (he lost the most out of all of us, it was ludicrous for them to say such a thing). The police may also be part of the problem, we're not completely sure.

If you choose to stay in Chaco Verde, stay next door at Hotel Venecia. Despite not being their responsibility whatsoever they drove us to the police station and back, to some restaurants and houses in the area to ask locals and finally to the ferry port on the other side of the island to get a boat, and asked for nothing in return. Their environment is far nicer, it will cost slightly more but you will have the assurance of a security guard on the premises, not having to deal with lousy staff, not having the high possibility of having your items stolen and much more accomodating staff. All of this happened in the middle of the night whilst we were all sleeping with our bags right next to us.

I hope other travellers considering staying here can read this before going and can avoid such an unfortunate incident from occuring to them. Final point...Do NOT stay at Posada Chaco Largo!

Justin

Thanks for the warning Justin, I am surpirsed to hear this on Ometepe.

You can arrange the various lodges to meet your ferry, they will ask you sall them from San Jorge prior to getting to the ferry, there are some small cargo/tranpost offices on the road, and they charge like $1 to call for you a number and tell them your name and what ferry your on, or maybe your taxi driver will use his cell. Its not cheap tough to arrange a pickup for Villa Parriaso, I recall it was $40 eachway in 2004 for 2 people. Though the lodge, rooms and location is a great, with easy access to either volcano base for hiking, and you can charge the transfers, excursions and room too, but if your on a budget, and have 4 days, take the bus, or stay near ferry and rent a bike, there are few cars/trucks on Ometep, the roads are mainly locals walking or on bikes, its a very relaxed and super slow paced island, 4 days you will decompress to barely getting out of a hammock :)