Esteli vs. Matagalpa

Greetings, still researching my trip to Nicaragua. I'm trying to determine whether I'd like to spend a week in Esteli or Matagalpa more. I would like to visit both, but I'm trying to determine which city offers more within the limits to see and do, as well as the outside. I've been researching MIraflor, and would really like to go there. But a friend of mine speaks highly of Matagalpa as well. I plan to take Spanish classes and look into volunteer options in the area. I'm a 25 year old solo female traveler with interests in experiencing the language and culture. Any help would be appreciated.

I've not been to Matagalpa but I have been to Esteli and the thought of a whole week there would fill me with horror. Noooooo......

Can you expand upon this impression, please? What was so horrible about it?

A dusty dark service town of virtually no interest whatsoever......IMHO

I visited Esteli for 3 nights which was more than enough, not much at all to see or do. A waterfall a 2 hour trek north of the city was the highlight. Market was small and dusty. Nice place and nice people but certainly nothing much to do.

imo i thought matagalpa was nicer becasue of the climate, cooler, and selva negra.

I am also planning my trip to Nicaragua and want to go around there. I thought of sleeping in the reserva miraflor itself for maybe 2 nights, I read that you can book rooms from UCA in Esteli and that it is an easy bus ride from there. Then I thought of moving on to Jinotega for some hiking and stay there instead of matagalpa, but I guess you are looking for a place to base yourself and stay longer as you want to study. If you are there at the beginning of february and feel like having company to hike around, let me know as I will also be travelling as a solo female traveller.

Have a nice trip !

What's dark about it Boomer? It's bright if you visit during daytime, :-) but true, that will only reveal what Boomer says. Estelí is rather not very pretty and quite uneventful, but so is Matagalpa, if it's the towns themselves we're talking about. Matagalpa has a nicer setting though.
Now around them, there's plenty to do. Miraflores near ES is a must IMO. So I would check out ES first, and if you get bored, hop on the bus to MT. It's only a few hours - and you can even make a very nice trip out of it if you do ES - Miraflores (or ist Miraflor? I never know), stay there for however long you fancy, and then take the bus that cuts through the Miraflores reserve and gets you onto the Jinotega road, passing by Selva Negra and hey presto, you're in Matagalpa.
That's whatt I would do if I had a week between ES and MT.

You are right- I think its etched dark in my mind because there was so little street lighting- but yes the sun does shine even on Esteli...

yet another 25 year old solo female traveller who will be in Nicaragua from the second week of Feb until..... ?
let me know if anyone wants to meet up!

Both cities have pluses and minuses and are equally dark on sidestreets after nightfall and you should not walk alone or with other foreigners in either in unlighted areas after dark. Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the hemisphere after all and while relatively safe compared to CA countries to the north, incidents happen. By reputation, Escuela Horizonte in Esteli is the best Spanish language school in the North, if that is a significant factor in your decision process. Check out their website, which gives some info on side day trips out from Esteli as well. Unless one is very interested in the revolutionary events of 1978-1985 or some of the best cigar making factories in the world, there is not much to see in town. Esteli has lost what rustic charm it had decades ago, but the daytrip of hiking with a group along the ridgeline of el Tisey is some of most spectacular Nicaraguan scenery, visit the stone carvings nearby and perhaps visit la Cascada, but that is more problematic in my opinion. Miraflor is a great concept, but can be hit or miss as a great visiting experience and in the past there has been reported disorganization in coordinating a trip there and back. Roadbed to Miraflor can be pretty rough. I am still stuck on Hotel La Selva Negra as the best concentrated cloud forest experience in Nicaragua, but, as I have stated in other postings, some friends of mine rave of it being the highlight of their trip to Nicaragua (love listening to the howler monkeys while at breakfast), others checkout after one night miserable from the cold and high humidity (Do the ridgeline hike there, but again not alone.) Check out their website. Whatever the humidity or temperature, la Selva Negra is the most comfortable lodging in the North, granted this is all relative. If cultural interaction and some language training are your top goals (I can't comment on the volunteering thing), do the week of Spanish in Esteli, stay in a home away from yanquis to force yourself into the local scene, do some afternoon side trips, Spend a morning or afternoon in Matagalpa on the way to Selva Negra, stay a night there, hike the ridge the next day, stay the night again following day bus into Jinotega and then head back south or take the rough, "short cut" from San Isidro over to Leon. If you would like more specific activities/ideas on Esteli and surrounding area, PM me. December through early February is the most pleasant time of year to visit the northern highlands.

MIRALFLOR is more difficult to get to than SELVA NEGRA .
Great coffee in that area as well!

thanks everyone!