RE: So how much time do you recommend in each place?

I know it depends on what you want to do, but we have 18 full days in Nica. I was thinking of one day in Managua (though nothing to see) as we get in at 10 pm that night and need one day to decompress. Then off to Leon, 4 days in Leon or environs with a day or two near the canyon or beach near Leon.

Then down to Granada for abour four days. Then off to Ometepe for 5 nights.

With travel and then back to Managua I think that fills up our trip.

Any thoughts?

Should we detour for something fabulous that we are missing?

We have already been to the beautiful river at the Nicaraguan/Costa Rica River highly recommended.

Our interests are in jungle/nature hikes/ kayaking/ horse riding is a primo and swimming. We're not surfers ( I think I'm a bit too much shaped like Tony Soprano to try but who knows?) other than that, generally physically fit but not up for 12 hour extreme volcano hikes.

Also big on local religion and culture, hot springs and history.

Thanks folks.

Findley!

Managua has much more than nothing to see. Especially if you use it as a hub for day trips. If you buy into the hype that its a big evil scary city there are plenty of great places to stay on the outskirts. Swim in laguna xiloa, go to the chocoyero reserve, volcan masaya is 15 km away, take a boat tour of the big lake, there are beaches less than an hour away. You said you like hot springs, the tipitapa hot springa are only a couple of kms from the area.

For hot springs, jungle/nature hikes, and kayaking you may wanna think about going north for a couple days. Somoto canyon, the estanzuela reserve, selva negra, teustepe hot springs etc
Thats where that stuff is located.
Plaves like granada and even leon to a smaller extent are tourist spots. They lack the same culture and authenticity. Not much for jungle hikes in the granada area. Though if you are into history you might be into it cause it definitely has that.

Also i love ometepe, but 5 nights is a good long stay there unless there are specific things you are going for and like relaxing and slow. I would recommend cutting a day from ometepe, and granada, maybe evenleon and add another destination in the north for 2 or 3 days.

I would get out of the capital city asap, no need to use as a base, use Massaya or Granada.

With 18 days, what about the North? Estelli area? 4 nights Granada is 2 too many IMO. What about a few beach days near Leon? How about Corn Islands? What about Solentiname Islands?What about the Rio San Juan River, and San Carlos and El Castillo, and the refuges?

Do you have a guidebook? Moon is best for Nicaragua.

Aww Amigo,,,I missed that...jaa jaa

You might add Matagalpa for some hikes at Selva Negra and Cerro Apante, soaking up local life without all the tourists...have fun..

Thanks everyone. We were thinking of the Corn Islands but my partner is a tad reticent to go all the way over there as she (we) had a not so great experience on the Carribbean side of Costa Rica.

So Granada is only two days worthy? How many in Leon or can we (or should) we use it for a base. We'll take one day off Ometepe. We were attracted by the horse riding and kayaking at the Finca we intend to stay at.

Tell me about these northern hot springs anyone and how long we should stay?

I have the Moon guide on order and the new LP that just came out. I willl look up the other places you recommended.

We did the Rio San Juan when were we in CR and went all the way to the Nica border. Though amazing, we have seen it (saw thumbnail sized bats and a baby albino new born monkey hanging by her tail looking right over the boat while slowly spinning - she thought we were pretty interesting things to look at)

Thanks!

-Findley

What beaches do you guys recommend near Leon. I think despite the attractive "pink sand" of San Juan Del Sur we'll give it ai miss as touristy.

las penitas is the easiest to get to, about 20 minutes from leon. nice places to stay there.

If you are going to skip dan juan del sur because its too touristy, you probably will want to skip granada and leon too.

I can't comment on all the spots, but we went to Granada and Nicaragua and would suggest that both need at least 3 days. Close to Granada you have the Masaya volcano and Laguna de Apoyo which are worth visiting: http://bbqboy.net/granada-nicaragua/.
Love Omepete: http://bbqboy.net/isla-omepete-nicaragua/. You might want to skip the Maderas hike as I suggest in there. I've heard Concepcion has better views but a really tough hike...

Have a great time, Nicaragua is really nice (we didn't like Costa Rica either by the way, think you made the right decision).

Frank

Well what are people's recommendations re: San Juan Del Sur. I can do touristy, just not, hmm...Cabo San Lucas touristy.

I know the surf is great. Any recommendations for beaches in particular and/or where to stay?

bbqboy - i thought you made a typo in your comment. But then i clicked on your blog. The islands name is Ometepe. not omepete.

Since i was at your blog, i read your entry. I found it a bit interesting that you would make social commentary about how sad it is how poor the country is, and how you feel bad about the local people working so hard for so little money.
And yet, you spent at least 100 dollars a night (more than a months worth of pay for a poor farmer kid) at a foreigner owned resort. And booked private transport for yourself with a relatively pricey travel company, which is once again, owned by foreigners.
And in Granada you stayed in another european owned hotel for 50 bucks a night.

You also mentioned that you spent 3 full days in Grenada. Grenada is an island in the carribean that the US bombed in the 80's.

Your choice to do luxury travel, but the social commentary about feeling bad for the poor people living in nicaragua isnt needed while doing it.

and yes. i know im kind of a jerk.

likeveryoneselse - do you propose being like everyoneelse and going to Costa Rica? I'm going to a vacation, does that mean I have to stay in a mud hut? I can feel bad for locals but still spend money, knowing money does filter to the locals (if you read up on Totoco you'll see some of the money goes to community projects) while I also mention that Hotel Con Corazon is a non-profit, the funds going to kids education.
I appreciate though that you point out my spelling mistakes. Yeah, you are a jerk - the problem with this forum is that there's too many people looking to criticize others instead of trying to give out info that might actually help out the postee.

not at all. Personally i dont like Costa Rica, which is why i live in Nicaragua. Nor did i say you have to stay in a mud hut. Stay where you want. Im just saying its silly to make social commentary while being a luxury tourist.
Normally, i would have just pointed out that you made a spelling mistake, had you just been a mistaken visitor. But based on your post history, you seem to do that a lot. Every post you make links to your blog which contains not much information about the places locally, but simply pictures of tourist spots (while simultaneously informing other travelers on this board to stay clear from tourist areas and go local), and im not the only one to point out the inaccuracies and lack of local information on your blog. You do this so often across so many boards here, i wasnt even the only one YESTERDAY to point it out.
Its obvious you travel not for culture and knowledge but simply to post to the world that you travel and not here to help other posters, but rather spam your picture blog. All the while rationalizing to yourself that while it really makes you sad to see the locals so poor, its OK that you spent more on one night in a resort than the lady who cleaned your room made all month, but thats offset because a small portion of it goes to local causes.

Travel how you want, spend whatever money on whatever things you want. But do it for yourself and yourown enjoyment. Dont do it to look cool, well traveled, and socially conscious to strangers on the internet for more hits to your self-aggrandizing blog.

We planned 2 nights for Leon and that just gave us enough time for the cultural aspect (Cathedral/museums) since we were not planning on the different volcano activities and then we headed to the beaches at Las Penitas which was well worth it for the estuary reserve and some great seafood.
We definitely would recommend Estelli area as well since the Miraflor cloud forest offers wonderful natural areas to explore.
There is so much variety in Nicaragua - we only had 2 weeks but tried to spend at least a few nights in the various areas we traveled to - which was mostly by public buses.
We would love to return and travel more in the northern areas and Caribbean too.

leon is lovely, but is really hot. I would prefer leon to Granada (which is also beautiful in my opinion)..
From Estelì u can visit Miraflor or Tisey natural reserve (ad estanzuela waterfall) and Colocondo, the highest waterfall in Nicaragua..i would recommend as these are beautiful places!

i've never been to Ometepe, but everyone love it!

You can see all of the churches and museums in Granada in two, full, leisurely days. Its pretty small to be honest. You could probably also cram in a boat tour of las isletas as well but that would be a bit rushed. Add an extra day for Mombacho volcano or Laguno de Apoyo (although from what the locals there told me, it isn't much more than a nice lake. Don't know if its worth much time in a busy itinerary).

For Ometepe, it all depends what you plan on doing. Remember it takes forever to get around on the island. Me and my brother arrived in the morning at La Via Verde on the north east side of the island, near Balgue and spent that afternoon on bicycles touring around a bit, checking out the beach and the petroglyphs.

The second day we drove to the other side of the Maderas Volcano and did the hike to the San Ramon waterfall. After that we got a leisurely lunch at place owned by the young American couple (I can't remember the name, but they own a farm and have a bunch of small cottages built on the property that they rent out). By the time we got back to our place it was mid-afternoon. We went for a swim at the small (and not very nice to be honest) beach near Little Morgan's. Finally we got pizza that evening at the Italian run hippy style place up in the hills down the road (can't remember the name).

On day 3 we did the hike to the top of the Maderas volcano which took up the entire day.

Day 4 was spent taking it easy and visiting the 'ojo de agua' spring for a relaxing few hours in the afternoon.

By that point we had our fill of Ometepe and were ready to get back to the mainland. But if you're one of those types that wants to just chill for a few days with not too much to do then Ometepe will definitely provide a great backdrop for that.

I really wanted to visit Leon as well to get into the whole revolutionary period history stuff. I was told by the people who did visit Leon that it is quite a big, bustling city- not at all like Granada so have that in mind. Granada is very touristy for sure, but still I saw way more nicaraguans and central american tourists than Americans or Europeans.

We stayed on an organic farm on Ometepe (Finca Mystica) which was very quiet and chilled. You can do a hike up to the top of one of the volcano cones or hike to a waterfall. The nearby beach isn't up to much though. We stayed 4 nights and that was enough.

We also went to San Juan Del Sur and if you want to avoid the parties, you could try Marsella beach where we stayed, very quiet!

I think the issue is the poster needs a guidebook. They seem to have the wrong impressions of places and also not able to grasp the cultural elements of the country. With 18 days, a wise investment would be a guidebook, the Moon is great, but LP fine too...

SJDS is not pink sand beaches, nor resorts like Mexico. The problem with SJDS is the beach off the main town, a shabby ramshackle one at that, is you cant swim or use the beach of town, its dirty. The best beaches, are north and south of town and you need to commute to them, and the majority are for surfing, not swimming.

As for finding locally owned lodging, that is not a mud hut, you cant be serious, the majority of Costa Rica is intimate, rustic, charming, family owned lodging, easy to avoid foreign owned multi national hotels, though many lodges and boutique inns are foreigner owned.

Ometepe is a easy 4 nights, even more.

So you dont want to go to any caribe beach in Central America as the person you are going with had an issue in CR's caribe beach areas? So that means no Corn Islands or Bocos del Toro or Bay Islands Honduras too? Thats absurd.