Nicaragua,
Your Way.

San Juan del Sur is a natural first stop — a town with enough energy to feel alive and enough character to feel genuinely Nicaraguan. The bay itself is the centrepiece: a perfect horseshoe of calm water backed by hills, with fishing boats anchored offshore and the waterfront restaurants lining the shore. Walking the bay, eating fresh ceviche from one of the market stalls, and finding a table at one of the waterfront restaurants for sunset are the natural rhythms of the place. The surf breaks north and south of town are accessible by shuttle and suitable for all levels, with instruction available for those who haven't surfed before. The Cristo de la Misericordia — a large Christ figure on the headland above the bay — is the finest viewpoint in town and worth the thirty-minute hike up for the panoramic view across the Pacific and the surrounding hills. Two days in San Juan del Sur leaves you oriented in Nicaragua and ready to head to the quieter coast.

Playa Escameca is a short drive north of San Juan del Sur and a world away from it in character. A long stretch of black volcanic sand, backed by dense jungle, with almost no development and almost no one on it. The Pacific here is powerful — more dramatic than calm, better for walking and watching than swimming in most conditions — and the surrounding landscape has a raw beauty that feels genuinely undiscovered. The days here have a simple structure: morning walks along the beach before the heat arrives, afternoons in a hammock or exploring the headlands on foot, evenings watching the Pacific turn orange and then dark. The accommodation options are small and characterful — lodges that have been here long enough to know the beach and the tides and the best time to walk to the southern point. Two nights at Escameca is the right amount of time to feel genuinely rested before the lake region begins.

Ometepe arrives as a completely different Nicaragua — the island rises from Lake Nicaragua as two volcanoes — Concepción, still active and perfectly conical, and Maderas, older and forested to the summit — connected by a narrow strip of land. The island rises from Lake Nicaragua as two volcanoes — Concepción, still active and perfectly conical, and Maderas, older and forested to the summit — connected by a narrow strip of land. The island has its own ecosystem: howler monkeys in the trees at dawn, white-faced capuchins along the forest trails, an extraordinary variety of bird life in the wetlands near the isthmus. The island circuit — by tuk-tuk or hired motorbike, stopping at the natural spring pools fed by the volcanic geology, the ancient pre-Columbian petroglyphs carved into boulders at the lake's edge, and the lookout points that offer views across the lake to the Nicaraguan mainland — is the natural way to orient yourself on arrival. The volcanoes are the other essential: Concepción for experienced hikers who want the full summit ascent; Maderas for those who want the forest trail, the howler monkeys, and the crater lake at the top without the exposed scramble. Both are rewarding, both require a full day, and both are worth doing. Two nights on Ometepe gives you the island properly — enough time to feel its particular rhythm rather than simply passing through.

Laguna de Apoyo is the part of a Nicaragua trip that people consistently describe as their favourite — and it's the part that's hardest to explain before you arrive. A volcanic crater lake, southwest of the colonial city of Granada, its water warm and extraordinarily clear, surrounded on all sides by dense tropical forest on the steep crater walls. The lodges and guesthouses along the shore have docks extending into the water; the morning routine of swimming off the dock before breakfast is one of those simple pleasures that defines a certain kind of travel. The days here are genuinely unhurried: kayaking across the lake in the early morning when the surface is mirror-flat, snorkelling on the far shore where the reef fish congregate around the submerged rocks, watching the yellow-naped parrots in the trees above the water in the late afternoon. A day trip into Granada — easily the finest colonial city in Central America — is worth including: the cathedral, the central park, the covered market, and the lake shore just beyond the city. Two nights at Laguna de Apoyo leaves you genuinely rested and ready for the crossing to the Caribbean.

The flight from the Pacific side to Big Corn Island takes about an hour and deposits you into an entirely different Nicaragua. Creole culture, Caribbean rhythms, lobster grilled over open fires on the beach, and water of a turquoise that the Pacific coast simply doesn't have. Big Corn Island has the airport, the main town, and Brig Bay — a long stretch of white sand on the island's western shore with calm water and a reef just offshore that supports excellent snorkelling. Big Corn Island is the natural first base — the beach at Brig Bay, the snorkelling on the reef just offshore, and the adjustment to the Caribbean pace. Little Corn Island, reached by panga crossing through open sea — twenty minutes of spray and swell — is where the Corn Islands reveal themselves fully. Car-free, beautifully undeveloped, its paths walked rather than driven, its beaches on the far side of the island reached on foot through the jungle — it operates at a pace entirely its own. The diving and snorkelling on the reef around Little Corn is outstanding: walls, coral gardens, nurse sharks, eagle rays, and visibility that regularly exceeds twenty metres. The remaining nights on the Corn Islands are for exactly whatever you want them to be — more snorkelling, more beach, more lobster, more nothing. Nicaragua ends well here.