Granada
Granada is one of the oldest European settlements in the Americas. While it has nice Spanish-era architecture, there isn’t a lot to do in Granada. I would recommend starting your day with a walking tour.
Afterward, consider visiting the Chocolate Museum of Granada to learn about the chocolate history of the region.
In the evening, do the tour of an active volcano, Volcan Masaya for USD 22 per person. The volcano is good and one can see a fair bit of magma. If, however, you have seen active volcanoes before, then it can be a bit boring.
San Juan Del Sur
San Juan Del Sur is a touristy expat beach town of Nicaragua.
I would recommend doing a banana ride (~150 NIO) here. We further took a nice private boat/lancha tour of the bay. It costs ~$40 for half an hour which is sufficient to see the bay.
In the evening, we hiked to the Christ statue for a nice view of the city.
Ometepe islands – the twin Volcanic islands on Lake Nicaragua
From San Juan del Sur, getting to Ometepe is a bit of work. Either you can take a bus to Rivas and from there to San Jorge or you can book a taxi/inDrive directly to San Jorge. From San Jorge, you have to take the ferry. the ferry only runs till about 5 PM. There are two ferries, one that goes to San José Del Sur and another that goes to Moyogalpa. Moyogalpa is a bigger city, I would recommend going and staying there. The island is small enough that if you use a moped rental you can cover the full island in about 8-10 hours.
There is a 35 NIO lancha and 50 NIO boat to get to the Ometepe islands. Both take ~1 hour and 15 mins. However, the boat is way more comfortable.
Ometepe Island is by far the best place in the Americas for vegetarian food. Every restaurant has a great list of vegetarian items. This is a vegetarian food paradise. I would highly recommend renting a Moped to get around the island.
Playa Mango is pretty beautiful. Lake Nicaragua has sharks, so, it is not safe to swim in it. There are few places like Playa Mango which are safe for swimming.
Ojo de Agua felt like a tourist trap, I would recommend staying away. San Ramón waterfall is a bit hard to access and closes at 2 PM, so, you need to aim to be here really early.
Note
- From the Managua Airport, one can take a 30-minute bus to Mercado Huembes (2.5 NIO) and then an hour-long bus ride to Granada (30 NIO).
- Do not exchange money at the Nicaragua airport, the rate is terrible. Use ATM instead.
- As of 2023, there is no Uber in Nicaragua. However, the inDrive app works work for inter-city transport. Granada to San Juan Del Sur, for example, costed ~2000 NIO ($55)
