My boyfriend (husband now) and I chose Nicaragua for vacation because it was affordable. Flights from NYC were cheap and the entire week would cost under $1k per person. Upon landing in Managua, we were met by a driver who would stay with us for our holiday. He drove us to Granada where we stayed at a place called El Club. It was clean, safe and close to everything we wanted to see in Granada.
We took a day trip to the Masaya region to visit some small villages and the Masaya volcano. You could actually look down and see the four craters deep inside (middle picture). The last picture is of a cave that we later entered from the outside..
After visiting the local villages we returned to the Masaya volcano to see it at night. It is an extremely active volcano and you can peer in from the opposite side of the day view to see the small lava lake. The sulfur gases required us to wear gas masks but it was a really interesting experience. It’s my understanding the lake has grown over the years. It was amazing back then, I can’t imagine it now! We were on a tour with a park ranger who took us into a cave that leads into the side of the volcano. There were a lot of bats and the beginning of stalagmites and stalagmites.
The following day we headed over to Mombacho Volcano for some zip lining on an extinct volcano and to Las Isletas for some kayaking among islands. Las Isletas consist of 365 small islands created by a powerful eruption by Mombacho over 20,000 years ago.
You can take an easy ferry ride to Ometepe Isla, home to two volcanoes, one of which has a symmetrical conical shape. The island was beautiful with birds and monkeys everywhere. We rode horses the afternoon we arrived to view pre-Columbian petroglyphs. Unfortunately on our return ride we had a minor altercation with some locals who thought they could scare us into giving them money. We were able to move away from that confrontation without an issue, although I was a little rattled (something that very rarely happens to me). We had a wonderful overnight stay at a cute little finca called Hotel Villa Paraiso.
After returning to the mainland, we went to Pelican Eyes, aka Piedras y Olas, in San Juan del Sur. If you can’t do stairs, this is not the hotel for you. After our more basic accommodations throughout our trip, this place was a welcome respite.
Our last two nights were spent at Morgan’s Rock, the crown jewel of Nicaragua. It was the coolest place I had ever stayed at this point in my life. It is all inclusive, and while the price has definitely gone up since I stayed there, it is worth every penny. The rooms are large and they had a queen size hammock type bed that my kids could sleep in if we went back.
The drinks were fresh and outstanding. Their coffee was produced on site and tasted like chocolate. I have also never had a Pina colada as enjoyable as the one I had there. If you visit Nicaragua, don’t forget to bring back some of their rum. I’m not much of a mixed drinks person, but their rum is something else!
