r/Nicaragua • u/puppypalle • Sep 21 '24
Turismo/Tourism 15-day travel itinerary in Nicaragua - would love your thoughts and advice!
Hello to my Nicaraguan friends and fellow foreign travelers who have been there!
I would love to get your views on our itinerary in Nicaragua, and if it is doable.
Usually my style is to travel very slowly and spend a lot of time in each place, but there is so much to do in this beautiful country! We are obsessed with volcanoes and we want to do one challenging volcano hike (aside from the easy tourist ones for ash boarding etc.). As well, we like secluded beach islands and scuba diving so we will go to Little Corn for that.
I've tried to create an itinerary that combines the activities we want, as well as some spare days to relax and sightsee in Leon, Ometepe and Little Corn island. I would appreciate your thoughts on this!
Day 1 – Land in Managua early afternoon, take a shuttle from Managua to Leon
2 – Volcan Cerro Negro ash boarding, Volcan Telica evening visit
3 – Full day in Leon
4 – Bus from Leon to Masaya, visit Volcan Masaya at night
5 – Bus from Masaya to Ometepe
6 – Full day in Ometepe
7 – Volcan Concepcion hike
8 – Full day in Ometepe
9 – Ometepe to Managua by bus, overnight bus to Bluefields
10 – Bluefields to Big Corn Island, panga from Big Corn to Little Corn
11-12-13 – Little Corn (2 days of scuba diving, 1 extra day for relaxing)
14 – Little Corn to Big Corn
15 – Big Corn to Managua morning flight at 8:30 a.m. (our flight departing Managua is at 2:30 p.m.)
The reason for going from Little Corn to Big Corn on Day 14 is because we want to catch the morning flight from Big Corn to Managua. This would give us enough time to catch our departing flight from Managua
Other context, if helpful, is that we are very experienced traveling all over South and Central America, and I speak good Spanish :)
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u/msteper Sep 22 '24
I would do Granada and visit Volcan Mombacho, if Volcan Masaya is closed. Granada is one of the nicest colonial towns in Central America, so on a first time Nicaragua visit, you should take a look.
My other comment is that you're underestimating the difficulty of traveling around Nicaragua by public transit. There are no shuttles. There are only microbuses and chicken buses, plus taxis. The taxis can be shared on some routes, making them cheaper.
So, Managua airport to Leon means taxi to UCA bus terminal and microbus to Leon. Leon to Masaya also involves changing microbuses at UCA.
There are no microbuses south of Granada, so Masaya to Ometepe means waiting for a chicken bus on the highway going to Rivas bus terminal, then taxi to the San Jorge ferry terminal for Ometepe.
So far as the chicken buses go, you're in Nicaragua, so think of it as an adventure.
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u/puppypalle Sep 22 '24
True good point. The hostel we're planning to stay at in Leon offers a shuttle from Managua airport to Leon so we were planning to use that. But yeah I'm more concerned about the Masaya-Ometepe etc. and getting to Bluefields. Will probably factor in one or two buffer days in my itinerary to account for transportation issues
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u/msteper Sep 23 '24
Well, the chicken buses are always running, So there's nothing to prevent you going Ometepe to Managua in one day, as long as you leave early in the morning.
For Ometepe if you only stay in Moyagalpa to hike Concepcion, you're missing the best parts of the island. So to get down to those areas you need chicken bus too, unless you rent a moped or car w/ driver.
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u/mdegroat Sep 22 '24
You are missing Granada.
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u/puppypalle Sep 22 '24
True.. but it's not possible to go everywhere in only 15 days unless we go to many of them for only 1 day apiece, which would be too rushed :( The other places just appeal to our interests more
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u/mdegroat Sep 22 '24
When open, Masaya is like a 1-3 hour visit at most. That day pairs well with lunch by the lake in Granada.
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u/guijcm Sep 22 '24
The fact that you have experience traveling through similar countries and can communicate in Spanish makes me want to say that your itinerary is very doable and sounds like you've added more than enough cool spots to enjoy and enough rest days to relax.
The only thing I'd say you could move around is the amount of days you're spending in Ometepe. There's four or five main things to do: Hike Concepción or Maderas (you're doing the more challenging one, just so you're aware), visit the Ojo de Agua, Punta Jesus María at sunset, and San Ramon waterfall. Other than that, most other things are small restaurants to eat and drink around the island. I think by the third day, you might find yourself without much to do. Nothing wrong with that, but you could maybe use that day to spend more time at a different location you enjoy, that's a possibility.
I also have the number for the guide I did Maderas with in case you'd be interested, he was awesome and local.
Also be aware of the ferry times to get to Ometepe so you can get there and have one leaving soon, so there's not much downtime.
Also, other cool spots in case you haven't looked into them are Laguna de Apoyo and Isletas de Granada, a 30 minute drive from Masaya.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to message me, always happy to help!
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u/puppypalle Sep 22 '24
Thank you, this is all very helpful! I would be happy to get the contact info of the guide you used for Maderas :) And yes I'm aware Concepcion is the more challenging one, it'll probably be very difficult but we want to do one very tough hike whilst there. Thanks also for the tip about Ometepe ferry times, I'll look into those
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u/guijcm Sep 22 '24
+505 5703 8172
Enrique
You could message him on Whatsapp or call once you arrive to arrange a tour with him, he's very knowledgeable and friendly (he does both Maderas and Concepción). Do not fall for the tour offers on the port where you'll grab the ferry, they offer you a few things and take payment from you, and the local guides in Ometepe get a small fraction of that, so it's better to pay them directly. Other than the hike, getting around on the island is pretty easy and straightforward. There's motorcycle rentals at the port if you're interested.
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u/Known-Ad6258 Sep 22 '24
The boat to little corn is a vomit festival. Do yourself a favour and fly from bluefields. All the best
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u/Virtual-Bee7411 Sep 23 '24
I can’t believe you’re skipping Granada!
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u/puppypalle Sep 23 '24
We may end up going there for a day. Looks like Masaya is closed, and I may skip Little Corn altogether due to the amount of time and energy it would take to get there.
But ultimately with only 15 days available (and my general reluctance to hop from place to place any more than we already are), some place has to be sacrificed ultimately... I've been to several colonial towns in South & Central America, but the other spots we're eyeing in Nicaragua are largely unique to that country
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u/Busy-Leave-118 Sep 24 '24
Blufields to Corn Island is better by air, at this time the ferry may be canceled for storms. Also, you could do Managua - Corn Island directly. 3 - 4 Days in Little and Big Corn Island should be enough, It could be a little boring. You could add a Day in Masaya / Granada and go to Laguna de Apoyo. Or you can change your road trip to Bluefields and go to Cayos Perlas (Laguna de Perlas) and go to Corn Island after that.
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u/puppypalle Sep 24 '24
Yeah.. I think we're going to cancel the Corn Islands altogether. During my long-term traveling days I wouldn't think twice, but with our time constraints it doesn't seem worth the energy, time and risk of transportation issues. And the return flights from Managua-Corn Island cost almost the same as our flights from our country to Nicaragua, which is nuts. Instead, we're going to experience volcano crater diving in Apoyo and then get our beach time in at one of the surf towns in the Pacific :)
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u/iiLeeDz Sep 24 '24
Several things. 1. Don't do cerro negro volcano boarding and instead do Telica (The actual trail where you start from the bottom and takes around 7 hours) for the whole day. You can take a chicken bus from Leon which is 30 cordobas round trip and there is no access fee to the volcano. You can find details about the trail if you search for "Telica volcano" on alltrails. You don't need a guide. 2: Not even a single day in Granada?
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u/puppypalle Sep 24 '24
Thanks for the tips!
My partner is keen on the volcano boarding, so we're going to do that during the day and the quick Telica visit at night. And will save an intense hike for Concepcion later in the trip
It's looking like we'll be spending a day in Granada after all. I'm cancelling the Corn Islands because with a 15-day schedule, it's too much time and hassle to get there and then back to Managua for our departing flight. Going to dive a crater lake in Apoyo instead, which of course is close to Granada :)
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u/iiLeeDz Sep 24 '24
I enjoyed the Telica hike over the Concepcion one. The volcano boarding is the biggest tourist trap in all of Nicaragua probably. Also in Granada kayaking the islands is a great time, you might want to look into that.
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u/puppypalle Sep 24 '24
Oh that's cool that you've done both. Mind sharing how they varied in terms of the difficulty of the hike, how far up you're actually allowed to go and the views from top? Concepcion appealed to me because it seems less visited, which is my preference.
As for the boarding, agree it sounds like a classic tourist trap for Insta content, I wouldn't go out of my way to do it if traveling solo but partner is keen
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u/iiLeeDz Sep 24 '24
I liked Telica more. You can walk up to the crater and I didn't cross a single person when I did it. There are fumes coming out of the crater at all times and you can peek into it. The views were lovely.There is also a cave full of bats that is easy to find. Concepcion is fun but you will most likely get no views from the top as it's almost always cloudy. On top of that you need a guide. Overall Telica was more challenging than Concepcion. I did Concepcion with no guide and could stay at the summit with 0 visibility for about 5 minutes since there were intense winds and it was cold and rainy. Again, I would strongly encourage you to do the Telica hike (on AllTrails). And on top of that do Concepcion, since you can definitely do both.
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u/puppypalle Sep 24 '24
Is this out-and-back trail the one you're referring to? I love the idea of doing it without a guide. Could probably catch a chicken bus from Leon at dawn and get going before the heat gets unbearable https://www.alltrails.com/explore/trail/nicaragua/leon/volcano-telica
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u/THExIMPLIKATION Sep 22 '24
Masaya volcano is closed, I was there 2 weeks ago. You can go to the museum and get sort of close to the crater, but still pretty far. The city of Masaya is pretty lame as well. I'd either add a day to Ometepe or spend a day in Granada.