Don’t miss visiting Nicaragua with kids. Nicaragua has everything we have learned that we love about a country. It is rustic, the people are charming and unassuming, and it offers so much variety in such a small area.
We didn’t plan to visit Nicaragua as part of our worldschooling family gap year, but we have fallen in love with its charm. We’d recommend adding Nicaragua to your list for family adventure travel destinations – and for value for money we definitely recommend it over Costa Rica.
Is Nicaragua safe to visit with kids?
Let’s cover off one thing first – safety! Is Nicaragua safe to visit with kids? Many people think it is unsafe to visit Nicaragua – we were in that group of people too. This is likely fuelled by the fact that there was unrest and civil war here just in 2018. We have not felt unsafe once. Of course you need to have your wits about you, as with anywhere, and there are places you would be less inclined to wander around in the dark – that applies to many places in Manchester too!
I’d also like to make a few comments about the people and our experience to de-myth the safety point. We have not once been ripped off. We have likely paid more than the locals at times, but that’s ok. Every time we have asked someone for a price it’s been ballpark what I was expecting. We scratched one of our scooters and was expecting a big bill, or they could have held our £150 deposit – but no, $10 is all they asked for. The only place that over inflates their pricing a little is the tour agencies – of course they do, but you don’t need to go via them, or a quick chat and they quickly realise they need to reduce it a bit.
Suggested Itinerary
So, here’s our suggested itinerary for 3 weeks in Nicaragua with kids. We spent 4 weeks covering these same places so this could be extended accordingly, especially by staying longer on the beaches! If flying into Managua we suggested doing this route in reverse. If crossing the border from Costa Rica as we did, then follow this guide for 3 weeks in Nicaragua as a family.
Day 1 – 4 – Playa el Coco
Day 4 – 8 – San Juan del Sur
Day 8 – 11 Ometepe Island
Day 11 – 15 Granada
Day 15 – 18 – Laguna de Apoyo
Day 18 – 21 – Optional choice of return to Granada, visit Leon or Playa Popoyo!
Playa el Coco
For your first few days in Nicaragua, acclimatise on one of the most beautiful beaches we have ever set foot on. Playa el Coco is a small town 18km south of San Juan del Sur. At the time of writing they are still building a tarmac road to reach it (March 2025) so you will need a 4×4 car whilst here. We’d recommend renting a 4×4 for the whole of your first week to fully explore the beaches outside of the main town, all of which are only accessible down dirt roads with numerous potholes. Driving in Nicaragua was no problem at all for us – we felt safe and our 4×4 gave us the confidence on the roads – even though it was just a little Suzuki Jimny!
Back to Playa de Coco…..this small town only has a handful of pulperias (drinks stores) so you will need to bring groceries with you for the time you plan to be here. There is also one restaurant on the beach – but that’s it. And that’s the beauty of this magical place. We had a long stretch of beach to ourselves for our week there. We made campfires on the beach at night to toast marshmellows. The kids ran and ran in the mass of space. We explored the beach coves to the south, clambering over rocks. We played in the waves, were mesemised by the pelicans and even saw a humpback whale from the beach! You’ll likely get an AirBnb here which will be minutes walk from the beach – if that!
Aside from this, do nothing during your time here except enjoy the amazing beach and wildlife and the slowest pace of life imaginable.
San Juan del Sur
If Playa de Coco sounds too remote for you, you could base yourself around San Juan de Sur for longer and just visit for a day. We moved closer to the town for our second week here so that we could explore the northern beaches, and Stef could learn Spanish in one of the schools in the centre. The commute here from Playa de Coco would have been 45 minutes each way (even though its only 18km)!
Other beaches to visit near San Juan del Sur include Playa de Hermosa, Maderas and Remanso – all of which offer surf lessons and board rental. The beach in San Juan itself isn’t anything special. We’d also recommend visiting TreeCasa resort, enjoy the views from Jesus Cristo, and take a research boat out to spot humpback whales. The local tour companies also offer fishing trips and of course you could learn Spanish here as well. We’ll include some more detailed blog posts on San Juan and the beaches nearby in the near future.
The town of San Juan itself if full of backpackers – lots of eateries, bars and shops and we didn’t fancy staying in the centre. There’s a famous San Juan bar crawl on a Sunday too – so for more family vibes I would suggest staying a little out of the centre – even if that means needing a car! If you really don’t want to drive there are buses offered to all the beaches from the centre, and a local bus runs to Playa de Coco several times a day – but on Nicaragua time!
Ometepe Island
After your time around San Juan del Sur, head towards Ometepe Island. Ometepe is an Island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua – the largest Lake in Central America. You could even confuse it with being the sea – sometimes there are waves that would suit body boarding! I’ll share more about this island on a separate blog but here’s a snippet for now.
To access the island, take a taxi from San Juan to San Jorge – $25, and then take the ferry over to the island. The ferry is $2 each, plus a harbour fee is another $1 and takes 70 minutes. If you want to take a car you need to book in advance, but as foot passengers we didn’t book and got on both times with no issue and there was plenty of space. We would recommend taking the ferries over the lanchas as they are bigger – which was appreciated on our very choppy crossing over there.
On Ometepe you can do as much or as little as you like. There’s kayaking down Rio Istian for incredible birdwatching, visit Ojo de Aro for pools to play in, scale one of the two volcanos (8-10 treks with a guide), hire mopeds or quad bikes and just explore, or visit the chocolate factory and put yourself in a chocolate coma. There’s even kitesurfing if that’s your thing. We also chilled round our pool and in our hotel. We didn’t fancy swimming in the lake as we had read there are bull sharks – and after Alicia’s stingray experience we were a bit nervous. But there are places to swim in the lake if you do your research.
Granada
3 days on Ometepe gave us a great feel for the island before heading back to the ferry and taking a 90 minute taxi up to Granada ($40). We spent a total of 8 days in Granada so there is plenty to do in this beautiful colonial town – again more of the specifics to come.
4 days in Granada would give you a chance to make chocolate at the Choco Museo, take a walking tour of the city, explore the cathedrals and churches, visit Mombacho volcano and Las Isletas all of which are highlights of our time in Nicaragua. The kids even loved Granada, and they usually prefer outdoors spaces to run. There are a few play parks in the city too to mix up sightseeing with fun for the kids. The market is also a great place for some shopping.
Laguna de Apoyo
After spending time in Granada, take a taxi for 25 minutes to Laguna de Apoyo ($20), a 200m deep lake formed in the crater of a volcano. This place is beautiful and is so much more worthy than just doing a day trip from Granada. Stay 3 nights here to enjoy the surround areas and maximise your time swimming and relaxing in the lake. The water temperature is perfect – not cold enough to turn your lips blue at any point but still refreshing. There’s also a great breeze here. Most of the hotels have a platform in the lake for jumping off, and kayaks and paddleboards for hire. If you also visit the town of Caterina for half a day, you can easily see how 3 nights here is very much worthwhile. In Caterina you can enjoy the look out point, take a horse ride, do some shopping (warning, mainly tourist tat) or even ziplining.
Other places to visit in Nicaragua?
After Laguna de Apoyo there’s some time left in your 3-week Nicaraguan itinerary for either a trip to Popoyo, if you want more beach time, León for more colonial town vibes, or head back to Granada if you want to stay closer to the airport to didn’t feel you’d done with this city yet. This is what we chose to do, mainly has we didn’t fancy marching the kids for 3 hours to another place, to then drive 3 hours back again for our flight out of Managua. But we heard from fellow travellers that both Popoyo and León are lovely places to visit.
Where to stay in Nicaragua with kids
Here’s a full list of all the accommodation we booked. All of them were perfect for us and I’ve included our rates – we did spend more on accommodation than in Malaysia or Taiwan, but only by about $10 a night and we were looking for places with pools and where possible 2 bedrooms. Our favourite place to stay was the Choco Museo itself in Granada – this is the most beautiful building we have ever stayed in. All of our accommodation had aircon which we really needed and would advise. Half had cold water showers which is something to look out for – hot water showers are not the norm, but we quite enjoyed the cooler temps after the intense heat!
Playa el Coco – AirBNB – £52 a night for 2 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, parking and a 29 second walk to the beach!
San Juan del Sur – AirBNB – £54 a night for 2 bedrooms, private pool, kitchen, living areas and parking, located 6 minute drive from the centre of San Juan
Ometepe Island – Hospedaje Soma – £58 a night for a family room, pool, communal games and restaurant area
Granada – AirBNB – £54 a night for 2 bedrooms, living area and kitchen, centrally located
Granada – Choco Museo – £52 a night, direct booking for a family room with access to the pool and breakfast included. We negotiated this ourselves whilst staying during our first stint in the city.
Laguna de Apoyo – Paradiso Hostel – £80 a night for a family room, free watersports, breakfast included.
Other practical information for visiting Nicaragua.
- Get a local sim card. For $4 you get 12GB for 2 weeks of data. We found wifi in hotels a bit hit and miss. Look out for Tiga and Claro signs and these shops will set up and reload your sim when needed.
- The cash machines charge $5 each withdrawal so always take the maximum out you can. You can withdraw in both cordobas and usd. We always opted for one withdrawal of usd which all shops, restaurants, tours and hotels accepted, and then we got change in cordobas – and we were never swindled once! Just know your various exchange rates well.
- We’d only recommend moped hire on Omptepe – the roads here are not built for them generally! And at $15 a day, they aren’t the cheapest. Forking out for a 4×4 was painful to the budget but gave us freedom and confidence and was $40 a day – so only $10 than hiring 2 mopeds.
- If you don’t speak some Spanish, google translate will be your friend. Try and learn a little Spanish as the local will appreciate your effort. English is not widely spoken – even some hotel staff didn’t speak a word of it. Lessons start at around $5-8 per hour.
