Visiting Ometepe island has to be on every Nicaragua itinerary. It is an island formed of two volcanoes in the middle of Central America’s largest lake. Getting to Ometepe is relatively straightforward. It is a natural stop between San Juan and Granada whether you are travelling north or south.
How to Get to Ometepe Island
The ferry port for Ometepe is San Jorge, just 30 minutes from San Juan ($25) and 90 minutes from Granada ($40) in a taxi. If you are wanting to take public transport, then you will need to first visit the main hub of Rivas – but be warned, we heard that Rivas bus station is not a place you want to hang around in, especially with kids.
When visiting Ometepe island there is no need to pre-book the ferry if you are travelling as a foot passenger. If taking a car, then reservations are needed around 1 week in advance. There are also a couple of ferry ports on Ometepe island, and a couple of different vessels you can take to get to each, each taking around 70 minutes.
We opted for the ferry over the ‘lancha’ as the lake was incredibly choppy when we departed – there were even waves like the sea. The ferries leave around every 30 minutes to one hour and the schedule is easily available online. Tickets are just a few pounds per person, and then there is also a harbour fee of around £1 per adult. If taking a taxi, then your taxi driver will take you all the way to the boat otherwise it’s a good 10-minute walk from the harbour entrance.
Don’t expect luxury travel when visiting Ometepe island – the ferry seats are hard and there are no refreshments available onboard so make sure you stock up beforehand. Whilst there is a toilet onboard, I wouldn’t recommend using it, so again use the loos in the harbour before boarding.
All of the above applies for departing Ometepe island back to San Jorge as well – except you will have a 5 minute walk from the ticket office to the ferry itself as the taxis can’t go in.
On arrival on Ometepe island, you will be greeted by various taxi drivers offering to take you to your hotel. The main town of Malt is all walking distance, albeit up a slight hill. We were staying around a 10-15 minute walk from the ferry terminal and didn’t even argue over the $5 charge we were quoted for a private taxi mini-van with all our stuff. Getting a tuk tuk back into town later was just $2!
Where to stay when visiting Ometepe island
We opted to stay near the ferry terminal for ease of travel when we were visiting Ometepe island. The hotel we booked was a little pricier than our usual budget but also was one of the best hotels we stayed in during our whole trip. We stayed at Hospedaje Soma and a quadruple room with hot water and aircon cost us $60 per night. There was a pool, games and toys for the kids and reasonably priced food in the restaurant. The staff were extremely helpful and booked us mopeds, a kayaking tour, and arranged our taxi from San Jorge up to Granada.
Breakfast was £5 per person with a choice of pancakes, fruit/granola, or traditional rice and beans and eggs. It included juice and hot drinks as well, and the kids breakfasts were even cheaper. Evening meals varied between pasta and curry and cost between £6 and £8 per dish, with the kids being less again. There was an ‘honesty’ fridge always stocked with cold drinks and beers which you just added to a card with you name on and then paid for everything at the end. The hotel also had lovely gardens with hammocks and space to play and relax.
We enjoyed the hotel so much, we didn’t feel the need to be ‘out and about’ all the time which made for a very relaxing time there.
Things to do when visiting Ometepe island
Now we certainly didn’t tick off everything on this island. The adventurous amongst you could climb one, or both, of the volcanoes (note this is 8-10 hours and you must take a guide), various kayaking trips, kite surfing, and a visit to Rio de Oro pools (natural swimming pools – we felt these were expensive considering we had our own pool). Below are the activities we did do during our 3 days visiting Ometepe island.
Getting around the island is very easy. The main roads are good condition and not at all busy. You can hire a tuk tuk or taxi if you prefer not to drive yourself, or there are 3 self-drive options: rent a car for $70 per day, an ATV quad bike is $40-50 per day or a moped is $20 per day – definitely more expensive than other places we visited such as Thailand or Bali.
Some of our favourite days out during our family gap year have been exploring on our mopeds, so that’s what we decided to do on Ometepe. We had no plans nor agenda and just set off around the main road. We stopped at various points to admire the volcanoes from various view points. You’ll even ride over the airport runway which gives THE best views of the volcano.
We had a drink and snack stop at a great restaurant offering views of the volcano and sea which had a good park and play area for the kids with swings, seesaws and a trampoline – this was a big hit. It was also a great place to watch the birds / vultures swooping the skies. It was also the perfect half way spot between the two halves of the island.
One thing we didn’t expect to find when visiting Ometepe island was a chocolate café, but this must be on your list. The chocolate café on Ometepe island is heaven for any chocoholic. It sells various cakes, shakes and other food as well. Two cakes and one shake was enough to put the four of us in a food coma. It was all a bit rich for Nyle and I, but Alicia and Stef were loving life there!
Nyle was more interested in playing in the trampoline and making friends there, and I enjoyed the views over the lake and watching the birds. To access the chocolate café, there is a steep track down from the main road. We decided to leave the bikes at the top of the hill and walk the ten minutes down. The climb back up wasn’t too bad either. There is also a hotel here if you wanted to do chocolate lessons or be so close to the chocolate action.
The rest of our day was spent admiring the local cemetery, watching the kite surfers and stopping to spot the monkeys along the way.
One our second full day we booked a kayak tour along Rio Isotan ($20 per adult, $10 per child), organised by our hotel. This included a tuk tuk transport ($30 return) from our hotel and we would recommend NOT driving yourself there, especially on mopeds. The departure point is a few kilometres off the main road and a dirt track would be being kind to describe the road conditions. To this day we are not sure how our (exceptionally young) tuk tuk driver managed to get us all down this track successfully.
But once there we met our guide who took us all and two kayaks in a speedboat to the mouth of the river. This offered great views of the island from the speedboat and our guide was very knowledgeable about the lake and wildlife. The kayak itself was very cool, and we saw a lot of birds, monkeys and even a Caymen crocodile (it was very hidden away). For around an hour we kayaked through the vegetation, under trees and enjoyed the silence – except for the kids chirping away. They both really enjoyed it, and it wasn’t too long or strenuous for them given they were also paddling.
One evening we headed into the main town itself for dinner and discovered a lovely pedestrian street with some good eateries. The Italian we chose did fabulous pizzas and it was very safe for Nyle to run around and enjoy a safe space to burn off some energy.
Final thoughts on visiting Ometepe island
It is an absolute must visit place in Nicaragua so do add visiting Ometepe island to your itinerary. I think most people stay for 3 nights and I think this is enough time to see enough of the island and make the trip from the ‘mainland’ worthwhile. If you wanted to climb a volcano, then you would need an extra day for that. With the kids, it’s a great place to experience some brilliant wildlife, epic views and fun things whilst not busting a gut to do it all.
There are ATMs in the main town, and our hotel accepted payment by card, but we would recommend taking enough cash with you ‘just in case’. Also, give yourself time to buy your ferry tickets before departing as that ticket counter was quite busy when we went – but we did get on the ferry we wanted to board!
