My Thirtieth Birthday Destination

For my 30th birthday, I decided to spend it in Nicaragua. “Why Nicaragua?” you ask. The decision was partly made due to the cheap flight (as how many of my travel decisions are made) and partly due to the growing popularity of this country as a tourist destination.

After spending almost a month exploring a few popular areas in Nicaragua, I can see why people recommend it. There are many volcanoes around Nicaragua that you can hike up and even one volcano that you can sled down (Cerro Negro). For a more chill outdoor adventure, there are crater lakes and springs that you can kayak or swim in. Additionally, there are several great spots on the Pacific coast for surfing.

While Nicaragua does live up to its hype as an up-and-coming adventure hotspot, I wouldn’t recommend it as a remote-work destination. It doesn’t quite have a digital nomad community, and my partner and I had some issues with slow internet and power outages.

Uber is also unavailable in most places in Nicaragua, so getting around can be a bit more difficult if you don’t speak Spanish.

That said, I still enjoyed my time in Nicaragua and would return for a surfing vacation in Popoyo or a yoga retreat in Ometepe, where I could disconnect from the internet and enjoy nature.

Granada Recommendations

Our first stop in Nicaragua was Granada, a laid-back city with a rich colonial heritage. It’s situated on the edge of Lake Nicaragua and in the foothills of Mombacho volcano.

We spent a week in Granada and felt like that was enough time. I think 3-4 days is all you need in Granada.

Accommodations

We stayed in an Airbnb for a week in Granada. If you’re interested in staying at a hostel, Hostal de Boca en Boca is a very social hostel in the center. We spent a bit of time here before heading to the Treehouse Party.

Laptop-Friendly Cafes

Gaia Forest Cafe and The Garden Cafe are the two cafes we worked at the most. Both cafes are laptop-friendly and have relatively strong wifi.

Restaurants

Our favorite restaurant experience in Granada was at NM Culinary Granada. This is a fine-dining restaurant that offers a tasting menu. My partner and I like to do tasting menus in different countries as it gives us a chance to experience a different take on the local cuisine. The tasting menu at NM Culinary Granada was relatively affordable, and we enjoyed the food.

Bars

For bar hopping, I recommend Calle La Calzada, a lively street with restaurants, bars, and a lot of outdoor seating.

Activities

The main activity we did in Granada was the Treehouse Party. This is an EDM party that happens every Friday about 30 minutes outside of town. There’s a shuttle from Hostal de Boca en Boca that takes you to the parking lot of the treehouses. From there, you have to hike 10-15 minutes up to get to the party. My partner and I had fun even though we felt a bit old among the college-aged backpacker crowd.

I also recommend visiting Laguna de Apoyo, a lagoon about 20 minutes from Granada. It’s a beautiful lagoon you can swim, kayak, and even scuba dive in.

Additionally, there are two volcanoes that you can explore near Granada, Masaya volcano and Mombacho volcano. There’s a sunset tour of Masaya volcano that looks cool. However, it was closed due to a potential eruption when we were there, so we didn’t get to visit it.

San Juan del Sur Recommendations

Of all the places we visited in Nicaragua, San Juan del Sur felt the most touristy. It almost didn’t feel like we were in Nicaragua here because of all the foreign-owned businesses. I think a few days is enough to spend in San Juan del Sur, or maybe a week if you plan on exploring the nearby beaches.

Accommodations

We stayed in an Airbnb for about a week in San Juan del Sur. In addition, we stayed in Hostel Tropical for a night before we left. This hostel is in the center of town and has a co-working space, which we didn’t use so I’m not sure how fast the internet is. Casa Oro Eco Hostel also seems like a decent place to stay that’s in the center of town. They offer tours and shuttle services to different places around San Juan Del Sur. We didn’t stay at Casa Oro Eco Hostel, but we were there a few times for the shuttles.

Laptop-Friendly Cafes

For working remotely, I recommend Dale Pues, Ding Repair Cafe, or The Art Warehouse. All of these cafes are laptop-friendly and have decent internet.

Restaurants

One thing I noticed about San Juan del Sur was that a lot of the popular restaurants in town were foreign-owned. We didn’t find a lot of local-owned Nicaraguan restaurants on Google Maps. For local food, I recommend La Reina del Sur. It’s an affordable restaurant across the street from the beach that serves Nicaraguan food.

I also recommend trying the street food. There are a bunch of street food vendors around town. We had a plate of grilled meat with some sides from one of the street food vendors and thought the food was good.

If you’re craving some Asian flavors, I recommend Dumplings Aqui and Pho King the Best.

Bars

Tio Milton bar is a popular corner bar in San Juan del Sur. Although small, it’s a nice place to grab a beer and people-watch. You’ll see mostly tourists there though.

The main nightlife spot in San Juan del Sur seems to be Tuani’s. There’s a party there every Saturday night. However, we went there for the Saturday night party, and it wasn’t very busy. The drinks there weren’t very good either, so I don’t recommend it.

We heard good things about Iguana Bar as a party spot as well, but we didn’t have a chance to go there.

Activities

Our favorite activity in San Juan del Sur was the half-day sunset sail. I believe there are a few tour operators that offer sailing tours, but the one we did was with SALT. The weather was beautiful that day, and we had a great time sailing, meeting new people, and hanging out at the secluded beach. I recommend it.

For a relaxing day, I recommend checking out the TreeCasa Hotel & Resort. You can get a day pass and hang out at the restaurant and pools. We thought the food and drinks there were good. The pools were also nice.

If you have time, I recommend visiting neighboring beaches like Playa Maderas, Playa Hermoso, and Playa Remanzo. All of these beaches are nicer than the San Juan del Sur beach. Casa Oro Eco Hostel offers shuttle services to these beaches.

Playa Maderas Recommendations

After a week in San Juan del Sur, we decided to head to Playa Maderas for a more chill adventure. We didn’t quite realize how remote and out in nature Playa Maderas was until we arrived. We were in for a surprise when we heard the howling monkeys and were visited by the scorpions and tarantulas in our accommodation.

Something important to note is that Playa Maderas is a bit hilly and everything is spread out. Because of this, it’s exhausting to walk from one place to another. We tried to go without a rental vehicle but ended up getting one after our first week in Playa Maderas. Our experience in Playa Maderas changed drastically (for the better) once we got a vehicle.

Another thing to note is that there are no grocery stores in Playa Maderas, so you’ll need to bring groceries from San Juan del Sur. However, there are fruit and vegetable trucks that go around the neighborhood a few times a week where you can get produce from.

Unless you’re a surfer, I think spending just a day or two in Playa Maderas is enough to get a feel of it.

Accommodations

We stayed in an Airbnb for about two weeks in Playa Maderas. However, we spent a lot of time remote working in several hostels because the wifi at our Airbnb was not consistent. If you’re looking for a hostel with a co-working space, I recommend the SPACE or the Selina Maderas. Both are kind of far away from the beach, so you’ll want to have a rental car or motorbike.

We also spent some time at the restaurant and pool at Hush Maderas, which is a nice eco-lodge. The infinity pool at Hush Maderas has a beautiful sunset view. I recommend visiting even if you don’t stay there.

Laptop-Friendly Cafes

There were not a lot of restaurants or cafes in Playa Maderas. We mostly worked at hostels with co-working spaces like the ones mentioned above. The only cafe we worked in while in Playa Maderas was Machete, which was recommended to us by our Airbnb host. It’s a laptop-friendly cafe with strong wifi, but there are not a lot of outlets. I recommend getting the cold, fresh coconut water from there. This cafe also has a mini convenience store where you can pick up some food items.

Restaurants

As I mentioned above, there were not many restaurant options in Playa Maderas, so we ate a lot more meals at home. There are only 3-4 restaurants on the beach. The one we went to the most for food and drinks was Maderas Sunset Bar.

We also enjoyed the food at Juanita’s Kitchen, which is on a quieter beach next to Playa Maderas.

Activities

The main thing to do in Playa Maderas is surf, however, the waves here are not very beginner-friendly. I recommend visiting Buena Vista Surf Club for surf lessons or yoga lessons. It’s close to the beach and has a nice ocean view. You can also stay there as well.

Ometepe Recommendations

On our last weekend in Nicaragua, we decided to visit Ometepe. In retrospect, two days was definitely not enough for Ometepe, and it left us wishing we had more time to explore there. It’s also a bit of a hassle to get to Ometepe as you have to take several modes of transport to get to the island.

Accommodations

During our weekend in Ometepe, we stayed at El Pital, which is coined as a “Chocolate Paradise.” It’s a nice place to stay with treehouse-style accommodations. If you’re interested in chocolate or learning about chocolate, they offer a variety of chocolate goods as well as an educational chocolate tour.

One thing I disliked about this place was that you can only pay in cash or via PayPal. No cards are accepted there. It’s also a bit far and secluded from everything else, and they don’t offer many tours. Unless you have a rental vehicle or are willing to pay for a taxi, getting from there to anywhere else is difficult.

Restaurants

We mostly ate at the on-site vegan cafe in El Pital. While I’m not a vegan by any means, I actually enjoyed the vegan food there.

Other than the vegan cafe in El Pital, the only other restaurant we visited was Playa Mangos Kayaks & Restaurants. Playa Mangos is a lively restaurant with a nice beach and a view of the volcano. The food here was good and reasonably priced. The restaurant also lives up to its name as there are several mango trees there. If you’re lucky, you might catch a free mango. And if you’re not so lucky, you might get hit in the head with one.

Activities

The main activity we did in Ometepe was visiting Ojo de Agua, which is a large natural spring with slightly chilly, clear water. We had a nice time hanging out there for the day.

If you want to kayak or swim in the lake, I recommend visiting Playa Mangos Kayaks & Restaurants. We were only there for a short time to grab dinner, but it seemed like a great place to spend the day.

Some other popular activities in Ometepe that we didn’t get to do are visiting Cascada de San Ramón and hiking the two volcanoes, Concepión and Maderas.

And that wraps up my main recommendations for Nicaragua. Leave a comment and let me know if you check out any of these!