Where to stay in Nicaragua

The main places

• Granada - colonial, colourful, on Lake Nicaragua, the most visited town in the country and the easiest first stop.
• Leon - the other colonial city, hotter, younger, more student and less polished, and the base for the volcanoes.
• San Juan del Sur - the Pacific surf town, with the quieter beaches spread out north and south of it.
• Ometepe - two volcanoes rising out of the lake, an island of farms and small hotels, and one of the genuinely distinctive places in Central America.
• The Corn Islands - Caribbean, remote, English-speaking Creole, and reached by air or a long haul.

Managua

• Almost nobody stays here voluntarily. It is a spread-out city without a real centre - it never fully rebuilt after the 1972 earthquake - and there is little for a visitor.
• A night near the airport before an early flight is the usual reason.

Practical

• Robbery risk is in markets, bus stations and poorer urban areas rather than in the visitor districts.
• The FCDO flags sexual assault as a risk for women travellers. The usual precautions, and San Juan del Sur's bar scene is where the reports cluster.
• Demonstrations can turn violent - and see the safety section for why a foreigner near one is in a different position from a local.
• Book ahead for Semana Santa, when Nicaraguans go to the beach in force.