Sand and Sunshine in San Juan Del Sur

Trip date January 2026 1GBP = 49.76 Nicaraguan Cordoba (c) May 2026

After falling for the bus scam on our journey from Managua to Leon (y'know the one where we got charged three times more than the local's price for being foreigners with luggage) we swore we wouldn't fall for it again. Turns out that wasn't up to us.

Before making the journey from Granada to San Juan Del Sur we did our research. There were two buses we'd need to take: one from Granada to Rivas, the next from Rivas to San Juan - easy! From what we could see the price of each bus should have been 50C each, even simpler. On the day of departure, we rocked up to the bus departure point all confidence, certain we wouldn't be overpaying this time. This time however, it wasn't a charming man subtly tricking us into overpaying, it was clearly a racket. The fare for us was going to be double and we wouldn't be allowed to step foot on the bus before we'd paid. While the Ayudante blocked the steps for us, he was happy to let locals through sans payment.

Online advice is to stand strong, that if we all refuse to overpay the issue will soon stop. A fine stance to have from within the bus. From where we were (distinctly outside) it looked like the Ayudante would sooner have us not travel than let us pay less, so we eventually caved paying the up charge before finally being allowed in. Refreshingly the bus from Rivas to San Juan didn't seem to overcharge us, but instead of asking for the fare we just forked over a 100 and called it a day.

Following a trend, the old school buses used for cheap public transport were not in good nick. It seemed to be the further south we got the more rickety things got: these seemed to be held together with gaffa tape and the collective hope that the bus wouldn't break down.

Never-the-less we made it to our destination, and as we were staying in the residential area across the beach from the main area of town, we asked to bus to stop at a random intersection to save ourselves from a longer walk.

We'd gone bougie for our accommodation, leaving the nice but basic guesthouses behind, opting for a rather tasteful studio apartment with a shared pool instead. We weren't actually planning to do all that much in San Juan, so our digs were just as much part of the destination as the town itself. It was lovely, sitting out in the garden as night rolled in, watching the birds flit away to their nighttime abodes and listening to the cicadas start up their chorus. The pool was great too, as much as I enjoy looking at the sea, I much prefer the water I enter to be predator-free so it was a real treat to have one to use. Despite the amount of apartments sharing the space it never felt cramped.

On occasion we did leave the apartment, walking across the silvery-brown volcanic sands to visit the town. San Juan Del Sur didn't have the most local vibes, the population was overwhelmingly Canadian and the restaurants were an eclectic mix selling Nicaraguan and international fare. In general, the food we had was pretty good.

Dumplings Aqui had a delicious selection of dumplings (funnily enough) and drinks. It wasn't exactly the cheapest place to go but we knew that from the solely English menus. We shared a portion of their Asian dumplings along with a portion of the European style pierogis. The restaurant was tiny, and we enjoyed our meal from one of the two tables inside.

For local cheap eats we headed to La Reina Del Sur. There we could get a portion of protein and three sides for only 120C. The food wasn't cooked to order but everything we tried from the cafeteria set-up was delicious.

We also splashed out on a seafood dinner - we were at the beach after-all. El Pescador Racho La Cubana was our restaurant of choice, and before our mains came out we were treated to a free fish soup. While the soup was good, we were very happy of our choice of mains: Lobster and grilled fish. Everything was delicious and despite it being pricier (for Central America) the whole meal including drinks came in under £30 - bargain!

We kept most of our activity to wandering around. We wandered up and down the beach, we wandered to the big shop on the edge of town and we wandered down a road through the scenic paster-lands outside of town.

One Sunday, we decided to visit the giant Jesus statue that looms from the cliffs overlooking the bay. Sunday, in hindsight, wasn't the best day to chose. Once we'd trudged up winding way up the steep roads leading to the statue we were met with a queue. Other tourists and heaps of Christians also seemed to think that Sunday was a good day to visit Jesus too - who would have thought it! Not really that fussed, we wandered to a nearby lookout point instead. We could still see San Juan Del Sur's guardian, just not quite as close. We were really there for the views anyway, and those didn't disappoint.

We relaxed in San Juan Del Sur for the better part of a week, and during this time we thought about our plans. Due to some sad circumstances, we were needing to head back home for a visit and logistically we needed to work things out. It seemed like we would have about a month until we needed to fly, and while we had enjoyed Nicaragua, if we organised ourselves a little we'd be able to fit in Costa Rica and Panama - letting us restart our travels in South America when we returned. That settled we set our attentions to another border crossing, it was time to get on our way.