Granada, Nicaragua Review

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mrkstvns
Austin, TX

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Granada: Heart and Soul of a Great Nicaragua Getaway

adventurous, livin' la vida loca, history lover

Pros

colonial downtown, friendly people, lakeside environment, spectacular natural parks, very affordable, excellent hotels

MAY

2008

My advice to anybody who really wants to experience the "best of Nicaragua" is simple: focus on Granada.

Granada is a wonderful town with a mellow vibe. It is one of the oldest cities in Latin America and rich in colonial heritage and color, and the cultural depth of the city belies its fairly small size. It also has a wealth of natural wonders within minutes of the downtown area: there's mountains, volcanoes, tropical rain forests, rivers, and it's on the shores of Lake Nicaragua --- an enormous lake, that's roughly the size of Lake Erie. It's friendly and affordable.

Seeing the City Itself...
Granada is famous for its well-preserved colonial center, and that's the place to start any exploration of the place. Hang out in the main plaza. See the churches and cathedral. Ride one of the horse-drawn coches through the colonial downtown. Visit the market and get some great deals on wonderful local ceramics or hammocks. Check out Fort Polvora --- you can even climb up in the towers for some of the best vistas of the town itself. Mostly though, you can just hang out and soak up the atmosphere.

One of the best things about Granada is that you can be as busy as you want to be. There's a wealth of spectacular sights to see, but you just might get as much out of your vacation by simply pulling up a chair at one of the busy outdoor cafes in the plaza, and order up an agua fresca and a big banana leaf full of vigaron --- the local specialty. It's essentially a bed of steamed yucca, topped with a layer of fried pork rinds and then capped with a vinegar-and-chile laden cole slaw. DEEE-LISH!

Best Eco Experiences...
Nicaragua is often known as "the land of lakes and volcanoes", and there's certainly plenty of both around Granada! The country's biggest lake is at the edge of town, and some of its most scenic are within minutes of downtown. The Masaya Volcano National Park is 15 minutes away, and looming over the city is Mombacho --- a gigantic sleeping volcanoe that's also a National Park with an amazing rain forest all around it and field after field of some of the world's best coffee --- shade grown on the foothills of the volcano using all natural organic methods.

Some of the long-extinct volcanoes have given up smoke and lava in favor of sparkling waters. Laguna de Apoyo is one of these lakes in what was once the caldera of a volcano. Now, it's a recreational haven and there's even new resort developments springing up on its shores, complete with gated communities and all the out-of-place trappings of U.S.-based consumerism. Fortunately, there's also gentle, rustic places where the real Nicaraguan soul lives in harmony with the environment. Hike the forests. Kayak on the lake.

One of the coolest things about Granada is that it's got between 300 and 400 small islands peppering the shoreline of Lake Nicaragua (known locally by the name Cocibolca). Most of these are privately owned. Some have luxury homes on them. Do a boat tour of the islands one afternoon and just marvel at the beauty of the place. The story they tell is that the islands were formed when the Mombacho Volcano first blew its top, hurling island-size rocks into the lake. I can believe it with some of the smaller islets, but the bigger ones....hmmm. I dunno if I buy that story. Anyway, the coolest island you'll visit is called Isla de Monos --- it gets its name from the massive population of monkeys that live there (including some of those noisy howler monkeys).

Of course, the monkeys abound on shore too, and you see them around Mombacho and other parks. There's also a wealth of other flora and fauna living in those rain forests, including some of the colorful little poisonous frogs that people always associate with Costa Rica. Of course the nature is largely the same as Costa Rica, after all, Granada is barely an hour and change north of the border, and all of Central America is an amazing biomass of color and life, so the rainforests and mountains of Nicaragua are no different. Expect the nature to astound you, and you'll still underestimate its fireworks.

Sleeping in Granada...
A lot of visitors seem to like staying a while, and you can easily rent a small villa in town for less than $500 a week. Upscale travelers will enjoy the colonial atmosphere and personal service of small boutique hotels like the Hotel Alhambra, La Gran Francia, and the Hotel Colonial: these are all places rich in color and history and texture. There's also plenty of very low priced hotels, and backpackers would find it hard to beat the lakeside digs of The Bearded Monkey hostel on Laguna de Apoyo.

Getting There...
The easiest way to get to Granada is to simply catch a taxi when you arrive at the Managua Airport. It will probably cost $30 or so, but it's a good 30 miles or so from Managua, and most people will probably prefer spending all their vacation time in Granada. If you're already in Managua, you can catch minibuses to Granada from the UCA campus --- it'll only cost a couple bucks each way. If you're in Costa Rica and thinking about doing a weekend or so in Nicaragua, Ticabus runs direct to Granada and is a comfortable option.

Bottom Line...
Granada is a beautiful old city that captures the soul of Nicaragua. It's a fascinating place that's got so much to see and do all around it that you can easily spend a week, a month, maybe even more, and not get bored a bit. I love it and look forward to getting back lo mas pronto posible.

Last edited on May 16, 2008