The Most DELIGHTFULLY Tourist-Friendly City in Nicaragua!!
Written: Oct 07 '08 (Updated Oct 07 '08)
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Pros: Beautiful colonial city with friendly people, fantastic sites, and LOW prices.
Cons: So close to God, but so far from ME!
The Bottom Line: The soul of Nicaragua is in Granada....one of the most beautiful and FUN cities in Central America. SEE IT!
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| mrkstvns's Full Review: Granada Nicaragua |
My advice to anybody who really wants to experience the "best of Nicaragua" is simple: focus on Granada. It's a great place! It's safe. It has colonial charm and grace. It has brilliant day-trip destinations and activities within minutes of downtown. It's mellow and friendly. It has excellent small hotels, and a range of different kinds of restaurants. Granada is the city that's going to be popular if Nicaragua's tourism industry ever does take off.
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 --- especially the main 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 delicacy. 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!
I'm a big fan of destinations with historical and cultural significance, and I find lots of fascinating sites to explore around Granada. It's a place whose history is colored by conquistadors, Caribbean pirates, slave ships, gold diggers (literally!), mercenaries, and rebellion. Fortuantely, things are a lot quieter in Granada now than they used to be.
The city traces its modern history to 1524 when Spanish conquistador Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba staked it out as a new capital city to be established in the name of Spain (making Granada one of the oldest modern cities in the Americas). The city was a stronghold of wealth and power, so it was naturally a tempting target for marauding pirates in the 17th century (and the city was sacked at least 3 times, including once by the infamous Captain Morgan --- him of spiced rum fame). Maybe there's a darn good reason that locals drink Flor de Cana rum, staying away from that nasty spiced grog!
You just know I'm big on forts and churches, and I loved spending a little time prowling around Fort Polvora. lt's great fun to climb the rickety ladders up into the fort's battlements, peering through the gun slits as you go.
I mentioned the cathedral before, and it's probably the most impressive of all the churches in Granada. It too has some cool stories behind its shockingly bright yellow facade. The church actually DOES have its roots in Granada's early colonial era, having commenced construction in 1752, but it doesn't look old, and it doesn't feel old. Partly that's because it's so well maintained, but it's also because much of it was rebuilt in the 19th century and the entire structure wasn't finished until 1910. No, it doesn't take 150 years to build a church. At least not unless you have a fire that destroys large parts of it, which is the story behind the Granada Cathedral. Check it out though! If you love great Latin cathedrals, you'll love the dignity and grace of this serene landmark!
The old train station (Estacion de Ferrocarril) has been recently renovated, and it looks great from the outside----unfortunately it wasn't open when I went there, so have to add it to the list for next time,
Best Eco Experiences Around Granada...
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 volcanoes and lakes are within minutes of downtown. A few places that should rank very high on your "must see, must do" list would include:
* Parque Nacional Volcan Masaya
* Parque Nacional Volcan Mombacho
* Las Isletas de Granada
* Laguna Apoyo
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 (the lake is known locally by the name Cocibolca). Most of these islands 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). There are also islands with bars and restaurants on them, there are a few with small cottages and docks that you can rent for a romantic (and VERY private) getaway, and there is even a small boutique hotel --- called Hotel la Ceiba --- on at least one island. There's at least two marinas where you can catch boat tours to las isletas.
Of course, the monkeys abound on shore too, and you see them around Volcan 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.
La Gran Francia has a spectacular location right on the main square. It's also extremely upscale and luxurious, catering to the well-heeled traveler who appreciates quality. But Nicaragua isn't an expensive place to visit, so while this is amont the top 2 or 3 hotels in town, the room rates start at just $95 a night. Bargain city for this quality!!
If you're a backpacker, there are many hostels throughout town. I mentioned the Bearded Monkey, but that's a few minutes away from downtown. If you'd prefer to stay right in town, you have a staggering number of choices. Rooms at La Calzada start at $6 per night, they're $10 at El Hospedaje Familiar. A private room with private bath and air conditioning is $28 at La Pergola. Yep, deals abound in Granada for the low-budget traveler!
If those prices still sound high to your budget, there are also at least a dozen spanish language schools in town that can set you up with a whole week of private one-on-one lessons for under $200, plus they'll set you up with rooms in private homes with local families (sometimes including breakfast and/or dinner).
Great Shopping!
While I detest people who travel to shop in silly malls, but I can see why people travel when they're on the lookout for genuine folk crafts, local products, and things you just can't obtain back home.
In Granada there are some magnificent options to buy real Nicaraguan stuff, sold by real Nicaraguan locals, who really expect you to barter in Spanish. It's a fun experience, and the best way to ensure that you go home with a souvenir that really means something and reflects the local values --- not just some piece of plastic made in China and slapped with a "Nicaragua" logo.
There's a mercado in Granada itself --- it's over near the old train station, and of course, there's plenty of small shops lining the city streets. The best experiences and selections are outside the city, especially at the market in the town of Masaya and in the shops of nearby Catarina. (It's also worth visiting Catarina to gawk at the spectacular lake vistas of Lago Apoyo and to visit the historical Iglesia de Santa Catarina in the town itself.)
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 very comfortable and affordable 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.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Friends
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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