La Flor
and other beaches

A sea-turtle refuge and two beaches. According to MARENA, La Flor Wildlife Refuge, covering 7,349 hectares in the municipality of San Juan del Sur, is a sanctuary for hawksbill, leatherback, green and olive ridley turtles; on 9 October 2026 it reported a mass arrival that began on 1 October, with 32,949 olive ridley females, which its headline calls the third at La Flor and its text the sixth of 2026. In April 2025 MARENA gave an entry fee of C$100 for Nicaraguans and C$200 for foreign visitors, with children at half price, and offered camping. Playa Marsella, north of San Juan del Sur and just south of Playa Maderas, has calm water with hardly any waves and is chosen by families, according to a travel guide (updated April 2025); Playa Popoyo, in Tola municipality, outside San Juan del Sur’s, is for INTUR one of the best surf beaches in Central America. All three have unconfirmed status: MARENA publishes no visiting hours for La Flor and the published fee dates from April 2025, and official information on access or swimming at the two beaches is lacking. Spain names Tola and Popoyo among the tourist destinations where the usual precautions against theft should be taken