Nicaragua · Things to do
23 themed guides.
Lists by theme inside each destination: museums, churches, volcanoes and nature reserves. Every guide flags what is open, closed or unconfirmed and the price where it could be confirmed.
10 destinations69 places in the guideOpen, closed and restricted
23 themed guides · 10 destinations
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- 2 places
Museums and historic sites
The National Museum and Loma de Tiscapa are run by the INC, which publishes their hours, but their current status is unconfirmed.
- 3 places
The lake and the Pacific beaches
The tourist port on Lake Xolotlán and two beaches on the coast of Managua department. According to a travel guide (2026), Puerto Salvador Allende, on the Managua waterfront, on the southern shore of the lake, opened in 2008, has restaurants, food stalls and shops and is the starting point for boat trips on the lake, including to Isla del Amor; the same guide says entry on foot is usually free, parking is charged and the complex is open at all hours, with each restaurant, shop or ride keeping its own hours. Pochomil and Masachapa lie in San Rafael del Sur municipality, on the Pacific coast, outside the city: INTUR presents Pochomil, with Masachapa, as the heart of popular beach tourism on this coast, with beachfront restaurants, boats landing the day’s catch and horse rides, and in Masachapa, according to INTUR, fishermen sell freshly caught seafood and craftspeople make necklaces, earrings, bracelets and lamps from shells. All three have unconfirmed status: the port’s status is unconfirmed, and INTUR describes the two beaches on a 2026 page with no hours or swimming information.
- 2 places
Volcano and lagoon
Masaya Volcano National Park and Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve both have unconfirmed status.
- 3 places
Monimbó and the Pueblos Blancos
A quarter of the city of Masaya and two places on the Pueblos Blancos route. According to INTUR, the indigenous quarter of Monimbó is the cultural heart of Masaya, with leather, wood, plant-fibre, textile, hammock and fireworks workshops, and the Torovenado del Pueblo, on the last Sunday of October, and the Agüizotes procession, on the last Friday of October, set off from Plaza Magdalena. San Juan de Oriente, which INTUR calls «the cradle of Nicaraguan pre-Columbian pottery», has pottery workshops, the San Juan de los Platos square and the El Caballito trail down towards Laguna de Apoyo, with more than 30 carvings by local craftspeople that are not ancient pieces; the El Caballito lookout charges a token C$10 per person, according to INTUR. Catarina Lookout, on the rim of Laguna de Apoyo, has views of the lagoon, the city of Granada, Lake Cocibolca and the region’s volcanoes, and next to it INTUR mentions the Los Mangos trail, 860 metres long and of medium difficulty. All three have unconfirmed status, as do the hours of the workshops and the lookouts and the fee for Catarina Lookout, and the festival dates are INTUR’s.
- 3 places
Convent, volcano and islets
The San Francisco Convent’s hours were reported in September 2026; Mombacho volcano and the islets have unconfirmed status.
- 12 places
Churches and historic centre
Twelve places in Granada’s historic centre and around it. According to INTUR, Central Park, also called Parque Colón, has been Granada’s civic and social heart since the city was founded in 1524; the Cathedral faces it, and Calle La Calzada, along which the city’s nightlife is concentrated mainly, runs from Plaza de la Independencia down to the lake. The churches: La Merced, west of Central Park, with panoramic city views from its tower according to INTUR; Xalteva, on Calle Real, built in colonial times on the indigenous settlement of the same name according to INTUR; Guadalupe, on Calle La Calzada, towards the lake; and María Auxiliadora, neo-Gothic, at the end of Calle Real de Xalteva, whose tower you can climb after paying at the church entrance, according to the National Tourism Map (2024), which does not give the amount. To the west, the 18th-century La Pólvora Fortress; to the south-west, the cemetery, founded in 1830, with the Capilla de Ánimas; south of Central Park, the municipal market; and also Mi Museo, with pre-Columbian pottery, and the Sor María Romero Birthplace, which according to the INC displays personal belongings of hers. All twelve have unconfirmed status: the hours of Mi Museo and of the Birthplace are only published in the INC directory, and those of the others are unconfirmed.
- 3 places
Islands and lake
Three places on the shore of Lake Cocibolca and on the lake. According to INTUR, the Tourist Centre is a strip along the shore with green areas, bars and restaurants and Granada’s traditional pier; boats to the islets leave from here, and INTUR names the Tourist Centre pier (Los Chilamates area), the Cabaña Amarilla pier and the Asese port. Among the islets, on El Castillo island, stands San Pablo Fortress, a small military fort visited on boat trips around the islets; INTUR’s pages disagree on its date (1783–1785 or 1670). South of Granada, Zapatera Archipelago National Park, created in 1983, has archaeological sites according to the INC, including 14 replicas of the idols whose originals are kept at the San Francisco Convent; from the Asese port the boat takes about 60 minutes, according to MARENA’s management plan (2016), and according to the INC all trips require prior arrangement. All three have unconfirmed status: boat trips are offered by operators, and their conditions, a separate fee for San Pablo and the fee for Zapatera are unconfirmed.
- 2 places
Diriá and Diriomo
A lookout in the municipality of Diriá and the town of Diriomo. According to INTUR, El Boquete Lookout, on a hilltop, offers views of Granada, Mombacho volcano, Laguna de Apoyo and the Tisma wetlands; along the way there are pottery, furniture and woodcraft workshops, and in town, the 18th-century parish church of San Pedro Apóstol. Diriomo, between Mombacho volcano and Laguna de Apoyo, is what INTUR calls «the temple of sweets» for its cajetas: it has the Casa Museo de las Cajetas, founded in 1908, and the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Candelaria, declared a historic monument in 1956, and according to INTUR the Virgin of Candelaria festivities run from 21 January to 10 February, with the main day on 2 February. Both have unconfirmed status: the lookout’s hours and whether there is an entry charge, and the hours of the Casa de las Cajetas, the sanctuary and the workshops, are unconfirmed.
- 3 places
León city
The cathedral and two museums have unconfirmed status. The INC publishes the museums’ hours.
- 2 places
Around León
The León Viejo Ruins publish their hours and fees; Cerro Negro volcano has unconfirmed status.
- 2 places
Ometepe's volcanoes
INETER considers Concepción active and INTUR describes Maderas as inactive. Both have unconfirmed status and, according to Canada, a local guide is mandatory on both.
- 4 places
Water, forest and museum
Ojo de Agua, San Ramón waterfall, Charco Verde and the Ometepe Museum all have unconfirmed status.
- 3 places
Beaches and lookout
The information on Playa Maderas, Playa Hermosa and the Christ of Mercy Lookout comes from travel guides, and all three have unconfirmed status.
- 1 place
Rivas Museum
The Rivas Museum is in Hacienda Santa Úrsula; its hours are those the INC publishes.
- 3 places
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.
- 4 places
Fortress, islands and reserves
INTUR published the hours of the Fortress of the Immaculate Conception in July 2026; Solentiname, Los Guatuzos and Indio Maíz have unconfirmed status.
- 1 place
Greytown, at the river mouth
The historic cemeteries of old Greytown, in the municipality of San Juan de Nicaragua. According to INTUR, among the ruins of Greytown, the British free port at the mouth of the San Juan River, there are four 19th-century cemeteries declared a Historic and Cultural Heritage of the nation: the American (1859), the British (1872), the Catholic and the Masonic. INTUR adds that the municipality has no roads and that you arrive and get around only by river or on foot. It has unconfirmed status: INTUR (2026) describes the site with no hours or visiting conditions, the fee is unconfirmed, and the whole municipality lies inside the Indio Maíz Biological Reserve.
- 2 places
Coffee and cloud forest
Selva Negra and the National Coffee Museum have unconfirmed status. Two different locations and two different timetables are published for the museum.
- 3 places
Jinotega and Cerro Apante
A lake and a cathedral in Jinotega and a reserve next to the city of Matagalpa. According to INTUR, Lake Apanás, in Jinotega municipality, is Nicaragua’s first artificial lake, surrounded by mountains and forest, and MARENA describes it as a 5,415-hectare wetland listed under the Ramsar Convention, with migratory birds and small-scale fishing. The Cathedral of San Juan Bautista, facing Jinotega’s central park, is a neoclassical church founded in 1752 and mostly rebuilt in the 20th century, declared a historic and cultural heritage of the nation in 1947; INTUR gives two dates for its elevation to cathedral (1983 and 1991). Cerro Apante Nature Reserve, with about 1,989 hectares of cloud forest, has a 4.5 km trail that crosses the Agualcas stream and climbs to a lookout with a cross, overlooking the city; INTUR places it to the south and, in another paragraph, to the north-east of the town centre. All three have unconfirmed status: the lake has no published official access and the only hours available are those of a private farm on its shore, from February 2025; the cathedral is a working church with no published visiting hours, and INTUR publishes no hours or fee for Cerro Apante, or whether a guide is needed.
- 3 places
Estelí's reserves and museum
Miraflor and Tisey-La Estanzuela reserves and the history and archaeology museum have unconfirmed status.
- 2 places
Craft towns
Two towns in Estelí department. According to INTUR, Condega is the «Land of Potters», with the pottery made by the women of Ducuale Grande and the Julio César Salgado Archaeological Museum, founded in 1986, with more than 300 pre-Columbian pieces, and it also highlights Laguna de Venecia and the Cerro El Frayle lookout. San Juan de Limay is known for its sculptures in marmolina soapstone and river stone, above all «Las Gordas de Limay»: INTUR highlights its soapstone and clay workshops, the Corredor Turístico de las Gordas with twenty sculptures, the Gorda Colosal park and the Colocondo waterfall, and according to INTUR the San Juan Bautista patron saint festival is held in June, with the main day on the 24th. Both have unconfirmed status: they are towns, and the hours of the museum and the workshops and access to the Colocondo waterfall are unconfirmed.
- 2 places
The two islands
Great Corn and Little Corn have unconfirmed status. Sea connections depend on the weather.
- 3 places
Bay, hill and reef
A beach and a summit on Great Corn Island and a reef off the island. According to INTUR, Southwest Bay, on the south-west coast, is the most visited beach on Corn Island, and there, on 27 August 1841, Colonel Alexander McDonald proclaimed the emancipation of the enslaved. Mount Pleasant is the island’s highest point, at 96.5 m according to INTUR (OpenStreetMap gives it 89 m), with hiking through tropical vegetation and views that, on clear days, reach Kukra Hill and several cays. Blowing Rock, a volcanic rock formation about 7 km south-east of the island, is for INTUR one of the best dive sites in the region for its marine life, and it can only be reached by boat. All three have unconfirmed status: INTUR publishes no hours or access details, or whether a guide is needed on Mount Pleasant, and visiting conditions, operators and fees for Blowing Rock are unconfirmed.
A place can appear in more than one selection. The counts of the 23 guides do not add up to unique places; the full catalogue has 69 places.