Nicaragua
An intellectual capital rivalling Granada, ridden down a black volcano on a board, then English-speaking Creole Caribbean islands
Nicaragua
A journey between two Nicaraguas that could not be more different: León, Granada's historic rival and the birthplace of the Sandinista revolution, whose UNESCO-listed baroque churches sit alongside Cerro Negro, a black-ash volcano ridden down on a wooden board at speeds over eighty kilometres per hour, then the Corn Islands, two Caribbean islets with an English-speaking Creole culture, worlds away from Spanish-speaking Pacific Nicaragua.
When
Dec to April
Price
From 3 400€ excl. flights
(based on 2 people sharing)
How long
7 nights
Ideal length
Days 1-2
The first chapter unfolds in León, founded in 1610 and Nicaragua's intellectual cradle, whose cathedral, the largest in Central America and UNESCO-listed, holds the tomb of poet Rubén Darío, a founding figure of modern Latin American literature. An hour's drive away, Cerro Negro, Central America's youngest volcano, born in 1850, is descended on a wooden board down its black ash slopes, an activity locally popularised as "volcano boarding."
Day 1
León's cathedral and its murals
A visit to León's cathedral, the largest in Central America, whose rooftop terraces offer a view of the surrounding volcano chain, then a walk among the Sandinista murals covering several blocks of the centre.
Day 2
Volcano boarding at Cerro Negro
A climb up Cerro Negro, Central America's youngest volcano, then a wooden-board descent down its black ash slopes at over eighty kilometres per hour, an activity born in the region in the 2000s.
Days 1-2
A flight to the Corn Islands, two Caribbean islets off the beaten path of Nicaragua's Pacific tourist circuits, populated by an English-speaking Creole community whose origins trace back to privateers and fishermen from the Lesser Antilles. English remains the dominant language there, as does reggae and a cuisine built around rondon, a coconut-milk seafood stew, in an atmosphere radically different from the rest of the country.
Day 1
Car-free Little Corn Island
A flight then a boat crossing to Little Corn Island, a car-free islet with no paved roads, where movement is entirely on foot between white-sand beaches and coral reefs close to shore.
Day 2
Diving and Creole cuisine
A dive on the island's pristine surrounding reefs, then a Creole cooking workshop to prepare rondon, the seafood-and-coconut-milk stew emblematic of the Corn Islands.
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