Ometepe Island, Nicaragua Travel Guide
Ometepe is the largest freshwater island in the world and was formed from two volcanoes rising out of Lake Nicaragua. Volcano Concepción which is still active today and Volcano Maderas which is no longer active. Expect plenty of wildlife, natural wonders, beautiful beaches and lush vegetation as well as a slow pace of life all around the island.
Ometepe Island was my favourite destination in Nicaragua without a doubt, we stayed in the best hostel of the whole trip and had an absolute blast exploring this beautiful island. It is a must-visit destination in Nicaragua.
And today's guide to Ometepe Island, Nicaragua will cover all the things you need to know to have the best time, so keep reading to have the adventure of a lifetime.
Brief Overview of Ometepe Island Nicaragua Travel Guide
Best Time to Visit Ometepe Island
November to April is considered the dry season and in the months of May to October, you can expect much more rain. You’ll find the most tourists in Ometepe during the dry season, but if you want to avoid the crowds and don’t mind rain showers most days the rainy season may be okay for you. I would just be flexible with your plans as the most common way to get to Ometepe is by ferry and even when we went in January some ferries were getting cancelled due to bad weather.
Where To Stay On Ometepe Island?
I would say there are three main accommodation areas on Ometepe which are Moyogalpa, Altagracia and Balgue.
Moyogalpa is at the base of Volcano Concepcion and is Ometepe’s largest village so you’ll find plenty of shops, restaurants and other facilities here. Great location for your first time on Ometepe as it’s very well catered towards tourists.
Check out my review of Hostel Life is Good, Moyogalpa, my favourite hostel in Central America —>
Altagracia is also at the base of Volcano Concepcion and is the second largest village, with plenty of restaurants, cafes and shops to get the necessities. A good spot if you're interested in archaeology and history, as you will find some of the island's petroglyphs here as well as an archaeological museum.
Balgüe is a very small village at the foot of Volcano Maderas, with only a handful of small restaurants and shops it's a lot quieter than the two previously mentioned spots. However, with plenty of gorgeous eco-lodges to choose from, this is the place to stay if you like to be a little closer to nature.
You will also find some more luxury remote options in the Merida area, but I didn’t venture that way too much.
How To Get To and Around Ometepe Island?
Although I do believe Ometepe has an airport, the flights are quite infrequent and will be costly. The other way to get there is by ferry, you’ll get on the ferry at San Jorge and it will take you to Moyogalpa, it takes about an hour and was inexpensive.
You will find most destinations in Nicaragua will offer shuttles to San Jorge, or alternatively to save some money you can try to find a public bus to Rivas and then change from Rivas to San Jorge. When we left Ometepe we actually got a taxi to San Juan del Sur and for a 45-minute journey for the two of us, it only cost $25 which we could have probably haggled down had we tried harder.
As I mentioned before, we got the ferry to Moyogalpa and this happened to be where we were staying and could just walk to our accommodation. But if you're staying elsewhere there are many tuk-tuks and taxis at the port willing to help you find your accommodation, just remember to agree on a price before the journey.
Now one thing about getting around Ometepe Island is it’s a LOT bigger than you think and you will need some form of transportation. We were extremely naive on our first day and hired bicycles and it was a disaster, unless you are Sir Chris Hoy you will not enjoy cycling up and down the hilly roads in the blaring heat of Ometepe.
The most common thing is to hire a scooter or an ATV, as neither of us drives scooters we thought the ATV was our best option. Our hostel very kindly helped us sort out the rental and recommend the company Green Expedition. They were fantastic and brought the ATV to our hostel and ran through everything we needed to know about driving it, and gave us helmets and a full tank of gas.
It cost 4220 cordobas for a 2-day rental and we also had to pay a deposit of 100 USD/or your passport which you get back when you give the ATV back unscathed and with a full tank of petrol. I recommend going with a trusted rental company as the hostel owner warned us of many scams when it came to renting scooters/ATVs on the island.
From Moyogalpa most of the activities I mention below we needed the ATV to reach, so it highly recommends renting a vehicle, or alternatively enlisting a taxi/tuk-tuk driver to be your guide for the day as the local buses can be difficult to navigate as a tourist on the island.
Things To Do On Ometepe Island
Climb up a Volcano
As mentioned previously Ometepe is home to 2 volcanos, Concepcion and Maderas. Now climbing either one of these volcanoes is not an easy feat and after climbing Acatenango in Guatemala, personally, I wasn’t up for the challenge again.
Climbing Maderas will see you hiking through a cloud forest and give you the opportunity to spot all sorts of wildlife, also at the summit you will find a crater lake where you can swim. Now Concepcion in my understanding is a more challenging hike and can take between 8 and 12 hours and due to the volcano's own little weather system, your views are likely to be obstructed by clouds.
Watch the sunset at Punta Jesus Maria
This was such a beautiful spot to watch the sun vanish from the horizon, not only will you have a gorgeous beach view if the weather is in your favour you’ll have a great shot of Volcano Concepcion too.
It’s free to visit Punta Jesus Maria and only a short 15-minute ride from the town of Moyogalpa, just be careful riding back in the dark. There’s also a small bar on the beach that serves a few snacks too if you fancy a beer with your sunset.
Hike to San Ramon Waterfall
I greatly underestimated this hike, I thought it would be a short little stroll to a waterfall and boy was I wrong. You need to head to San Ramon which from Moyogalpa took about 2 hours on the ATV, see the location of the ticket office here. It cost 200 cordobas for entrance for the 2 of us and 50 cordobas to park the ATV.
The road up to the start of the trail is completely unpaved and extremely bumpy and if you haven’t got an ATV I would recommend leaving your scooter at the bottom and walking.
From the start of the trail, it’s about 45 minutes before you reach the waterfall, the first part is a gentle hike through a forest and then the last bit is a scramble across and up rocks.
The waterfall itself isn’t the most amazing I have ever seen but I did get a sense of accomplishment from completing the rock scramble. However, I was so worried about going back down that I put my helmet on for the walk-in case I slipped, don’t do this hike in sandals people, trust me you’ll regret it!
Visit El Pital Chocolate Paradise
El Pital is a well-known chocolate factory on the island, that offers a tour of its grounds, you will also find a cafe here serving deserts, chocolate drinks, and smoothie bowls. The tours will teach you everything you need or would want to know about the cacao process, just note it’s a little more spenny than other activities on the island.
Take a kayak tour of Rio Isitan
We, unfortunately, didn’t do this due to bad weather and didn’t fancy a kayak trip in the pouring rain. But it’s meant to be an incredible tour for seeing the wildlife on the island.
The way we were recommended to do this was by heading to Playa Mango and from there they run the kayak tours. You can either get a guide or go solo, however, unless you're a wildlife genius I think you would get more out of it with a guide. It will cost between $10-20 per person, we were told the bigger your group is the less you will pay, so round up some friends for this one.
Also, Playa Mango is a really lovely place to chill, relax, eat, drink and swim in the lake and you’ll have a great view of Volcano Concepcion here too.
Take a dip at Ojo de Agua
Located between Altagracia and Playa Santo Domingo, Ojo de Agua was about a 1hr 30 minute drive away from Moyogalpa. It’s a natural swimming hole surrounded by lush vegetation making you feel right in the heart of the jungle.
Entrance cost us $10 per person but also came with a $5 voucher to use at the onsite restaurant or bar. There’s seating scattered around the pool edge and you’ll even find a rope swing into the pool, which provides some great entertainment.
As this is popular among tourists you can expect it to get busy, especially on weekends and public holidays. But that also means unlike other destinations on this list is possible to get public transport to Ojo de Agua if you don’t have a vehicle.
Bonus Things To Do on Ometepe Island
Go kite surfing
Explore the nature reserve of Chaco Verde
Rent a scooter or ATV and drive around the island to see local villages and their slow-paced lifestyles
Get great views of Concepcion at the airport runway
Go searching the island for ancient petroglyphs
Other Things To Know About Ometepe Island
The only ATMs on the island are located in Moyogalpa and many places on the island are cash only or have a high fee for paying on a card. So make sure to get some cash out before arriving at Ometepe or stock up in Moyogalpa.
The island is much bigger than you first think, it would take a whole day to drive around the outskirts of the island.
I absolutely loved our hostel in Moyogalpa, it was the perfect balance of social but chilled. Also, the owners went above and beyond to tell you about the island and the best things to see and do. Highly recommend staying here if you are on a budget, check out my full review here.
Island life starts early in the morning and ends early in the evening, meaning there’s not a wild nightlife on this island, but personally I enjoyed the hours of this island.
The next few tips are regarding renting scooters, ATV or any type of motor vehicle
Don’t rent without a helmet and wear it, if the police catch you without it they could hit you with a hefty fine.
Make sure to take photos of your vehicle before you rent so if there were any scratches or damages to it before you took it, they can’t claim that you caused it.
All vehicle rentals on the island should come with vehicle insurance and registration, normally in the form of a card. Be sure to ask the rental company where this is before setting off as again if the police stop you and you don’t have this you could be in for a large fine.
Some of the roads on the island are dodgy and this is not the best place for you to learn how to drive a scooter in my opinion. Unfortunately, when we were there we saw an extremely nasty accident that involved a tourist on a scooter and was also told it’s pretty common, so be careful.
Our time on Ometepe was a blast and we enjoyed the freedom of having the ATV to drive around from place to place. There was so much to explore on the island that our 4 days there could have easily turned into many more, had we not had other plans.
So don’t miss out on this gem of a destination in Nicaragua and plan your trip to Ometepe Island now!
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