Glühende Lava & Kolonialzauber: Nicaragua Private Tour

We originally booked the volcano night tour to find out the volcano was still closed. Michael, the owner suggested we change it to the Grenada city with boat ride and lookout. It was an AMAZING day! The driver and translator - Wesly were both friendly and full of information about the history of what we were touring. The Captain on the private boat ride was great and added bonus with the monkeys jumping on the boat! We never felt rushed and the tour guides provided plenty of photo opportunities. It was a day to remember!

Good introduction to the area. However, if you are looking for more depth you need a more specific tour. This tour is designed to be a little bit of a lot. So, there is not much detail in the history from the early part to recent. One caveat, my tour guide did share a personal story that was recent and will have continued impact of his family. It is a testament to the on going struggles as different people and countries try to figure out ways to all live together.

The private boat tour was amazing! David was a great tour guide! I also enjoyed the chocolate tasting!

We took the whole day excursion to the former Nicaraguan capital of Granada, courtesy of Show Me Nicaragua Tours, headed by a former English teacher. Unlike Managua which had been destroyed several times by earthquakes and floods, Granada’s colonial architecture had more or less been preserved. We stopped at the center of the colonial town and checked out the coffee ‘museum’. We also very briefly ducked into a hammock weaving center and almost went inside a tobacco making outfit but our tour guide didn’t know that we had to roll our own cigars then pay for the experience. So we said ‘no’. Then we went to the main square and in front of it the cathedral. We roamed the pedestrianized cobbled streets with the cute colonial houses and the old hotels with their open courtyards, very typical of 19th century villas in Granada. From the town proper, we headed toward the coast of Lake Nicaragua where we took a leisurely boat ride through the supposedly 365 islets dotting the coast and which have become the haven of lake retreat houses for Nicaragua’s rich and famous. We saw monkeys and birds in some of the islets. Finally, our last stop was the Masaya Volcano National Park. It took a long time for our van to get through – we believe they were controlling the traffic at the volcano viewpoint. But that was ok since we were able to do some trekking as well. Finally, dusk fell and the visitors could then see a bit of the lava in the center of the deep crater. And that was it for the day. Unfortunately, we were assigned David, who was supposedly a student of the owner. He didn’t speak English well and had very little knowledge of the history and culture of Nicaragua or Managua so he couldn’t share too much. He drove a big Hyundai van, which was a bit too big for just the two of us. But David tried hard and we give him A for effort.

Great time with my guide JC. He was a good driver, professional, respectful, conversational, and I felt very safe. First I was picked up at 11 (I was on a private tour, as a solo traveler I had to pay a supplemental fee) and we went to the boat ride of the islets. Fun to see the monkeys, birds and surrounding houses. Next was touring Grenada. We went to a great local restaurant on the plaza for some yummy food. We walked to churches and around the city center. Then we went to maysaya volcano. We had 30 mins there. It was around 4:30 so it was not “night” but I did get to glimpse the lava. We left around 5:15 back for Managua. A very enjoyable day.

I cannot thank Michael, the guide and owner of Show me Nicaragua tours, enough for an incredible trip touring just a small piece of what Nicaragua has to offer tourists! It is a stunningly beautiful country that has tons to see and do, and Michael was the best guide - he gave an in depth, cultural experience that helped me fall in love with the country in a new and exciting way.