We left Costa Rica with some sadness as we had had a great time and were perhaps a little apprehensive of what awaits us in Nicaragua.

We took a transfer from Liberia in Costa Rica to San Juan Del Sur in Nicaragua. Our second land border crossing was pretty straightforward and we were through both the exit and the entry parts in less than a hour.

The FSLN flag is the government party flag (National Sandinista Liberation Front) next to the national flag.

San Juan is a funky town with some fun bars, cool surf shops and restaurants scattered around it.

It’s an old fishing village which is now seeing growth as tourists start visiting the country.

The town has a beach but there are far better local beach options available than this one. However, at night the beach does come alive for beach dining whilst watching the sunset.

Looking down over the bay is a large Christ the Redeemer statue, some 134 metres above sea level. You can walk up to the statue for some nice views across the bay and out to sea.

We hired an ATV to check out some local beaches. Our first was Playa Marsella, it was completely empty!

A lovely beach but we decided to head to the next one along to see what it was like. We ended up at Playa Maderas.

This was a much bigger and an even more spectacular beach! We were starting to see how many beautiful beaches there are nearby and how empty they were in comparison to where we had just come from.

The water and light making for great reflection shots.

It’s primarily a surf beach but you can still splash around in the sea.

The next day we headed south in search of more beaches! We went first to Playa el Coco but found it very quiet and a bit desolate with much of the beach front blocked by hotels and houses.

So we headed back north a bit and went to Playa Hermosa, and bingo, this was a stunner!

It’s a large, wide beach with a long walk to the sea when the tide is out but is just beautiful.

In the distance you can see Costa Rica’s northern Pacific mainland.

To get here you have to pay a small fee to enter the area and once at the beach there is a restaurant and bar with lots of shaded seating if you get there early enough. It’s a large beach so never looks remotely crowded.

Loved this beach.

Next we head to Isla Ometepe, an island in Lake Nicaragua with two volcanoes on it!