The 7 Best Surf Hotels in Nicaragua [2024]

Nicaragua is now one of our top places for a surf trip. Offshore winds pretty much all the time combine with a coastline that’s utterly, utterly beautiful.

Rivas province – which buts right up to the border with Costa Rica – is the place to be for most surf trippers. It’s the home of San Juan del Sur and Playa Maderas, which are now firmly established as two of the best surf towns in the country.

Of course, there’s also Popoyo. That’s a land of lovely tubular breaks that look like heaven. They always show their best face for the surf mag photographers that come by. And they come by pretty much every year.

But the focus has also shifted north in the last couple of years, up to regions with black-sand beaches and craggy shorelines, where more unknown breaks offer something for all levels.

As the popularity grows, so does the offering of surf camps and surf hotels. This guide looks at the latter, and we really don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

We’ve got eco lodges beside idyllic bays where you’ll walk through frangipani-scented jungle to the waves. We’ve got lux hotels for honeymooning surfers. We’ve even got…

Want to head off the beaten path? Pick Alive Beach House for at least a few days during your Nicaragua surf romp this year and you will not be disappointed.

It’s far from the maddening crowds of San Juan del Sur, up on the wilder, emptier beaches of the central Nica coast. In fact, it really is ON the coast; the beach house really IS a beach house.

Steps from the pool and garden and you’ll be looking at the waves rolling in (there’s loads of beach breaks for learners there plus a long left known as The Corner that’s a dream for more advanced goofies). Did we mention already that all that’s literally one second walk from the hotel?

Alive has a stunning set of rooms that you can open almost fully to let in the lovely salty breezes. The design is elegant, understated beach-chic. The pool is a definite highlight – it’s infinity and buts up to the very edge of the powdery sands.

Pretty darn close to Paradise if you ask us.

Anchored by one of the most incredible ocean-facing decks we’ve ever laid eyes on, the Buena Vista Surf Club (BVSC for short) is unquestionably among the top surf hotels in Nicaragua.

It gazes through a gap in the coast jungles down to Playa Maderas, which is what we’d consider to be the very height of the surf in Rivas Province, which itself is the peak of the learn-to-surf scene in Nica.

The rooms are each set in thatched cabanas that hide almost unnoticed in the surrounding jungles. They’ve got ultra-comfy spring-box beds and lovely indoor-outdoor bathroom spaces where you can hear the birds tweeting and monkeys swinging through the trees as you shower after your surf.

The surf is super close – it’s 5 mins down the main road through Playa Maderas’ tiny little town center each morning to get your sessions in. They also have a relationship with one of the local surf schools. Lessons can be organized once you check in and cost $35 per person, per hour. Board rentals are just $10 a day.

Set on the terraced hillsides above lovely Playa Nacascolo, the SPACE. is one of the newer additions to the uber-cool line up of top surf hotels in San Juan and the great Rivas Province. It’s kind of a mashup between a Bali beach club, a poshtel hostel for flashpackers, and a boutique lodging, with an overarching focus on digital nomad travelers and the younger crowd.

Let’s start with the vibe of the place…

The whole thing has been curated and crafted to be perfect for chilling, chillaxing, and letting loose with a few beers. There’s an indoor-outdoor lounge set beneath a palm-thatch cabana that’s ringed by a swimming pool that even has its own swim-up bar. The gardens have volleyball courts and hammocks, plus plenty of quiet areas for meditation and yoga.

Where the SPACE. really excels is on the working front. There’s a whole on-site co-working space that boasts meeting pods, private workstations, 50mpbs internet (that’s pretty darn fast for Nica!) and hot desks aplenty.

No list of the top surf hotels in Nica could possibly be skip out on San Juan del Sur’s bloody lovely edition of the Dreamsea brand. These guys have carved out a special place on the lux surf scene with their retreats in Bali, Costa Rica, Portugal and Sri Lanka. Now they’re here too and it’s the same, high-quality, high-style stuff…

Rooms rise on stilts to meet the canopies of coast palms, while gardens filled with sunny deck spaces and vibrant plumeria flowers swirl around a central pool. Interiors are that trademark Dreamsea boho-chic: Wicker lights, washed-out timber floors, Moroccan rugs.

It’s as if they’ve taken design hints from each of the destinations where they have a hotel and the result is a very cool hodgepodge of things and trinkets and nooks and crannies. It’s hard not to love.

You’re not in San Juan itself but that’s probably a sacrifice worth making because you’re closer to the reliable breaks. They do a daily shuttle to several breaks in the area, with drop offs for different groups of different levels.

Hide and Seek Resort have brought a touch of the Greek Cyclades to the shores of Nicaragua and, we have to say, we very much like the outcome.

Witness the ultra-clean whitewashed walls. They bounce the tropical sun into bright and breezy rooms that are laden with fantastically easy-on-the-eye yet understated features – shimmering marble floors, real-wood inlays, hand-planed doors. You have to look to see the detail. But when you see it, ooooh boy is it nice!

These guys bill themselves as “ultimate luxury…nestled between the waves and wellness.” That pretty much sums it up.

Aside from the stunning rooms, there’s a hotel spa with a sauna (a rarity in Central America, we have to say) and ice bath (amazing for surf recovery), a regular yoga program, and – of course – optional surf packages that include private photography options or guided surf touring.

If your budget is more in the midrange category and you’re tempted by the uber-reliable surf of Popoyo, then be sure to consider Vibra Guesthouse. It’s relaxation 101; a small, boutique lodging in a cacti-filled garden that’s really all about cranking up the Zen between sessions on the waves.

Rooms ooze charming tropical flavor. They’ve got timber beds and dim lantern lights. It’s like being in your own island cabana like Tom Hanks a la castaway.

The main guesthouse has two private rooms that share a kitchen; one is a loft duplex with space for four people. The private apartment is the more spacious option. That has its own kitchen, a separate entrance, and a terrace all to itself.

Two features we love: The outdoor shower and the location (this hotel is one of the closest of all to the Popoyo’s legendary Main Break but also right on the sand-bottomed breaks of Playa Guasacate).

Last but most certainly not least, the Sirena Surf Lodge Miramar Nicaragua is a gem for dedicated surfers who want access to some of the lesser-known breaks of northern Nica and the Leon province.

Offering a prime seafront location with breaks working literally out the front of the building, it’s one of the top options in the upcoming surf zone of Puerto Sandino.

I think we like the most is that it retains that proper, homey, authentic Central American feel. This isn’t the creation of some billionaire expat that’s airdropped in from Bali with shit loads of crypto to design his new fancy hotel. It’s a real, down-to-earth Nicaraguan stay where you can surf, swim, wild fish and more with the local people.

It’s also a bit of a bargain – rooms in the shoulder season start at around $100/night.