Ometepe is a big island, and where you stay actually matters. I learned that pretty quickly because I stayed in Moyogalpa and spent most of my ridiculously short time on the island getting around from there. I also can’t ride a bike, so if I were traveling around Ometepe alone, I’d care a lot about being somewhere I could walk to food, shops and the port. If you have your own transport, you have a lot more freedom. So if you’re wondering where to stay in Ometepe, these are the areas I’d look at and what I’d consider before booking. Where to Stay in Ometepe: Quick Answer Moyogalpa is the…

Our actual Ometepe itinerary was barely an itinerary at all. We arrived with nothing booked, found somewhere cheap to stay in Moyogalpa, rented a bike and spent most of our time seeing where the island took us. And honestly, I wouldn’t completely change that. What I would change is how little time we gave ourselves. We barely had time to enjoy Ometepe before we were already trying to leave again, and there were entire parts of the island we never properly saw. So if I went back now, I would still keep Ometepe fairly spontaneous, but I would give myself three full days and actually build the trip around the…

The best thing we did in Ometepe was probably the least organized thing possible. We got off the ferry in Moyogalpa, found a bike to rent almost immediately and basically started driving around the island with no real plan. If we saw somewhere we wanted to stop, we stopped. If we found a beach, we went to the beach. Most of the time we had absolutely no idea where we were going, and that ended up being exactly what I loved about Ometepe. There are plenty of actual things to do in Ometepe, including volcano hikes, waterfalls, natural pools, kayaking and some things I didn’t even know existed when I…

I visited Ometepe at the end of August, which technically put me right in the rainy season. And considering how much I hate having travel plans ruined by rain, you would think I’d now be telling you to avoid August completely. Except I wouldn’t. Ometepe was ridiculously green when we visited, it was hot, we spent time at the beach, drove around the island on the bike and I absolutely loved it. I never left thinking we had chosen a terrible month to be there. That said, if I could choose exactly when to go back, I probably wouldn’t pick August again. I’d go during the dry season when there…

We stayed in Ometepe for a really short time and, looking back, I definitely would have given the island more days. We had enough time to rent a bike, explore, spend time at the beach and attempt the waterfall hike that almost destroyed me, but there was still a lot of Ometepe we never got to see. And honestly, the main reason I would stay longer isn’t even because I have some giant list of things I still need to do. I really loved being on the island. Give me a bike, a beach, cheap food and two volcanoes in the background and I am perfectly happy staying there for…

Ometepe was our first stop in Nicaragua during a three-week trip backpacking all eight countries of Central America by land. We had just left Costa Rica, which really wasn’t for me, and by the time we crossed the border into Nicaragua I was more than ready for a change. Then we arrived in Ometepe. We got off the ferry, found cheap motorbikes to rent right outside the port, piled ourselves and our ridiculous amount of backpacks onto one and started exploring. I loved the island almost immediately, and if I had been traveling alone with nowhere I needed to be next, I probably would have stayed much longer than we…