Yet, after three weeks of nature and hiking doing in Costa Rica, we both craved the beautiful beaches of the Emerald coast, a social vibe, and the chance to surf - all at a significantly lower price point than the country from which we'd just left. However, the main reason the other half of Along Dusty Roads had been reluctant to even include San Juan del Sur on our return to Nicaragua was due to a fear of what it may have become: a town of cheap shots and super-sized bar crawls where only the young, the single, and the hedonistic should stop off. Why then were we both so reluctant to come back?Įmily had visited twice before - first when the roads here were still dusty and then on our two-year budget trip through Latin America back in 2014/5 - and the fact we'd had no interest in joining the notorious ‘Sunday Funday’ shenanigans back then meant returning seven years later didn't seem to be essential. For other travellers, largely North Americans, it's increasingly more of a destination in and of itself for a couple of weeks or a couple of months given the world-class Pacific surf and beaches only a short ride along the coast, coupled with the increasing infrastructure for digital nomads & remote-workers.

When it comes to tourism in Nicaragua, San Juan del Sur has long been the poster-child.įor backpackers heading north through Central America, it's usually the first stop after Costa Rica - with the heat and the hassle from the border crossing at Peñas Blancas providing a suitably hectic, exciting transition between the two countries.

Hotel joxi san juan del sur