San Carlos Travel Guide

 atufft Says:  The museum and gallery on San Fernando are very small but nice. We actually found the most outstanding collection of balsa wood carvings and oil paintings in the gallery here. While some of the artists do rather rushed work, there are several women who are quite dedicated to... 

 atufft Says:  San Fernando has a narrow trail that circles the island, but there's also a footpath over the center of the island to Mirador El Targon, which has a view of a cove on the eastern side. I saw the bush bean agriculture and some birdlife. 

 atufft Says:  Lonely Planet guide refers to this island as La Isla Elvis Chavarria, but Jose Pineda who lived there his whole life referred to it as San Fernando. Not, the largest but best located of the 36 Solentiname Islands, San Fernando is the island where we stayed. The small... 

 atufft Says:  Solentiname Islands are inhabited by families that are very closely related, some of whom practice subsistence farming, others who engage in the tourism business. But, tourism here is still at a very primitive state, being self financed by the very poor families themselves.... 

 atufft Says:  Trying to contact hotels in El Castillo is not easy since it seems that nobody has internet access, but sometimes the telephone works. The easiest thing is to do as we did, make a phone call from San Carlos before you arrive. Hotel Victoria is unlikely to be fully booked,... 

 MattGlobe Says:  Highly recommended. Rustic yet refined, tons of things to do, or lay in a hammock and drink the included rum/beer. Horses and kayaks also included as well as 3 cooked meals a day for $50 per person per day (for a 3 day stay, I think it was $65 if less).Owner was a real... 

 ivansolorzano Says:  First the service, Yaro the owner is a very friendly person, he has lived there many years he can recomend what to do or where to go. the lodge is rustic and clean, abins almost over the river tarsan or chitas cabin. make sure you get all your transportation square out. you... 

 mdfloyd322 Says:  This is the best hotel in town but do not expect much. The Nica guide by Josh Berman describes it as 'clean' but it is far from it. We were there a whole week and never had water for any of the upstairs rooms. Downstairs apparently had water but they took all the pressure.... 

 atufft Says:  We flew south, but we were willing to go on the cheap and take the six hour bus back to Managua. The bus is slower than the plane, but a lot faster than the ferry. At $6- per person, it was a good deal too. The buses are comfortable enough, being older Marco Polo style buses... 

 atufft Says:  Prices vary of course, but the 12 seater twin prop airplane service from Managua to San Carlos is very good and reasonably priced. We paid $75 per person for an hour long flight during high season. Website doesn't work very well, but there are regular flights 5 days a week... 

 atufft Says:  Guidebooks for transport to Solentiname Islands were especially vague, and so we probably ended up paying more than we had to for service that wasn't exactly what we wanted. But, we did have good service overall, and I recommend considering Jose Pineda, who is also friends... 

 atufft Says:  Around San Carlos, but more likely around El Castillo, one can hire a canoe with boatman to personally show you a tributary of the San Juan river. In our case, we were tired of the motorized boat transport, the loud and vibrating motor of which makes wildlife watching and...