San Juan Del Sur : The Most Dog-Friendly Destination in Nicaragua
One of my favourite things about the vibrant yet laid-back beach town of San Juan Del Sur is how dog-friendly it is. And of course the surfing, the partying and just how oh so easy everything is there. It’s kind of one of those places where anything goes. I also love this town because it is compact and quick to walk from one side to the other while running all your errands. You can walk from one side of the commercial part of town to the other in less that ten minutes and it has everything you will need with many options for a beer break or ceviche in between. It’s a great spot to meet new people and to party. Once you are in town, everything is walkable and the veterinary office there is amazing! It’s called SOS veterinaria and animal shelter and there is english-speaking staff who can handle all your travel paperwork that you will need to bring your pet home or on to the next country. There is also a lot to do in the surrounding area of San Juan Del Sur so if you are looking to stay in one place, this is a great choice and you will not get bored! It also makes an excellent spot to use as a base that you can come and go from while seeing the rest of the country with your dog.
If your main activities will be long walks on the beach with your dog and surfing, then I would recommend staying farther away from the town and consider something close to Maderas beach. There are still a good number of fantastic restaurants out this way, but of course there are many more options for restaurants and nightlife in town. To get between Maderas beach and the main town of San Juan del Sur, you can take shuttle (and dogs are allowed on too!). The shuttles are open air pick-up trucks with benches. The bumpy road isn’t super comfortable, but it’s only a 25 minute journey and costs $3 one way or $5 roundtrip. You can catch the shuttle and buy tickets from CASA D’ORO?? right in the center of San Juan del Sur. From Maderas, you can catch it from the parking lot at the beach or outside Hush (a boutique hostel/hotel) or Selina hostel. When deciding whether you want to stay at Maderas or in town, consider what you will spend more time doing. I stayed in an airbnb in San Juan del sur, about 5 minutes walk from the centre and I was taking the shuttle with my dog to Maderas because the beach there is much more beautiful and less crowded for walking. Plus it is also one of the closest surfing beaches as you can’t actually surf on the beach in San Juan del Sur itself because there’s no break here. We were mostly cooking food in our kitchen and not eating out as much so if I could do it again, I would stay at a dog-freindly accommodation near Playa Maderas beach and then I would take the shuttle in to town only to run errands or to party: My favourite was the Sunday Funday pool party which runs every Sunday, where you hop between different pool parties with awesome DJs at each one. Don’t be like me that you get so drunk that you forgot that they keys are in a lock box and you run back and forth from the bar to your apartment at 2 am only to realize that the keys were right there the whole time. At one point a taxi driver picked me up because he was worried about me walking alone at that time of night and so he offered to drive me home and then I couldn’t remember where I lived so I just had to go back to the bar and retrace my steps back to the apartment..
Okay back to dogs: one of the easiest ways to find dog friendly accommodation is to use airbnb or booking . com and use their pet-friendly filter. In Nicaragua, I found that even a number of hostels were also dog friendly as well! Make sure to always whatsapp or e-mail the property before you book and ask if you can bring your dog if they do not specify they are pet friendly on whatever website you are booking through. A lot of hostels in Nicaragua will allow you to bring you dog if you book a private room. After our month long reservation, we stayed in town at a fun, social hostel called Surf Junction. The owner also has a friendly dog so our two dogs played all day long. They have a pool and they are very welcoming. There are activities run by the staff most nights so it’s easy to make new friends. Some nights the activities are going to another hostel for a party and some nights there’s more calm activity like a movie night. If you you want to book on hostelworld LINK you can do that and it would be a great place to start off in San Juan del Sur to make some friends and get a feel for what area you want to choose for a longer stay. It is also very inexpensive. From here, you can scout out some monthly or longer rentals that are listed locally and you can view in person. You can also check out Maderas beach and decide if you would prefer to stay out that way. Make sure you stop by Hush Maderas either to stay for a few nights or at least to eat in their restaurant. This beautiful boutique hotel/hostel is set high above the Pacific ocean with breathtaking 360 degree views from their rooftop terrace and panoramic ocean views from their infinity pool. The food and drinks are amazing and I came here for lunch with Ducky every time I was at the beach. From the hotel, it’s a quick 5 minute walk down a private jungle trail to the beach where you can surf, swim, or take a long walk with your dog! One thing to note is that you don’t have to pass by any properties with territorial guard dogs or stray dogs to get between the hotel and the beach down below. If you want to book private rooms here, you can do so airbnb and they are dog-friendly! There is another very cute and friendly dog that lives on site.
If you would rather stay in an apartment with a kitchen and you want to skip the hostel business altogether, then you can get some great monthly rates on airbnb. A lot of places will do a huge monthly discount. If you want to wait until you get there a find a monthly rental that is not listed on airbnb, there are a lot of inexpensive options. The villa that I lived in books up about 4 months in advance has a nightly rate of more than $250 per night. Months before arriving in San Juan Del Sur, I booked a full month through airbnb and with the automatic monthly discount this place has it came to less than $40 for night. This was one of my favourite places I’ve ever stayed in. The architecture had a very Mediterranean feel to it. We had two ocean view patios, a huge kitchen, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a vaulted ceiling that made my jaw drop when I walked in. It was a great place to have the dog because there was a lot of space inside and it was cool under the tile roofing. The complex also had an incredible restaurant with beautiful ocean views and three pools that looks over the ocean. I spent many afternoons reading a book by the pool and many mornings doing yoga from my second floor patio looking out at the ocean. It was pure bliss. We enjoyed being so close to town, about 5 minutes of walking through the complex to arrive in town where we could buy all of our groceries. If you are interested in this place, you can check it out here on airbnb to see how far in advance you will need to start thinking about booking.
Another reason that San Juan Del Sur is so dog-friendly is because every single restaurant allows you to bring dogs inside! So Ducky came everywhere with me. My dog is a very large, black dog so she looks a little bit intimidating although she is very friendly. Despite this, all the restaurants and taxis welcomed her with no questions asked. It was refreshing that all the restaurants were so welcoming to her. This is not so much the case in Mexico where we were only ever allowed to have her on patios outside. Where we lived in Canada, most restaurants wouldn’t even allow dogs on the patios! So it was very fun for us to go to restaurants and bars together in San Juan Del Sur because Ducky loves to be out and about. All the taxis in Nicaragua were happy to take our dog as well, but again in Mexico, this was not the case and about half the taxis that pulled over would drive away when we asked if we could bring her inside. This meant more time waiting for taxis and also having to pay more many times in order for them to say yes, and having to reassure them many times that she does not bite. All the beaches in Nicaragua are very dog-friendly. In San Juan del Sur, I didn’t feel comfortable letting Ducky off leash, but that is because of who she is as a dog. Many people would walk their dogs off leash on the beach in town or play fetch with them. Ducky doesn’t play fetch, she just likes to play chase so the one time I let her off leash, she took off towards a stray dog and went running with him onto the road with traffic that runs beside the beach. But if your dog has excellent recall, the main beach in town is definitely a great spot for dog walks off leash and games of fetch. For us, we would go to Maderas beach, Hermosa beach and Hermano beach for Ducky’s off leash adventures. At these beaches, there were other dogs for her to play with and no busy streets any where near to worry about.
San Juan Del Sur As A Base to Explore Nicaragua with Your Dog
San Juan Del Sur is a great base because everything you need is located within a small, compact area.The vet with english-speaking staff, dog food/accessories ATMs, all of it within walking distance and easy to find. There’s no traffic like there is in a city and there’s no bugs. At some point however, you’ll most likely want to see the rest of the country. From San Juan del Sur, you should definitely rent a car and do a day trip down the coast to beautiful beaches that stretch endlessly between San Juan del Sur and Costa Rica. There are no shuttles running to these beaches, such as Playa Yankee or Playa Hermosa (which we hitch-hiked to in the back of friendly locals’ pick-up trucks with our dog!) Make sure it’s 4x4 because of all the dirt roads to get to the beaches. If you want to see more of Nicaragua, you could rent a car for a road trip and because the country is relatively small, you can access all parts fairly quickly. There are so many stretches of deserted coastline to explore and sunsets to see with your pup! If you want want more beaches and surfing, head up to Popoyo, Las Penitas or Poneloya (Los Brasiles) in a rental car. You can also go to Leon and go volcano boarding with your dog. Read my article Exploring Nicaragua with your Dog to read more about these other areas!