Where are the best beaches in and around Granada, Nicaragua?
John-Marc Gallagher - GPS Real Estate
Granada, Nicaragua is an hour and a half by 
car from San Juan del Sur (a beach town on the Nicaraguan Pacific Coast) and all the little beaches on the ocean to the north and south of San Juan del Sur. There are dozens of them, among them Ostioinal, Playa de Coco, Playa Madera.
car from San Juan del Sur (a beach town on the Nicaraguan Pacific Coast) and all the little beaches on the ocean to the north and south of San Juan del Sur. There are dozens of them, among them Ostioinal, Playa de Coco, Playa Madera. When you get to these beaches on the Nicaraguan Pacific coast, literally, there are two or three houses, two or three tiki bars (beach bars), cold beer, rum, fresh fish, and six people...
Granada, Nicaragua is an hour and a half by car from San Juan del Sur (a beach town on the Nicaraguan Pacific Coast) and all the little beaches on the ocean to the north and south of San Juan del Sur. There are dozens of them, among them Ostioinal, Playa de Coco, Playa Madera.
car from San Juan del Sur (a beach town on the Nicaraguan Pacific Coast) and all the little beaches on the ocean to the north and south of San Juan del Sur. There are dozens of them, among them Ostioinal, Playa de Coco, Playa Madera. When you get to these beaches on the Nicaraguan Pacific coast, literally, there are two or three houses, two or three tiki bars (beach bars), cold beer, rum, fresh fish, and six people total on the beach. It’s amazing and it’s just beautiful. (For more explanation of the beaches in Nicaragua, please also see my answer about beaches in Nicaragua in general, also on this site.)
The beaches on the lake closest to Granada are not attractive and we don’t use them as one would normally use a city beach. In Granada on the lake, we don’t have a beach, per se, to go to. Of course, we border the 10th largest lake in the world, Lake Nicaragua, but there’s not much of a beach on the lake. The beaches around Lake Nicaragua are sandy, but its not what the Europeans would consider to be well kept, and its not inviting. You’re still in the Third World, and the local’s idea of trash pickup is still 30 – 40 years behind the United States.
People fish and swim in Lake Nicaragua. It’s absolutely beautiful, but the beaches are not great. I personally would swim in Lake Nicaragua, but a mile north or south of Granada.
The beaches on the oceans in Nicaragua in general and specifically closest to Granada, however, do not have trash on them. The primary reason is the 10 – 12 foot tides that take out to sea whatever trash there’s there, not to be seen again. (There’s also very, very low population density around almost all of the beaches in Nicaragua.)
Posted August 8, 2014
Miguel Moran
Right in front of the "malecón" (walkway), which is located down the road of the main street of Granada, Nicaragua is a port where there is a pretty good beachfront that has restaurants and places to hang out. The beach is on Lake Nicaragua, so you cannot expect to have waves. The beach is fairly flat and you could walk for three to four meters (10 to 14 feet) into the lake and the water would still be knee-level. Lake Nicaragua is a fresh water, shallow lake. It is...Right in front of the "malecón" (walkway), which is located down the road of the main street of Granada, Nicaragua is a port where there is a pretty good beachfront that has restaurants and places to hang out. The beach is on Lake Nicaragua, so you cannot expect to have waves. The beach is fairly flat and you could walk for three to four meters (10 to 14 feet) into the lake and the water would still be knee-level. Lake Nicaragua is a fresh water, shallow lake. It is where most people go. The lake is huge so you would get different types of beaches depending on which town you're in. For example, on the way to Ometepe from Granada, you would pass by the beachfront in San Jorge, which is not so good because you get a lot of wind and there are little waves crashing onto the beachside. San Jorge beaches are not really good places to bathe or swim. Granada has better beachfronts than San Jorge.
The indigenous name of Lake Nicaragua is Cocibolca.
(Ometepe Island on Lake Nicaragua, Nicaragua, pictured.)
Posted December 15, 2017