What's the crime rate in general in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua?
Lucy Valenti - Liv Nicaragua
As a woman, I don’t feel unsafe at all in San Juan del Sur.
As a woman, I don’t feel unsafe at all in San Juan del Sur.
Posted July 18, 2014
Daniel Snider - Snider's Realty Nicaragua
You will hear of some crimes such as theft in San Juan del Sur but most of them are not violent crimes such as murders. Just recently, I read an article naming Nicaragua as the safest country in Central America. I couldn’t equally compare it to the crime rate in Santa Barbara, California where I come from, because in Santa Barbara, you may not hear a lot about thefts but there’s a lot of gang-related or drug-related crimes. So it is more violent over there in Santa Barbara...
You will hear of some crimes such as theft in San Juan del Sur but most of them are not violent crimes such as murders. Just recently, I read an article naming Nicaragua as the safest country in Central America. I couldn’t equally compare it to the crime rate in Santa Barbara, California where I come from, because in Santa Barbara, you may not hear a lot about thefts but there’s a lot of gang-related or drug-related crimes. So it is more violent over there in Santa Barbara than it is in San Juan del Sur because of these organized crimes in Santa Barbara. You wouldn’t see much of that type of crime here in San Juan Del Sur.
Posted September 11, 2014
David Smith - Nicaragua Sotheby's International Realty
When you look at the statistics, Nicaragua is the safest country in Central America and it has been argued, looking at Interpol and UN Crime Statistics, that Nicaragua is the second safest country behind Canada in all of the Americas. You can certainly sense that when you are here in San Juan Del Sur. You feel a great deal of safety and you won’t feel unsafe anywhere. You will not see any guns anywhere. Inside the doors of the bank, and there are...
When you look at the statistics, Nicaragua is the safest country in Central America and it has been argued, looking at Interpol and UN Crime Statistics, that Nicaragua is the second safest country behind Canada in all of the Americas. You can certainly sense that when you are here in San Juan Del Sur. You feel a great deal of safety and you won’t feel unsafe anywhere. You will not see any guns anywhere. Inside the doors of the bank, and there are four banks in town, there is a security guard with a gun, but that is the only time I think I have seen guns in San Juan Del Sur. So, I feel very safe.
What we generally tell people is that the worst type of crime that you will be affected by would be petty theft, so as with any tourist destination, whether or not San Juan Del Sur, or the market in London, England, theft happens. If you make yourself a target, standing out, wearing lots of jewelry, then there is a chance that you might get pick-pocketed.
Crime in Nicaragua is generally very low. It is probably higher in San Juan Del Sur because it is a tourist destination but the majority of the types of crimes that occur are not violent crimes. In the seven years that I have been in Nicaragua, I have had my car broken into once and my camera and computer were stolen, and that is because I left it on the seat in a Canadian Roots leather bag, which was open and the car was unlocked. It was Semana Santa (Easter) weekend, which is the busiest weekend of the entire year for all the bad guys and all of the pick- pockets for all of Nicaragua to make a splash on all the spoils of the rich people and the foreigners in San Juan Del Sur. I was a victim and in seven years, that was the worst that has happened to me.
Generally, you won’t have a problem walking around town at night. I have pensioner friends who walk around at night in San Juan Del Sur. In comparison with Toronto, Toronto is a safe city, but there are places in Toronto I wouldn’t go. I am used to safety unlike Americans are. Canadians don’t generally worry about violent crime, so Toronto is a pretty safe city, as cities go with a couple of million people. I feel very safe there and I am not predisposed to worry about crime. I am not worried where I am in San Juan Del Sur, either.
Posted March 7, 2015
Lance Moss - Surfari Charters
I’m not sure exactly what the crime rate is for San Juan Del Sur but I did see a study that Nicaragua is the safest country in Central America as far as the crime rate and murder rate. I always tell people that Nicaragua is safer than a lot of places in the US, but if you’re looking for trouble you damn sure can find it. So as long as you’re not being a complete idiot and stumbling down the street drunk at night or doing something like that,...
I’m not sure exactly what the crime rate is for San Juan Del Sur but I did see a study that Nicaragua is the safest country in Central America as far as the crime rate and murder rate. I always tell people that Nicaragua is safer than a lot of places in the US, but if you’re looking for trouble you damn sure can find it. So as long as you’re not being a complete idiot and stumbling down the street drunk at night or doing something like that, you’re going to be totally fine. It’s incredibly safe. That’s one of the best parts about being out in our area in Playa Guasacate, in Popoyo (about an hour and a half by car north of San Juan del Sur), we’re a little bit outside of San Juan Del Sur, but it’s very safe. If my wife and I didn’t feel safe we definitely wouldn’t live here. Also, we just had a baby.
In Nicaragua it’s a little bit different than in the US. In the US, it’s very common to leave your house totally empty, but in Nicaragua you can’t just leave things vacant. You have to have someone there. A lot of people will have the cleaning lady or gardener in their house when they leave during the day. We do have dogs but they’re not attack dogs or anything like that. We’re kind of pulled back in a little hillside here. It’s kind of like tucked in a jungle a little bit. We have someone on site 24 hours a day. The cost of having that is not ridiculous. It can be just like having your cleaning lady at the house just so some random person can’t walk up and start taking your stuff.
We lock our doors but we feel really safe. We haven’t had any gnarly instances. Obviously there’s petty crime, like if you’re on the beach and you leave your sandals or your iPhone, someone might grab them. But for the most part, it’s super tranquilo. If you just use common sense and stay low key and do your thing, it’s really safe.
In all our 13 years years here, in our zone, there’s been perhaps 2 or 3 robbery type incidents where maybe it was an armed robbery or someone got punched or something like that. There haven’t been any murders or anything relative to “estrangeiros” as they call them, or “foreigners.” It’s pretty tranquilo. There have been a few small instances but a lot of those possibly could have been prevented. It’s kind of like the whole low hanging fruit theory. You just don’t want to be a low hanging fruit on the tree so you won’t get picked. Just do a few security things you can do anywhere in Nicaragua and it will keep you from being targeted. That’s probably the best way to put it.
(Lance and Kristin Moss with their dogs on Playa Guasacate, a tranquil beach in Popoyo , north of San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, pictured.)
Posted November 2, 2015