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Nicaragua: Rio San Juan

The beautiful 170km-long Rio San Juan marks the border with Costa Rica and runs from Lake Nicaragua to the Caribbean Sea. Strategically important, it has a hectic history of disputes and attacks from outside Nicaragua and within. The remarkable fortress at El Castillo, built by the Spanish to repel pirates (although Horatio Nelson briefly held it after capture by stealth), bears witness to that. However it’s now a peaceful waterway passing through thick tropical jungle, where efforts are being made to encourage eco-tourism. Downstream from El Castillo is the primary rainforest of the Reserva Biológica Indio Maíiz, possibly the largest nature reserve in Central America.

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Our insider tips for Rio San Juan

Rafe Stone

Wildlife spotting from a boat trip on the river. It’s a rewarding experience, you should see sloths, howler monkeys, macaws, storks and caimans on the banks.

Edward Welham

A visit to the fortress at El Castillo where there is a library with over 1,000 books on the history of the castle and the area around it, and a museum. The views are magnificent from the top.

Lina Fuller

Hiking the trails in the Reserva Biólogica Indio Maíz, a dense, hot stretch of jungle sheltering shy manatees, jaguars, macaws and toucans.

Ben Line

Continuing from San Carlos to relax on the Solentiname Islands on Lake Nicaragua. Only an hour by boat but light years away from the modern world, these 36 peaceful, forest draped tiny islands are vehicle free, with a radical history and world-famous primitivist art.

What our experts say

For me this was the highlight of my trip to Nicaragua in 2014. Taking a boat ride along the forest-fringed, wildlife rich river San Juan and suddenly coming upon rapids, overlooked by the vast bulk of the Spanish fort once seized from the Spanish by Lord Nelson. What a shock! The little port-village of El Castillo beneath with its stilted-houses will inevitably lose some of its remote charm when projected roads and the new canal are completed. Go now to experience the rustic charm of this isolated corner of the country.

Claire Milner

Product and Marketing

What our clients say

97% of our clients rated their experience with us as Excellent or Good.

Rio San Juan | Rating: Excellent

Most memorable experience: "Rio San Juan - kayaking down the river in the early morning mist and then walking in the Indo-Maiz reserve."

BC, London | January 2015 | 35 - 50 | With Partner

Rio San Juan | Rating: Excellent

"El Castillo is remote and absolutely rewarding. Our guides took us kayaking and made us a picnic from local produce and treated us like family. Many people never make it to El Castillo and it is so worth it ---no tourists.”

SF, Reading | June 2013

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97% of our clients rated their experience with us as Excellent or Good.

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Hannah had an early introduction to Latin America when her family moved to Ecuador and she returned to study in Buenos Aires for a year before backpacking across the continent.

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Nicaragua: Rio San Juan

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