SJDS 1: Hospedaje or where to sleep in San Juan del Sur

Where to sleep in San Juan del Sur

In SJDS you can find hostels, hotels, apartments and rooms for rent. Most hotels are on the beach front and most hostels are one or two streets away. San Juan is small and the only difference between living on the beach front or not is that if you are lucky you might get a room with views to the bay on the former, although I don’t think that’s very likely in most places because there are bars and restaurants on the other side of the street, right by the beach sand.

I’ve only explored a bigger hostel, a small hostel (my current place), rooms for rent in two different places and an apartment for rent.

Hostels

(these are the ones I know, but there are many more)

Casa Oro: really loud hostel! If you want to be able to sleep at night do NOT stay in Casa Oro. I guess people like it because its big and it’s easy to make (international) friends there. They also organize trips to nearby beaches and occasionally longer trips e.g. to Lago Nicaragua. Personally, I wouldn’t ever stay there… those positive things are no high in my priority scale compared to the noise level present at the hostel all day long and the lack of hygine (the common kitchen is totally open, situated at the middle of the hostel, on the way to the toilets and showers (just across) and the rooms. There is a large TV screen in the hall, which makes it even hard to talk to the people at the reception. I think it costs US$7/night, which is more than in many other places. Rides to the beach are C$60 one way or C$100 round-trip (US$5) (they are the only ones charging more than half the price for one-way trips: the rest charge you C$50 for one way)

Arena Caliente: run by surfers, Arena Caliente is a very nice place to stay at if you don’t need any kind of luxury. The brothers Byron and Kervin are very mellow, super easy-going. They started their business renting their own boards, a bodyboard and a surfboard, and little by little were able to buy more equipment to have a decent surf shop. Later they built some rooms (for 2-3 people each) -just some wood work that looks very neat but gets dusty because it’s not polished. Guests and staff share bathrooms. Kervin is very proud of the plants in the backyard, which he planted and takes care of, and their turtles. In the house there is also a lazy dog (Tsunami) and a very cute cat (Kiri or Kitty). Other local surfers often come to Arena Caliente to watch the news or baseball games on TV, movies, or to play videogames, but it is usually quite by 9 or 10 pm (the latest anyone was loud since I’ve been here was around 10:30 or 11pm on a Saturday). You can use the kitchen (and fridge) and laundry facilities (you do you own laundry by hand!). Staying costs US$5/night in the low season (might be US$6 in the high season). They have a van to take people to the beach (C$100 or US$5 in the low season), they rent boards and offer surfing lessons (lessons are individual, no matter how many of you there are). They have agreements with other drivers, so when they are full or for whatever reason they are not going to the beach, they’ll find a ride for you.

Rooms for rent

Two rooms I checked out at an old woman’s house by Big Wave Daves were aweful: no windows, terrible-looking beds… private bath, that they had. US$5/night.

I looked at another room not too far from there, almost in front of El Gato Negro, and it looked much better (larger, with windows and very neat, painted with colors similar to those at Arena Caliente), but the lady didn’t mention anything about having rights of kitchen use and I just loved Arena Caliente when I met the people and saw the place. US$5/night

Apartments for rent

The apartment I looked at was very affordable but not what I was looking for. A two-bedroom apartment completely furnished (bedrooms, living-room, kitchen) but with no windows in the room! (there were windows in the living-room and the kitchen). Very low ceiling, it just looked all cramped. US$200/month.

A German friend of mine is staying at a place for $US320/month and is happy with it.