Club Surf Popoyo

Playa Guasacate runs wide and dark-sanded along Nicaragua's Pacific coast, with the Popoyo break working just offshore. Club Surf Popoyo sits directly on this stretch, the first hotel built oceanfront on the beach, with the main surf peak a short walk from the rooms. Filippo and Barbara, a couple from Cagliari, opened it in 2008 and still run it. The building is Spanish colonial in form, roofed in a palm-thatched rancho typical of the area, set among tropical gardens that soften the heat. Rooms come with air conditioning, a ceiling fan and a private bathroom with hot water, plus a porch strung with hammocks and racks for boards. It is a small, working stay, built around the tide charts rather than a spa menu. Guided boat trips run to quieter breaks up and down the coast, alongside 4x4 surf runs that sometimes stop at the hot springs of Las Salinas. Surf lessons and board rental are arranged on site through the in-house shop. The restaurant, a palapa open through the day, serves an Italian kitchen: wood-oven pizza, pasta, and rum or limoncello after dinner. You can watch the swell build from the porch between sessions. Managua airport lies roughly 156 km and about three hours by road, the last stretch along a dirt track into Playa Guasacate.