By Fanthom.
Rancho Santana on Escondida Beach
For starters, anyone craving space and avoiding crowds will be happy to hear that my solo day at the beach was no fluke. Escondida Beach lies on the grounds of Rancho Santana, a resort community on Nicaragua’s Emerald Coast. “When you see three or four families at the beach, that’s considered crowded,” says Alberto Marín, the property’s director of guest experiences. That’s largely because this isn’t the resort’s only beach. Rancho Santana, which is spread across 2,700 acres, has five beaches, plus 17 miles of hiking trails, equestrian stables, and a spa with treehouse-style treatment rooms tucked in the woods. Here, a private yoga studio sits at the top of a hill, overlooking the property as well as the sea. “Private” and “secluded” are two words I heard constantly during my visit. They may also be the most valued words in post-pandemic tourism.
A spa treehouse treatment room.
Villa Juliana on Playa Santana
Unless you’ve been quarantining in a tropical paradise, Nicaragua, known as the Land of Lakes and Volcanoes, offers the antidote to ho-hum at-home experiences. Rather than firing up another loaf of bread in the oven, plot to visit one of the country’s 24 fiery peaks, such as Masaya, to feast your eyes on a lava-spewing crater. Instead of watching the minute hand tick along at your kitchen island, go island hopping on Lake Nicaragua, which is dotted with roughly 360 islets. “Almost one for each day of the year,” my guide told me. Swap riding the waves of quarantine ennui for surfing the swell off the Emerald Coast or sandboarding down beachside dunes.
In addition to quelling coronavirus melancholy, socially-conscious travelers will want to prioritize destinations that are most in need of tourism. And though you’d be pressed to find a destination that hasn’t been negatively impacted by the pandemic, Nicaragua has been particularly hard hit in recent years.
Read the full article by Amelia Mularz on Fathom Away, here.