Photo courtesy of Dave Stamboulis
1. Beautiful beaches
Made up of two islands, Big Corn and Little Corn, these Caribbean gems offer blindingly white sand beaches, turquoise bays, super welcoming locals and a taste of what places like Thailand were like a long time ago. 20 years old. Relatively hard to get to the main Caribbean radar, you’re in for a treat if you make the effort to come here.
Photo courtesy of Dave Stamboulis
Sunsets are magical here, and most accommodations have a range of hammocks, rocking chairs, or both to enhance your viewing habits. Little Corn Island has no roads or cars, everything comes by boat and one of the main pastimes here is sitting along the waterfront of the island’s only real ‘village’ and watching the activities on the boat dock come and go.
Photo courtesy of Dave Stamboulis
2. Flight
Getting to the Corn Islands is half the fun. Although you can sail from the Nicaraguan coastal town of Bluefields, it’s an arduous 7-hour ferry ride, often in fairly rough waters, so most visitors choose to fly (you still need to take a speedboat or “Lanche” from Big Corn to get to Little Corn, which has no aerial facilities). La Costeña, the Nicaraguan airline, flies from Managua to Big Corn using mostly 12-seat Cessna turboprop planes, which are more like getting into a van than an airplane.
Photo courtesy of Dave Stamboulis
On these tiny Cessna flights, you watch directly from the cockpit as friendly pilots point out landmarks. The photo ops are great, and the beautiful islands look even more fantastic from above. Big Corn Airport is just a small building with an airstrip that is traveled on foot and by car the rest of the time, once the morning departures and arrivals have passed. Welcome to Paradise!
Photo courtesy of Dave Stamboulis
3. Price
Unlike places like the Bahamas, Barbados, or Curacao, the Corn Islands are actually extremely affordable. There are a few fancier resorts on Big Corn, as well as one on the north side of Little Corn, but most of the places to stay here are local guesthouses. There are affordable bungalows right on the beach, where your porch hammock has five-star views, and rooms in local homes where your guesthouse owner could also be your snorkeling boat driver. .
Photo courtesy of Dave Stamboulis
Where else in the world can you buy lobster for $6-7 a pound, fresh off a local fisherman’s boat? The beachside restaurants here serve up delicious seafood, with shrimp, lobster and a variety of fish topping the menus.
During your stay, be sure to sample a bowl of round, a seafood stew pronounced “run down”, due to its origin of being made with all the ingredients a housewife could “run down”. Vegetables like yams or taro are tossed in a base of coconut milk, fresh seafood is added and you have a stew fit for royalty. Don’t forget to order a Flor de Cana rum mojito to chase it all away.
Photo courtesy of Dave Stamboulis
4. The dynamic culture
You’ll find lots of cute bungalows painted with murals, funky beach bars and drums and live music. The island’s hues match the bright sunshine, blue skies, and vivid technicolor landscape. The village of Little Corn even has a local gospel church where people gather and sing right by the beach, and if you stay here for a week you’ll feel like you know everyone on the island.
Photo courtesy of Dave Stamboulis
5. Two islands to choose from
Little Corn is probably the most idyllic or charming island, given that it has no roads or cars, is smaller and more difficult to reach, requiring a lancha ride of around 40 minutes (in this which can often be rough seas). But don’t forget to spend some time on Big Corn as well (which you’ll probably have to do if you have an early morning flight).
Big Corn also has beautiful beaches, great restaurants and a selection of really nice places to stay, not to mention a bustling fishing port where you can see the active side of the Corns away from tourism.
Photo courtesy of Dave Stamboulis
Pic-Nic Beach is perhaps the most beautiful beach in the Corns. It’s a beautiful emerald bay with a long white-sand beach that in other Caribbean vacation spots would likely be crowded with visitors. Here you can laze on a raft, swim to a floating beach bar, or just lay back in the sand and take in the stunning scenery. Start making your plans for this underrated and charming Caribbean escape.
