THE CORN ISLANDS: A GUIDE TO THE CARIBBEAN’S BEST KEPT SECRET
Scattered off of South and Central America’s Caribbean coast is an abundance of perfect, tropical islands that rival some of those in the Maldives or Polynesia. While most people will visit Aruba, Jamaica or The Cayman Islands, one of the Caribbean’s best hidden gems is Nicaragua’s Corn Islands.
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About 70km (43mi) off mainland, both Little Corn Island and Big Corn Island offer the beautiful white sand beaches and clear turquoise waters that people travel from all around the world to visit, with everything except for the crowds and resort-y tourist traps.
The locals spend their days sitting outside in the sun, selling fresh fruits, fish, and homemade coconut bread and pastries. The children run around the islands together and play with cardboard attached to strings as makeshift kites, surf in the waves on old cooler tops, and play catch with the coconuts that fall for them.
With both islands combined, the population totals to approximately 7,750 with a fascinating culture of their own, despite being apart of Nicaragua.
What was once a hotspot for the real pirates of the Caribbean throughout the 1600s, the islands have been home to generations of the Miskito People-an indigenous group of people on Nicaragua’s east coast, and up into Honduras.
The population speaks English and a dialect of English Creole called Miskito Coast Creole along with Spanish.
Though the Corn Islands have all of these amazing things to offer, tourism hasn’t really ramped up for a number of reasons-infrastructure and getting to there islands themselves being two of the biggest contributing factors.
Despite the long journey to the islands, the destination is so, so worth the journey. With such a little amount of visitors around, experiencing the islands is real, raw, authentic and absolutely amazing.
Little Corn Island
About a 15km boat ride from Big Corn, Little Corn Island a the small, quiet, perfect remote backpacker paradise. There are no cars, no mopeds, no motorcycles, there are not even roads on Little Corn, just pathways that connects the island.
Otto Beach, Little Corn Island
There is no electricity on the island everyday from 6am until 1pm when somebody switches the power on at the small solar powered electricity plant built on the village’s baseball field. That never ended up being a problem as most of the little hotels would have generators for wifi, and the two cafes, Desideri Cafe and Tranquilo Cafe had free wifi as well.
Where To Stay On Little Corn Island
All of the accommodations on Little Corn are basic and comfortable and very affordable, with the exception of the one higher end resort-Yemaya. When you are on such a little island it is hard for the hotels and guesthouses to not be in good spots.
I stayed at Las Palmeras Oceanview Hotel and Dive Center, and it was perfect. It had a little restaurant and bar and it was so peaceful at night.
Along with being a perfect little waterfront hotel, Las Palmeras is the best dive center and store on the islands. A popular activity on Little Corn is diving and getting PADI certified, and the instructor was so kind as well. If you stay at Las Palmeras you get a 5% discount on your dives as well!
SEE AVAILABILITY AND BOOK LAS PALMERAS HERE.
Learn more about their diving, and visit their website here. Follow them on Instagram here.
There are a good amount of small restaurants along with Desideri, Tranquilo and Las Palmeras’, but if you are planning to cook meals yourself you’ll definitely want to grab groceries before you get to the islands.
You will also definitely need to get cash out before you get to Little Corn because nobody will take a card, and there is no ATM. There are one or two ATMs on Big Corn but I heard a couple of times that they often run out of cash.
OTTO BEACH IS ONE OF THE MOST SPECIAL PLACES I’VE EVER VISITED.
To get to Otto Beach you will take the main path from the center of the town up to the western end of the Island.
You will hit the end of the path at the old baseball stadium/solar power plant and from there, walk across the field into the jungle through dirt trails until you reach an intersection, follow the painted signs to Yemaya, and the Fry Fish Bar. You will come out to the beach and take a left and on the beach walk past the small waterfront Fish Fry Bar to a beautiful open beach.
Big Corn Island
Big Corn was everything that was perfect about Little Corn and more. It felt like I was walking through the pictures in the “Earth’s Tranquil Islands” calendar that hung on my refrigerator every year when I was a child that is imprinted in my mind.
Though there is actual paved roads and cars and motorcycles on the big island, it still feels so remote and so peaceful, almost more peaceful than Little Corn.
The area around the bay where you would catch the boat to get to Little Corn is the busiest part of the island, it feels like one of the smaller towns in Jamaica. Apart from that, the rest of the island feels straight out of my castaway dreams.
To get around I would recommend renting a little moped if you want to hop from beach to beach around the entire island during the day, but that is just because it is more fun as again, all taxi rides are $1 USD no matter where you are going. I found the north end of the island to be the best and I eventually had no problem staying put on my own little northern stretch, even though the entirety of Big Corn was just as ideal.
Heaven is a handful of places on earth and this is one of them.
Where To Stay On Big Corn Island
I feel that a large part of how amazing my stay on Big Corn was the part of the island that I was staying at.
I stayed at Corn Island Hostal, a bright and beautiful, simple, Caribbean style guest house, on the northern end of the Island. This stretch of the island was so peaceful, and the house was in the most ideal spot. The beach was washed out from the hurricane last year, but going down the stairs onto the rocks on the water at night underneath the full moon and bright stars every night is one of the highlights of my whole life so far.
A lot of people that I met that were backpacking were staying at The Wave Hostel, but at the time my big private room with a balcony over the water was the same price as a bed there. It didn’t ever seem or sound busy at all though.
SEE AVAILABILITY AND BOOK CORN ISLAND HOSTAL HERE.
Down the road to the left was a stretch of beaches with tiny waterfront reggae bars and beautiful restaurants on white sand with perfect spots to lay under the palm trees. My favorite restaurants down this way were the Seaside Grill- for all meals- and the reggae beach bar next to Cool Spot.
Down the road to the right was a stretch of more beaches washed out from the hurricane so the water came right up to the road. The beaches on this very northern part of the island did not feel real. Down this way is a small house on the water where a woman named Darinia runs a cafe and restaurant, Darinia’s Kitchen.
The cafe’s porch overlooking the crystal clear blue water was where I spent a majority of my mornings, drinking coffee and smoothies, and fresh banana and melon in coconuts that she knocked down and cut open with a side of the coconut’s cream and water.
Darinia is amazing, beautiful and so kind, her talents in the kitchen beyond my fresh fruit bowl are insane, everyone visiting Big Corn must visit for brunch at least once.
Visiting The Corn Islands Ethically
So much of the islands’ beauty is so well preserved (minus what was destroyed or washed away to sea during Hurricane Julia in October 2022) due to the small amount of tourism. While visiting, it is important to prioritize conservation and minimizing your footprint, while also contributing to the local economy.
THE ISLAND:
As a developing country, trash disposal is not greatly prioritized, and you will occasionally see dumped trash, or washed up items on the beaches. Along with not leaving a trace, it also won’t hurt to pick up some trash everyday as well.
As diving is a big activity, especially off of Little Corn, we have to remember the coral reefs and dive sites! We have to respect the land below water as well, and another thing that won’t hurt is wearing reef safe sunscreen-the little things really count!
THE PEOPLE:
Even though the islands are pretty much all just little guesthouses and family owned restaurants, still keep the local economies best interest in mind. Buy fresh baked bread from people’s front door steps, stay at the small guesthouses and leave behind some useful goods or clothing if you’re looking to lighten your backpack a little bit.
Getting To The Corn Islands
Though there was a much cheaper, and much more adventurous way to get to the Corn Islands, I took the easy way out if two long travel days and flew from Managua to Big Corn. Some take the bus from Managua across the country to the town of Bluefields (~8 hours, $8 USD), and take the ferry from there to Big Corn (~6.5 hours, $7 USD), and get the trip done with $15 down in transportation fees.
I decided I would pay over 10x more and fly to save myself from the inconvenience. Looking back now I do not regret paying more as I made it a lot easier and faster for myself and the experience of flying to and from was so fun compared to my normal flights, but if I were responsible I would take the cheaper route.
To fly from Managua to Big Corn you will fly La Costeña, Nicaragua’s domestic airline. They run two flights to and from Managua and Big Corn Island everyday. A round trip ticket will cost you around $164 USD, and a one way ticket will cost you around $106 USD. You can also get a flight from Bluefields to Big Corn for a $60 USD one way ticket.
The La Costeña terminal is right outside of Managua’s Int. Airport doors. If you are exiting the airport, turn to your left and it is a two minute walk straight ahead.
The planes are little 12 seaters and everything that the pilots see, you are seeing too. When checking in before boarding, they individually weigh you and your luggage in order to evenly distribute the weigh and o split people into the tiny planes. It is probably the closest I will get to flying private and I will take it.
The bright turquoise waters and the views of the island while landing are unreal, you touch down on a small little runway in the middle of the town on Big Corn and taxis will be waiting for you outside to take you to your accommodation or to the bay to catch the boat to Little Corn.
Every taxi on Big Corn will cost $1 USD no matter where you are going.
YOU CAN BOOK YOUR LA COSTEÑA PLANE TICKETS HERE.
To get to Little Corn you will take a taxi to Brig Bay and hop on the public boat that leaves Big Corn twice a day, first at 10AM and second at 4:30PM.
It will cost you $10 USD, and in my experience it was crazy, in a good way-but take something to help prevent you from throwing up if you get motion sickness.
This boat ride is 30 minutes of the man driving the boat flooring it and flying through the waves of the Caribbean Sea as the workers (a few probably 14 year old boys) watch over us, thankfully my dramamine just barely worked.
It was insanity on the ride there, in a fun way, I had the time of my life with bonus points for not throwing up over the side of the boat as we bounced around and held on for our lives.
To get back to Big Corn, the public boat leaves from Little Corn twice a day, first at 6:30AM and second at 1:30AM. I took the 6:30AM boat and it was calmer during the morning hours and was a much smoother ride and very pretty being out in the middle of the sea during the early hours. Because of the calmer waters the man decided to go much faster so we probably cut the ride in half and it was an easy morning-still take something to prevent motion sickness.
North End Beach, Big Corn Island
This little island is perfection and paradise on earth. I feel so lucky to have been able to visit such an unreal place that many do not have the ability to visit, such an unreal place that many do not know of. I will never get over it. And I am going to find my way back as soon as I possibly can.
THINKING OF TRAVELING TO THE CORN ISLANDS? DO IT.
HERE ARE ALL OF THE RESOURCES I USE TO PLAN MY TRIPS:
FLIGHTS AND ACCOMMODATION: BOOKING.COM IS WHAT I WILL ALWAYS USE TO BOOK FLIGHTS AND STAYS. NEVER DONE ME WRONG.
TOURS, DRIVERS, AND ALL THAT FUN STUFF: VIATOR IS MY GO-TO.
TRAVEL INSURANCE: SAFETYWING HAS ALWAYS BEEN FABULOUS. THE BEST EVER.
RENTAL CARS: WHEN BOOKING ANY TRIP THAT YOU DECIDE TO RENT A CAR FOR, BOOKING.COM IS FABULOUS LIKE ALWAYS.
