Masachapa is a small charming beach town on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, about 65 km from the capital city Managua. You’ll find small grocery shops, clothing shops, snack bars, restaurants and surf shops along the main street of Masachapa. Its sidewalks are paved with colorful tiles and there are quaint park benches under palm trees along the way to the beach. Masachapa itself is a lovely beach community, but not as commercialized as San Juan del Sur and relatively “undiscovered” as of yet, by the tourist crowd. Don’t expect it to stay this way for long though. It’s all primed and ready for the burgeoning tourism industry that the Nicaraguan government tourism agency, INTUR, is actively promoting.
The Hotel Masachapa is just a short walk away – about 100 metres – from the actual beach and sits on the main street of Masachapa. It is perhaps the best hotel in Masachapa because not only does it offer attractive accommodations, a great location, a wonderful restaurant and a nice swimming pool, but is a hotel which promotes sustainable and responsible tourism for the benefit of the environment and Nicaraguan youth. The Hotel Masachapa is a school of hospitality offering young people training in the tourism and hospitality industry. Because of this reason, you’ll find that the service and the dining in the restaurant to be some of the best that Nicaragua has to offer. There are fancy chain hotels you could always choose to stay in, but the Hotel Masachapa, best described as a kind of boutique hotel, offers the best service, dining and accommodation within the framework of sustainable tourism in the area.
The Escuela de Hosteleria, Hotel Masachapa in Masachapa is actually, as its full name states, a hospitality school run as part of a project called Infancia Sin Fronteras, ‘Childhood without Borders’. It does excellent work in the local area as a child protection and development agency giving underprivileged young people the opportunity to get training (free of charge) to enable them to eventually find employment in the tourism industry. The Hotel Masachapa Escuela de Hosteleria project is supported by the Spanish government.
Interestingly, this place holds its own amongst the other hotels in Masachapa thanks to its comfortable rooms in airy, spacious two storey cabanas and its excellent restaurant and bar. The roofs of each unit are thatched palm, the walls are stone, the décor is modern. You won’t find air conditioning here, but there are large ceiling fans. Everything at this hotel in Masachapa is natural and organic. Room rates at the Hotel Masachapa for single to quadruple accommodations range in price from $40 a night for a single to $66 for a quadruple, depending on whether it’s high or low season. Continental or typical Nicaraguan breakfast is available for a small extra charge.
The restaurant offers excellent prepared seafood that is caught fresh and bought from the fishermen down at Masachapa beach every morning. The menu also features a variety of local favorites as well as international cuisine. It’s gourmet prepared dining at its best. Guests staying at the nearby Montelimar Beach Resort often take a taxi over to the Hotel Masachapa just to enjoy the food here. The Hotel has an excellent bar and lounge where you can enjoy the latest music over a drink. Both the restaurant and lounge bar offer an wonderful ambiance which could only be described as “very cool.” You’ll also be surprised by the standard of service at the Hotel Masachapa. This hotel and its school of hospitality knows exactly what they are doing. Read our Masachapa restaurant review here.
What to do in Masachapa apart from swimming and soaking up the sun and taking long walks along Masachapa Beach in either direction? There’s a wonderful swimming pool at Hotel Masachapa if you don’t feel like walking down to Masachapa beach. Another morning you could walk down to the beach about 6:00 a.m. and watch as the fishermen come in from the sea with their night’s catch. Masachapa Beach becomes a veritable marketplace in the morning as the families come down to the beach to meet the fishermen and help them unload their boats. The families weigh the fish, cut up some of the bigger ones and then the staff of nearby hotels and restaurants come to buy the fish. It’s an experience to observe and worthy of many great photographs. In and around Masachapa, you can explore the other nearby beaches, go horseback riding, visit some of the restaurants, bars, or explore the lush tropical gardens of the Montelimar Beach Resort. You could also spend an evening at the casino of the Resort. You’ll need to take a short taxi ride to reach the Resort.
Hotel Masachapa is located at 150 vras hacia la playa. We’ll give this hotel a great rating for its location, impeccable service, excellent restaurant, reasonable prices and value for the dollar, spacious rooms, cleanliness, and its ethics promoting sustainable and responsible tourism. Just click on the images to see a larger version of our photos of the Hotel Masachapa. And, oh, yes, even though the tip is included on your bill at the restaurant, please tip the staff a little extra. They deserve it. Both the food, the hotel staff and the service they provide is the best you’ll find anywhere in the world.
