Located just 30 minutes’ drive from the beautiful town of Granada, Mombacho Volcano is a popular attraction for visitors – both local and overseas – to the area.
With an elevation of 1,344 metres, or 4409 feet, Mombacho Volcano is the 4th highest volcano in Nicaragua but, unlike nearby Masaya Volcano, is dormant, its last eruption having taken place in 1570.
Home to a wide variety of flora and fauna (there are said to be some 700 species of flora on its slopes), from the top of the volcano visitors can enjoy panoramic views over Lake Nicaragua and back to Granada.
Hiking Mombacho
Most visitors to Mombacho Volcano come to take in the views and enjoy a bit of hiking. There are two main trails, an easy, relatively level, hour long version that circles around the top of the volcano crater and the so-called Puma Trail, a much more demanding, approximate 3-hour hike with plenty of ascending and descending.
While the ‘easy’ trail can be enjoyed on one’s own, visitors wishing to partake of the Puma Trail can only do so with an official guide (Beyond The Ordinary will arrange guides for both trails).
In both instances, clients will be collected from their hotel in Granada after breakfast and transferred by car to a holding point midway up the volcano. As the road steepens significantly beyond this point, clients will then transfer to either a 4×4 or special, open-top truck that will take them to almost the top of the volcano and the start of both trails.
Note: The easy trail is, not surprisingly, the more popular of the 2 and can get pretty busy over the weekend and during holidays with visiting locals, many of whom visit in family / friendship groups.
Zipline
Slightly lower down the slopes of Mombacho Volcano, hidden away within the forest canopy, is an exhilarating zipwire / zipline adventure with an added, slightly vertigo inducing (for the author at least) stretch of canopy walkway.
Depending on the size of your own party, you will generally join with others to form a group of around six to eight participants, together with your guides.
The tour normally takes around an hour and can easily be combined with either of the aforementioned hiking trails and / or the coffee plantation tour.
Coffee Plantation Tour
Those with an interest in coffee may also wish to visit the Café Las Flores coffee plantation, again located on the slopes of Mombacho Volcano, to take advantage of the ideal growing conditions.
Together with your English-speaking guide, you will tour the plantation and learn all about sustainable coffee cultivation before ending at the Hacienda Café Las Flores to sample their coffee for yourself.
While this tour is available year-round, November through February is harvest season. During this time, visitors will witness how the beans are picked, washed, peeled and dried. If you want, you can even help pick the beans.
Tailor Made Visits to Mombacho
As all our Nicaragua holidays are entirely tailor made, what you do on your visit to the volcano is entirely up to you although, if you want to include the Puma trail, zipwire and coffee plantation visit, you will need to spread them over 2 separate visits.
For an example as to how a visit to Mombacho Volcano can be included on a holiday to Nicaragua, simply check out our sample Classic Nicaragua itinerary. For recommendations on where to stay, head over to our Granada Accommodation page.
