Quinta San Rafael (Somoto Canyon) | Established Campground

Nicaragua

WARNING: THIS PLACE IS PERMANENTLY CLOSED!

WARNING: THIS PLACE HAS BEEN FLAGGED FOR DELETION!

Details

Verified:
over 2 years ago
Altitude:
647.1 masl
Website:
None
Phone:
None
Contributor:
CarpeViam

Amenities

Electricity:
Yes - At Sites
Wifi:
No
Kitchen:
No
Restaurant:
No
Showers:
Cold
Water:
Non-Potable
Toilets:
Running Water
Big Rig Friendly:
Yes
Tent Friendly:
Yes
Pet Friendly:
Yes
Sanitation Dump Station:
Unknown

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Description

Camping in Canyon Somoto at Quinta San Rafael. Beautiful farm on Rio Coco. Set up in large grassy field. Bathroom and shower near the grassy area for camping. Big rigs, there is a narrow entrance and a few tight turns but if you can make those the camp area has plenty of space. You may also be able to camp across the river. Price: $6/night per person.

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It’s closed. But there is another spot right next to this one.

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Beautiful place. Friendly hosts. Only 5USD per person. Very relaxing.

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Great spot to camp, although pricey for Nicaragua.
$15/night but arranged a deal at $40 for 3 nights. Power and water. No wifi and no Movistar reception, minimal Claro reception. If you hike to the miradors you'll get full cell reception with both. Short hike (45 minutes one-way) and great view. The canyon is excellent. Full day tour recommended for all able-bodied visitors ($15 pp).
A shorter option (also fun) is to go ride in the river on inner-tubes. Hike upstream from here (cross the river once here and again a little further up) to the 'lanchas' (rowboats) which takes about 20 minutes. Pay the guy 40 cordobas to row you a ways upstream. Ask about the 'pneumaticos'... they'll tell you who to talk to. Rental is 50 cords per tube/pneumatico. Really fun, relaxed way to enjoy the canyon.

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Tried to fix the GPS. Different entrances. With big rigs use the last one. A bit hard to see the entrances in the fence. Probably the guides on the highway offer you to call the owner and he‘ll came on a bike. Directly on the river with a great view. Entrance a little bit up the road. No need to book the tour directly on the highway.

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We stayed two nights at this nice farm. The road getting down is steep, and it is a tight turn into the gte, but we managed to get our big rig I'm with a worker lifting the electric wire. Can and peaceful. Camped along the river, and had power. Bathroom flushes, with cold showers. 10$ US/night. Took an excellent tour of the can't on for $15 for 4 hours. So worth it. Caretaker of the finca will make breakfast lunch or dinner. About $4 each. Great stay.

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Amazing place to camp on the river. Cool mountain air and great views. Nice bathroom with water and shower. Right next to the trailhead to hike/swim Rio Coco.

Regarding the Rio coco loop: We opted to go alone and without a guide and it was fine. We did get turned around a few times and had to ask some farmers for directions. See my attached screenshot of maps.me. Start on highway 1 where I dropped the blue waypoint. From there hike 1.1 miles along a dirt trail (it's the blue line on the screenshot) until you reach the river (marked with the the flag on the screenshot). From there you walk, swim, jump, crawl and slither your way downstream along the canyon until you reach a big flat area where the water slows down and it feels like a lake. You'll pass several long slow pools before you reach this main lake so just keep swimming! Once you reach the main lake it's another 15 minutes swimming until the gravel bank where locals park there row boats. From there it's easy walking down the river until San Rafael's farm. All said and done it took us several hours so get an early start. Best to bring sunscreen and extra water and pack everything, especially your phone, in a legit dry bag (or 2) otherwise your stuff will get soaked. It's a great adventure - Good luck!

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Loved this site. Super friendly caretaker/manager. We arranged our first night here with somoto canyon tours but after that just dealt with the manager. We paid 10$. Electricity worked at one of the lamp posts.

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Price 5 usd pp. Price is for sure negotiable when you stay a bit longer. On our nav map the campground was located in the middle of the river (not correct). We tried to change the coordinaties to the main entrance. Not sure we succeeded in this one. Main entrance is 50 metres before the Big rig entrance. When you arrive, walk first to the house and decide there if you take the main entrance or the big rig entrance with your car.

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The owner asked 25 usdf for night ,we said 10usa for night, owner ok with that but he says need to leave before 7:00 the next morning , because that day we crossed two border ,we were so tired we agreed to leave early in the morning .

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$10 for two people. Long day of crossing borders so we opted for the easiest option. They've built a flush toilet, sink and cold shower next to the camping field. At the time it wasn't possible to cross the river with your vehicle to the other side, the road is blocked. Cheaper camping across from the quinta camping field. Got a guide, Jesus, for the long tour $30 for two people. Highly recommended.

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Nice campground beside the river. It is not necessary to cross the river! Warm welcoming by the owner! 10 USD/night for two. Access at N 13.452193; W 86.8362. Distance to the border of Honduras just 19 km!

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- beautiful view, many stars by night! we stayed for a night. payed 15$ to camp (maybe cause of semana santa) they have outdoor showers to use and flushing toilets. nice to be near the river- you can decide where you stay on the grass. sometimes it seems to get busy when they have a lot of tent campers. very calm only the frogs and birds get loud by night. friendly cuidador by night! - too pricey for a campsite when you find nice double rooms for the same price. or better choose the parqueo on the other side! (take the road to the right side when you see the entrance to the quinta)

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very nice camping area on huge grassy field. flush toilet & toilet paper and cold shower. electricity at sites. river is very close.very nice for dogs but lot of small ticks. one night guard who checks the whole place, so he is not really on the camping area. on weekends lots of tourists for the canyon tour. during the week less tourists but several locals who ride their horses and donkeys across the river. no wifi. claro worked only with E. has BBQ and fire wood. the official camping price per night is 10usd, we paid 9 cause we stayed several days. its worth to visit this place after border crossing. the road to the quinta is ok - we managed it with our trailer although its a little narrow and steep. very quiet here at night.

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$5 per person per night. Very comfortable camping on grass field. Clean bathroom with lots of TP. Camp fires allowed and plenty of wood. River close by and nice for swimming. Good security with night patrol man. We didn't drive across river. Negotiate price up front they started at 10.

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They call it tranquil and it is. Lovely grass field with power ( we had to ask them to turn it on). Definitely best spot to camp, right on the river, with guard at night. Don't listen to the guy at the beginning of the road advising that camping further down road is not safe. Very clean shower (cold) and toilet (with seat!) and BBQ.

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For us (with our Truck-Camper) it was a risk to reach the beautiful campsite on the river. The road (inside the property) was pretty steep, narrow and had some loose rocks. The road to the "Parqueo" next to it was much better for us.

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Beautiful grounds and a great place to hit after crossing the border. Plenty of space here, although the road was pretty narrow. 150N per person per night.

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There are two options here: 1) You can pay to park on a secure grass lot overlooking the river with a bathroom available for $5 per person, need to squeeze past a few trees that mught make it tricky for latger rigs though i am sure they would find a way to accomodate anyone. 2) Or, we asked if we could park on the opposite side of the river and they said it was fine, safe and free, though they would not garantee our safety and there are no bathrooms. We opted for option two, after a simple river crossing we found a nice spot just down on a sand beach along the river bank. You do have to ask them to camp here as there is a sign blocking the road saying private property, they just moved it when we asked.

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Camping in Canyon Somoto at Finca San Rafael. Our local guide set it up for us. Beautiful farm on Rio Coco. Set up in large grassy field. Bathrooms were up the hill at the small hotel, but they were in the process of building a new bathroom close to where we parked. Showers, no wifi.

Price: $10/night.

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