The last stop on our eight night Nicaragua trip was a couple days at the sprawling beach resort Rancho Santana. Located on the Emerald Coast along the Pacific Ocean, “The Ranch” is a sprawling property with 2,700 acres and five beaches. It was the perfect place for us to relax after six days of adventuring in Granada and on Ometepe Island. We planned to stay on the resort the entire time; with two pools, four restaurants, a spa, and activities such as hiking, horseback riding, surfing and sandboarding on offer, why would we leave?

Getting to Rancho Santana

If Rancho Santana is your first (or only stop) in Nicaragua, you actually have the choice of flying into two airports: Managua or Guanacaste, in Costa Rica. The drive is about 2. 5 hours from Managua, or 3 hours from Guanacaste, not considering potential delays when crossing the border from Costa Rica into Nicaragua. From Selvista on Ometepe Island, the trip took us about 3 hours. We were inland most of the time, and the drive by some shack-like local homes made us realize how poor many Nicaraguans are. Eventually we reached the gated entrance to the Rancho Santana compound and pulled into the main drive where the Inn & Residences are located.

Room Options at Rancho Santana

First of all, a few words on the design at the Ranch. All the buildings are Spanish colonial; think white stucco walls, red clay roof tiles, dark wooden accents. It very much reminded me of California. The property is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year (2022), and I will say that some of the details in our room seemed a bit dated, but everything was still high quality, such as Frette linens and custom-made bath products.

There are many choices for accommodations at Rancho Santana; it’s very family friendly, but we didn’t feel annoyed traveling as a couple. First there is the Inn, which is where we stayed. It only has 17 rooms, which helped to make the building feel intimate even though entire property is massive. We stayed in a standard Guestroom, which included a private terrace and ocean views. There are also suites available for people who want more space or are traveling with kids.

For larger families or groups traveling together, there are a few options. First, there are the Garden View Casitas, which are all 2BR/2BA casitas with full kitchens. There are also the Residences, located in various buildings facing Playa Santana, the main beach at The Ranch. The Residences are condo-style 3BR/3BA units that also include a full kitchen, living room and dining room. Both the Garden View Casitas and the Residences are close to the Inn, the Clubhouse, and the two main pools as well.

Finally, there are the Puerta Del Mar villas and the Ocean View homes. Similar to the residences, the villas are condo-style units, but they are individually owned and decorated, so the style in each one is different. The all have 2-3 bedrooms and are beachfront on Playa Santana. Then there are the homes, all of which have ocean views, and many of which have private pools. They range from 3-5 bedrooms, and are spread out across six neighborhoods in the 2,700 acre property, so some may be a bit of a trek to get to the Clubhouse, pools, spa and other amenities. However, if you have your own kitchen and private pool, you probably won’t be using the shared facilities all that much.

Things to Do at Rancho Santana

There is SO MUCH to do at The Ranch. We saw a number of families with older kids and I can understand why as the kids have a never ending list of activities to keep them entertained. Of course, there are the pools and the beaches–we actually ended up staying at Playa Santana the entire time because we didn’t have a car and the shuttle service only runs hourly between the different beaches. We were hoping we’d be able to borrow bikes to ride around and explore, but alas, the staff told us that the bikes were only available for guided tours. Lame.

The southwest stretch of coast in Nicaragua is a famous surfing destination, so Rancho Santana would be an ideal place to stay for surfers who want a bit more luxury. We just enjoyed watching the surfers in the evenings with our sundowner G&Ts in hand.

Other activities available include SUP, fishing, horseback riding, hiking, mountain biking, sandboarding and more. We were pretty lazy and just hung out at the pool or beach the entire time, but we had been super active the rest of the week, so I didn’t feel too bad about it.

There are two main pools: the Sand Dollar Pool with a full-service pool bar and a handful of first come/first serve cabanas, and the infinity-edge Residence Pool. We spent our first afternoon sipping margaritas under a cabana in between dips in the Sand Dollar Pool, then headed to the Residence Pool for a change of scenery on our second day. While the latter does not have F&B service, we actually preferred this pool, as it felt very private and secluded, and the views of the ocean were incredible.

As I mentioned earlier, there are four restaurants onsite, but since we stayed Monday-Wednesday, two of the four were closed. We ended up eating at La Finca y El Mar both nights, which offered delicious seafood and pastas with gorgeous sunset views over Playa Santana. Breakfast was served at El Cafe in the Inn every morning and included in our room rate. If we had stayed for longer, we definitely would have tried out La Taqueria for mid-day tacos and beers and La Boquita one evening for wood-fired pizza.

Overall, we had a terrific stay at Rancho Santana, and I would for sure recommend. Water-loving families in particular would be obsessed with this place. Personally, I want to gather a group of friends and rent one of the ocean view homes. Private infinity pool overlooking the Pacific Ocean, magical sunsets, Reuben churning out his famous salsa and guacamole to pair with my epic margaritas–does it get better than that?