About San Juan del Sur

San Juan del Sur is a small fishing village on the southern Pacifit coast of Nicaragua, situated about 2 hours south of the Augusto Sandino international airport and 40 minutes north of the Costa Rican border. This once quiet fishing village has grown into Nicaragua’s top beach destination as a growing number of expats and tourists recognize the beautiful scenery, friendly people and quality of life to be had in San Juan. Many of those tourists have decided to stay.

Unlike many cities, the expat population in San Juan includes many young families in addition to retirees. These young professionals are entrepreneurs and internet professionals who are taking advantage of increasing mobile access to spend more time doing what they love, while maintaining a prosperous career.

 

Expat families and the continuing tourist boom provide great opportunity to San Juan: the last 10 years have seen San Juan blossem from a city with a few hostels and no ATMs, to a thriving destination with restaurants, bars, tourist centers and a number of high-end residential communities. Now that this robust foundation is in place, we think the time is right to build a sustainable future. Expat kids are getting older, and some local kids are getting left behind.

More about growth, education and San Juan del Sur & Rivas

  • Find out about our partner project: Barrio Planta Project
  • Find out about rural education and the San Juan del Sur Biblioteca Movil
  • Find out more about San Juan del Sur, en espanol and in english
  • Find out more about local empowerment and community programs at
  • Fundacion Tierra
  • Find out more about new ways to think about sustainable investment with Community RE-fund, Nicaragua
  • Find out about English language primary school and the San Juan del Sur Day School