Name: Arenas Beach Hotel
Address: Southwest Bay, Corn Island, Corn Island, Corn Island, 82100, Nicaragua
Rating: 8

Smoke-free property

Ticket assistance

Garden

No elevators

Reception desk

General

Safe-deposit box

Services and amenities

Breakfast

Restaurant

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

Tour assistance

Tourist services

Free parking

Parking

Beauty and wellness

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Personal protection equipment for staff

Extra decontamination measures

Personal protection equipment for guests

Additional measures against COVID-19

Health and Safety Measures

Location

At the hotel

Arenas Beach Hotel

Corn Island

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

11-beds

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4-beds

40-beds

5-beds

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king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

4-bedrooms

5-bedrooms

6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

Horrible smelled of mold. Asked for a different room because of the smell and they said they were sold out, once I asked for a refund a room magically appeared. Which wasn’t that much better. The customer service here is horrible they are not attentive.  The airport service that is supposedly included left us stranded because it was after 2pm. Thankfully we found  a taxi drivers

Horrible hotel experience !

Positives:
-Outstanding beach, best on Island. 
-Receptionists are very professional, helpful and have English. 
-Staff in general (especially Bartenders and Chelsia) are helpful and service driven. Most people on the island are friendly.  
-Taxis are plentiful and cost  $20 Cordoba (per person) anywhere on the island. It’s ‘shared’ and they pick up and drop off others that can fit in the car. Restaurants will also call for you. See note below - don’t get in Cab #43. 
-Hassle-free hotel shuttle to and from airport. If you miss the shuttle because it left as it was full, don’t worry he will return in 15 minutes. 
-Breakfast included - good selection except for vegans (ask for toast and mashed beans or beans&rice). Bring your own peanut butter or pick up an avocado in town. No fruit provided. Prices to buy breakfast when you arrive early from mainland are $6 & $7.50 including coffee. 
-the Beach Boat/Bar has an extensive array of cocktails, beers & wines. The bartenders are great. Charge restaurant and bar costs to your room. The bill has the item and you sign for it. No issues doing this - very accurate! Pay at checkout or night before. 
-Bathroom towels are thick and new. 
-Safe and A/C in the room and a patio for a late night drink or to hang your wet suits. 
-Full length mirror in room. 
-TVs have channels with English incl news. 

So/So:
-Rooms are basic and dated but clean. Old beds, somewhat stained sheets but beds are comfy and plenty of pillows to choose from. Bungalows with 4 rooms are noisy. Go for a standard double queen room (bigger) on top floor (facing court yard only) of hotel area (much more soundproof). 
-sometimes they run out of beach towels get them early. 
-Drawers in dressers don’t work as they have expanded in the heat. 
-few lights - no lamps 
-Don’t lock your ‘one’ room key that displays your room number in your room. The front desk has a mish-mash of unmarked keys they try to use. 

Bad news:
-Wifi other than the lobby and sometimes on room deck suck immensely! Poorest ever. 
-No bottled water is provided (not even a water jug in lobby). They say water is drinkable but I wouldn’t trust it. Litre bottles of water for sale at beach bar for $3us. If you ask for a glass of water, they bring you a bottle that you have to pay for. 
-No garbage can in room - other than toilet paper can in bathroom 
-our shower stall leaked like a sieve - so had to use beach towels to keep floor from getting wet. Maintenance is kind of lacking.  
-No fridge 

Local Info:
-All prices are quoted in US dollars and Currency used is mostly US dollars (have lots of $1s if you don’t want to change to Cordoba)
-Phone cards are everywhere if you want to reload. If you need a sim with Nicaraguan phone number, there is 1 place in town around the corner. Business has a Claro Tent outside of Western Union business (go inside) and go to left counter. 
-Easy access from hotel beach to BitCoin Floating Bar. Cost is $10us which you get back in product.  Just wave at the boat and receive a 2 minute transport out to their floating dock. Wear swimsuit. Closes when windy. 
-All bathrooms in Nicaragua (even in top hotels) require you to put your used toilet paper in the garbage bag/can beside the bed. Yucky thought but you get accustomed to it - changed daily. 
-Culture & language is Jamaican (creole), not like Nicaraguan. Lots of basic English spoken. Somewhat confusing. 
-Seafood is spectacular, good but not cheap. Try Buccaneers (Lobster Thai Curry), Pizza Italia (best pizza and house wine ever), Mareth Danith (lobster & fries) - make sure to go inland side, her son owns bar on beach side.  
-Make sure to have $2 us for Airport Tax each way on flights to/from Corn Islands (Cordoba NOT accepted at airports which is weird). 
-Personally, other than having $20 Cordoba for taxis (much cheaper than US$), I would just use US monies elsewhere. 
-Tips:  unlike the rest of Nicaragua, service fees of 10% are not incorporated into the bill on the Corn Islands. Please do not forget to tip / these are hard working folk trying to make a living out of $40/week wage. 
-Lots of ‘taxes’ coming in and out of Nicaragua - have small $US (only) bills. At least $100us each to be sure. 
-Rent bikes from Franky Bike $2/hour. Hotel will contact him for you and he will pick you up and return you within that price.  Phone #8848 1315. 
-Taxi:  Do not get into CAB 43. The guy is a maniac and should lose his licence. He drives exceptionally fast and without care. He tries to hit dogs and flies past locals making them jump further onto the shoulder. He also will over-charge you for your ride.  He’s one angry man!

Best Beach - Descent Accomodations

Terrible state of bungalows 
Broken lock to the room
Bed bugs in the room 
Toilet not working 
No fruits on the menu 
Shrimps on the menu not available throughout the whole week 
Shortage of beach towels 
Very high cost of the accommodation compared to the standard 
Terrible menu with very high prices

Do not stay at this hotel

This hotel & beach is wonderful! The rooms were big enough, we had hot water&  a cold AC. The walls are thin, but it’s not so bad. 
The restaurant was great! I enjoyed every meal - which was 3 meals a day! 
The beach is beautiful, as is the water- the jellyfish were a little bad on our last full day, so we couldn’t swim, but it was just as great just sitting under the palm trees. 
The Staff- every single person we dealt with went above & beyond! I cannot say enough about how friendly they were. 
The island & the people are so welcoming and made our stay awesome! 
This was one of the best vacations we have ever been on. Getting there is a tad challenging, but we’ll worth it. 

One of the best vacations!!

We stayed at a few hotels throughout Corn and Little Corn Islands.  Given Trip Advisor reviews we had reasonably high expectations of this property.  Unfortunately we were surprised.

The place is tired and needs a good cleaning.  The rooms have paper thin walls - you virtually hear your neighbors every word…

Rooms are stark and jail-like.  No Wi-Fi and no hot water.  

On the upside the beach is beautiful, restaurant and bar are very good.

I would recommend staying somewhere else and visiting the beach, bar and restaurant.

Unpleasantly Surprised

Poor maintenance 
-- Very low value for money ratio
-- The room was not clean , bathroom, floor and walls were dirty
-- Hotel facilities on the beach were dirty 
-- The food was mediocre 
-- On the positive side: beautiful beach 

very low value for money

My wife and I stayed here 6 nights.  Rooms are clean, spacious and the hot water was nice. Service at the front desk was very nice and accommodating. The grounds and hallways were always clean and being paid attention to. Lots of sand getting tracked around by guests so cleaning was full time. The Bar and restaurant were average. Food was okay, drinks were weak. Our stay included breakfast but they do not offer substitutions. Example; I Oder the pancakes that come with ham. They will take off the ham but would not let me substitute plantains unless I paid for them. Service staff was very nice and always wanting to help if they could. 

There does seem to be a relationship with the Hotel and the beggars on the beach. You will be constantly asked to buy coconut water from a dozen or so adults and kids all day long. This gets really old really fast. 

Overall we enjoyed our stay.

Nice clean Hotel. Nice staff.

Arenas beach is the best place to stay on the island and we will only stay here at Arenas Beach
This is our 8th time here...that should say it all.
Fantastic staff and owners...fantastic food ( try the muenier fish filet...fresh grouper) 
The beach is pristine, accommodations great, food very good
Mi casa

2023 arenas beach

Honestly if you are going to Big Corn don’t bother with anywhere else.  We toured the Island and there was nothing that compared.  Reading reviews before I left concerned me and I almost changed to a different location but I AM SO HAPPY THAT I DIDN’T!  The negative reviews about the rude staff and not speaking English is so far off.  The staff was amazing and those with broken English laughed with us as we used our Translate app when it didn’t translate the way we hoped 🤣.  Very reasonable prices and we felt safe as there are cameras and security.

The complaint that walls are thin in the bungalows is true yes but it’s a small price to pay for this location and experience so just plan your “play time” accordingly or decide not to care!

There was a man we met from another resort trying very hard to find accommodations on this beach because it was far superior to where he was.  He couldn’t get in so decided to just taxi everyday to hang out here for the day.

Food WAS AMAZING!  I can’t wrap my head around those negative reviews?!  Best lobster we have ever had and my husband calls me a “seafood snob” as I grew up on the ocean of West Coast BC, Canada.

My ONLY complaint, the safes in the rooms do not work.  Taking everything with us everywhere was a pain in the butt as well as taking turns swimmers so that someone was always close to our beach bag.  If they could fix that issue, I’d give them five ⭐️.

Best location on the island

The pics online vs reality are far from the truth. I booked a king size bed in a bungalow with ocean view for the weekend of Jan 14th-16th  to surprise my husband and it was a total disappointment. I could only compare to a cheap motel room. I immediately requested to get the room I was offered and paid for and they said they were booked. This reservation was made through Schuvar Tours. The way that the situation was handled shows that it happens all the time and the administration knows you have no choice. I would not recommend this place or agency.

Arenas Beach Hotel

Main amenities of the hotel

Available rooms

Location

Description of the hotel

What other amenities are there?

General

Services and amenities

Meals

Internet

Tourist services

Parking

Beauty and wellness

Pets

Health and Safety Measures

Policies

Check-in terms and conditions

Additional information

Payment