Arriving to Little Corn Island, Nicaragua

What are the Corn Islands?

Visiting remote islands that aren’t written about too often is literally the only thing that gets me out of bed in the morning. I’m always hunting down small islands on Google maps and plotting on how to get there, which is how I came across the existence of the Corn Islands, Big Corn and Little Corn, two small beautiful Nicaraguan islands that are located in the Caribbean.

Since my life goal is to rot on every beach that’s ever existed, when I saw photos of what the beaches on Little Corn Island looked like, I would NOT REST until I saw them in person. I’d been dying to visit for years, but it seemed like such a journey from NYC — I realized quickly that it would have to be a part of a longer trip to Nicaragua.

After a few months of plotting and research, somehow, I convinced a few of my friends (who will blindly trust my recommendations thank god) to go to the Corn Islands with me during the butt of winter. They really heard the TRUST ME BRO mantra and went with it. And we were NOT disappointed.

Well, one thing was a bummer, but we’ll get into that.

But first, let’s start with how to get there.

How to get to the Corn Islands

If you do plan to visit the Corn Islands, there are two ways you can get there, by ferry or by plane. Here are my thoughts and tips on both:

By Plane via La Costeña Airlines — This is the route we went. Only one airline flies in and out of the Corn Islands, and they only fly certain days of the week, so make sure you get your tickets early so they don’t sell out. We paid around $180 USD round trip for our tickets and we were happy with this decision. A few things to keep in mind:
- They either send a few small propeller planes or one larger plane and you won’t know until your flight. We had smaller propeller planes on the way there and a large plane on the way back.
- They will weigh you and your luggage before you get on. If your luggage is over the allowance, there is a chance your bag may not make it on that flight out, and it will “stand by” the next trip out. If you did pack more than the allowance, make sure you pack your important things in the bags you will be able to bring in case another case needs to come later. This happened to my friend but thankfully overall we didn’t have a weight issue so her bag made it!
- Getting on either plane, the large or small, is sort of like getting on a bus; you just pile in and sit wherever you can get a seat. On the smaller plane, we sat right behind the pilot, which was super cool!
- They operate on island time, sometimes they leave early, sometimes they arrive late. Be prepared.
- When you leave Big Corn Island to fly back to the mainland, keep in mind the waiting terminal has no AC, just fans. It was a sweaty mess (or at least I was)
- Their website kinda sucks, so be prepared to refresh it, try different browsers, etc.
By Ferry — This is definitely the cheaper option! You can get there for less than $15 a ticket. The ferry also leaves from two locations to Big Corn Island. A few notes here:
- The ferry also only leaves a few days a week so check the schedules!
- If the seas are too rough, they’ll cancel the ferry (this happens during the windy season in January).
- This trip can take many hours, and you’ll need to figure out how to get to the east side of Nicaragua in order to get on the ferry.

Once you arrive at Big Corn Island, you can head to the marina where other ferries can take you to Little Corn Island. The only way to get to Little Corn Island is by boat.

Overall, I highly recommend flying if you’re crunched for time and want a smoother journey. However, plenty of people take the ferry there, it may just take awhile, so be prepared and flexible for any delays.

Where to Stay on Little Corn Island

Yemaya Reefs

There’s no shortage of budget-friendly options to stay at on Little Corn Island, but the best resort on the island is a boutique resort called Yemaya Reefs. They’re located on Otto Beach, which is also known as the best beach on the island. It’s a public beach for anyone to access, but the resort is in its own location on the island so it’s a little bit of a trek to get to from one end to another. We didn’t see too many other people there who weren’t already staying at the resort.

I had been eyeing this resort ever since I started seriously planning my trip to the Corn Islands, and we definitely splurged on the casita rooms that have the private plunge pools overlooking the ocean. They were about $400/night, but I’d been dying to go for years, so we said screw it and booked 4 nights there.

I can’t say enough good things about this resort! We ate almost every meal at their restaurant. The staff were so kind and friendly. One day as we were walking into town, we ran into two of the staff workers after their shift, and they brought us around the island, showed us bread fruit, brought us to the old tower where you can climb up and see the whole island (I did not do this because I 100% would have died), and drank with us at the bars there. When we were done, instead of walking back in the dark ,the resort sent a boat to come pick us up, which was also SO FUN in the rain. I’ve recommended this place to so many people. Please stay there.

If you do end up going there, please say hi to our favorite resort feral dog, who we named Tape Worm, because it looked like he had tape worms :( He was even featured in a Washington Post article called, “I went on a girls trip — and bonded with three feral dogs”.

What to do on Little Corn Island

You can get a little bit of everything here! You can snorkel, scuba, kayak, hike around the island, drink and relax. Because I’m lazy as shit, we mostly just drank and relaxed, which is exactly the type of vacation I needed. However, we did go out snorkeling one day with the resort, but I drank too much ocean so I mostly just drank beer on the boat while my friends and new resort friends snorkeled. There are also tons of services you can hire on the main strip of Little Corn Island.

Things to Note about Little Corn Island

Here are a few things I wish I knew before I went:

There are NO ATMs on the island, and a lot of places are cash only. Make sure you bring cash for purchases and for tipping. However, at Tranquilo Bar, you can pay with card and get cash in return, but they do charge a fee. I wouldn’t rely on that though, so make sure you have plenty of cash when you arrive
January is the windy season in Nicaragua (which we did not realize), and that results in waves, as it turns out!! The boat journey to Little Corn from Big Corn was rough, snorkeling was almost impossible, and the Coast Guard told the resorts when we were and weren’t allowed to do water activities when we were there. If water sports (like kayaking, snorkeling, etc, not peeing on someone sexually) is what you’re looking to do when you’re there, I would recommend going not during the windy season for a calmer ocean. This was the bummer I referenced earlier ^
There’s a Colombian ship in front of Yemaya Resorts that sadly got stuck there and both countries are kinda at a standstill on who should be in charge / paying to move it. It looks cool as shit (we lovingly named it ghost ship), but sadly the rust is starting to ruin the wildlife there :( Colombia sent one sole (assumingly lonely) person to man the ship until they figure out what to do with it. Ghost Ship did become a god-like figure to us during our stay, always looming in the distance but never moving. We even got our boat guy to bring us as close to Ghost Ship as possible one day — we waved to the man on board but sadly no one let us on! How rude

If you have any questions, comment below and give me a follow on socials for more ! :)

Visiting Little Corn Island - The Caribbean Paradise of Nicaragua