Swell Cabin › Mexico & Central America › Nicaragua

Popoyo surf guide

Popoyo's right reef and Outer Reef big-wave spot, with offshore winds blowing over Lake Nicaragua most of the year.

Location
Rivas, Nicaragua (11.4500, -86.1200)
Best season
Mar – Nov: March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November
Water temperature
25–29°C (boardshorts)
Waves
Reef break, Beach break
Suits
Intermediate, Advanced surfers

Surf spots in Popoyo

Where to stay in Popoyo

137 places to stay within 16 km: 69 hotel, 23 surf camp, 11 hostel, 10 holiday rental, 10 guest house, 6 resort, 4 bed and breakfast, 2 apartment, 1 camp site, 1 motel. Compare them by distance to the nearest surf spot on the interactive map.

Surf camps: Amahula, Popoyo Loco, Big Surf House, Magnific Rock Hotel, Sardina Surf Camp, 99 Surf Lodge, Equilibrio Yoga Art Surf Resort, Salty Surf.

Hostels: The Barrel Hostel, Bar and Restaurant, Cafe Cerveza, NicaWaves, Calalas Collaborative Hostel, Ruamoko Hostel, Finca Buena Vida.

Cafés, food and surf shops

4 cafés and bakeries, 42 restaurants and bars, 11 surf schools and 2 surf shops nearby. Surf schools: Popoyo, Surfari Charters, Playa Jiquelite, The Surf Sanctuary, Panga Drops, Nicasurf International, Playa Colorado, Springfield Surf.

Frequently asked questions

When is the best time to surf in Popoyo?

The best surf season in Popoyo is Mar – Nov (March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November). The sea ranges from 25°C to 29°C over the year.

Which months have the most good surf days in Popoyo?

Measured over the last three years (2023-11-01 to 2026-10-31), the waves at Popoyo's best spot were good or better most often in May (88% of days, 38% great), October (81% of days, 41% great) and June (81% of days, 40% great), and least often in January (14%). From each day's swell and wind (Open-Meteo), rated like Swell Cabin's forecast.

Do I need a wetsuit in Popoyo?

Water temperature in Popoyo is 25–29°C: boardshorts.

Is Popoyo good for beginner surfers?

Popoyo is better for intermediate and advanced surfers.

What are the surf spots in Popoyo?

Popoyo has 3 surf spots on Swell Cabin: Popoyo (Reef break, lefts and rights, advanced surfers, faces SSW (offshore wind from the NNE), best at all tides); El Astillero (Point break, lefts and rights, advanced surfers, faces SW (offshore wind from the NE), best at all tides); Playa Colorado (Reef break, lefts and rights, advanced surfers, faces SW (offshore wind from the NE), best at all tides).

Where should surfers stay in Popoyo?

Swell Cabin lists 137 places to stay within 16 km of Popoyo, including 23 surf camps such as Amahula, Popoyo Loco, Big Surf House and Magnific Rock Hotel, 11 hostels, 10 guesthouses and homestays, 10 rentals and villas. Each one shows its distance to the nearest surf spot.

What is the surf forecast for Popoyo this week?

Swell Cabin shows a live 7-day surf forecast for Popoyo and each of its 3 surf spots on https://swellcabin.com/town/popoyo: each spot rated hour by hour (Flat, Poor, Fair, Good, Great or Epic) from the way its coast faces, the swell, its period, the wind and the tide, with the best time each day and why, the size in surfers' words (e.g. "chest to head high, clean"), tides, and how sure the forecast is (three wave models compared). It is checked live against the nearest buoy and airport wind reports where there are any, and refreshed every few hours (waves from Open-Meteo, wind from MET Norway).

When is the best tide to surf in Popoyo?

It depends on the spot: shallow reefs usually want mid to high tide, most beach breaks work best around mid tide. Swell Cabin's forecast for Popoyo weighs each spot's tide hour by hour and shows the best window each day with the high and low tide times, predicted from the San Juan Del sur tide gauge (34 km away).

Is the Popoyo surf forecast checked against measurements?

Yes. The open water off Popoyo is checked against the satellite altimeters (Copernicus Marine's near-real-time wave heights): 40 satellite passes within 100 km since 2026-09-25, typically 60 km out, put the forecast wave height within 20% of the measurement 86% of the time. Of the three wave models compared, Météo-France has been the closest to the satellites here. Generated using E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information (https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00179). Last checked 2026-11-05.

How reliable is Swell Cabin's information about Popoyo?

Trust in this page's data is low (48/100): the town has not been verified against sources in the last 12 months; 0 of 3 spots fully verified, 3 with a researched tide; season and water temperature checked against measured data; 2 open audit warnings. How we check: https://github.com/danielgalam/swellcabin/blob/main/docs/data-accuracy.md Last checked against sources on 2026-11-05. Every value comes from measured data (Open-Meteo, buoys), open databases (OpenStreetMap, Wikidata) or a published page we opened, never from visitor reports; a daily audit compares them and a weekly evaluation measures the error rate (https://github.com/danielgalam/swellcabin/blob/main/docs/data-quality.md).

Is there a live surf cam in Popoyo?

Swell Cabin hasn't found a live surf cam it could check in Popoyo yet (it only lists cams it has opened); the surf forecast on its page shows the waves this week.

Where can I take surf lessons in Popoyo?

Surf schools in and around Popoyo include Popoyo, Surfari Charters, Playa Jiquelite, The Surf Sanctuary, Panga Drops and Nicasurf International.

Nearby surf towns

This page in other languages: Português · Español · Français · Deutsch · עברית