Hotel Campestre El Pantano

Overview

Description

Hotel El Pantano is the only business in Jalapa that offers lodging, food, business services, wireless Internet, tours, and excursions, all in one place.

We are located on six acres (2.4 hectares) of gardens and lawns at the edge of the urban center, offering you a mountain climate and opportunities to visit nearby areas, including:

• Cerro de Jesús farm: This farm is on Jalapa’s highest mountain and it produces the fourth best coffee in the world; it has a natural cloud forest climate.
• Ecological farms: The most popular farms are La Reforma and Sonzapote in the El Limón valley. Here you will find pools, trails, lookout points, pine and broadleaf forests/plantations, hot springs, and cabins.

There are also trails in the region that can be hiked with specialized guides, passing several farms where you can see a diversity of orchids and fungi. Also, tours can be arranged to many rivers and waterfalls, broadleaf and pine forests, and medicinal hot springs. There are opportunities to learn about crops such as tobacco, coffee, and basic grains. The area has a rich culture with music, local dances, and typical foods - for example, an annual national Maize Fair is held.

There are many opportunities to go on hikes, horseback rides, and bicycle in the Jalapa Valley and nearby mountains.

Rooms

8

Making a Difference

Number of employees: 7

Percentage of local employees: 100 %

The hotel was built in a six-acre (2.4-hectare) area at the edge of the urban center that was reforested with native trees. We hire locally and we buy as many products for our restaurant as possible from the local community. We have created a program to help farming families by giving advise to artisans and families in selling their non-traditional products. At the hotel, we now sell pine crafts, wooden toys, organic coffee, and hibiscus plants.

We help the farming families with training, assessments, farm improvement plans, promotion, and marketing; we try to include tourism activities and services on their farms to diversify and improve income while promoting sustainable development. We actively participate in the Jalapa Municipal Tourism Chamber (the owner served as the president for five years) and the Chamber of Tourism (member of the Board of Directors for four years).

We have created three tourism routes with approximately 18 destinations. We support the rescue and promotion of the municipality’s cultural heritage by promoting local groups of musicians, artists, and keeping inventories of sites of historic interest.

The hotel owner is one of the founders of the Cooperative for the Development of Rural Tourism in Las Segovias (www.coodetur.org).

Hotel El Pantano is the creator, designer, and operator of a digital platform for rural tourism in Nicaragua (www.vivanica.ning.com).

Rates

$25 or less

Children 8 years old and younger stay in their parents’ room for free.

There are discounts for longer stays and/or groups.

We can organize tour guides and local transportation (with prior notice).

For more information about rates, please visit:

• www.hotelelpantano.com/es_reservar_hotel_inicio.html (available in English, Spanish and other languages).

Getting There

Nearest international airport: Managua (MGA)

Distance, by land, to the nearest airport: 187 miles (300 km).

Hotel El Pantano is accessible year-round in standard vehicles. There are also direct express buses from Managua, Estelí, and Ocotal to Jalapa.

Additional Information

Photo descriptions:

• Photo of our restaurant and its terrace.
• Photo of one of the three kiosks in our restaurant for small or family groups.
• Photo of a guest room.
• Photo of the El Pantano rooms from outside, showing the lawns and the mountains in the background.
• Photo of the El Pantano lawns.
• Photo of some of the animals we keep at El Pantano.

Date This Information Was Provided

July 2011.

Photos courtesy of Hotel Campestre El Pantano, Nicaragua, for SustainableTrip.org.