Destinations >> Bluefields

The city of Bluefields is the oldest city on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua, dating back to 1602. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, English pirates and traders began to populate the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua, attracted by the natural features of the coast that served as both a refuge and a source of supplies.

In 1894, President Jose Santos Zelaya definitively incorporated Mosquitia into the national territory, and on October 11, 1903, Bluefields officially became a city.

The greatest cultural and traditional expression of the municipality is in the festival of the Palo de Mayo (the Maypole) which lasts throughout the month of May, and in which the population of Bluefields and the rest of the Atlantic Coast region participate.

Tourist Attractions

Historical: Bluefields, Pearl Lagoon and its Miskito villages, Corn Island and Rama Cay.

Scenic: The Escondido, Kurinwas and Punta Gorda Rivers; Pearl Lagoon, the mouth of the Rio Grande, Monkey Point and the Pearl Cays.

Ecological: The Wawashan Forest Reserve; the Yolaina Natural Reserve; the forest recovery effort in the Cerro Silva Reserve, the Indio-Maiz Biological Reserve, shared with the department of Rio San Juan; the pine plains of Karawala; the ecosystems associated with coastal lagoons, neighboring marshes, and the delta of the Escondido River.