Hotel Museo El Ceibo

KM 8.2 Moyogalpa, Moyogalpa, Isla de Ometepe Nicaragua

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About

3.5
#6 of 10 lodges in Moyogalpa
Location
3.3
Cleanliness
4.3
Service
3.5
Value
4.1
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Good to know
HOTEL CLASS
2.0 of 5 stars
Languages Spoken
Spanish
Property amenities
Pool
Restaurant
Laundry service
Room features
Air conditioning
Bath / shower
Complimentary toiletries
23Reviews1Q+A1Room tip
Traveler rating
  • 7
  • 8
  • 2
  • 5
  • 1
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Detailed Reviews
LMOverby wrote a review Mar 2014
Columbia, Missouri1,841 contribution424 helpful votes
3.0 of 5 bubbles
My girlfriend and I stayed here for two nights ... and found it a real mixed bag, with some great aspects and some not so good. On the plus side, the rooms are brand new (barely a year old), large (large enough for two queen sized beds), tastefully decorated (wonderful accent tiles, for instance), and spotlessly clean. The grounds (which sit on the family's horse/cattle ranch) are well maintained with large trees, lovely flowers, etc. There is a restaurant on site, a reasonably large pool, and a small, private beach. The owners (one of whom spent some time in Kansas) and the staff are friendly, and a tour of the site's two museums (one devoted to Nicaraguan currency, the other to pre-Columbian artifacts from the island) is included in the room rate (~$65 per night).

Now the downsides.... First and most importantly, the facility is isolated, well outside of the town of Moyogalpa, between two smaller villages, neither of which is easily reached by foot. In fact, the hotel sits almost a mile off the main road itself, down a dirt road. This means that getting to the hotel by taxi costs about ~$15 dollars from the ferry dock and, once there, you're more or less stuck ... unless you want to pay another $15 to go someplace. It's worth mentioning that bus service on Ometepe is limited, much more so than on the mainland, so getting to/from the hotel by bus is not a very good option (and would still require the mile long walk to the road to get the bus). Second, this means that the menu at the restaurant (grilled chicken, pork, beef, or fish) quickly gets a bit old. Third, the beach is not very attractive for swimming or lying out; it has black sand and the pump bringing water from the lake to the farm detracts from the atmosphere. Fourth, while this will improve as the surrounding trees grow, the pool currently has almost no shade, which limits its use for much of the day.
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Date of stay: March 2014
3.0 of 5 bubblesValue
5.0 of 5 bubblesRooms
2.0 of 5 bubblesLocation
5.0 of 5 bubblesCleanliness
4.0 of 5 bubblesService
5.0 of 5 bubblesSleep Quality
Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
JeanJorgensen wrote a review Apr 2014
Akron, Ohio16 contributions8 helpful votes
4.0 of 5 bubbles
If you have your own transport, you should go see the museum. It is well organized, has an extensive collection of artifacts, and was thoroughly enjoyable. Staff was friendly and knowledgable. I didn't tour the currency museum, just the artifacts.
Read more
Date of stay: April 2014
4.0 of 5 bubblesValue
4.0 of 5 bubblesService
Trip type: Traveled solo
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Abiku wrote a review May 2015
Indianapolis, Indiana55 contributions31 helpful votes
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Museo El Ceibo is marked along the road by a humble sign and a spectacular old Ceiba Tree that is most certainly hundreds of years old. After a mile-long ride, one arrives at the Museum and hotel compound. The Museum is really two museums in one: A museum of pottery, tools, weapons, jewelry and numerous petroglyphs and burial artifacts from the indigenous inhabitants of the island. Descendants of the Aztec and Maya to the north, the natives of the island spoke Nahuatl. Though the present-day descendants have largely lost touch with their original cultural roots, the Museum seeks to present a remarkable private collection which spans prehistoric to postcolonial periods with skillful, bilingual docent-led tours.

A second museum is dedicated to the national currency, starting from the indigenous use of the Cacao plant as currency, to the Cordoba established as national currency by Sandino, to the present-day coins and currencies. Our group of travelers opted not to visit the numismatic museum.

There is also lodging available on the premises for $40.00 a night and a gift shop with interesting replicas of carvings in volcanic stone. The bathroom facilities are exceptionally comfortable and clean for the standard of the island.
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Date of stay: May 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
TomasRoca wrote a review Jan 2015
Cologne, Germany11 contributions4 helpful votes
2.0 of 5 bubbles
The Hotel is in the middle of nowhere, that is goog if you want to relax and enjoy the tranquility, but as soon as you want to moove around the island you have to take a taxi (that are expensive) or have a car or motorbike.
The rooms are great and clean, but that is just about all that is good of this place.
The service was terrible, the restaurant has a poor variety, at the reception they couldn´t be bothered in helping us with anything. They offer no other service as may be recommendations of where to go, what to do, where to rent a bike or how to climb the Maderas Volcano.
The hotel and the restaurant are also very expensive.
I wouldn´t stay there again.
Read more
Date of stay: December 2014
5.0 of 5 bubblesRooms
4.0 of 5 bubblesCleanliness
1.0 of 5 bubblesService
Trip type: Traveled as a couple
Room Tip: All rooms are great, have air A/C and big bath rooms.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
T0bym0ry wrote a review Apr 2014
Tel Aviv, Israel3 contributions3 helpful votes
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Terrible, unpleasant, the second we arrived they asked us to pay them for two nights, we wanted to leave straight away and they said there were no taxis or boats they then lied and said there were no boats the next day. It's basically a family ranch not a hotel as they present themselves. Although the room was clean it was smelly and dark. Oscar who worked in the restaurant is a lovely man but the food is bland and limited. You basically need your own car, otherwise anywhere you go will cost you 15usd, I've never been made to fell less welcome anywhere!
Read more
Date of stay: April 2014
2.0 of 5 bubblesValue
3.0 of 5 bubblesRooms
1.0 of 5 bubblesLocation
3.0 of 5 bubblesCleanliness
1.0 of 5 bubblesService
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
G S wrote a review Mar 2014
Helena, Montana16 contributions18 helpful votes
5.0 of 5 bubbles
We really enjoyed staying at Hotel/Museo El Ceibo. We would definitely go back, and would recommend it to friends. The property is located > 1 km off of the main highway, out in the country between the towns of Moyogalpa and San Jose del Sur. It's near the lake shore, so it's fairly quiet and secluded. Our room was very clean and comfortable (AC+fan, private bath+hot water), one of the nicer places we stayed at in Nicaragua. It was very interesting to see the variety of crops and livestock on the finca...beautiful vegetation all around the rooms and museums too. The staff (spoke mainly Spanish) was very helpful, gave guided tours of the museums, helped us get a taxi back to Moyogalpa for the ferry, and gave us great service overall-- especially our pal Oscar, the bartender/waiter at the on-site restaurant. The museums were very interesting too, and gave good insight into the pre-Columbian cultures and development of Nicaraguan currency. They were in the process of building a swimming pool when we were there, which will be nice in the future (finished in Feb 2014). We also enjoyed their small, black-sand beach with a view of Madera to the east (especially with clusters of lightning bugs at night)- such a cool experience!! It was a welcoming place and not overly "touristy." Hope to return soon!

The only inconvenience we had was caused by the timing of our trip, coupled with the secluded location of the hotel. Around Nicaragua, we traveled by foot, bicycle, and bus... which normally worked pretty well. However, we were only on Ometepe for a couple of days, and the public buses/taxis did not run regularly on Dec 31 or Jan 1. So we did not get to explore many of the more distant sites of Ometepe. We enjoyed going to Charco Verde and Punta Jesus Maria (within walking/biking distance) but it would've been better for us to get a vehicle or moto, but now we know. That's probably not a problem the rest of the time...so just plan ahead for your travel dates.
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Date of stay: January 2014
5.0 of 5 bubblesValue
5.0 of 5 bubblesRooms
4.0 of 5 bubblesLocation
5.0 of 5 bubblesCleanliness
5.0 of 5 bubblesService
5.0 of 5 bubblesSleep Quality
Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
katythompsonuk wrote a review Dec 2016
London, United Kingdom136 contributions44 helpful votes
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Most places on Ometepe are in the middle of nowhere, the island is huge. This hotel is the same as most located off the main road down a 2km dirt track. We arrived to a very lukewarm warm greeting and showed to our rooms. The rooms were perfectly fine, good air con and hot water. We stayed for 3 nights and the rooms didn't get cleaned or bins emptied once.
The facilities were poor. The pool was dirty with broken chairs to sit on. The beach was a joke, there is no beach. The restaurant was limited and very expensive compared to everywhere else.
The reception team offered no help in organising tours or trips. We asked about hiring scooters and they quoted us $35 a day, we went to moyagulpa and got them for $15 day in the end.

There are better places to stay on the island so don't bother.
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Date of stay: December 2016Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Gerald B wrote a review Oct 2017
4 contributions1 helpful vote
5.0 of 5 bubbles
We were interested in seeing the museo because it was recommended by the folks at hospedajesoma.com. We couldn't get over the variety of things and the ages. Plus we also took in the coin historical area. Our guide was fantastic and spoke excellent English. She was very knowledgeable and helpful in answering questions. The only downside was the heat in the building. But hey that's Nicaragua in the summer rainy season.
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Date of stay: October 2017Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Grossen76 wrote a review Jul 2014
Burke, Virginia83 contributions29 helpful votes
4.0 of 5 bubbles
This hotel is on a huge farm and has its own restaurant and two really interesting museums. I highly recommend having a car -- to get anywhere from the hotel is about 15 minutes by car. If you want to relax this is the place. There is a small beach front and you also have a pool. The rooms are small but new and quaint. The owner of the place, Moises is a great guy and the guides of the museums are really knowledgeable. Food options are one-- the hotel..enjoy
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Date of stay: July 2014
4.0 of 5 bubblesRooms
3.0 of 5 bubblesLocation
4.0 of 5 bubblesService
Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
chefgeraldManagua wrote a review Jun 2014
managua120 contributions70 helpful votes
4.0 of 5 bubbles
This used to be just a farm known by the huge ceibo tree at the entrance to the dirt road outside Moyogalpa, but that is going back ten years. We visited the museum expecting a touristy collection, and were pleasantly surprised to find that many people have contributed with donations to provide a first class collection of pre columbian pottery and a very professional collection of Nicaraguan currency and associated coins with their history. It is very true that you need your own transport.
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Date of stay: June 2014
4.0 of 5 bubblesValue
Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
aurcuyo57 asked a question May 2017
San Jose, Costa Rica1 contribution1 helpful vote
tiene piscina el Hotel porque no aparece en las fotos?? dentro del precio incluye desayuno?? de que tipo de desayuno??
TomasRoca wrote a tip Jan 2015
Cologne, Germany11 contributions4 helpful votes
2.0 of 5 bubbles
"All rooms are great, have air A/C and big bath rooms."
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LOCATION
NicaraguaRivas DepartmentIsla de OmetepeMoyogalpa
NUMBER OF ROOMS
8
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HOTEL MUSEO EL CEIBO - Lodge Reviews (Moyogalpa, Nicaragua - Isla de Ometepe)

Frequently Asked Questions about Hotel Museo El Ceibo
Which popular attractions are close to Hotel Museo El Ceibo?
Nearby attractions include Isla Ometepe (4.6 miles), Laguna Charco Verde (2.6 miles), and Punta Jesus Maria (3.8 miles).
What are some of the property amenities at Hotel Museo El Ceibo?
Some of the more popular amenities offered include a pool, an on-site restaurant, and laundry service.
What food & drink options are available at Hotel Museo El Ceibo?
Guests can enjoy an on-site restaurant during their stay.
What are some restaurants close to Hotel Museo El Ceibo?
Conveniently located restaurants include The Cornerhouse, El Picante Mexican Restaurant, and Soda Los Antojitos.
Are there opportunities to exercise at Hotel Museo El Ceibo?
Yes, guests have access to a pool during their stay.