Nicaragua Is the Sleeping Giant of Central America — and It's Waking Up

There is a pattern with countries that become popular destinations for expats and investors. First, a small group of people who looked past the conventional wisdom show up and find something extraordinary. Then the word spreads. Then prices move. Then everyone arrives and asks why they didn't come sooner.

Nicaragua is in the early phase of that pattern right now. Not the beginning — the early middle. The people who showed up in San Juan del Sur in 2010 were the genuine early movers. But compared to where Costa Rica was twenty years ago and where it sits today, the gap between what Nicaragua is and what it will eventually be priced like is still wide. Maybe not for long.

The numbers that tell the story

Nicaragua grew GDP at 6.8 percent in the third quarter of 2025, closing the year somewhere between 4.5 and 5 percent overall. That is real growth in a region where economic instability is common. Inflation ran at 2.7 percent for the full year 2025, a level of price stability that most developed countries would be satisfied with.

Tourism revenue reached $739 million in 2023, a 24 percent year-over-year increase, and the trajectory has continued upward. Projections put tourism growth at nearly 6 percent annually through 2029. Condé Nast Traveller named Nicaragua's southern Pacific coast one of the top destinations for 2025. Forbes and The Telegraph have both flagged it as a post-pandemic find.

Real estate values in the San Juan del Sur and Tola area are appreciating 3 to 7 percent annually in the most sought-after locations, with analysts projecting continued growth through the end of the decade.

And the price gap with its neighbours remains extraordinary. Nicaragua is roughly 46 percent cheaper than Costa Rica and about 50 percent cheaper than comparable life in the United States. A comfortable expat life on the Pacific coast runs $1,400 to $2,000 a month per couple, including rent, food, utilities, and health insurance. Costa Rica costs twice that for equivalent quality.

What is actually being built

The most significant change on the ground over the past two years is infrastructure, and the scale of it is not well understood outside the country.

La Costanera, the new $401.5 million Pacific coastal highway, is the headline project. At 355 kilometres from Corinto in the north to San Juan del Sur in the south, it connects all of Nicaragua's Pacific beaches in a way that simply did not exist before. Communities that were 90-minute drives from each other on rough coastal tracks are now 30 minutes apart on paved road. Popoyo to San Juan del Sur used to take the better part of two hours. It now takes 45 minutes. The practical effect for anyone living on the coast is real and immediate.

At the same time, Nicaragua is building what will be one of the most significant airports in Central America. Punta Huete International Airport, located 58 kilometres north of Managua, received $499 million in financing and began construction in August 2024. When complete — projected for 2028 — it will be classified Category 4F, the highest international aviation standard, with capacity for 3.5 million passengers annually. Direct flights from Europe, South America, and further afield become possible at that scale. That is a different category of accessibility than what exists today.

In parallel, the existing Augusto Sandino International Airport in Managua is being upgraded to Category 4E, with completion expected in 2027. Nicaragua will effectively have two internationally capable airports serving the country within the next few years.

Beyond transport, Nicaragua modernised more than 4,600 kilometres of highway across the country in recent years. A new hospital in León opened in September 2025 to replace the old facility. A new hospital in Bilwi opened in February 2026. The basic infrastructure of daily life is improving in visible, tangible ways.

What this means if you are thinking about the move

Every major destination for expats and retirees looked like Nicaragua does today at some point. Before the high-speed internet, before the modern airports, before the paved roads into every coastal community, before the international restaurants and the coworking spaces and the premium coffee shops. The people who showed up during that window remember the prices they paid for beachfront property and the rent they locked in for two years.

Nicaragua is not that far along yet. Parts of it are genuinely still rough. Some towns have inconsistent water pressure. The internet quality varies by neighbourhood. The coworking infrastructure is limited outside Managua and Granada. If you are comparing it to the fully-finished version of what it will eventually become, it is not there.

But the airport is under construction. The highway just paved the coast. The real estate market is moving. The tourism numbers are real.

The question most people ask too late is not "should I have come?" but "why did I wait?"

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