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We found Martha's on Trip Advisor, and were impressed by the reviews - we weren't disappointed when we got there!! Martha's is situated on South-West Bay, reputedly the best beach on the island and we wouldn't argue. Our girls thought the place was paradise - walm blue sea, palm trees...
Martha's is situated right by the beach, in fact it's restaurant is actually on the beach. The accommodation is reached via a short path through the garden and over a bridge from which you can watch swamp turtles swimming in the swamp below.
There are 8 rooms upstairs; the owner's accommodation is below. We had 2 double rooms at $57 each, inc breakfast. The rooms are clean and tidy, and furnished with chest of drawers etc. The beds are fine, v comfortable. The bathrooms are huge, with extra hanging space for clothes etc. Showers were cold, but no complaint in this temperature. The a/c was OK, though my wife found it too cold to be left on all night. (To be honest we generally prefer rooms with fans, but that's just our preference).
Breakfast is included, and scrummy: a large dish of fruit salad to start, then either a plate of rice, beans, eggs, plantain and cheese, toast, etc or omelette or continental... The restaurant serves up some scrummy food in the evenings too. We ate there 3 out of the 5 nights we stayed, on fish and shrimp dishes. We also ate next door at the Picnic Center, fish and lobster. Again, very good.
The staff were very friendly, and helpful.
We couldn't have asked for more, and staying at Martha's (and Corn Island) was certainly a highlight of our trip.
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Date of stay: August 2011
Value
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Trip type: Travelled 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.
The staff is really friendly. The accomodations are simple, but clean. The breakfast was excellent with fresh fruit, coffee, juice, toast and 4 choices of entrees. The one thing I wish they had ceiling fans in the rooms because the A/C can be pretty loud. We did enjoy the cable TV in the room, that was a nice bonus. As one of the kids in our group said, "Paradise has TV in English!" The beach is clean and good for small children; the adults enjoyed it as well. We found the beach in front of Martha's was the best on the island. White sand was awesome and no rocks or trash to be found.
If I ever venture back to BCI, I would definitely stay @ Martha's again.
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Date of stay: December 2010
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Trip type: Travelled 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.
Let me state at the outset, the B & B designation is somewhat of a misnomer for those who do the B & B route. It really is a small Motel with eight rooms, all with bathroom, TV and A/C, plus a cottage which has a fully equipped kitchen (US 1,000.00 per month at time of writing, but believe this to be negotiable). As usual on these islands, no hot water, but with the temperatures usually around the 30 C mark in the shade, not an issue.
There is an adjacent restaurant right on the beach (owned and operated also by Ellery and Martha Foster), and one can use the open air dining room to retreat from the sun, read or meet with other fellow travelers. We did see the advertised “Large common living room and kitchen for guest use”, but were not specifically told to use it. It does appear to be part of the private rooms of the owners, and his “office” is also in this area. I assume it would be available on a rainy day.
The rooms are minimally furnished, clean and functional, but have none of the flair usually found in B & Bs. The rooms could use a little more shelving or a real hanging closet. Basically they are a place to sleep, and since in these latitudes the outdoors are the ”living room”, this was not really a huge negative factor. A small in-room bar fridge, or a larger “common fridge” somewhere, would be a nice addition for late night use. The restaurant does close at 19:00, and the bar shortly thereafter – unless a few guests are “hanging on”. The owners are really very flexible and extremely helpful.
There were sun shelters on the beach, chairs and hammocks. A few more tables under these thatched roofs on the beach would have been nice – only one was provided. The beach in front of the property and also off to both sides is absolutely clean, and consists of almost white, fine sand, with shallow water out to about 35 ft and an all sandy bottom. Ideal for little children! From all beaches on Corn Island, I would say this was the best one. Even the adjacent Picnic Center and Arena’s Beach, nor the further towards town located beach in front of Paraiso Club were as nice or as clean; and none of these places had sun shelters directly on the beach. Due to the location of the beach, we never saw garbage on it, something which cannot be said for most other places – both islands suffer from garbage coming in with the tides and stuff the locals (and some tourists) throw away just about everywhere. The establishment is at the end of the road (another misnomer – the road ends well before the place and the rest is half a mile of sometimes rough track), with only a few homes past it before you get into the rocky terrain of Bluff Point. This makes for quiet and not much traffic. There is a covered lower and upper verandah at the main building, with deck chairs and little tables for a quiet read or sharing a drink. The grounds of the property are well maintained and pleasant to look at. The owners will provide laundry service through their personnel, and you do get daily fresh towels etc. The room rate was US $ 50.00 plus a tax, which brought it to US $ 57.50. The restaurant prices are reasonable for the area – dishes around C$ 170.00 to 240.00, with beer at C$ 20.00/bottle. For comparison, in stores (they all sell cold beer) the best we found was C$ 15.00. – also a reasonable mark up. The food - they also served lunch and dinners plus snacks, was well prepared, tasty and always enough. The choices were also quite sufficient. We never felt the need to go to another place, although others did and found some nice places to eat: Arenas Beach and Dos Millas - Seva's was recommended to us by fellow guests.
The breakfast was always a choice of three warm dishes, plus a large plate of fruits, juice, toast, butter and a spread plus coffee. This was enough to tidy us over until late afternoon, where we usually picked up some fruit from a street vendor and pastry from one of the many stores or pulperias. The town is a comfortable 20 minute walk and the bus stop is only about seven minutes walk along the beach. I would suggest taking the bus – runs a circuitous route around the island for C$ 5.00 per trip. There are bus stops, but you can flag it down anywhere. We usually waited in the shade of a store – they all have chairs out front and sell ice cold beer – a very civilized way to get around. The busses are old and in much need of replacement, but run well. The drivers will play often local pop music, which adds to the enjoyment of the trip. And don’t worry, if the bus looks full (usually with school children), just get on – there’s always room for more. You pay the young man who usually hangs out around the door.
To sum up: a good place for a few days at the quieter end of the island and with an excellent beach. The immediate neighbor to the east is a Coast Guard post, and the army is also just down the street in a very small detachment. Between the two is a car, bike, scooter, golf-cart etc. rental place – very convenient for those wishing to do some driving. We found the bus or a taxi a better and cheaper way to get around.
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.
I had stayed here a few years ago and was thoroughly pleased with my stay. So it was the first place I thought of when I decided to visit BCI again. I booked a one night stay. I requested a room with two beds. Confirmed on three different occasions (by email) and was told I had the triple for the night requested. Arrived on the dock after my stay on LCI, had the taxi driver take us to Martha's just to find out that they had no idea who I was and that the B&B was completely booked. Thankfully the taxi driver (Fernando) was kind enough to wait for us and he found us a room at a different hotel. I cannot express how disappointed I was.
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Date of stay: February 2014
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Trip type: Travelled with friends
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.
I stayed at Martha's due to a recommendation of a respected Nicaraguan friend, who told me the rooms are not the most luxurious, but it has a wonderful atmosphere and her food (especially the Ron Don). When we got there, I was disappointed by the fact that her restaurant is not open on Sundays (the nearest walkable dining options are overpriced for lackluster food) and her husband's ornery attitude- he made me feel like a burden for being there. Breakfast is included with the room and starts at 7am, but my parents had a 8am flight. When asked if they could be served early, Martha was kind and accommodating, but her husband Ellery, said "he could make no promises." I was also underwhelmed by the breakfast, it was basic and did not live up to its hype. On the other hand, it was located on one of the most beautiful beaches, Picnic Center Beach. Therefore, I recommend going to Picnic Beach for a beautiful beach day, and stopping at Martha's B&B for lunch (as long as it's not Sunday). Otherwise, for the same price, stay at Paraiso or another place has more attentive customer service and better evening dining options nearby.
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Date of stay: January 2014Trip type: Travelled 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.
We stayed here three nights and we couldn't have been any more pleased. The beach and swimming was perfect,no crowdsand blue,blue water. The food in the restaraunt was very fresh and well prepared,and they even went out of their way to accomodate the vegetarian in the family. The rooms were more than adaquate and comfortable and the grounds were beautiful.
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Date of stay: March 2011Trip type: Travelled 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.
This is not a 5-star deluxe resort , it is a family run hotel with nice, safe, clean, quiet rooms with AC/cable TV and showers (no hot water but frankly you don't need it) on the quiet side of the island. The rooms are a good value. Martha and Ellery are your hosts and can help you set up tours of the rest of the island. They also have some good stories. I think that the beach outside the hotel is the best beach on Big Corn Island, but if the weather is calm there is some good snorkeling on the north side of the island.
My wife and I are not party animals - so there are better places on Big Corn if you want to party and drink. But if sitting on the beach with a fresh coconut is your idea of relaxation then this places is heaven.
ALSO: The food at Martha's is really good. Are there better places to have lobster? I'll leave that for you to find out on your own. But Martha's is a good place to start. Be sure to try some coconut bread with guava honey!
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Date of stay: February 2011
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Trip type: Travelled 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.
Martha's sits on the nicest beach on Big Corn and is a quaint enough little place. However we did not have a good experience at all.. We took a small room with our family to wait for a bigger one to open up the next day, which is fine. But our shower did not work at all! They didn't know when/if it could be fixed, which meant showering a screaming toddler in the cold outdoor shower. Showers break, it happens, we are understanding of that. However what literally shocked us is the absolute unwavering demand that we still pay full price for the room, even though the shower still didn't work! In fact when we agreed on the place they said breakfast was included, as we are all there and they know it's two kids as well, but the next morning they wanted to charge $6 each per child for breakfast. That combination left us rather angry, so we changed accommodation in the midst of a torrential downpour. The location and property are fine, but the way the broken shower and breakfast were handled were almost unbelievable! Very disappointed.
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Date of stay: July 2016Trip type: Travelled 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.
We moved to Martha's when our original hotel had no AC and we were eaten alive by mosquitos. This hotel has clean rooms, but no frills. There is not really a view from the rooms, as they face the yard, not the beach. BUT, the beach in front is the best one on the island. White sand, blue water, like a postcard. Breakfast was included, nothing spectacular, but nice fruit, eggs, etc. We looked at a few other places and this was, by far, the cleanest.
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Date of stay: August 2014
Rooms
Cleanliness
Service
Trip type: Travelled 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.
First the negatives. There are no meals after 6 30pm, there's no passing taxis so you have to phone for one, or walk. There's no view to speak of from the bedrooms. Martha was not usually visible and Ellery gives the impression he'd sooner be doing something else. Because of these factors, we had a good look at alternatives, but came to the conclusion Martha's was still the best option because: The beach is the best on the island for those who aren't strong swimmers. My wife swam in the sea for the first time for years. If you want to snorkel, go to Dorsey's, Sally Peaches. The food was excellent. The price was good, and portions so large we shared between the 2 of us. The dining area by the beach is very nice, and peaceful. Its the end of the road/track so quiet. It also next to a place for the military so no security issues, and no need for wire netting between Martha's and the beach. WiFi quite adequate but you only get a good signal on the lower balcony. Picnic Center, 5 minutes walk, has good wifi. The balcony is nice, good views. The garden area across the bridge and little lagoon, is attractive. Incidentally, for eating out, we found Casa Canada very good. Also, golf cart rental is quite near -$50 for 24hrs. We rented one from noon to noon and its a good way to explore the whole island. We stopped 5 nights at Martha's and this was the best part of our 3 week trip to Nicaragua.
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Date of stay: February 2014
Value
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Location
Cleanliness
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Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled 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.
Peterborough, United Kingdom36 contributions15 helpful votes
Hi. I just saw this so apologies for the late response! Martha doesn't have a website so the best way to contact her is by phone, but the site isn't allowing me to post it, or her email. Go to website nicatips and scroll down to find her number. The one listed is also on WhatsApp. Hope this doesn't come too late to help!
"#5 was perfect with a double bed, room has some drawers and they have an area in the large bathroom to hang you clothing. It was sufficient for 2. Clean Clean clean!!."
"We found rooms on the south side of the top floor got quite warm late in the evening and tasked the A/C. Rooms on the north side looked like they stayed much cooler."
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