Hotel El Convento Leon Nicaragua

I didn't expect much as I switch my hotels last. minute and was left w/few hotel options, but was still disappointed. The best thing about this hotel is the garden when you first enter and it is beautiful, but that is truly the last beautiful thing here. The hotel rooms are super outdated. I saw another review mentioning that they look like jail cells and I can confirm. A new layer of paint would do this place so great justice. The Wi-Fi was weak and not consistent. However, this hotel is central to a lot in walking distance such as restaurants and a grocery store. I think there has to be better options in Leon. This is not a 4 star hotel.

The hotel is in a lovely d colonial building in a great location near the main Cathedral square. Nice large en-suite room and very friendly staff. Just such a shame about breakfast which was very odd as all self service, even down to laying your own table with cutlery etc. The only good thing about breakfast was it started at 6am which was useful for early excursions but equally it was often full with tour groups and lacked enough staff to service it.

Many people look at this place as one of the best hotels in the city. We do not understand why as we found the place very disappointing. This is not because of the lovely, colonial building, its good internet and location (close to the amazing art museum, beautiful cathedral and museum of poet Ruben Dario). It is about the atmosphere, food and the lack of service. The rooms look and feel like prisons (this is understandable realizing what their history is) but why not designing them more nicely. Now every room has two queen beds, bright lights and no atmosphere. Breakfast was super boring. Every morning the same basic not tasty, cold stuff. A reason for us not to eat in the restaurant at all. You only get one bottle of water (for the rest you have to pay and you should not drink the tap water). No water cooker in the room. Staff at reception and in the restaurant does hardly speak English. We asked one morning what time breakfast started and the lady at reception could not even answer. We will not return and do not recommend!

Beautiful grounds. Very attentive staff. Great location. Very good on-site restaurant. Walking distance to the Cathedral and tourist attractions. Walking distance to the Ruben Dario's house museum, market, and restaurants.

I would very much recommend El Convento if you're staying in León. The rooms are nice and comfortable with powerful aircon! Location is also great, just a short walk from the centre and also from a big supermarket (La Colonia) should you want to stock up on anything. Staff were also very friendly and helpful, helping me to arrange a hiking day trip as well as transportation to my next destination. Perhaps most impressive, though, is the lovely old convent in which the hotel is located, which includes an impressively landscaped courtyard and passageways as well as areas to sit that make the place a very nice place to come back to every day.

If you go to Nicaragua in August, be prepared. The heat and humidity are oppressive. Personally I could not spend more than a couple of hours out on the streets before going back to the hotel, drenched to the skin with sweat and exhausted. In such a situation, a hotel like El Convento is invaluable. It offers a well located, peaceful, and cool respite. My room was good sized, and the air conditioning was icy cold. And my king sized bed, a snowy white mountain, was a godsend in that tropical climate. The staff was lovely and the breakfast was very good. During an extended trip through Mexico and Central America, I would say this was my favorite hotel. A real treat