Dry Season or Green Season in San Juan del Sur?

Sunset along the beach at San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. Dry season often looks like this sky. Green season is rain, then a sky like this again. Photo: Adam Jones, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

San Juan del Sur has two seasons, not four: a dry stretch from December to May and a heavy rainy season the rest of the year, with about 1,710 millimeters of rain in the Weatherbase year Wikipedia cites. That is climate class. It is not next Tuesday. Pick the season for the Pacific you want. Then confirm the week you fly.

This is the fifth piece in the 2026 planner. Airport: Managua (MGA) or Liberia (LIR). Town: San Juan del Sur or Popoyo. Beach: Remanso or Maderas. Then the first week once those pins are set. This one is the calendar underneath all of that.

Our older month-by-month Nicaragua piece is from 2016. Use it for the idea that each month feels different. I am not recycling its surf, crowd, or price notes as a 2026 chart. Climate class lasts longer. A live forecast still wins.

Two seasons, one warm coast

San Juan del Sur is a municipality on Nicaragua’s Pacific, in the Rivas department. Wikipedia classifies it as a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw), very warm through the year. Mean daily maximums in the Weatherbase table sit around 26–29°C. Minimums around 22–24°C. You are packing for heat, then deciding how much rain you will accept.

The dry season, in that Wikipedia summary, lasts from December to May. The remainder of the year is the substantial, heavy rainy season. People here also call the wet months green season, because the hills actually go green. Rain is the mechanism. Green is what you see after.

May and November are hinge months, not clean switches. May already shows 130 mm. November still shows 110 mm. October is the peak month in that series, at 460 mm. Wikipedia rounds the year to 1,710 mm, or 67 inches. That is one Weatherbase year, retrieved 2013 on the Wikipedia page. It is not a promise for your week in 2026.

Dry vs green, in one table

Read this as climatology. Then open a forecast.

	Dry season	Green / rainy season
When (Wikipedia)	December to May	The remainder of the year
Weatherbase rainfall in that table	Jan 15 mm, Feb 2.5 mm, Mar 0 mm, Apr 10 mm, May 130 mm (hinge), Dec 28 mm	Jun 270 mm, Jul 180 mm, Aug 200 mm, Sep 300 mm, Oct 460 mm (peak month in the table), Nov 110 mm (hinge)
Heat	Very warm year-round. Daily maxima about 26–29°C.	Same climate class. Rain does not mean cold.
What it is not	A guarantee of a cloudless week or “perfect” surf	A guarantee that every afternoon is a washout, or that a named storm is on your calendar
Confirm the week you go	That week’s forecast, not this table	Forecast, plus any tropical-cyclone outlook. NOAA’s official Eastern Pacific hurricane season runs 15 May–30 November — a basin calendar, not a local landfall chart.

Season split and millimeters: Wikipedia’s San Juan del Sur climate section, citing Weatherbase. Eastern Pacific season dates: NOAA / National Hurricane Center climatology. I am not printing landfall odds for Rivas or a “safe month.”

What dry season actually buys you

Dry season is the postcard. The bay goes gold in the late afternoon. Harbor boats sit in that light. By late March and April the hills can look brown. You still need water, shade, and a hat. Heat is the weather, not a footnote.

It is also when a lot of people try to come. I am not printing occupancy or hotel rates. Those move. If your dates sit on a Nicaraguan holiday week, ask the hotel, not a 2016 blog.

Dry season is not automatically the beginner-surf season, and it is not automatically the advanced one. Wind, swell, and tide are not rainfall. A live report the morning you go still beats this paragraph.

On Surf Ranch’s San Juan del Sur destination page, Remanso is listed as beginner-to-intermediate, year round. Maderas is listed as intermediate to advanced, with a planning note that it is best from April to October. That is property copy. Not a swell chart. Town beach is the bay in front of town — a swim or a sunset, not a substitute if the morning is a lesson. Distances currently on that page: town beach about 3 km, Remanso about 5 km, Maderas about 10 km. Roads change. Confirm the week you go.

If you are still choosing a town, stop and go back to San Juan del Sur or Popoyo. Popoyo is Tola. It is not this bay. If the Costa Rica side of the trip is Tamarindo, write that down as a destination, not a hotel mix-up. Tamarindo is Guanacaste. Two countries, two towns.

What green season actually buys you

Green season is not a write-off. It is the other half of the year, and it is when this coast looks like a Pacific jungle instead of a dry hillside. Most of that 1,710 mm lands from June through October. Afternoons can go dark. Roads get slower in rain. Build slack into a beach run the way you already built slack into arrival day.

NOAA’s official Eastern Pacific hurricane season is 15 May through 30 November. That does not mean a named storm is on the calendar for your week. It means you watch the National Hurricane Center. I am not dressing a basin season up as a local risk score.

The destination page’s Maderas note (best April to October) overlaps the end of dry season and the heart of green season. El Yankee is listed with a swell-season note of May to November. Planning language. Check a live report. The packages page currently puts 5-night and 7-night lessons at Remanso, not at Maderas. If the week is a first-timer or a mixed group, that is the sand the hotel is pointing you at.

If someone in the group says turtles, the named place is Refugio de Vida Silvestre La Flor. MARENA describes it as 7,349 hectares and a sea-turtle sanctuary. Nesting is seasonal. Confirm access, hours, and fees with MARENA or the ranger station. I am not printing a córdoba number or a nesting calendar.

Pack for heat. Then pack for the season.

The destination notes still list everyday travel as Spanish, UTC−6, with U.S. dollars and Nicaraguan córdobas both in use. Power is 120V / 60Hz. Confirm cards and cash with your bank.

I am not inventing a water temperature. Dry season: sun is the problem. Green season: sun is still the problem, and then a shower. A dry bag is how you keep a phone alive between town and Remanso. If you are on a lesson, ask the shop what they want you in.

A 5-night stay is not seven full days. A 7-night stay still loses the arrival transfer and the checkout morning. Count the days you can actually use.

On the destination page, the planning drive from Managua (MGA) is about two hours. From Liberia (LIR) it is about three hours, border included. The shuttle page currently lists San José (SJO) as about five to six hours. Those are property copy. Rain and the Peñas Blancas queue both move the clock. MGA keeps you in Nicaragua on arrival day. LIR puts you in Costa Rica first. Confirm procedures with official migration sources the week you go. I am not printing visa rules, fees, or hours.

If you are staying at Surf Ranch San Juan del Sur

Surf Ranch San Juan del Sur is one hotel in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. Not the Popoyo property. Not Tamarindo. Check-in is 2:00 p.m. Check-out is noon. Reception is currently listed as 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., English and Spanish.

On property: pool with a swim-up bar, waterslide, restaurant and bar, skatepark, gym, climbing wall, volleyball. Walk-up day pass entry is free. Large groups pay $15 USD per person in advance, and that amount goes to consumibles (an open tab).

Overnight All Inclusive is three meals plus beer, rum drinks, juice, soda, and coffee, plus the swim-up and the gym. It is not unlimited drinks. It is not every amenity. Climbing and surf lessons are not included in that plan. Ask about those separately. Current 5-night and 7-night surf packages with Remanso lessons: packages page. I am not printing prices. They move.

Questions for the San Juan del Sur hotel: booking@surfranchnicaragua.com, reception +505 8816 8748, WhatsApp +1 937 888 3209.

For a current airport transfer quote, use the shuttle page with your real dates and headcount. I am not printing a dollar amount.

Pick the sky, then write the three lines

Before you pay for the week, write the season on the same note as the airport and the beach. Dry season if you want the higher odds of a dry afternoon, knowing May is already a hinge. Green season if you want the hills green and you can live with a dark sky that may or may not hit during your surf window. Either way, the table is climatology. The forecast is the trip.

Then the three lines from the first-week piece still hold. MGA or LIR. Remanso, Maderas, or town beach. How many mornings you actually have after the transfer and before checkout.

San Juan del Sur is straightforward once you stop asking it for a third season called “perfect.”

Quick answers

When is dry season in San Juan del Sur?

Wikipedia: December to May. In the Weatherbase table, January through April are the driest months. May is the hinge (130 mm).

When is green (rainy) season?

The remainder of the year. Most of the annual 1,710 mm sits in June through October. October is the peak month in that table (460 mm). November is a hinge out (110 mm), not a hard stop.

Is green season a reason to stay home?

No. It is rain plus heat, not a cancelled coast. Watch a forecast. During NOAA’s official Eastern Pacific hurricane season (15 May–30 November), watch NHC too. Confirm roads the morning you drive.

Which season is “better” for a first surf week?

Neither, as a blog promise. Remanso is listed year-round. Current 5-night and 7-night packages put lessons there, not at Maderas. Check a live report the morning you go. For the week’s rhythm, use the first-week planner.

What should I confirm the week I fly?

The forecast, the transfer from MGA or LIR, and — if turtles are on the list — La Flor access with MARENA. I am not printing prices, visa rules, fees, or hours that move.