i got the bungalow that had a single full or queen size bed with its own bathroom. it was esthetically beautiful. the shampoo and soaps they offer you are exceptionally amazing. the best I’ve used. the rooms are exceptional but do know the floors creak but i think it’s a beautiful natural sound. the winds blow hard but nothing to fear. i had hot water in my shower & perfectly great wifi. the staff was all kind. i didn’t use the pool, people say it’s dirty but it’s not dirty it just has a good amount of fallen leaves. the place has a surf camp you can do for a week which I would recommend doing & staying here for a week as you also explore San Juan for a week. they offer a shuttle so just arrange your times.if you can not do their surf camp like I wasn’t able to since I was their for a day and that day happen to be the day they all rest, I went to casa de oro a hostel in San Juan & ask for Gabrielle. he will do a private lesson for you. he happens to be a pro surfer so your in really great hands he even picked me up from dream surf which was such a bonus so it all worked out.

there isn’t anything the property failed at truthfully. there are bugs and that can’t be avoided when you’re in Nicaragua. they do their best to keep things super clean. i did find a large spider in my room but honestly the bugs run from you they don’t try to go near you.yet coming from Cali I definitely was afraid. the food was okay. I’m really high maintenance so it didn’t impress me but i did fine with the nica breakfast & black coffee

the overall look and feel of DreamSea is beautiful. we had a double room and private bathroom both which were lovely. the people who work there, from reception to the surf and yoga instructors are lovely. breakfast is really good and big portion

the pool was never cleaned in the 10 days we were there. we saw guys cleaning up the car park area which seemed rather odd priorities. the water didn’t work in the showers for 3 nights of our stay which meant everyone washing off after a surf lesson in the dirty pool surf lessons were too many people to one instructor for some of the lessons. they have a water dispenser and the smallest glasses where you have to ask every time you would like a glass of water, they didn’t like you filling up a reusable bottle. the rooms have no windows just mosquito nets, which in our first room definitely had some large holes - we had a hornet enter and we’re eaten every night by mosquitoes. they need to better fix the mesh.

The resort is beautifully integrated into the surrounding jungle. Very cute straw huts accomodated us, the check-in ans breakfast area is underneath a stunning two-storey structure and staff and guests alike were really friendly and interactive. We even celebrated Christmas here and got a great Christmas dinner and sat on one long table.

There are some little problems with the shared bathroom, so only one of two taps was working, only one of two showers had a good stream of water. Be prepared for some loud creaking in the rooms, because you are stepping on wooden floors. I had not booked the weekly package deal, so the activities and food were always linked to extra (rather pricy) costs, which is why I tried to sometimes find other solutions away from the resort.

Amazing relaxing

The place is beautiful. I felt like I was in a Balinese resort with the bamboo and the gardens and the pool. The staff are amazing. Every single one of them are friendly and kind and polite and smiling and remember your name when they bring you food and drink etc. The beds are comfortable. The food is tasty. There are lockers in the dorms to lock up your valuables.

The hostel is a little bit of a distance from Playa Maderas, about 10 minutes in the shuttle or if you were to walk probably about 30mins on dirt roads in the heat. The shuttle system at the hostel is based largely around the surf school they organise and the tide times, which if you are not a part of can be slightly problematic if you want to go earlier than the surf school or come back later. They advertise at the reception desk that there are multiple shuttles per day so that if you are a solo surfer such as myself, you should be able to go to the beach earlier. However these shuttle times seem to just get changed on a daily basis to the point where at times there was only one shuttle per day going to and from the beach. If you do want go earlier or come back later, the hostel will organise a taxi for you which was about $10 one way, if not more. The other option is trying to catch the shuttle from Casa Ola on its way through from SJDS however we tried this multiple times and never saw it. We ended up standing out the front and just hitchhiking with some locals for either free or a minimal price. For a surf orientated hostel that is a decent walking distance from the beach, I think they need to sort out a better more reliable system to accommodate everyone who wants to get to the beach outside of the surf school hours. The bathrooms are beautiful and modern. However 2/3 of my showers were done with barely a stream/trickle of water due to water problems in the area (obviously not Dreamsea's fault), and 0/3 had hot water. With that said, some people had awesome pressure and hot water. It's Nicaragua so it's not unexpected and this is not so much a complaint but just a heads up that there may not always be hot water and good pressure as some reviews state. The family dinners are 3 courses and tasty but we thought maybe slightly pricey for Nicaragua and some people were left still feeling hungry after the three courses.