Expedition Dates:
June 28-July 10, 2027
Cost:
$3995 + Airfare
Ages:
Worldwide youth ages 15-19
Trip Pace:
Moderate to Active
Physical Activity:
Moderate to Strenuous
Humanitarian Focus: Conversa-
tional English Teaching, Home Construction, Sustainable Farming and Tree Planting, Community Outreach
with Low-Income Youth
Cultural and Adventure Experiences: Volcano Boarding at Cerro Negro, zipline and hike on a local volcano, kayak the isletas of Lake Nicaragua, swim in a crater lake, surf lessons in San Juan del Sur, Colonial Granada City Tour, volcano night tour, Sunday Worship with Local Nicaraguan Saints, baptisms at the newly dedicated Managua temple.
Vaccine Requirements:
None required, some recommended.
Visa Requirement:
None for US citizens (up to 90 days)
International Airport:
Augusto C. Sandino International Airport, Managua (MGA)
overview
Service & adventure you can't forget!
Nicaragua
new in 2027!
Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America and one of the least visited. That is exactly what makes it extraordinary. Known as the land of lakes and volcanoes, it is a place where active craters loom over colonial cities, crater lakes shimmer in jungle bowls, and Pacific swells roll in to nearly empty beaches. Your RISE group will see all of it, and more importantly, leave something real behind.
The trip opens in the coffee-growing highlands of Matagalpa, where you will spend five days living and working at a residential school alongside local low-income teenagers. This is not a drop-in volunteer experience. Your group teaches conversational English classes, builds genuine friendships across language and culture, rides horses through the highlands, hikes the surrounding hills, and plays outdoor sports with kids who wgrew up in homes with no beds or running water. You will also get out into the surrounding community to help build a home and work on sustainable farming and tree-planting projects with local families.
After Matagalpa, your group moves south to the Granada and San Juan del Sur region for six days of the most concentrated humanitarian work and bucket list adventure in Central America. Boarding down an active volcano. Zipping across a cloud forest canopy 17 platforms long. Swimming in a volcanic crater lake. Learning to surf on the Pacific. Kayaking through 300 islands formed by an ancient eruption. Watching lava glow at night from the rim of Masaya. Worshipping on Sunday with Nicaraguan Latter-day Saints who have waited decades for a temple of their own, which was announced by President Nelson and dedicated in October 2026.
The service does not stop in Matagalpa. In Granada and San Juan del Sur, RISE partners with established nonprofits to continue meaningful humanitarian work alongside the adventure days, because that balance is what makes this program different from every other trip a teenager will take in their life.
Itinerary is subject to change based on group size and availability.
A large portion of your trip fees and related travel expenses may be tax-deductible through our partner ROAM Humanitarian, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We always recommend checking with your personal tax advisor. A Charitable Contribution Acknowledgment form will be sent at the end of the year.
The trip opens in the coffee-growing highlands of Matagalpa, where you will spend five days living and working at a residential school alongside local low-income teenagers. This is not a drop-in volunteer experience. Your group teaches conversational English classes, builds genuine friendships across language and culture, rides horses through the highlands, hikes the surrounding hills, and plays outdoor sports with kids who wgrew up in homes with no beds or running water. You will also get out into the surrounding community to help build a home and work on sustainable farming and tree-planting projects with local families.
After Matagalpa, your group moves south to the Granada and San Juan del Sur region for six days of the most concentrated humanitarian work and bucket list adventure in Central America. Boarding down an active volcano. Zipping across a cloud forest canopy 17 platforms long. Swimming in a volcanic crater lake. Learning to surf on the Pacific. Kayaking through 300 islands formed by an ancient eruption. Watching lava glow at night from the rim of Masaya. Worshipping on Sunday with Nicaraguan Latter-day Saints who have waited decades for a temple of their own, which was announced by President Nelson and dedicated in October 2026.
The service does not stop in Matagalpa. In Granada and San Juan del Sur, RISE partners with established nonprofits to continue meaningful humanitarian work alongside the adventure days, because that balance is what makes this program different from every other trip a teenager will take in their life.
Itinerary is subject to change based on group size and availability.
A large portion of your trip fees and related travel expenses may be tax-deductible through our partner ROAM Humanitarian, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We always recommend checking with your personal tax advisor. A Charitable Contribution Acknowledgment form will be sent at the end of the year.
About This Trip
A Day in the Life
What makes us stand out from the rest! Every hour planned for your personal growth and experience.
Day 1 · Arrival Day · Welcome to Nicaragua Your group flies into Managua and loads into vans for the two-hour drive north into the highlands. The air cools as you climb into coffee country. By evening you arrive in Matagalpa and settle in at the school that will be your home for the next five days. First impressions are everything here, and Nicaraguan hospitality will not disappoint.
Day 2 · Matagalpa · Highlands Service Begins Your first full day at the residential school. Morning classes begin with conversational English sessions alongside local teenagers. Your RISErs are not teachers yet, but they become teachers faster than they expect. The afternoon opens up for outdoor sports, exploring the grounds on horseback, and starting to learn the names of the kids who will be the highlight of this whole trip.
Day 3 · Matagalpa · Community Build Day Out into the surrounding community for a full day of physical service. Your group joins a home construction project with a local family, working alongside them the way people have always built things in this part of the world, by hand, together. Sustainable farming and tree-planting round out the afternoon. Dinner back at the school.
Day 4 · Matagalpa · Teaching and Hiking Morning English classes again, with more confidence and more laughter than Day 2. In the afternoon your group hikes into the hills surrounding Matagalpa, through coffee farms and cloud forest, with views that remind everyone exactly where they are. Evening is free for reflection, journaling, or more time with the local teens.
Day 5 · Matagalpa · Deepening and Celebration The last full day at the school. Final classes, continued farming and community work, and an evening celebration with the students. These are the goodbyes that take the longest.
Day 6 · Sunday · Worship and Travel South Morning worship with the local ward before loading vans south toward Granada, about three hours. Nicaragua has nearly 104,000 Latter-day Saints organized into multiple stakes. You will not be worshipping alone. The afternoon arrives in Granada, one of the oldest colonial cities in the Americas, painted in every color, built on the edge of a lake with a volcano rising behind it.
Day 7 · Granada · Masaya Volcano and Colonial City Morning in Granada on foot. The city's cathedral, central market, and lakefront tell the story of a place that has survived earthquakes, invasions, and centuries of reinvention. In the afternoon your group heads to Masaya Volcano National Park for a night tour that puts you at the rim of an active lava lake after dark. It is one of the only places on earth where you can look directly into glowing lava. No photograph prepares you for it.
Day 8 · Granada · Mombacho Volcano Hike and Zip Line An early departure for Mombacho Volcano, 20 minutes outside Granada. Your group rides a 4x4 truck up to the cloud forest, hikes the crater trail through mist and howler monkeys, then clips into a two-kilometer zip line with 11 cables, three hanging bridges, and a Tarzan swing above the tree canopy. Views of Lake Nicaragua and Granada below. Back in the city by late afternoon for a kayak tour through Las Isletas, the 300-plus islands formed by Mombacho's ancient eruption. Families live on many of them. It is a quiet and genuinely beautiful way to end the day.
Day 9 · Laguna de Apoyo and Humanitarian Work A morning at Laguna de Apoyo, the crater lake that sits between Granada and Masaya in the bowl of an extinct volcano. The water is warm, clear, and geothermally heated year-round. Your group swims, kayaks, and simply exists in one of the most peaceful and beautiful places in Central America. The afternoon is a half-day service project with a Granada-based nonprofit focused on youth education and community development, including La Esperanza Granada, which runs English and academic support programs for low-income children and teens, and Neighbors to Nicaragua, which works in education, clean water, and poverty alleviation across the Granada area. Both organizations welcome short-term teen volunteers and have documented community impact.
Day 10 · San Juan del Sur · Surf Day A 45-minute drive south takes your group to San Juan del Sur, a crescent-shaped surf town on the Pacific coast that sits at the end of a bay ringed by jungle hills. The morning is a full surf lesson for the whole group on one of the most beginner-friendly stretches of Pacific coastline in Central America. The afternoon is free. Some will get back in the water. Others will explore the town. Everyone will sleep well.
Day 11 · San Juan del Sur · Cerro Negro Volcano Boarding The capstone adventure. An early departure north to León for the most singular experience in all of Nicaragua. Your group hikes 45 minutes up the black ash slope of Cerro Negro, the youngest active volcano in Central America, with panoramic views of the Pacific and the volcanic chain spreading to the horizon. At the summit you gear up in protective suits and goggles, receive your safety briefing, sit on a wooden board, and go. Speeds up to 95 kilometers per hour down a slope of loose volcanic ash. It is one of only two places on earth where you can do this. You will not stop talking about it.
Day 12 · Managua · Temple and Departure
Attend Managua Nicaragua Temple, the country's first-ever temple dedicated October 18, 2026. For Nicaraguan Saints who spent decades crossing international borders to participate in temple ordinances.
Day 13 International Travel
Day 2 · Matagalpa · Highlands Service Begins Your first full day at the residential school. Morning classes begin with conversational English sessions alongside local teenagers. Your RISErs are not teachers yet, but they become teachers faster than they expect. The afternoon opens up for outdoor sports, exploring the grounds on horseback, and starting to learn the names of the kids who will be the highlight of this whole trip.
Day 3 · Matagalpa · Community Build Day Out into the surrounding community for a full day of physical service. Your group joins a home construction project with a local family, working alongside them the way people have always built things in this part of the world, by hand, together. Sustainable farming and tree-planting round out the afternoon. Dinner back at the school.
Day 4 · Matagalpa · Teaching and Hiking Morning English classes again, with more confidence and more laughter than Day 2. In the afternoon your group hikes into the hills surrounding Matagalpa, through coffee farms and cloud forest, with views that remind everyone exactly where they are. Evening is free for reflection, journaling, or more time with the local teens.
Day 5 · Matagalpa · Deepening and Celebration The last full day at the school. Final classes, continued farming and community work, and an evening celebration with the students. These are the goodbyes that take the longest.
Day 6 · Sunday · Worship and Travel South Morning worship with the local ward before loading vans south toward Granada, about three hours. Nicaragua has nearly 104,000 Latter-day Saints organized into multiple stakes. You will not be worshipping alone. The afternoon arrives in Granada, one of the oldest colonial cities in the Americas, painted in every color, built on the edge of a lake with a volcano rising behind it.
Day 7 · Granada · Masaya Volcano and Colonial City Morning in Granada on foot. The city's cathedral, central market, and lakefront tell the story of a place that has survived earthquakes, invasions, and centuries of reinvention. In the afternoon your group heads to Masaya Volcano National Park for a night tour that puts you at the rim of an active lava lake after dark. It is one of the only places on earth where you can look directly into glowing lava. No photograph prepares you for it.
Day 8 · Granada · Mombacho Volcano Hike and Zip Line An early departure for Mombacho Volcano, 20 minutes outside Granada. Your group rides a 4x4 truck up to the cloud forest, hikes the crater trail through mist and howler monkeys, then clips into a two-kilometer zip line with 11 cables, three hanging bridges, and a Tarzan swing above the tree canopy. Views of Lake Nicaragua and Granada below. Back in the city by late afternoon for a kayak tour through Las Isletas, the 300-plus islands formed by Mombacho's ancient eruption. Families live on many of them. It is a quiet and genuinely beautiful way to end the day.
Day 9 · Laguna de Apoyo and Humanitarian Work A morning at Laguna de Apoyo, the crater lake that sits between Granada and Masaya in the bowl of an extinct volcano. The water is warm, clear, and geothermally heated year-round. Your group swims, kayaks, and simply exists in one of the most peaceful and beautiful places in Central America. The afternoon is a half-day service project with a Granada-based nonprofit focused on youth education and community development, including La Esperanza Granada, which runs English and academic support programs for low-income children and teens, and Neighbors to Nicaragua, which works in education, clean water, and poverty alleviation across the Granada area. Both organizations welcome short-term teen volunteers and have documented community impact.
Day 10 · San Juan del Sur · Surf Day A 45-minute drive south takes your group to San Juan del Sur, a crescent-shaped surf town on the Pacific coast that sits at the end of a bay ringed by jungle hills. The morning is a full surf lesson for the whole group on one of the most beginner-friendly stretches of Pacific coastline in Central America. The afternoon is free. Some will get back in the water. Others will explore the town. Everyone will sleep well.
Day 11 · San Juan del Sur · Cerro Negro Volcano Boarding The capstone adventure. An early departure north to León for the most singular experience in all of Nicaragua. Your group hikes 45 minutes up the black ash slope of Cerro Negro, the youngest active volcano in Central America, with panoramic views of the Pacific and the volcanic chain spreading to the horizon. At the summit you gear up in protective suits and goggles, receive your safety briefing, sit on a wooden board, and go. Speeds up to 95 kilometers per hour down a slope of loose volcanic ash. It is one of only two places on earth where you can do this. You will not stop talking about it.
Day 12 · Managua · Temple and Departure
Attend Managua Nicaragua Temple, the country's first-ever temple dedicated October 18, 2026. For Nicaraguan Saints who spent decades crossing international borders to participate in temple ordinances.
Day 13 International Travel
