Las Peñitas is the beach for León, twenty minutes west down a straight road through cane and salt flats. It is a long stretch of dark volcanic sand with a beach break that works most of the year — forgiving at the northern end where the schools teach, heavier towards the rocks.
The village is a single road of hostels, surf shops and seafood places, busier at weekends when León comes out. Immediately north is the Juan Venado island nature reserve, a mangrove spit where boats go for birds, crocodiles and, between July and January, turtle nesting.
It is a good base to combine with the city — near enough to go back in for dinner and the cathedral roof at sunset.