Travel Info

Nicaragua is a country in Central America. It has coastlines on both the Caribbean Sea, in the east, and the North Pacific Ocean, in the west, and has Costa Rica to the southeast and Honduras to the northwest.

Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America and contains the largest freshwater body in Central America, Lago de Nicaragua.

Regions

There are 15 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento):

• Boaco
• Carazo
• Chinandega
• Chontales
• Esteli
• Granada
• Jinotega
• Managua
• Masaya
• Managua - Capital
• León
• Granada
• Esteli
• Managua, most likely from Houston or Miami, if you come from the US. It costs 7 dollars to enter the country (prices change so make sure you have twenty dollars cash on hand). Tourist visas are three months for US citizens as well as for people from the EU. There will be taxis right outside, these are abnormally expensive, walk out to the road and try to flag down a regular cab. All the hostels are located in the Barrio Marta quezada. The taxi drivers try to rip you off, usually they start with 10 US dollars, but a price around 5 to 6 US/90 to 100 Cordobas is appropriate.

  You can also fly into the tiny Granada airstrip from San Jose (Costa Rica).

  By train

  By car

  There are two border crossings to Costa Rica, Pena Blanca west of Lago Nicaragua and Los Chiles east of it.

  There are three major border crossings to Honduras. Las Manos is on the shortest route to Tegucigalpa, the others ones are on the Panamericana Highway and on north of Leon.

  By bus

  By boat

  Get around

  Distances

  
  

  	M A N A G U A	B L U E F I E L D S	B O A C A	C H I N A N D E G A	E S T E L Í	G R A N A D A	J I N O T E G A	J I N O T E P E	J U I G A L P A	L E Ó N	M A S A Y A	M A T A G A L P A	O C O T A L	P T . C A B E Z A S	R I V A S	S A N C A R L O S	S O M O T O
  MANAGUA	0	383	88	132	148	45	162	46	139	93	29	130	226	557	111	300	216
  BLUEFIELDS	383	0	322	510	462	402	476	422	243	476	386	444	540	842	461	351	530
  BOACA	88	322	0	220	157	107	181	127	79	181	91	149	425	517	166	240	235
  CHINANDEGA	132	510	220	0	161	177	194	177	271	37	161	181	238	591	243	43	229
  ESTELÍ	148	462	157	161	0	166	103	185	219	141	151	71	78	498	226	383	68
  GRANADA	45	402	107	177	166	0	180	41	184	138	16	148	244	576	68	318	234
  JINOTEGA	162	476	181	194	103	180	0	202	232	175	165	32	181	459	240	377	171
  JINOTEPE	46	422	127	177	185	41	202	0	171	122	37	170	266	603	65	346	256
  JUIGALPA	139	243	79	271	219	184	232	202	0	229	141	198	296	599	208	160	297
  LEÓN	90	476	181	37	141	138	175	122	229	0	122	143	219	650	187	394	209
  MASAYA	29	386	91	161	151	16	165	37	141	122	0	130	229	558	73	301	219
  MATAGALPA	130	444	149	181	71	148	32	170	198	130	130	0	428	297	297	343	139
  OCOTAL	226	540	425	238	78	244	181	266	296	229	229	149	0	576	304	455	29
  PT. CABEZAS	557	842	517	591	498	576	459	603	599	558	558	428	576	0	625	760	566
  RIVAS	111	461	166	243	226	68	240	65	208	73	73	297	304	625	0	318	244
  SAN CARLOS	300	351	240	43	383	318	377	346	160	301	301	343	455	760	318	0	447
  SOMOTO	216	530	235	229	68	234	171	256	297	219	219	139	29	566	447	447	0

  By bus

  Bus is definitely the main mode of travel in Nicaragua. If you're a younger American, Nicaragua may give you flashbacks to your elementary school days. Most of the buses are old decomissioned yellow US school buses. Expect these buses to be packed full. You'd better be quick or you may be standing most of the trip.

  By Plane

  At the international airport there are two offices right to the right of the main terminal, these offices house the domestic airlines. These are great if you want to get to the atlantic coast. I will not give prices as they change but it take 1.5 hours to get to the corn islands as opposed to 2 days by overland route. If you are trying to save time than this is the best way to get to the corn islands or anywhere on the atlantic coast.

  By boat

  Boat is the only way to get to the island of Ometepe or to the Solentinames. Be aware that high winds or other bad weather can cancel ferry trips leaving you stranded. That might not be such a bad thing, though.

  
  Boat is also a cool way to get to the corn islands. Take a bus to Rama at the end of the road, be aware that this trip can be very rough and long. Then ask around and see if you can get onto the weekly ship to the corn islands, there are bunk beds on the ship. Or you can get on a speedboat to bluefield or El Bluff and catch the boat from there, or take a flight out of Bluefields. They are mush faster and more expensive, the large cargop boat takes two days from the islands to rama with an overnight in El Bluff to take on cargo.

  
  

  By taxi

  The taxi drivers in Managua are agrresive and there are loads so it is easy to find a fare that suits you. You can also split the cost of taxi to get to destinations that are close to Managua by like Masaya, if you should prefer to travel with modicum of comfort. Taxi's in all the cities are generally fair and well mannered and a nice way to see local scenery. Take care in bargaining, the general fare is per person, not per taxi.

  Hitchhiking

  Easy and Comfortable. Finding a bus to the right suburb in managua is tricky.

  Talk

  Languages 

  Spanish (official)
  note:

  Nicaraguans tend to leave out the s at the end of words. "Vos" is used rather than the more formal "usted".

  English and indigenous languages on Atlantic coast

  Buy

  Nicaragua is not famous for its handicrafts like Guatemala. But, if you are going to take one thing home it should be a hammock. Nicaraguan hammocks are among the best made and most comfortable ever. The really good ones are made in Masaya, ask a taxi to take you to the fabrica de hammacas. These are family run and operated stores and have become comercialized, so hammocks can be quite expensive. I do not know what the prices are right now but it should be under 15 for a simple one person hammock. Hammocks are also sold in the Huembres market by the bus terminal in Managua NIcaragua can also produce some really good and cheap rum. Those aged more than 20 years are a great buy for the money

  Eat

  Food is very cheap, though a lot of the food is fried in oil (vegetable or lard). Very easy to be vegetarian as the most common dish is gallo pinto, which is red beans and rice. If you like meat try the Naca Tamale which is a pork tamale. The typical dish will consist of a meat, rice, beans, salada and some fried plantain, costing under 3 dollars US.

  Plantains are a big part of the Nicaraguan diet. You will find it prepared in a variety of forms: fried, baked, boiled, with cream or cheese, as chips for a dip, smushed into a "patacon".

  Nicaraguan tortillas are made from corn flour and are thick, almost resembling a pita. One common dish is quesillo: a string of mozzarella-type cheese with pickled onion, a watery sour cream, and a little salt all wrapped in a thick tortilla. You will also find the tortillas are used to make shredded beef tacos.

  One alternative to the fried offering in the typical menu is baho. This is a combination of beef, yucca, sweet potato, potato and other ingredients steamed in plantain leaves for several hours.

  One typical dessert is Tres Leches which is a soft spongy cake that combines three varieties of milk (condensed, evaporated and fresh) for a sweet conoction.

  Drink

  Rum is the liquor of choice, though you will find some whiskey and vodka as well. The local brand of Rum is Flor de Caña and is available in several varieties: Light, Extra Dry, Black Label (aged 7 years), Centenario (aged 12 years) and a new top-of-the line 18 year old aged rum. There is also a cheaper rum called Ron Plata.

  One local beer is Victoria, another one "Toña". It's pretty cheap to drink in Nicaragua.

  In the non-alcoholic arena you will find the usual soft drinks (Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola). Some local drinks include pinolillo, a thick cacao based drink.

  Sleep

  Look for pensiones or huespedes or hospedajes as these are the cheapest sleeps costing under 5 dollars US. They are usually family owned and youll be hanging out with mostly locals. Make sure you know when they lock their doors if you are going to party. Hotels have more amenities but are more expensive. There are some backpacker hostels in Granada, San Jaun del Sur, Ometepe, Masaya, Managua, and in Leon otherwise it's pensiones all the way.

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