Nicaragua Full Day Tour from Costa Rica
Description
Explore all of Nicaragua's most famous highlights all in one day from Costa Rica! You will see a dormant volcano crater, the active Masaya Crater, go shopping at the artisan markets, explore the colonial town of Granada, and go on a boat ride viewing the islets of Lake Nicaragua, and even get to feed monkeys!
Tour Options
Itinerary
4:00 am
4:30 am
4:20 am
4:30 am
You will picked up from your hotel promptly and taken to the border where your guide will help you in every step of the crossing, which takes about 30 minutes. The guide will make the process easy for you and will take care of all of the passport paperwork and visas. From here we will travel to eat a hearty breakfast to start off the day.
4:50 am
4:30 am
5:30 am - Secrets Papagayo, Villas Sol, Occidental Papagayo, Mangroove
5:20 am
6:00 am
Here you will enjoy an incredible view over the dormant volcano crater, Granada, and Lake Nicaragua. You will be allowed to walk around freely for a while before getting back in the bus and heading to the next stop.
Do some shopping for inexpensive souvenirs and experience the Nicaraguan life style before sitting down for a typical Nicaraguan lunch.
An active volcano where you will have the opportunity to stand right next to its crater and hear it rumbling and spewing of gases. An incredible, rare sight.
An old Colonial town near Lake Nicaragua. Stop at La Merced Church, considered one of the most beautiful buildings of Granada. It is flanked by a large tower that houses the church bells. You will ascend the stairs and reach the roof of the church. From here, you’ll have a panoramic city view of Granada, Mombacho Volcano, and Nicaragua Lake with the islets. This is the perfect place to take pictures of the beautiful city and the surroundings.
Your last stop is a one hour boat ride in Lake Nicaragua viewing the Nicarguan Islets around sunset. Your guide will stop by Monkey Island consisting only of monkeys that will come out and take food from your guide on the boat! You will then head back to Costa Rica, stopping on the way to pick up some snacks for the ride home.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
We pick up from the hotels, condos and private residences in the following areas: Hacienda Pinilla/JW Marriott: 4:00 AM Langosta/Tamarindo Hotels, Condos, Apartments, Houses: 4:30 AM Conchal (W/Westin Conchal), Brasilito Hotels, Condos, Apartments, Houses: 4:45 AM Playa Grande, Flamingo, Potrero Hotels, Condos, Apartments, Houses: 4:30 AM Catalinas: 4:15 AM (extra fee) RIU Hotels Main Security Gate, Not the Lobby: 5:00 AM Playas del Coco Hotels, Condos, Houses: 5:20 AM Playa Hermosa & Panama (Occ/Secrts Papagayo, Villas Sol, Condovac, Mangroove): 5:30 AM Liberia Peri Supermarket: 6:00 AM Andaz, Four Seasons, Planet Hollywood: 5:20 AM (extra fee) Waldorf Astoria: 5:30 AM (extra fee) Dreams Las Mareas: 6:00am Pick up times above are an estimate. We will send you an official pick up time the day before the tour.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Passport name, number, expiry and country is required at time of booking for all participants. Please bring your passport on the day of your tour
- Entry to Nicaragua: Send photo of passport to info@nativesway.com or WhatsApp
- Your departure Ticket that proof of flight out of Costa Rica
- If your hotel is not listed, contact us for quoting
- It is prohibited to enter the country of Nicaragua with the following items: all kinds of Drones, all kinds of Binoculars, including those for Night vision, and any object considered for professional, journalistic, and similar audiovisual reproduction.
Reviews(592)
Good experience and a crazy long day! You don’t get to stay and see everything for probably as long as you would like, but it is a great intro into Nicaragua!
This trip is a LOT in one day. The overall feeling is being rushed. The driver and guide did an excellent job of keeping us on time with the agenda, but overall, this trip just has too much in it for one day. I recommend an overnight trip and trying to space it out a bit. The driver was safe and the trip guide was informative and friendly. I would not recommend this trip overall, the boat ride to monkey island was an absolute ripoff. When you get to the market and lookout, you only had about 20 mins to walk around; but seeing as you just spent four hours on a bus to get across the border, it’s essentially a bathroom break (that you have to pay to use the bathroom) with souvenir shops trying to sell you trinkets while you’re in line. Lunch was okay, honestly the best part was breakfast because the day hasn’t been jampacked yet and you aren’t overwhelmed. Save your money and book an overnight trip, or consider a less-packed itinerary. The guide and driver were excellent, but this trip is just too busy for you to enjoy Nicaragua.
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We're glad to hear that you found both your driver and guide to be safe, informative, and friendly. Our Nicaragua One Day Tour is designed for travelers who want to experience the country's main highlights in a single day. As advertised, it is a 16+ hour tour, and the itinerary is shared with guests before booking so guests know exactly what to expect. We understand that this style of tour isn't for everyone. Because it covers several destinations in one day, time at each stop is necessarily limited. Many guests enjoy being able to experience Nicaragua's highlights without spending a night away from Costa Rica, while others may prefer a more relaxed pace. For travelers looking for more time to explore, we also offer an overnight Nicaragua tour. We appreciate your honest comments, as they help future travelers choose the experience that best fits their travel style. Thank you again for traveling with us!
This tour was more than worth the money! So much was packed into the day and it was an amazing way to see Nicaragua if you’re short on time. The tour guides were so helpful and kept spirits high during this very long day. Would highly recommend this tour
If you are in Costa Rica and have an extra day, I would definitely recommend this tour. There is a lot of driving time and the speed limit in Nicaragua is slow but that's really my only complaint. The volcano is cool, but Granada was my favorite part. I could have spent more time walking around the city but I understand that time was limited. The breakfast place also could have been better but I'm nit picking. Our tour guide and drivers were great and Nicaragua is so much more affordable than Costa Rica. This tour was the highlight of my Costa Rica trip, honestly.
This experience was definitely worth it! They accidentally gave me the wrong wake up time, but they waited for me and did not leave. They were very sweet and accommodating, and there was so much to see in Nicaragua! I would highly recommend crossing off another country from your bucket list.
This tour was 100% worth it. It’s a very long day, yes but you see and do a lot. Claudio + Jorge made the trip seamless. Going through customs can be tricky but they both walk you through it. If you’re thinking about doing it, do it.
A must do attraction Family friendly activity Would recommend it Great for all ages Excellent tour guide … Claudio and team
This was a good experience and I’m glad I went and was able to experience Nicaragua! Everything went well and all the guides were very nice. It’s just A LOT of time in the van and a long day. All the sights were cool but we were always on a time crunch because of the amount of driving we needed to do. The inside of the volcano was especially a unique experience. Also, we had no problem getting through immigration both ways. It was relatively quick. The longest wait was maybe 15 minutes in line going into Nicaragua. They tell you everything to say and stay there with you the entire time.
Miguel was a great tour guide. He made sure we were informed, made us laugh, and kept us safe as we enjoyed the beautiful country of Nicaragua!
They didn’t check all passports when I booked a month ago and they didn’t tell me one of us needed a visa. The van broke down and they wasted time picking up one of the tour guides friends because she needed to go to the border.
