If you’re staying on the Guanacaste coast, I highly recommend taking the one day Nicaragua tour from Costa Rica.
The Nicaragua one day from Costa Rica is a great day trip for visitors staying in Playas del Coco, Flamingo, Brasilito, Papagayo Peninsula, Playa Hermosa GTE, Playa Panama, Conchal, Potrero, Tamarindo, Langosta, Playa Grande, Las Catalinas and Liberia.
This is an excellent way to see another country, especially if you don’t plan on visiting Nicaragua on your own in the future.
The tour company takes care of all the border fees, immigration, transportation, guiding and itinerary, making it an easy and convenient day excursion.
Book your Nicaragua tour from Costa Rica here!
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Nicaragua Tour from Costa Rica Itinerary
The Nicaragua one day tour from Guanacaste is a full day activity starting from about 5 AM to 9 PM.
Places you visit on the Nicaragua day excursion:
- Laguna de Apoyo viewpoint
- Masaya Market
- Masaya Volcano National Park
- Granada town
- Lake Nicaragua boat ride
Pick up time depends on your location and varies between 430 AM to 630 AM. Normally, the pick ups in the Tamarindo, Hacienda Pinilla, and Langosta areas are first, then Flamingo, Brasilito, Potrero, third is Papagayo Peninsula and Liberia last.
The tour company will inform you of your exact pick up time a couple days before the tour.
Border
After you get picked up, it’s about a 2 hour drive from Liberia to the Peñas Blancas border.
When you arrive at the border, the guide will tell you what to do as you have to get off the bus and walk across the border.
Border crossings are easy when you’re on a tour since you go with your group and the guide will tell you where to go.
Lake Nicaragua Breakfast and Photos
After crossing the border, they take you to breakfast at a local restaurant in Nicaragua near Lake Nicaragua.
It’s a typical Nicaraguan breakfast with gallo pinto (with red beans), eggs, cheese, coffee and plantains.
When you’re done eating, you can walk around and take some photos of Lake Nicaragua. It is a huge lake with windmills all around and on a clear day, you can see the two volcano.
After breakfast, our next stop was Mirador Catarina.
Catarina Town and Laguna de Apoyo
At Catarina, a very small town in Masaya, there is a great viewpoint of Laguna de Apoyo.
This volcanic lake is a nature reserve in an extinct volcano and it is just beautiful! It’s one of our favorite places in Nicaragua.
We stayed for about 20 minutes and then headed off to Masaya.
Masaya Market
Our next stop was the Masaya market, one of the most famous souvenirs stores in Central America. We first had lunch which we got to choose from a variety of dishes.
Nicaragua has excellent beef so if you like meat, this is a good place to get some. They also have kebab, vegetarian and chicken options.
After lunch we had about 20 minutes to browse the Masaya market. If you want souvenirs, this is the best place to buy them.
Souvenirs in Nicaragua are cheaper than Costa Rica and their leather items are top notch quality.
You can find everything from leather bags and purses, shoes and belts for a good price.
You can also get cheap shirts, hammocks, cigars and other knick knacks. Remember to bargain! They’ll always start high but you can negotiate down a lot.
I highly recommend doing souvenir shopping here since it is so much cheaper than Costa Rica.
You can use dollars at the market but they give your change back in cordobas. Ask if you want your change in USD.
Masaya Volcano National Park
Our next stop was Masaya Volcano National Park.
This active volcano is famous for being one of the few in the world and the only one in the western hemisphere where you can actually drive up to the center.
We got out and spent about 45 minutes walking around and taking pictures.
Along the way there, our guide told us some history and background about this volcano and the national park which was really interesting.
The Mayans who used to live in this area would sacrifice beautiful women at the cross whenever the volcano erupted or rumbled.
To this day, this active volcano continuously spews sulfur dioxide gas and even lava!
If you walk towards the entrance of the parking lot, you can get some beautiful views of Nicaragua below.
Ready to book? Click to reserve your Nicaragua tour from Costa Rica here!
Granada
Next, we stopped in Granada which is one of the most important cities in Nicaragua due to its very rich colonial heritage, apparent through its architecture and city design.
You’ll see colonial buildings and churches everywhere and automatically see why so many people love this little city.
In fact, many foreigners who move to Nicaragua choose Granada as their new home.
We walked through town towards the main yellow church and visited a hammock making shop along the way.
Then we went into the church and climbed the stairs for a beautiful view of the city.
Grenada is one of the cutest towns in Central America. Costa Rica doesn’t really have any colonial towns like this one, so it’s something different to see.
Lake Nicaragua boat ride
Lastly, is the Lake Nicaragua boat ride.
We climbed into a boat and went off into the lake to see the thousands of little islands. The lake itself and the islands were very beautiful and it was fun to see different houses built on the island.
During the boat ride, it stops at Monkey Island, which, to be honest, was not my favorite part of the tour. The spider monkeys seem like they are basically trapped on the island, relying on the tour guides to feed them.
Nicaragua has a very different mindset to Costa Rica when it comes to wildlife.
Costa Rica is all about conservation, leaving wildlife alone, not taking selfies, not feeding them, but in Nicaragua, rules and laws like these are not in place and conservation is not important.
Back to Costa Rica
Nowit’s the end of the Nicaragua tour from Costa Rica and it was time to head back. We drove back to the border (about 1.5 hours) and got out to do the border crossing.
After we successfully crossed the border , they dropped us back home.
Things to Know About This Nicaragua One Day Tour
- You need to bring your original passport that cannot be expired nor will expire.
- Nicaragua is VERY strict so your passport must be perfect condition.
- Nicaragua normally requires passports to have at least 6 months validity before expiration.
- You MUST show an exit ticket out of Costa Rica. A printed flight ticket works best.
- Bring small USD bills if you want to purchase souvenirs. Nicaragua accepts USD but NOT Costa Rican colones. If you pay in USD, they will give you your change back in cordobas (Nicaraguan currency) or you can ask them to give you dollars back.
- Wear comfortable clothes and walking shoes.
- The tour provides water, breakfast and lunch but not dinner so bring snacks.
- The bathroom at the border on the Nicaraguan side costs a dollar. Bring toilet paper and hand sanitizer.
Reserve your Nicaragua tour from Costa Rica here!
Read about other things to do in Guanacaste below!
Diamante Eco Adventure Park (get 10% off): Adventure park in Gulf of Papagayo with a zipline, animal sanctuary, local house with chocolate/coffee/sugar cane tour, botanical garden and a beach.
Hacienda Guachipelin: Adventure park next to Rincon de la Vieja National Park that has rooms, ziplining, horseback riding tours, white water tubing, mud baths, hot springs, waterfalls and an terrarium. Most popular is their one day adventure tour.
Rincon de la Vieja National Park: National park in Guanacaste with hiking trails, waterfalls, rivers, volcano and boiling mud pots.
Guanacaste Rainforest Tour: Hike hanging bridges in the rainforest and visit a private reserve to see sloths, toucans and other animals in Bijagua.
Christina says
Hi there
I thinking of booking this for myself and my two kids (11/13) for December 30th. Wondering about the safety factor right now? Have you heard any updates? Also how big are the tour groups?
Thanks
Christina
Sammi says
Hi Christina, the tour company has been operating the tour like normal, they will cancel operations if the conditions get too serious and unsafe and so far they haven’t cancelled the tours. The tour groups are as big as however many people sign up for the day as these are open tours. Holidays are usually quite busy for tourism so that time of year usually has a decent amount of people.
Sammi says
Hello Victor, the tour from RIU is $140 USD per person and we have a $10 discount so it’s $130 USD per person. The tour picks up around 5 AM and drops off around 8-9 PM depending on the border. The lake is super calm and the boats are on motors so they speed around, I get seasickness too but have never gotten seasick because this lake is huge and aren’t really any waves. You can read more about booking it with our discount here
Victor says
Thanks!
How can I contact you from Riu? Give me phone number or you have a person to contact at the resort?
Victor says
Hi Samantha!
My wife and I will be in Riu Guakanaste in mid-December and plan to go on a tour to Nicaragua. How much will it cost? What time do you pick up tourists from Riu and drop them back? I have seasickness, so the question is how big are the waves on the lake?
Gail says
Hi,
My husband and I will be in Costa Rica tonight, staying for about a week. We are staying at Casa Chameleon at Las Catalinas. Does the tour company pick up from there? If not, where would be closest place to meet them and park a rental car?
Thank you!
Sammi says
Hi Gail, they do pick up from Casa Chameleon Las Catalinas 🙂
Gail says
Thank you for your blog, the recommendation to do the Nicaragua day tour and the discount to do it! We had a fabulous time and even got to see the lava! We highly recommend this tour!
Sammi says
So glad to hear that Gail! 🙂 Glad you had a good time!
Nino says
Hi, again, Sammi.
Our schedule now to go to Nicaragua will be Monday, 9/16. Do you know if the company have availability?
Also, our hotel is Hotel Laguna del Cocodrillo and was wondering if they pick up from there. If not, which pickup location will be closest and if parking is available for our car.
Thanks so much. Again, there will be 3 of us.
Sammi says
Hi Nino, they’ll be running it the 16th and they can pick you up directly from your hotel. You can book the tour using the form
Nino says
Thanks so much!!!
Nino says
Hi, Sammi.
We will be there on the weekend of the13th. Do you think the weather will be good enough for a trip to Nicaragua? Would be nice to do another country. Thank you
Sammi says
Hi Nino, which month are you visiting?
Nino says
Hi. September. I’ll be there next Friday :/
Sammi says
Weather hasn’t been too bad lately, cloudy with some rains in the afternoon but short. It is much more humid in Nicaragua though so it may have some longer rains and the volcanoes may be very cloudy.
Nino says
Hi, again. I’m considering going to Nicaragua on Sunday, 9/15, would it be available, do you think? Thank you
Sammi says
Sep 15 is Independence Day here in Central America so I would have to check if they are running the tour that day as the border may be too crazy. I’ll get back to you once I find out.
Sammi says
They operate the 15th but not the 13th.
Nino says
Thanks so much! I will be sure to use your codes when I finalize
Sammi says
You’re welcome 🙂
Lillian says
How physically strenuous is this tour? How much walking/hiking would be required?
Also, for our trip we’re looking at staying at the El Mangrove Papagayo Hotel, do they pick up from this hotel? Thank you!
Sammi says
Hi Lillian! Very minimal physical activity level required. You walk a little bit around Masaya Volcano but not too much since the viewpoint is small, you walk around the Masaya market if you want to do some shopping, Granada city and then you go for a boat ride so it’s very minimal walking.
They do pick up at the Mangroove.
Irene says
Sounds like a great experience. We will be making CR our base for several months but we need to exit the country at least once , perhaps twice to renew our tourist visa. We had planned on only going to Panama ( we’ve been before & loved the old city in Panama ) but I have always wanted to see Nicaragua , at least the “highlights.” Can I use this as a “visa run” and will a bus pass to Panama for instance work for proof of onward travel ? ( we own a truck down in CR so this trip we planned to drive to a place close to Panama border & take a bus to David) My return to Canada ticket exceeds the 90 days so I can’t use my plane ticket.
Sammi says
I know some people who have used this and generally I would say it is OK. It really depends on the immigration officer you get however, I have seen officers who only accepted a plane ticket so hopefully you will get an officer that doesn’t care too much. Just make sure the Panama bus ticket is within the 90 days of your entering Costa Rica.
Jessica says
Hi, I would like to get your opinion on the safety of Nicaragua right now. We have been staying just south of Coco for the last 2 months and have been wanting to take this trip, but have been told by many locals that it just isn’t safe to do right now. We are traveling with 4 young children, if that makes a difference.
Thanks!
Sammi says
Hi Jessica!
We actually just did this tour on Sunday, March 31st and we had a great time. We felt safe the whole time and all the sites are actually kind of empty. More tourists are going back to Nicaragua since things have settled down and we really enjoyed it. We went on this day tour with two other ladies and they had a very nice time too.
Dustin says
Whats the best way to go to nicaragua cheap? If i rent car in coco can I take it into nica? Let me know please! Your site is great btw.
Sammi says
Rental cars aren’t allowed to cross borders, the cheapest way is to take the bus. Ticabus and Nicabus go throughout Costa Rica.