Introduction
A land of poetry and revolution, lakes and volcanoes, war and peace. To the new generation of travelers, Nicaragua represents booming beach breaks, volcano hiking, island paradises and laid-back colonial towns. It seems that the message - 'the civil war finished decades ago people!' - has finally gotten across to a world who had the country pegged as a troublespot.
Yet the iconic images of idealistic young people giving their lives for a dream of liberty endure, and Nicaragua remains a land where people, whatever their beliefs, tend to go beyond cheap chatter. A place of artists and poets, the country's people are an even greater asset than its natural splendor. 'Nicaragua is created of vigor and glory, Nicaragua is made for freedom' - Rub é n Dar í o
Destination Facts
Capital: Managua
President: Daniel Ortega
Government: republic
Time zone: GMT -6
Area: 129494
Population: 5675356
People: mestizo (69%), European descent (17%), African descent (9%), indigenous peoples (5%)
Languages: Roman Catholic (72.9%), Evangelical (15.1%), Moravian (1.5%), other (2%), none (8.5%)
Currency: C ó rdoba Oro ($C)
GDP: Approx. $C16900000000
Major industries: Coffee, seafood, sugar, meat, bananas, food processing, chemicals, metal products, textiles, clothing, petroleum refining and distribution, beverages, footwear
Major Trading Partners: Canada, Japan, Germany, Venezuela, Spain, USA, the rest of Central America
Country Dialing Code: 505
Getting there and away
Managua International Airport (MGA; tel: 233 1624/28; www.eaai.com.ni), just east of the Nicaraguan capital, is a small, manageable but rapidly expanding airport. Expect tickets to get cheaper and lines to get longer as Nicaragua's popularity as a tourist destination increases. Tiny Granada International Airport has two flights daily between Granada and both San Jos é and Liberia, Costa Rica. Managua is the major Nicaraguan bus hub, with at least five international bus companies represented, four of them convenient to the budget tourist quarter. But you can easily catch buses headed south to Costa Rica and Panama from Granada, Masaya and Rivas, while Le ó n has several buses running to San Miguel and San Salvador, the shortest trip between the two countries. Buses leaving from Estel í also connect to San Salvador, as well as points north and east.The land borders between Nicaragua and its neighbors are relatively hassle-free. International buses do everything but hold your hand through the process, or you can take regular buses, walk a few hundred meters at most to immigration, attend to entry formalities and connect with ongoing bus service on the other side. If you arrive in a car or motorcycle, have your paperwork in order. To expedite any border crossing, dress your best and act respectfully and deferentially. Nicaragua also has three river border crossings, all incredibly scenic: San Carlos to Los Chiles, Costa Rica; Wasp á m to Puerto Lempira, Honduras; and San Juan de Nicaragua to Barra, Costa Rica.
Getting around
Most domestic flights are based at Managua International Airport; its occasionally chaotic domestic offices are just west of the international terminal. Other terminals, many of which are little more than dirt strips outside of town, include Wasp á m, Bilwi (Puerto Cabezas), Las Minas (Siuna, Bonanza, Rosita), San Carlos, Bluefields and Big Corn Island. There are two domestic carriers, Atlantic Airlines (tel: 222 5787; www.atlanticairlines.com.ni), and La Coste ñ a (tel: 263 2142; www.flylacostena.com). Buses in Nicaragua range from ultra-comfortable but pricey international cruisers to old Bluebird school buses, many modified to take on roads that would make a Sherman tank blanche. Regular buses are super-cheap to ride, while speedy microbuses cost a bit more. While you should always try to purchase tickets for international buses in advance, most local buses don't give you that option. Pay when you get on the bus, or after it starts moving. Buses are generally safe, although the city buses in Managua are best avoided unless you're comfortable with a little urban mayhem. It's always safer to take a directo or expreso bus, which doesn't stop as often as an ordinario or ruteado. Boats are used to travel around Lake Nicaragua and throughout the humid Caribbean Coast. Major boat routes include El Rama to Bluefields, down the R í o Escondido; while Isla Ometepe (and its 500 sister islands) can only be reached by boat. There are frequent one-hour ferries from San Jorge and twice-weekly, four-hour trips from Granada, which continue for nine hours across the lake to San Carlos and the R í o San Juan, a region almost entirely (and only) navigable by boat. You'll also rely on boats for side trips from Bluefields, Bilwi and Wasp á m, while in San Juan del Sur, boat taxi is often the best way up and down the coast.Car rental and bicycle are other popular transport options within Nicaragua.
Weather
Nicaragua has a range of microclimates, and it's worth checking the weather to see where you want to go first. On the Pacific side, invierno (winter), or rainy season, runs May to November, at its rainiest in September and October when sea turtles nest 3000-strong to a beach. Verano (summer), or dry season, is November to April, the best time for hiking, camping and partying, as it coincides with high tourist season (December to March), most pronounced along the Costa Rican border. As verano desiccates to a close, the Pacific forests lose their leaves and lake levels drop revealing sandy lake beaches that you'll put to good use as temperatures soar. Then there are the mountains, from the islands of cool cloud forests atop each volcano to the monolithic granite peaks of the central highlands, where seasons become blurred in the chilly misty mornings, with temperatures between 12 ° C (54 ° F) and 24 ° C (75 ° F). On the Atlantic side rainy and dry seasons are almost entirely academic; along the R í o San Juan, one of the wettest places on earth, always pack a raincoat.
Places of Interest
From towering volcanoes and splendid beaches, to giant lakes and wild jungles. Tourism in Nicaragua is booming, as word spreads about its hospitality and dazzling natural attractions. To the west are colonial cities connected by good paved roads, while in the east you'll find a vast wilderness that - a couple of golden Caribbean paradises apart - won't be touristy any time soon.
To the new generation of travelers, Nicaragua represents booming beach breaks, volcano hiking, island paradises and laid-back colonial towns. It seems that the message - 'the civil war finished decades ago people!' - has finally gotten across to a world who had the country pegged as a troublespot. Yet the iconic images of idealistic young people giving their lives for a dream of liberty endure, and Nicaragua remains a land where people, whatever their beliefs, tend to go beyond cheap chatter. A place of artists and poets, the country's people are an even greater asset than its natural splendor.
Related Country: Honduras Country, Costa Rica Country, El Salvador Country
A land of poetry and revolution, lakes and volcanoes, war and peace. To the new generation of travelers, Nicaragua represents booming beach breaks, volcano hiking, island paradises and laid-back colonial towns. It seems that the message - 'the civil war finished decades ago people!' - has finally gotten across to a world who had the country pegged as a troublespot.
Yet the iconic images of idealistic young people giving their lives for a dream of liberty endure, and Nicaragua remains a land where people, whatever their beliefs, tend to go beyond cheap chatter. A place of artists and poets, the country's people are an even greater asset than its natural splendor. 'Nicaragua is created of vigor and glory, Nicaragua is made for freedom' - Rub é n Dar í o
Capital: Managua
President: Daniel Ortega
Government: republic
Time zone: GMT -6
Area: 129494
Population: 5675356
People: mestizo (69%), European descent (17%), African descent (9%), indigenous peoples (5%)
Languages: Roman Catholic (72.9%), Evangelical (15.1%), Moravian (1.5%), other (2%), none (8.5%)
Currency: C ó rdoba Oro ($C)
GDP: Approx. $C16900000000
Major industries: Coffee, seafood, sugar, meat, bananas, food processing, chemicals, metal products, textiles, clothing, petroleum refining and distribution, beverages, footwear
Major Trading Partners: Canada, Japan, Germany, Venezuela, Spain, USA, the rest of Central America
Country Dialing Code: 505
Getting there and away
Managua International Airport (MGA; tel: 233 1624/28; www.eaai.com.ni), just east of the Nicaraguan capital, is a small, manageable but rapidly expanding airport. Expect tickets to get cheaper and lines to get longer as Nicaragua's popularity as a tourist destination increases. Tiny Granada International Airport has two flights daily between Granada and both San Jos é and Liberia, Costa Rica. Managua is the major Nicaraguan bus hub, with at least five international bus companies represented, four of them convenient to the budget tourist quarter. But you can easily catch buses headed south to Costa Rica and Panama from Granada, Masaya and Rivas, while Le ó n has several buses running to San Miguel and San Salvador, the shortest trip between the two countries. Buses leaving from Estel í also connect to San Salvador, as well as points north and east.The land borders between Nicaragua and its neighbors are relatively hassle-free. International buses do everything but hold your hand through the process, or you can take regular buses, walk a few hundred meters at most to immigration, attend to entry formalities and connect with ongoing bus service on the other side. If you arrive in a car or motorcycle, have your paperwork in order. To expedite any border crossing, dress your best and act respectfully and deferentially. Nicaragua also has three river border crossings, all incredibly scenic: San Carlos to Los Chiles, Costa Rica; Wasp á m to Puerto Lempira, Honduras; and San Juan de Nicaragua to Barra, Costa Rica.
Most domestic flights are based at Managua International Airport; its occasionally chaotic domestic offices are just west of the international terminal. Other terminals, many of which are little more than dirt strips outside of town, include Wasp á m, Bilwi (Puerto Cabezas), Las Minas (Siuna, Bonanza, Rosita), San Carlos, Bluefields and Big Corn Island. There are two domestic carriers, Atlantic Airlines (tel: 222 5787; www.atlanticairlines.com.ni), and La Coste ñ a (tel: 263 2142; www.flylacostena.com). Buses in Nicaragua range from ultra-comfortable but pricey international cruisers to old Bluebird school buses, many modified to take on roads that would make a Sherman tank blanche. Regular buses are super-cheap to ride, while speedy microbuses cost a bit more. While you should always try to purchase tickets for international buses in advance, most local buses don't give you that option. Pay when you get on the bus, or after it starts moving. Buses are generally safe, although the city buses in Managua are best avoided unless you're comfortable with a little urban mayhem. It's always safer to take a directo or expreso bus, which doesn't stop as often as an ordinario or ruteado. Boats are used to travel around Lake Nicaragua and throughout the humid Caribbean Coast. Major boat routes include El Rama to Bluefields, down the R í o Escondido; while Isla Ometepe (and its 500 sister islands) can only be reached by boat. There are frequent one-hour ferries from San Jorge and twice-weekly, four-hour trips from Granada, which continue for nine hours across the lake to San Carlos and the R í o San Juan, a region almost entirely (and only) navigable by boat. You'll also rely on boats for side trips from Bluefields, Bilwi and Wasp á m, while in San Juan del Sur, boat taxi is often the best way up and down the coast.Car rental and bicycle are other popular transport options within Nicaragua.
Nicaragua has a range of microclimates, and it's worth checking the weather to see where you want to go first. On the Pacific side, invierno (winter), or rainy season, runs May to November, at its rainiest in September and October when sea turtles nest 3000-strong to a beach. Verano (summer), or dry season, is November to April, the best time for hiking, camping and partying, as it coincides with high tourist season (December to March), most pronounced along the Costa Rican border. As verano desiccates to a close, the Pacific forests lose their leaves and lake levels drop revealing sandy lake beaches that you'll put to good use as temperatures soar. Then there are the mountains, from the islands of cool cloud forests atop each volcano to the monolithic granite peaks of the central highlands, where seasons become blurred in the chilly misty mornings, with temperatures between 12 ° C (54 ° F) and 24 ° C (75 ° F). On the Atlantic side rainy and dry seasons are almost entirely academic; along the R í o San Juan, one of the wettest places on earth, always pack a raincoat.
Places of Interest
From towering volcanoes and splendid beaches, to giant lakes and wild jungles. Tourism in Nicaragua is booming, as word spreads about its hospitality and dazzling natural attractions. To the west are colonial cities connected by good paved roads, while in the east you'll find a vast wilderness that - a couple of golden Caribbean paradises apart - won't be touristy any time soon.
Related Country: Honduras Country, Costa Rica Country, El Salvador Country
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