You can reach Nicaragua on different budgets and times. We went on one somewhere in the middle option. I'll explain the details below. Booked ticket at the bus terminal from the shopping Mall in Monteverde. The bus is leaving to La Irma at 4:20 AM. if you are on the route of the bus they will pick you up from the hotel but you need to let them know in advance . Price is 1050 colones per person (approx. 2$).
After 2h, the Bus drops you off on the PanAmericana. Cross the 'street' as you need to get the bus in the other direction. Here you can take any bus going towards Rivas (Just make sure it does not pass Nicoya). You can either get another bus to Penas Blancas and from there one to Rivas or get into a Tica or Transnica bus which will bring you directly to Rivas. If you want to save some time and have some money to spend might be better to get one of these buses. We took the Transnica (as it came first) it was 20$ per person. This option also saves you some time at the boarder as they arrange everything for you.
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There are several reasons why you would want to visit Monteverde. We actually went there for main 2 reasons:
1. for some adrenaline kick - 1590m long zipline
We heard a lot of people talking of how amazing the experience of "flying"/ "hanging" over the rain forest is so we said we should take the chance of being in Costa Rica and book the Tour offered by 100% Adventure.
The Canopy tour was 45$ per person and included:
After a intense start of the day and hiking Cerro Chato (HERE details) we left to Monteverde.
There is a TAXI - BOAT - TAXI trip that brings you to Monteverde. As far as we checked online, ideally you should book one day in advance. One of the companies that are available is Anywhere Costa Rica . We did not book them in the end as we found a cheaper alternative through our hostel (Cabinas Las Palmas). our plan for the day was to make it to Monteverde, so we decided to wake up early and go for the Hike, exciting as we were on tight schedule. The bus to Monteverde was leaving at 2PM.
We woke up at 7AM and we arranged with the hostel owner (cabinas las palmas) to drive us to the entrance of the trail and then at 1 PM to pick us up and drive us back to the hostel. the idea was to have time to shower after the hike and he was nice enough to have our room cleaned the last one. - the drive to and from Arenal Observatory Lodge was 4000 colones for 3 and we decided to take as we were as said in a hurry - entrance fee for the hike 10$ for students (without a guide) - La fortuna waterfall entrance was 11$ for anyone Route: Tortuguero - San Jose - ArenalFollow the way back to San Jose (HERE the details from the road to Tortuguero).
- Boat Tortuguero - La Pavona (11:00) - Bus La Pavona - Cariari - take a seat and wait they don't have real arrival hours, it depends on when it comes from Cariari based on the departure hours - Cariari - San Jose - there are several buses (as before you need to walk to the new bus station) Maybe best to go before November to have the chance to see the real Turtle experience, but even so Tortuguero was a nice stop.
We arrived there around 6 PM, went to the place we were sleeping "Cabinas Tortuguero" where we booked a one night stay. The owner was extremely nice gave us some good advise on how to book the tour but even so it is hard to recommend it. Now maybe this is not an important aspect to everybody, but the ants going around my bed did not make me very happy. The price was 35$ per night for a triple room with private bathroom. The route you need to follow, possible in 1 day would be: Drake - San Jose - Cariari - Pavona - Tortuguero Before I start: THERE are NO BANKS in Tortuguero so get money in advance Drake - San JosePuerto JimenezPuerto Jimenez is quite small and not really much you can do. The weather is hot and humid so ideally try to get a room with aircon. SLEEP We did not book in advance, just went there and as we checked some places to sleep before we arrived and went to Cabinas Marcelina. We booked a 2 bed room and added an 3rd bed inside as it was cheaper than the triple room (online the triple room was 55$). There is hot water, wifi & aircon available. I would say it is a good place to stay for the night. FOOD & DRINKS Restaurants, we checked Trip Adviser. Had dinner at Marisqueria Corcovado which is just next to the port. For the place I guess it was good,fish was fresh and service ok; if I compare it with other fish restaurants around Costa Rica I would say this one is average. We did not have lunch instead we got inside a bar had some Imperial beer (as I preferred it to the Pilzen) and we could 'order' some chicken wings from across the street. Watching Champions League and later one some Latino music on the background. National Geographic: The most biologically intense place on Earth
The nature, scenery & wildlife are absolutely amazing and it gives you the chance to be for a while alone with the nature.
There are several tour options and starting point locations so depending on your time, money and preferences you can pick. I'll give you all the details of our trip. We booked a 2 days (one night) trip. Entry point Puerto Jimenez (Carate) Exit point Drake Bay I'll list below the 3 ways we checked to get to Corcovado (same will apply to get out to those locations). 1. From San Jose 2. From Manuel Antonio 3. From Panama San Jose - CorcovadoYou can either fly to Drake Bay or to Puerto Jimenez with one of the 2 local airlines.
- NatureAir - Sansa Or you can catch a bus - to Golfito with Tracopacr 3 buses per day with 7 380 colones (+ a boat that is 6$ per person) - to Puerto Jimenez in shuttle bus 89$ leaves at 5AM |
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