Nicaragua Full Day Tour from Costa Rica

This Nicaragua was a main highlight for us all! We were pleasantly surprised by the beauty of Nicaragua from the pacific coast near San Juan del Sur with all the amazing views, lake Nicaragua and its many multi-million dollar homes, the Catarina viewpoint with the Caldera and even within the city streets when we stopped for lunch, the chocolate factory and cigar factory! Our main tour guide Miguel, trainee Gretel and driver Antonio were all very knowledgeable, friendly and great at engaging the group. It was a really long day for us with a 4:30am pickup, but everything was smooth and absolutely worth it!! Highly recommend this!

The trip was great and informative, however the initial part of getting through the border was exhausting. Get comfortable shoes, snacks, bottle of water, sunscreen, and a hat. We spent 2 hours outside in line and another hour under the roof, inside the building of Costa Rican border patrol, plus crossing Nicaraguan border patrol. This was the downside of this trip, but there is nothing anyone can do, that's why I'm not removing any stars from the review. We were picked up at 5:15 am from Coco and returned home at 9:30 pm. Crossing back to Costa Rica was much much faster and no people in line.

Amazing authentic experience! Everyone was great! I would not have been able to navigate the border crossing alone. Nicaragua is a beautiful country. Thank you!

A day full of history and culture, with a boat ride where we saw Spider monkeys and a Tiger heron. Experienced a Nicaraguan breakfast a lunch.

This was an overall great experience, except the immigration process. It was very confusing and not explained in advance. Basically, there are 2 immigration points going and coming. The pick up driver in Costa Rica cannot enter certain parts of the immigration area in Nicaragua, and vice versa for the Nicaraguan tour guide. They drop you off and you have to walk across a good way to meet the other tour guide in the immigration area . No explanation, only pointing. We figured it out. It also takes a while to get through immigration (going, but fast to return).
But the tour itself was great! Unfortunately, the volcano was closed due to activity. They will substitute something else.

This tour exceeded my expectations. Everything went smoothly and was well organized. I liked Nicaragua very much, especially caldera in Catarina, Lake Nicaragua boat trip and Granada. Special thanks to our Nicaraguan guide Miguel and his team who made this trip even better.

Overall experience was great. The entire tour was well organized, and everone were so professional and wonderful. Shout out to our tour guide Migel.

Lovely people, the lunch and breakfast that were included were not only delicious but in a beautiful and very Nicaraguan setting - breakfast beside Lake Nicaragua and lunch outside in the courtyard in the colonial part of the city. Many beautiful sites, but long wait at borders into Nicaragua and lots of time on the bus going to Nicaragua depending on your pickup point. Drivers and guides were amazing.

Lots of driving but really enjoyed the sites that we saw. The boat tour was my favorite! Our tour guide Mario was very informative about Nicaragua & the history of the country. I’m glad we were able to add this day trip to see a new country to our itinerary!

My wife and I took a Trip to Nicaragua on Tuesday 3rd March 2025 with Nexus Tours.
We started in a mini-bus from Dreams Las Mareas at 6.45am which took us around 30-40 minutes to get to La Cruz.
Our driver stopped at La Cruz, at a stunning view point where we could already see Nicaragua in the distance.
We then drove 5 minutes to join the larger coach with guests from other hotels plus our guide Juan to continue our excursion onto Nicaragua.
The main advantage of booking with Nexus Tours is that your tour guide (Juan) stays with you from start to finish. Juan even waited in line at both borders both ways with us all.
We drove a further 25 minutes to the border crossing.
At Nicaragua border we had to stand in a line to wait for our passports to be stamped, all 8 fingers and both thumb prints were taken and face photograph plus $13 tax (Juan gave everyone the correct amount of cash). This took about 20 minutes
There are toilets at the border crossing
1st stop was to 'San Juna del Sur beach' when we climbed the steps to see 'Christ of Mercy statue' the views were amazing (there are toilets here too).
2nd stop was to Granada city. We choose to pay $20 for a 1 hour horse drawn carriage tour. Our guide (Jose) pointed out many places of interest with lots of fascinating pieces of information
We stopped off at a church, chocolate factory / shop called Bate Bate chocolate, cathedral and the city square.
We then stopped for Lunch in Granada and had a lovely meal. We had a tomato soup starter then a choice of 4 different dishes, we could select from steak, fish, chicken or pork plus 1 bottle of beer or can of soda was included with table water. Dessert was ice cream.
3rd stop was to Monkey island lake tour at Lake Nicaragua. This boat tour was one of our favourite parts of the trip, seeing the tiny islands with unique properties built on them was breathtaking.
4th stop was at Catarina to take some photos from the view point and visit the local market. The market is a must and excellent prices for souvenirs. (toilets here but with a small charge)
We then drove back to Nicaragua boarder control to have our passports stamped, then next door to Costa Rica passport control to have our passports stamped again and pay $3 tax to enter Costa Rica.
Cross the border 20 minutes from Nicaragua boarder to La Cruz, then 30 minutes to the hotel
Unfortunately, we were unable to visit the Masaya Volcano nicknamed The Gates of Hell, as there had been a landslide 6 months previously and the volcano was very active. Christ of Mercy statue was the substitute visit for the volcano.
Left hotel at 6.45am back at 7.45pm
This tour cost us $236 each (this included border tax costs both ways plus admission to the 'Christ of Mercy Statue' plus lunch)
We really enjoyed this excursion and are so glad we experienced Nicaragua

Overall I guess I am glad that I went. Although I would only recommend with reservation. I realize this tour was probably MUCH better when they were able to take people to the volcano. But since it recently erupted they are no longer allowing visitors. This is, of course, not Native's Way's fault but given this is the case, I think the tour is overpriced for what they are now offering.

The best part about the tour was the driver from the hotel in Costa Rica to the Nicaragua border. He chatted us up the entire time and made the drive easy and fun. It was an EARLY departure, but he made the trip enjoyable. I am sorry I wasn't able to stay awake the entire time chatting with him. But the ride back was also just as enjoyable and a great end to a long day.

The first driver was a complete 180 in comparison to the tour guide on the Nicaragua side. While the guide was friendly when he did interact with us, he was one of the least informative guides (if not the least) that I have ever had on a tour. I will just list a few of the negatives in no particular order:
1. Our third stop was a market. I was expecting a local market with lots of activity and community members. Instead, we were dropped off at a tourist souvenir street market. The view is nice but I could not tell you anything about the area because the only information the guide gave us was how to negotiate souvenir prices at the shops.
2. Money Island is literally a small, maybe 700 square feet, island with TWO monkeys on it. The monkeys cannot get off the island since it is surrounded by water and they cannot swim. It looks like their only source of food is whatever the tour guests throw on the island. I would not be surprised if the tour company put the monkeys there so they could include a "visit to Monkey Island" on the tour itinerary.
3. When we got to Granada we were basically left with no other option but to pay $40 extra to ride in a horse-drawn carriage 40 minutes to see and learn about the town. I asked our guide what the option was if we did not take the carriage ride and he said, "I will walk you to the chocolate factory for 10 minutes and then you will wait there for 30 minutes while the rest of the people finish their carriage ride". There was no option for them to drive us around in the bus and for the guide (THAT WE ALREADY PAID FOR) to tell us about the town. We ended up paying for the carriage - it was HOT and it smelled like horse sh*t the entire time. I do not see why the guide would not give us the tour of the city on the bus, we could have easily followed around the few people who wanted to pay for the carriage ride.

I think they could have done a lot better with the stops on the tour. Maybe an Indigenous community or ruins, and definitely a more informative tour guide!

All in all, it was ok for me because I had fun with my friends and I am also on a mission to make it to 50 countries by the time I am 50. This allowed me to check off number 36 while I was on a 5-day vacation in Costa Rica (it was like a two-for-one). If you are not someone with a similar wanderlust, I would say not worth it. You may want to consider doing a similar tour with a different company that puts more effort into their itinerary or has a lower price point. I am not disappointed I went but I would not encourage others to take this tour.

Was so with it to us! We did so much in 1 day. Got picked up exactly on time at 0400, stopped to get a few other people, got to the border by close to 0800. The guides helped us through the process of exiting Costa Rica and entering Nicaragua through immigration on both sides. That took about an hour. Then off to see the Cristo statue overlooking San Juan del Sur- beautiful! From there we went for breakfast on the lake, good food! Then off to Catarina to do a little shopping of local crafts. From there we went to Granada- lovely historic town super well preserved. It was totally worth the $10 extra dollars to ride the horse carriage around the town. We watched cigar making and visited a chocolate store. Then a delicious lunch at a nice restaurant. Finally a boat ride on lake Nicaragua where we rode around many little islands and saw monkeys! And then back to the border. Miguel did a great job of telling us about the history, land and sites. He also kept our packed itinerary together letting us know how much time we had at each place. No regrets and worth every penny. Advise: bring U.S. $ small bills for shopping and tips

It's definitely a long day, but worth it to experience everything this trip had to offer. Great people and great tour company

This experience exceeded all expectations and was a highlight of our trip! Very well done! We would love to go back and do it again! Miguel was an incredible guide!!

Make sure to get some sleep the night before because it’s an activity filled day with lots of driving! Claudio and Paul were great with us, and we had an amazing time. Definitely worth the money and time to get a glimpse into Nicaragua!

This was a long day, but well worth it. Amundo safely got us from our hotel to the border and was knowledgeable with lots of great information about Costa Rica. Thanks to our guides, customs was seamless and stress-free. Miguel expertly toured us around Nicaragua and taught us so much about his beautiful country.

Amazing experience. If you have the time to carve out a day to see Nicaragua while in Costa Rica it’s a must do. It made me wish I was staying in Nicaragua longer! Great tour guides, drivers, and experts all around. Highly recommend!