Nicaragua and Costa Rica: León, Granada, Ometepe, Arenal and Monteverde

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Managua, on to León

   Managua International Airport (MGA) to León

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : León
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Augusto C. Sandino International Airport (MGA) in Managua. Buy your tourist card at immigration, about US$10 to 13 in cash, and a driver meets you in the arrivals hall. We do not stay in Managua: it is about two hours, roughly 100 km, north-west along Lake Managua and across farmland to León, with the Maribios volcanoes on your right. León was Nicaragua's capital for most of its colonial history and is still its university town, with low, thick-walled houses in faded colours, a church on almost every corner and murals from the 1979 revolution. Your hotel is a few blocks from the cathedral. Plan to land by about 3 pm to join the evening: your See Sight Tours guide meets the group at about 6:30 pm for a briefing on the two weeks ahead, including how the border crossing on day 7 works, then we walk to the Parque Central as it fills up after the heat of the day, and on to a welcome dinner of Nicaraguan dishes.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Augusto C. Sandino International Airport (MGA)
   • Transfer to León
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner in León

   Temps libre : Free until the evening briefing

   Activité : If you land late, the driver still meets you and your guide catches you up at breakfast.

   

2. Jour 2 : Cerro Negro early, the cathedral roof by afternoon

   León to Cerro Negro and back, then central León

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : León
   Détail du jour 2

   Today starts early, and the reason is the heat. Cerro Negro is a bare cone of black basalt gravel that first erupted in 1850 and last in 1999, one of the youngest volcanoes in Central America, and by late morning the gravel is too hot to enjoy. We leave León at 7:30 am, about an hour on a road that turns to dirt for the last stretch, and climb with a local guide for 45 minutes to an hour, carrying your own water. From the rim, about 700 m up, you look into the steaming crater and along the Maribios chain towards the Pacific. Most walk back down the scree; some board down it, an optional extra. We are back in León for a sit-down lunch, then rest through the hottest hours. Mid-afternoon your guide walks you to the cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where the poet Rubén Darío is buried, and up onto its white roof among the domes, shoes off. We finish at the yellow facade of La Recolección and the revolutionary murals. The evening is free.

   Compris

   • Cerro Negro with a local guide: the climb to the crater rim and the walk down
   • Sit-down lunch in León
   • Guided walk of central León: the cathedral and its rooftop, La Recolección and the murals

   Activités en option

   • Volcano boarding down Cerro Negro, booked at the operator's own price
   • Museums in León in your free time, such as the Rubén Darío house museum

   Option plus facile : Stay at the foot of Cerro Negro with the driver and a cold drink while the others climb; the view of the cone and the Maribios chain is good from below.

   Option plus active : Board down the volcano on a sledge, with a suit and goggles from the operator, instead of walking down.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon and evening free in León

   Activité : The climb is steep, on loose gravel, in strong sun and often strong wind at the top. Closed shoes with grip, a hat and at least a litre of water are needed.

   

3. Jour 3 : Masaya market, then Granada by boat

   León to Masaya, then Granada and Las Isletas

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Granada
   Détail du jour 3

   We leave León at about 8:30 am and drive south past Managua, about two hours, to Masaya. Its craft market, set inside a walled 19th-century market building, is a good place to buy hammocks, pottery, carved wood and leather, and you have an hour to browse before a sit-down lunch in town. From Masaya it is about half an hour to Granada, our base for two nights, which we reach by mid-afternoon. Founded in 1524, it is one of the oldest cities built by Europeans on the American mainland, and its grid of colourful colonial houses runs down to Lake Nicaragua. At about 4:30 pm we take a small boat out among Las Isletas, the cluster of small wooded islands formed by an ancient eruption of Mombacho volcano, for an hour and a half in the late light, past fishermen's houses, herons and cormorants. The evening is free; La Calzada, the pedestrian street of cafés and restaurants, is a short walk from the hotel.

   Compris

   • Masaya craft market
   • Sit-down lunch in Masaya
   • Late-afternoon boat trip through Las Isletas on Lake Nicaragua

   Temps libre : Evening free in Granada

   Activité : About three hours of driving in all, broken by the market and lunch.

4. Jour 4 : Granada on foot, Masaya Volcano at dusk

   Central Granada, then Masaya Volcano National Park and back

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Granada
   Détail du jour 4

   We start at 8 am, while the streets are still in shade. Your guide walks you from the Parque Central past the yellow cathedral to La Merced, where you climb the bell tower for the view over red roofs to the lake on one side and Mombacho on the other. At the old Convento San Francisco we see the pre-Columbian basalt statues brought from Zapatera Island, then walk down La Calzada to the lakeshore. Along the way you hear how the American filibuster William Walker had the city burned in 1856, and why so much of what you see was rebuilt after it. We are back by late morning; lunch and the afternoon are yours, for a nap, the pool or a café. At about 4:30 pm we drive half an hour to Masaya Volcano National Park and up to the rim of the Santiago crater as the light goes. When the volcano is active the crater glows red after dark; when the rangers close the rim because of gas, we watch the sunset from the Catarina viewpoint instead. Dinner is your choice.

   Compris

   • Guided walk of Granada: the Parque Central, the cathedral, the La Merced bell tower, the Convento San Francisco statues and La Calzada
   • Masaya Volcano National Park entry and an evening visit to the Santiago crater rim

   Activités en option

   • Kayaking among Las Isletas or a half-day at Laguna de Apoyo in the free afternoon, booked at the operator's own price

   Temps libre : Lunch and the afternoon free in Granada; dinner free

   Activité : Time at the crater rim is limited by park rules, usually to a short stop. Whether lava is visible depends on the volcano and cannot be promised.

5. Jour 5 : By ferry to Ometepe

   Granada to San Jorge, ferry to Moyogalpa, then Charco Verde and Punta Jesús María

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Ometepe
   Détail du jour 5

   After breakfast we drive about an hour and a half south to San Jorge, the port on the western shore of Lake Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America. The ferry to Moyogalpa takes about an hour, and from the deck you watch Ometepe grow: two volcanoes joined by a low neck of land, the steep cone of Concepción, about 1,610 m and still active, and the lower, forested Maderas. The island is a UNESCO biosphere reserve of plantain and rice farms, small villages and roads where horses still share the way with cars. An island van meets us in Moyogalpa, and after a sit-down lunch we settle into our lakeside hotel for two nights. Late in the afternoon there is an easy walk at the foot of Concepción around the lagoon at Charco Verde, a small reserve where howler monkeys and white-faced capuchins are often seen. We end at Punta Jesús María, a sandbar that runs out into the lake, to watch the sun set behind the mainland. The evening is free.

   Compris

   • Ferry from San Jorge to Moyogalpa
   • Sit-down lunch on Ometepe
   • Charco Verde reserve walk at the foot of Concepción
   • Sunset at Punta Jesús María

   Temps libre : Evening free

   Activité : The ferry runs to a timetable and the lake can be choppy in the afternoon wind; we aim for a morning sailing.

   

6. Jour 6 : The Maderas side of the island

   Round Ometepe to the slopes of Maderas and the Ojo de Agua spring

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Ometepe
   Détail du jour 6

   Today we cross the isthmus to the quieter Maderas half of the island, about an hour by van along the lakeshore. With a local guide we walk for about two hours through farms and forest on the lower slopes of Maderas, a dormant volcano of about 1,394 m whose summit holds a crater lake in the cloud forest. The path is mostly gentle. Along the way your guide shows you pre-Columbian petroglyphs, spirals and figures carved into basalt boulders, found all over the island, and explains how families here farm coffee, plantains and beans. Lunch is a sit-down meal at a farm restaurant on the slope. In the afternoon we stop at Ojo de Agua, a spring-fed pool shaded by trees, for a long swim in clear, cool water, and you are back at the hotel by about 4 pm for a free late afternoon and evening by the lake. Pack tonight: tomorrow is the border day, and your guide runs through it once more over a drink before dinner.

   Compris

   • Guided walk on the lower slopes of Maderas, with pre-Columbian petroglyphs
   • Sit-down lunch on the Maderas side of the island
   • Ojo de Agua spring entry and time to swim

   Activités en option

   • The full Maderas summit climb with a local guide, a muddy 7 to 8 hour day, booked at the operator's own price

   Option plus facile : Skip the morning walk and spend the day at Ojo de Agua; the van brings you there and the group joins you after lunch.

   Option plus active : Walk to the San Ramón waterfall on the southern slope of Maderas instead of the petroglyph walk, about 3 to 4 hours there and back on a steady climb through forest.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon and evening free

   Activité : About 2 hours of walking on farm tracks and forest paths with some uphill; the San Ramón waterfall walk (the active option) is longer and steeper, about 3 to 4 hours.

   

7. Jour 7 : Over the border to Rincón de la Vieja

   Ometepe ferry to San Jorge, Peñas Blancas border, then Liberia and Rincón de la Vieja

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Rincón de la Vieja
   Détail du jour 7

   This is the long day, because of the border, not the road. We leave the hotel at about 6:30 am for an early ferry to San Jorge, about an hour on the lake; the sailing times are checked when we confirm your dates. From San Jorge it is about 40 minutes by van to Peñas Blancas. Your guide walks the group through each step: Nicaraguan exit, where you show your passport and pay a small fee in cash; a walk of a few hundred metres with your bag to the Costa Rican post; then Costa Rican immigration, where you may be asked for your flight home, and customs, where bags are x-rayed. It usually takes one and a half to three hours, depending on queues, which nobody can predict. A Costa Rican van meets us on the far side, and after a sit-down lunch in Guanacaste we drive about 100 km, two hours, past Liberia to a lodge near Rincón de la Vieja National Park. The afternoon ends in volcanic hot springs in the dry forest, with dinner at the lodge, as there is no town nearby.

   Compris

   • Ferry from Moyogalpa to San Jorge
   • Border crossing at Peñas Blancas with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Guanacaste
   • Hot springs entry near Rincón de la Vieja
   • Dinner at the lodge

   Temps libre : Late afternoon in the hot springs

   Activité : A 6:30 am start. About 140 km and three hours of driving in all (40 minutes to the border, then about 100 km), plus the ferry and the border. You carry your own bag across the border, so pack light. Have your passport, some small US dollar notes and a copy of your flight home from San José to hand.

8. Jour 8 : Mud pots at Las Pailas, then round Lake Arenal

   Rincón de la Vieja National Park, then Liberia, Tilarán and Lake Arenal to La Fortuna

   • Environ 4 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : La Fortuna
   Détail du jour 8

   Rincón de la Vieja is an active volcano of about 1,916 m, part of the Guanacaste Conservation Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We are at the Las Pailas gate when it opens and walk the loop trail of about 3 km with your guide through tropical dry forest to boiling mud pots, steaming fumaroles and a small volcano of mud, with the smell of sulphur in the air. Watch for white-faced capuchins, coatis and motmots. By about 10:30 am we are back on the road, the longest drive of the trip at about four hours, which is why the walk comes first: south to Cañas, then up to Tilarán and along the winding north shore of Lake Arenal, with a sit-down lunch by the lake halfway. As the road nears La Fortuna, the cone of Arenal comes into view if the cloud allows. We arrive in the late afternoon at our base for two nights, in walking distance of town. The evening is free.

   Compris

   • Rincón de la Vieja National Park entry and the Las Pailas loop with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch on the shore of Lake Arenal

   Option plus facile : Walk the first half of the loop to the fumaroles and back, about 1.5 km, and wait in the shade at the park entrance.

   Temps libre : Evening free in La Fortuna

   Activité : The Las Pailas loop is about 3 km on dirt paths with some rocky sections and a few short climbs; it is hot and exposed in parts, so bring water and a hat. The park is closed on Mondays, so departures are set so this day never falls on a Monday.

   

9. Jour 9 : Arenal at opening, the waterfall and the hot springs

   La Fortuna to Arenal Volcano National Park and La Fortuna Waterfall

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
   • Nuit : La Fortuna
   Détail du jour 9

   Arenal is a cone of about 1,650 m that erupted without warning in 1968 and stayed active until 2010. Its summit is often in cloud by late morning, so we are at the gate of Arenal Volcano National Park when it opens at about 8 am. A licensed naturalist walks us through regrown forest and over old lava flows, now covered in ferns and shrubs, to a viewpoint over the volcano and Lake Arenal. The trails are mostly gentle, about 3 to 4 km in all, and the naturalist carries a telescope for the toucans, howler monkeys and coatis we may meet. We are back in town by noon, and lunch is your choice. In the afternoon we drive about ten minutes to La Fortuna Waterfall, roughly 70 m high, dropping into a forest pool. A viewpoint sits at the top; the pool is about 500 steps down, and you can swim. As the light goes, we drive to one of the hot spring parks around town, where water heated by the volcano runs through pools in gardens, and dinner is included there.

   Compris

   • Arenal Volcano National Park entry and a guided walk with a naturalist
   • La Fortuna Waterfall entry
   • Hot springs entry with dinner

   Activités en option

   • Ziplining, canyoning or a hanging-bridges walk near La Fortuna in the free midday, booked at the operator's own price

   Option plus facile : Stay at the viewpoint at the top of La Fortuna Waterfall instead of taking the 500 steps down to the pool.

   Option plus active : Swim in the pool at the foot of the waterfall, then walk the river path below it with your guide.

   Temps libre : Lunch and the midday free in La Fortuna

   Activité : The steps at the waterfall are steep and can be wet; the climb back up takes 15 to 25 minutes.

   

10. Jour 10 : Across Lake Arenal to Monteverde

    La Fortuna by van and boat across Lake Arenal, then up to Santa Elena (Monteverde)

    • Environ 2 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner
    • Nuit : Monteverde
    Détail du jour 10

    There is no direct road from La Fortuna to Monteverde, and the drive round Lake Arenal takes about four hours, so we cross the lake instead. After breakfast a short drive takes us to a dock near the Arenal dam, where a covered boat carries the group and our bags across the water, with the volcano behind us when the sky is clear. Lake Arenal is a reservoir, the largest lake in Costa Rica, formed when the dam was finished in 1979. On the far shore our van meets us for the climb into the Tilarán hills, the last stretch on a winding, partly unpaved road, to Santa Elena, the village beside the Monteverde reserves at about 1,400 m, noticeably cooler than the lowlands. We arrive around midday, and lunch and the afternoon are yours to settle in or walk the village. At dusk we go out with a naturalist on a two-hour guided night walk in a private reserve, torch in hand, looking for sleeping birds, tarantulas, tree frogs and, with luck, a sloth or a kinkajou.

    Compris

    • Boat across Lake Arenal
    • Guided night walk with a naturalist in a private reserve

    Activités en option

    • Coffee and chocolate farm tour in the free afternoon, booked at the operator's own price

    Temps libre : Lunch and the afternoon free in Santa Elena

    Activité : The night walk is about two hours at a slow pace on forest paths; bring a rain jacket and a warm layer.

11. Jour 11 : Inside the Monteverde cloud forest

    Santa Elena to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, then a hanging-bridges park

    • Environ 1 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
    • Nuit : Monteverde
    Détail du jour 11

    The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve opens at 7 am, and the first hour is the quietest and the best for birds, so this is our third early start, after Cerro Negro and the border day, with breakfast packed or served early. With a licensed naturalist and a telescope we walk about 3 km of the reserve's trails under trees thick with mosses, bromeliads and orchids, listening for the metallic call of the three-wattled bellbird and looking for the resplendent quetzal, seen most often from about February to April. The reserve was founded in 1972, with land from the Quaker families who settled here in the early 1950s. We come back to Santa Elena for a sit-down lunch together at a local soda. In the afternoon we walk the hanging bridges at a canopy park nearby: a loop of trail and suspension bridges at treetop height, which shows the cloud forest from the level where most of its life happens. If cloud or rain closes in, your guide swaps the morning and afternoon. The evening is free.

    Compris

    • Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve entry and a guided walk with a naturalist
    • Sit-down lunch in Santa Elena
    • Hanging-bridges walk at a canopy park

    Activités en option

    • Ziplining through the canopy in place of the hanging bridges, booked at the operator's own price

    Option plus facile : Walk only the first hour in the reserve and rest at the visitor centre café, or skip the bridges and take the afternoon free.

    Option plus active : Go back into the reserve in the afternoon on your own ticket for the longer trails to the continental divide viewpoint.

    Temps libre : Evening free in Santa Elena

    Activité : About 3 km in the reserve and 3 km on the bridges loop, on paths that can be wet and muddy; bring a rain jacket and shoes with grip.

12. Jour 12 : Down to San José

    Monteverde to San José via the Pacific lowlands and Route 27

    • Environ 3.5 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
    • Nuit : San José
    Détail du jour 12

    We leave Santa Elena at about 8:30 am and wind down out of the hills to the Pan-American Highway, then take Route 27 east up into the Central Valley, about 145 km and three and a half hours of driving, with a sit-down lunch on the way so we arrive in the city by mid-afternoon. San José sits at about 1,150 m among coffee slopes and volcanoes, so the evening is mild. Your guide walks the group through the centre: the Plaza de la Cultura and the Teatro Nacional, paid for with a tax on coffee exports and opened in 1897; the pedestrian Avenida Central; and the Museo Nacional, set in the old Bellavista fortress, whose barracks became a museum after Costa Rica abolished its army in 1948. Where the museum is closed on our day, we look at it from outside and visit the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum under the plaza. In the evening we walk to a farewell dinner together, two countries and twelve nights after León.

    Compris

    • Sit-down lunch on the way to San José
    • Guided walk of central San José with the Museo Nacional or the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum
    • Farewell dinner in San José

    Temps libre : An hour free before the farewell dinner

    Activité : About three and a half hours of driving, broken by lunch; the city walk is about two hours on flat streets.

    

13. Jour 13 : Juan Santamaría airport

    San José to Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)

    • Environ 45 min de route
    • Petit-déjeuner
    Détail du jour 13

    The trip ends after breakfast. If you have time before your flight, the Mercado Central, a covered market of narrow aisles with sodas, spice stalls and coffee sellers, is a short walk from the centre and a good place to buy beans to take home. Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) is about 20 km west of San José in Alajuela, 30 to 45 minutes by road depending on traffic, and longer at the morning and evening rush hours. We run a group transfer leaving the hotel at about 9:30 am, with your guide, for flights leaving after about 12:30 pm. If your flight is earlier or later, we arrange a separate transfer to match it; tell us your flight time when you request to book. Remember that Costa Rica checked your onward flight when you entered: this is it. If you would like to stay on in Costa Rica, at the beach or in the Central Valley, ask us and we can add nights.

    Compris

    • Drop-off at Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)

    Temps libre : Morning free until the transfer

    Activité : Book a flight leaving after about 12:30 pm to travel on the group transfer.

Faune et météo : December to April is the dry season on the Pacific side of both countries: sunny, hot and dusty in León and Guanacaste, often above 30 °C by March, which is why we climb Cerro Negro early. Arenal and Monteverde are wetter and can be in cloud or drizzle in any month; your guide swaps morning and afternoon plans when the weather turns. Howler monkeys are heard most days on Ometepe and in Guanacaste, and coatis, toucans and sloths are often seen in Costa Rica; the resplendent quetzal is seen most often from about February to April in Monteverde. Wildlife is never promised.

• León2 nuits
• Granada2 nuits
• Ometepe2 nuits
• Rincón de la Vieja1 nuit
• La Fortuna2 nuits
• Monteverde2 nuits
• San José1 nuit