We enjoyed Nicaragua. A country full of nice people and beautiful sights. Although, during the dry season the heat is very intense making it a tough country to explore on a bicycle. The roads were well maintained and the drivers are used to cyclists on the road. Sometimes we even had a dedicated cycling line for us, what a surprise in Central America! You can check the route we followed here.
The costs are PER PERSON. Although not as cheap as Guatemala, Nicaragua is a real budget destination. Our 10 dollars did go a long way here. We decided to splurge a bit on rooms. Not for the beds, but for the fans!
We entered the country though the Honduran border at El Guasable. After a few days resting in León we decided to head east to San Isidro and climb up to the mountains to reach Estelí,where we spent some time in the mountains and explored the Somoto Canyon. Then, it was all downhill to reach the beautiful city of Granada. The heat was oppressive so we took the ferry to Omepete island, where we enjoyed cycling the dirt roads unloaded. Once we were back from the island, it was an easy day of cycling to reach the border with Costa Rica.
* Costs in american dollars (USD)
ON THE BIKE
Total: 16 Days
Cycling days: 6 Days
Rest days: 10 Days
Total pedalled: 353 Kms (219 mi)
Kms/day: 22.06 Kms (13.61mi)
Kms/cycling days: 58.8 Kms (36.5mi)
COSTS
Total Spent: 148.75 USD
Average spent per day: 9.31 USD
LODGING
Total Spent: 81.00 USD
Average spent per day: 5.06 USD
FOOD
Total Spent: 62.25 USD
Average spent per day: 3.89 USD
OTHERS
Total Spent: 6.00 USD
Average spent per day: 0.37 USD
A bed in a dorm goes for around 5 dollars in the touristy cities and a double room with bathroom in a small town goes for around 10. So we rarely camped during the 3 weeks we spent in the country. With the food, we cooked most of our meals. Our only treat were some beers, the nicaraguan “Toña”, every now and then.
LODGING
Total : 16 Days
Days paid to sleep: 15 Days
Days not paid to sleep 1 Days
Showers: 15 (We are way too clean!)
Hostel-hotel : 15 Days
Host – Friends: 0 Days
Place : 0 Days
Camping: 1 Days
- Paid: 0 Day
- Unpaid: 1 Day
Accommodation was quite cheap in Nicaragua, specially travelling as a couple. So we decided to splurge a bit and sleep well. Even though we didn’t camp much, we did it once at about 200 meters away of an active volcano crater (Telica), a memorable camping spot.
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Nice! Whose the cutie on the bike??!!??.