Nicaragua: Getting there & around

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 José 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 León has several buses running to San Miguel and San Salvador, the shortest trip between the two countries. Buses leaving from Estelí 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; Waspám 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 Waspám, 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 Costeña (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 Río 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 Río San Juan, a region almost entirely (and only) navigable by boat. You'll also rely on boats for side trips from Bluefields, Bilwi and Waspám, 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.