Click on the links below for details of our trip and a photo gallery

About our trip

We flew into Managua and out of San Jose on American Airlines from Miami. Both cities are well connected with the region - our friends came via Mexico City and Panama. The border crossing between the two countries was also pretty easy. In both countries we found the roads to be reasonable. Most of the main roads, including the busy TransAmerican highway, were good. Smaller roads were variable - some tarmac with big potholes, others slow dirt tracks like some of the roadséé on Ometepe or in the north of Nicaragua.

On the TransAmerican highway

Being on the continental divide both countries get lots of rain. In some places over 2m per year! We travelled at the end of the rainy season - late October/early November - which is when the rains are supposed to stop. In fact we had some huge downpours and thunderstorms but fortunately most were at night and did not disrupt our travel. The good thing is that the weather makes the landscape very green. In the dry season from December to April it is more brown. At this time you can see more birds as there are fewer leaves on the trees and the birds come closer to the ground. Also check out when the festivals are - these could liven up your trip as well.

We aimed for comfortable mid-range hotels and some of the places we stayed were great. In Managua, Hotel Mansión Teodolinda was comfortable. Jaguar Lodge was basic but good for wildlife. By contrast Hotel El Convento in Leon (above) was very nice - well decorated, comfortable rooms with lots of Latin American art. The Patio del Malinche in Granada was also a little gem. Well situated in the centre of town it had small rooms around two pretty courtyards and very friendly and helpful staff. We also liked our final hotel in Nicaragua - El Xalli Lodge on Ometepe (below).

In Costa Rica the Hacienda Guachipelin was a big disappointment. It was well situated for the Rincon national park but we found it too big, the rooms were very basic and the food was dreadful. We felt that it had become complacent and should try harder. By contrast the hotel Silencio del Campo by Arenal was a delight. Very comfortable villas in pretty gardens. Finally the Hotel Grano de Oro in San Jose was very good too. A colonial style hotel with very comfortable rooms and a great (but expensive) restaurant. It was not close to the centre of town but good for the airport - a great transit hotel.

Food in Nicaragua and San Jose features a lot of rice, beans and maize. Gallo Pinto, a mixture of fried white rice and kidney beans is a staple in Nicaragua - eaten at breakfast and dinner. Asado or a la Plancha means grilled food - chicken, beef or fish, often with a chilli sauce. We also found some great local cheese - cuajada - in some hotels and restaurants. This tastes quite like Feta and is often served as part of breakfast and sometimes grilled. Tres leches is a popular sweet cake including condensed milk and grated coconut. To drink you can get great fresh fruit punches - the fruit is spectacular. Local beer is good and we found it quite easy to buy wine - usually from Chile. We were advised to drink bottled water in Nicaragua but in Costa Rica the tap water seemed safe. For the harder stuff, Flor de Cana rum from Nicaragua is very drinkable while Cacique or Guaro is a white spirit from Costa Rica which mixes with anything.

We found some good restaurants on our travels. In Leon, Bodegon had good modern Mexican food and was very reasonable - popular with the backpackers in town. We found three good restaurants in Grenada - El Corral had a great selection of steaks. El Marlin was a really good seafood restaurant with good prices and El Zaguan served great cocktails and wine with very good steaks. On Ometepe our hotel, El Xalli, had a good restaurant. For a change we tracked down Campestri, a simple roadside restaurant that did great curries with home grown ingredients as well as the normal Nicaraguan fare.

We found the food in Costa Rica more expensive, particularly at the smarter restaurants. Near Rincon we were very happy to be recommended the Camino del Cerro where we ate very good home smoked ribs. In Fortuna, by Arenal, we had a fine birthday dinner at Don Rufino - we had spectacular steak and good wine. The restaurant in the Grano de Oro hotel was very good too, with prices to match!

beef a la plancha with cuajada and plantain patties

We had no problems with money in either country. I took some US dollars but did not get very good rates when changing in Nicaragua (about 30 Cordoba = 1 USD). Most places took credit cards and USD and we could get local currency from the ATMs. In Costa Rica the local currency, the Colón, is 560 to the dollar so watch out for the noughts when using the notes. We tipped around 10% as well as tipping drivers, guides and maids.

Electricity is the US 110v straight 2 pin plug. Internet was surprisingly good in both countries - in fact we often got a better speed in more out of the way places. Shops in the main towns in Nicaragua and all over Costa Rica had everything that you might have forgotten although in more remote locations in Nicaragua you would be pressed to find supplies.

Temperatures in late October ranged from around 18C to 30C depending on where and how high you are. We did not need warm clothing but waterproofs are essential! Bug spray is also essential particularly if you are walking in the parks. We reacted badly to some bites on our second day so anti-histamine tablets would be useful - we bought some in Leon. Binoculars and longer lenses are obviously key if you plan to look at the birds and other wildlife.

With two Spanish speakers in our group we had no problems with language but if you don't have any Spanish you may struggle in more remote locations. In the national parks all of our guides spoke good English.

Reading list

I struggled to find a lot of books about the places we visited. The following were useful however.

The Jaguar Smile by Salman Rushdie is a short travel book that he wrote following a visit to meet the writers, poets, and Sandinista political leaders in 1986. It provides good background and context for the civil war and the intervention by the US backed Contras.

The Costa Rica Reader edited by Steven Palmer and Ivan Molina is full of fascinating extracts and essays about the history, culture and politics of the country.

A bird book is pretty much essential for anyone interested in the wildlife. I picked a pretty simple one - Birds of Costa Rica by Steve Bird (sic) - although there are much thicker and more authoritative ones available.

Monarch Butterfly