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Nicaragua Highlights Tour: Volcanoes, Markets, Granada
4.6
566 Ratings
Guanacaste
Discover Nicaragua’s top attractions in just one day from Costa Rica!
Visit a dormant volcano crater, witness the active Masaya Crater, shop at artisan markets, wander through the colonial town of Granada, enjoy a boat ride around the islets of Lake Nicaragua, and even feed monkeys!
Discover Nicaragua’s top attractions in just one day from Costa Rica!
Visit a dormant volcano crater, witness the active Masaya Crater, shop at artisan markets, wander through the colonial town of Granada, enjoy a boat ride around the islets of Lake Nicaragua, and even feed monkeys!
Duration:
15 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- Pinilla - 4:00 am
- Tamarindo - 4:30 am
- Playa Langosta - 4:20 am
- Tamarindo - 4:30 am
- Native’s Way - You will picked up from your hotel promptly and taken to the border where your guide will help you in every step of the crossing, which takes about 30 minutes. The guide will make the process easy for you and will take care of…
- Pinilla - 4:00 am
- Tamarindo - 4:30 am
- Playa Langosta - 4:20 am
- Tamarindo - 4:30 am
- Native’s Way - You will picked up from your hotel promptly and taken to the border where your guide will help you in every step of the crossing, which takes about 30 minutes. The guide will make the process easy for you and will take care of all of the passport paperwork and visas. From here we will travel to eat a hearty breakfast to start off the day.
- Playa Conchal - 4:50 am
- Playa Flamingo - 4:30 am
- Playa Hermosa - 5:30 am - Secrets Papagayo, Villas Sol, Occidental Papagayo, Mangroove
- Playas del Coco - 5:20 am
- Liberia - 6:00 am
- Mirador de Catarina - Here you will enjoy an incredible view over the dormant volcano crater, Granada, and Lake Nicaragua. You will be allowed to walk around freely for a while before getting back in the bus and heading to the next stop.
- Masaya Crafts Market - Do some shopping for inexpensive souvenirs and experience the Nicaraguan life style before sitting down for a typical Nicaraguan lunch.
- Masaya Volcano National Park - An active volcano where you will have the opportunity to stand right next to its crater and hear it rumbling and spewing of gases. An incredible, rare sight.
- Catedral de Granada - An old Colonial town near Lake Nicaragua. Stop at La Merced Church, considered one of the most beautiful buildings of Granada. It is flanked by a large tower that houses the church bells. You will ascend the stairs and reach the roof of the church. From here, you’ll have a panoramic city view of Granada, Mombacho Volcano, and Nicaragua Lake with the islets. This is the perfect place to take pictures of the beautiful city and the surroundings.
- Las Isletas - Your last stop is a one hour boat ride in Lake Nicaragua viewing the Nicarguan Islets around sunset. Your guide will stop by Monkey Island consisting only of monkeys that will come out and take food from your guide on the boat! You will then head back to Costa Rica, stopping on the way to pick up some snacks for the ride home.

What's Included
- Hotel, Condo, or House pickup and drop-off
- National Park fees
- All taxes, fees and handling charges
- Bottled water
- Lunch
- Breakfast
- Hotel, Condo, or House pickup and drop-off
- National Park fees
- All taxes, fees and handling charges
- Bottled water
- Lunch
- Breakfast
What's Not Included
- Gratuities
- Transport from Waldorf Astoria, Catalinas, Andaz, Four Seasons, Plt Hollywood
- Gratuities
- Transport from Waldorf Astoria, Catalinas, Andaz, Four Seasons, Plt Hollywood
Additional Information
- Passport name, number, expiry and country is required at time of booking for all participants. Please bring your passport on the day of your tour
- Entry to Nicaragua: Send photo of passport to [email protected] or WhatsApp
- Your departure Ticket that proof of flight out of Costa Rica
- If your hotel is not listed, contact us for quoting
- It is…
- Passport name, number, expiry and country is required at time of booking for all participants. Please bring your passport on the day of your tour
- Entry to Nicaragua: Send photo of passport to [email protected] or WhatsApp
- Your departure Ticket that proof of flight out of Costa Rica
- If your hotel is not listed, contact us for quoting
- It is prohibited to enter the country of Nicaragua with the following items: all kinds of Drones, all kinds of Binoculars, including those for Night vision, and any object considered for professional, journalistic, and similar audiovisual reproduction.
Location
JW Marriott Guanacaste Resort & Spa
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.6
(566 Ratings)
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Paulamw3730tf
Mar 13, 2026
An adventure in Nicaragua ! - Our family of 4 including a 10 and 12 year old made the trek to Nicaragua! What an adventure. It is a long day but we had a wonderful time and learned so much. Pedro, our guide, was super knowledgeable and made the trip an incredible experience. We all agreed we were happy we chose this excursion!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Kevin
Mar 11, 2026
A must do, this was definitely a worthwhile adventure - From Paul our driver on the Costa Rica side to Claudio our guide and driver on the Nicaragua side this was awesome. Great opportunity to see some place I wouldn’t have necessarily ever gone to.
The food and every site we visited was outstanding. We felt perfectly safe the entire time and the people of Nicaragua are very hospitable.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Bobcrowe
Mar 11, 2026
Safe way to experience Nicaragua - Fascinating but very long day trip to a neighboring country with a different feel. Nicaragua seemed a bit scary to us based on State Department recommendations but everything was smooth and secure. Huge Lake Nicaragua, huge lakeside windmills, two volcanoes, the charming old colonial town of Granada and a boat ride among nearby volcanic islands. Excellent guide and drivers. Rather a tiring day for us oldsters (~ 16 hours) with long van rides up and back.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jonathantb1678lt
Mar 10, 2026
Experience Nicaragua in a day - Wonderful experience of Nicaragua in one day! Small group. Border crossing went very smooth. Great Breakfast next to Lake Nicaragua and lunch in the courtyard restaurant in Granada. Catarina and Masaya were the perfect combination of an active and inactive volcano. Very scenic for both, but in different ways. Granada was grand. Perfect feel of a Spanish Colonial City. Riding the carriage was the perfect way to get a great sense of the city while escaping the heat. The horses also seemed quite happy. Boat ride was a good finish to the day. The guides were very knowledgeable and organized. Paul was also a good driver.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dean_o
Mar 1, 2026
Beautiful Nicaragua - We had a wonderful day! Pedro is an excellent guide and very knowledgeable! Everything was extremely smooth and on time. Pedro took care of us through out the entire day. We loved it and recommend it to any who wants to learn more about Nicaragua!
Review provided by Viator
559lyndah
Feb 23, 2026
Full day - First off, this is a long day; however, don't let that deter you at all!
We thought this was an amazing tour! Our tour guide was so knowledgeable and informative.
There was so much to do and see! Granada was a darling town and we loved the carriage ride!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Renata_s
Feb 22, 2026
Incredible experience - It was sensational! Super worth it!
Super nice guide! Animated group!
Amazing landscapes!
Sensational!
Review provided by Viator
Jeremy_h
Feb 21, 2026
Private is the way to go!! - This private tour was AMAZING!! Paul and Miguel were fantastuc guides. They made sure we had a fantastic experience. Miguel was very knowledgeable about Nicaragua, providing rich history along with off the beaten path places to eat. The food was sooo good.
Highly recommend!!
Review provided by Viator
Soniabz7791hf
Feb 24, 2026
Bad experience - We had a bad experience, the sailsman never warned us about the lenght of the time we would have to spent in the bus, 12 hours on a 16 hours day. He sold us a french tour wich was not true. The bus use for the trip was inadéquate with no leg space and unconfortable seat and the breakfast included in the tour was not good. Fortunatly the guide and the activities in itself were good but only lasted 4 ours in total including lunch time.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Juanangel_r
Mar 2, 2026
Disappointing - Activity they sell as bilingual, which is totally false. The guide, Peter, was warned on several occasions, and would not speak in Spanish, even though it was his mother tongue.
The visit to Granada is not done with the guide, it consists of a float ride, which also has to be paid for separately and a stop at a chocolate shop.
Review provided by Viator
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