Maderas Volcano Rain Forest

ravel in Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America and it offers great opportunities for every type of traveler. Nicaragua is an exotic land of rare natural beauty, volcanoes, beaches, cloud forests, and spectacular Spanish colonial cities.

The largest and most centrally located of the Central American republics, Nicaragua equals England and Wales in size, but those 120,254 square kilometers are filled with some of the greatest concentration of volcanoes and inland bodies of water in the world.

Click Map for larger view

The landscape of the country can be divided into three distinct regions: the Atlantic lowlands in the east, the Pacific lowlands in the west, and a mountainous central region in between. A row of volcanoes runs through the Pacific lowlands, that extends northward into El Salvador, and southward into Costa Rica-linking the isthmus in a volcanic spine that has helped to create the rich soil and turbulent geological histories of the region.

Known for its intriguing scenery and its friendly people it features an abundance of lakes, rivers, volcanoes, colonial cities, untouched forests and sandy beaches.

Is Nicaragua Safe to Travel?

Nicaragua's political history, along with the many natural disasters that have struck this land, made it a newsworthy country for many years. Unfortunately, positive news about Central America’s largest country rarely were heard, making you wonder if anything has changed within the course of time. Is it worth a visit?

The answer is a resounding yes. In its second decade as a stable, democratic society, Nicaragua is demonstrating to the world precisely why Oscar Arias deserved the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987. Following the Costa Rican example, its neighbor to the south, Nicaragua gives hope to other developing nations that democracy, combined with less investment in military and more investment in education and health, are the key success factors to development.

Your visit will only help reinforce the commitment of this country's bold efforts at reinventing its role as a leader of cultural, economic and civil society in the region--a role it relinquished for part of the last century but that is well within its reach during the next.

Is Nicaragua safe?

If you look at the country profiles for all the countries south of the border of the United States of America, as documented by the United States Department of State, all the way to Argentina and Chile, you will probably conclude that Nicaragua is the safest country of all.

Safety, in the modern world, can only be assessed in relative terms. Thankfully, Nicaragua has been blessed by relatively low levels of crime. And what crime there is has been “local” to the very remote northern parts of the country, and never directed at tourists.

ly to Nicaragua

The following international airlines service the Sandino International Airport in Managua, Nicaragua. For details on itineraries, please consult with the airline or your travel agent.

Airline Company:	Website:	Flights from:
	www.aa.com	Miami, FL
	www.taca.com	Los Angeles, CA
	www.continental.com	Houston, TX
	www.copaair.com	Almost from every Latin America country
	www.delta.com	Atlanta, GA
	www.spiritair.com	Fort Lauderdale, FL

otel Booking and Vacation Rentals in Nicaragua

We can book you a hotel or vacation rental home for your trip to nicaragua, as well as many other travel arrangements. Contact Us for more information or browse our listings at www.vacationrentalsnicaragua.com

ent-a-cars in Nicaragua

There are a few rent-a-car companies in Nicaragua which provide most of the basic services. You can expect to choose from a variety of cars – from jeeps to hit the beaches with or more common compact cars. You could even choose a luxury car or sedan if you wanted.

You can expect to present the necessary paperwork as well as organize insurance and fuel for the vehicle you are going to be driving. Most car rental agencies in Nicaragua are part of a global chain and so uphold more or less the same standards as branches in other countries.

Rent-a-car Companies:	Website:	Offices in:
	www.budget.com.ni	Managua, Granada, and Costa Rican border
	www.alamonicaragua.com	Managua, Granada and San Juan del Sur
	www.dollar.com.ni	Managua, Leon, Granada and Cost Rican border
	www.hertz.com.ni	Managua and Granada

hat you need in Nicaragua

Visa

People from nearly every country (including the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and most European countries) do not need a visa to enter Nicaragua.

A tourist card can be purchased upon arrival in Nicaragua for $5. For a list countries whose citizens must obtain a visa to enter the country, see:
www.visitanicaragua.com/gen_lista_visas.php

Vaccinations

The US and most other countries do not require any special immunizations to visit Nicaragua. For more information, see the US Center for Disease Control.

To protect yourself against getting sick, you should make sure your normal inoculations are up-to-date and be careful what you eat outside of your homestay.

You don't need any malaria pills. It isn't Asia or Africa.

Currency exchange

    

    

            

Nicaragua's currency is the Córdoba, it was born in 1912 in honor of Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, one of the spanish captains that discovered Nicaragua. It is commonly called a peso.

You can find coins of ½, 1 and 5 Cordobas and bills of 10, 20, 50, 100 and 500 Córdobas. For the most part, in Nicaragua you can either pay with Córdobas or dollars. You can also use all mayor credit cards.

You do not need to bring a large amount of cash with you since there are ATMs and banks in all the mayor cities of Nicaragua. In San Juan del Sur there are four ATMs and three banks. The current exchange rate (as of September 2008) is US$1 = C$19.55 – for the most up-to-date exchange, you can visit www.bcn.gob.ni.

We highly reccomend that you exchange your dollars at the bank as opposed to money changers on the street.