We’ve been in Costa Rica since the beginning of November and we had to leave the country since the maximum amount of time you can stay is 90 days. The amount of time you need to be out of the country is more dependent on the custom’s agent you end up with than the laws. We’ve heard about people who crossed the border into Panama or Nicaragua, for example, and then walked around and came right back into Costa Rica or had lunch across the border and then came back. We’ve also heard about people who tried this and were told they had to be out a minimum of 3 days. Since our new rental home would not be available until February 1st, we decided to stay in Nicaragua for 5 nights. We chose to take the executive TransNica bus that left at noon from San Jose. There is also an economy bus that leaves at various times throughout the day. We were told the executive bus had larger seats and more legroom and it also included a meal. There is another bus company that people use to go to both Nicaragua and Panama called TicaBus. They also have economy and executive buses. From what we heard there isn’t much difference between the two so it depends on the time you want to travel.
Since we wanted to go to the Canadian Embassy before the bus station, we took a bus from Atenas to Sabana Sur (west part of San Jose) and then took a taxi to the Embassy a few blocks away. We took another taxi to the TransNica bus station…not a fancy place.
We heard so many horror stories of long line ups at the border to exit Costa Rica and then more long lines on the Nicaragua side to get through customs. Many people told us how uncomfortable it was to wait so long in the heat and several people told us they waited in lines for up to 3 hours. We were very fortunate when we got to the Costa Rican border since there was no line up and everyone was processed within about 20 minutes.
It’s true what people say about money changers trying to sell you Nicaraguan currency called the "Cordoba"on the Costa Rican side. When we got off the bus to get our passports stamped to exit the country, we had to walk through about 20 money changers who were flashing money and crowding around the door of the bus. We just kept saying, "No, gracias" and kept walking.
We learned in advance not to exchange money on the Costa Rican side since the exchange rate is usually not as good and the U.S. currency is accepted everywhere in Nicaragua, even in the outdoor markets.
When we arrived at the Nicaraguan border we had to get our luggage from under the bus and put it on long tables that were lined up outside. We had to open our suitcases and bags and a custom agent looked very briefly at the contents before telling us we could go. We also had to give our passports to the bus driver who took them inside to get them all stamped. We waited around until someone came out with all the passports and as they called your name, you picked up your passport and then got on the bus. Again, we were fortunate that our time at the border was not long (about 45 minutes) and since it was later in the day (around 5:30 pm when we got there) it was cooler and comfortable standing outside.
We arrived at our hotel in Granada around 7pm. After checking Trip Advisor and asking everyone we knew in Costa Rica about places to stay, we chose Hotel Kekoldi. They offered good rates, had good reviews on Trip Advisor and we heard from people we knew that it was a clean and nice, (not fancy) hotel that was walking distance to the center of town. It also had hot water and air conditioning. We heard it was very hot in Nicaragua and unless you really like the heat it would be best to have air conditioning. Our rate also included breakfast.
Here are a few photos of the hotel. Once you walk inside, there is a large foyer and then a courtyard in the middle with rooms along the sides. Our room had 2 queen sized beds and a TV and wireless Internet. We were very happy with it.
