I went on 9 day solo trip first time in Central America. What surprised me the most is that the country I was more afraid of to travel alone felt the most safe. I was not overly worried about travelling in Costa Rica as I have heard it is very safe, however I felt like I had the most attention there. And El Salvador for years had a very bad reputation, but I felt that it was very safe there. These are of course my personal observations.
I started my trip in Costa Rica and instead of chilling much by the beach I wanted to see the nature - volcanoes and cloud forests. I gave myself a day by the coast to rest after a flight and to be honest this was my least favourite place in Costa Rica. I feel like the real beauty is in La Fortuna and Monteverde which I visited later. Maybe it was the area I picked - Coco Playa purely so I can take a day trip to Nicaragua. I have heard that Manuel Antonio is very nice.
On three second day I went on a whole day organised tour (well it was only 3 of us - an American couple and me) to Nicaragua. I honestly can say it was very worth it. It took about 2h to get to the border and then we visited “San Juan Del Sur” coastal town that had beautiful views to the bay, had breakfast by the Lake Nicaragua overlooking two volcanoes - Maderas and Concepcion. Then our journey continued to Catarina, where we had a boat tour and spotted some wild monkeys and the tour finished visiting historical Granada town. Interestingly the architecture over there has an Arabic influence.
The following day I took a shuttle to “La Fortuna” which has “Volcan Arenal” just at the footsteps. I found shuttles to be efficient and safe in Costa Rica and they pick and drop you off from the hotel to the hotel. I used “Bookaway” to reserve my shuttles. All those journeys were also very scenic. This particular one went along the Lake Arenal and gave great views to the volcano.
My time in La Fortuna was spent visiting “National Park of Volcan Arenal” and enjoying hot springs. This volcano used to be one of the most active in the world, however over the past years has decreased in its activity and currently it is possible to visit it up close, however not too close.
And the last stop in Costa Rica for me was mountainous town “Monteverde”. The weather was much different over there - more cool. I visited 2 national parks, including “Monteverde Cloud Forest” and also a night safari walk, which was probably highlight of my whole trip - we got to see wild animals at night which is when they are the most active. Highlight was seeing a snake, tarantula, scorpion, sloth and kinkajou.
I had another day and a half and I decided to visit El Salvador on a very short trip, so I hopped on Avianca 1h flight and stayed the night in surfer town “El Tunco”. It felt very safe and touristy. The beach is nice if you are into surfing, otherwise it is not a swimming place really. And the main highlight was hiking a volcano in Santa Ana. After 2h hike I got to see the crater which now has a light milky green/blue lake. You can also see the smoke from the lake as it is still an active volcano. The views from the top were also amazing overseeing other volcanos and surrounding lakes and mountains. And it was then time to return to the airport and head home.
COSTA RICA, NICARAGUA & EL SALVADOR ITINERARY
DAY 1 - Fly to Liberia (LIR)
DAY 2 - Chill day in Guancaste
DAY 3 - Nicaragua day trip
DAY 4 - Shuttle La Fortuna 4.5h
DAY 5 - Arenal Volcano & Hot springs 6h
DAY 6 - Shuttle to Monteverde 3h
Cloud Forest 2h
Night jungle walk 2h
Day 7 - Shuttle to San Jose (SJO) 4h
Fly SJO-SAL 16:50-18:05
Day 8 - Santa Ana Volcano hike 6h
Day 9 - Fly back
EXPENSES £980 + Flights
Airbnb’s £260
Transfers £220
Tours £300
Food £200
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