Nicaragua is without doubt THE most budget-friendly country in the Central America. Think about a budget you considered low until now and cut that by half: this is what we mean! Food is cheap, accomodation is ultra-cheap and transport might not be the most comfortable but guess what… yep, cheap was well. Imagine that there were days on our trip that the both of us were living off at just 15€ (17.5$)!
Here follows a collection of our budget experience during our month-and-a-half roadtrip throughout Nicaragua. We tried putting together a comprehensive guide to help you organize your trip from the start. Just choose your budget and go with it!
1# Accomodation Cost
When thinking about accomodation in Nicaragua, you’ll have to reset your “how-much-it-should-be-worth” clock and start comparing hostels prices to local prices.
A bed in a shared dorm at a normal hostel usually cost around 150-180COR (4-5€) even in the most touristy areas. On the other hand, if you’re looking to stay at one of the famous international hostels that have made their name over the years then price will rarely be under the 300COR (8.5€).
In some areas, getting a double room (for couples) at local homestays/hotels is indeed more convenient than paying two beds in a dorm with prices floating around the 300-400COR (8-11€) mark. Even if sometimes you might want gift yourself a night in a fancier backpacker place, the maximum we’ve ever spent on our trip was 500COR (13.5€) for a huge beautiful double room with all the possible amenities.
AirBnB is a good option for those looking to have their own apartments (most starting at 20-25€ per night) but far more luxury options are also available at prices around the 50-60€ per night. And we mean real luxury!
2# Food & Eating Out
Contrairly to other countries, cooking all the meals yourself and eating streetfood has more or less the same costs in Nicaragua.
Full daily meals, usually including also a natural juice, can be found at local comedores at the outrageous price of 40-75COR (1-2€). For more elaborated meals, expect to spend 100-150 (3-4€) per plate.
Eating out at restaurants offering international cuisine can be still cheap but much more expensive if compared to local standards. Expect to pay at least 250COR (6.5€) per dish and even 400-500COR (11-15€) if you’re planning to have a seafood night.
Streetfood such as pinchos, pizza slices, tamales etc… is usually sold at 15-20COR (0.40€) per piece. For the cheapest drinks, sodas and water in a “bag” (its usual from here to pour it/sell it in a plastic bag) cost around 15-20COR (0.40€) but if you fancy bottled stuff then that’s at least 25-30COR (0.75€). Beer can be found at 21-30COR and something is even cheaper than water!
Buying fruit and vegetables at local markets can be ridiculously cheap (e.g. 3 avocadoes for less than 1€) but expect to pay around 100COR (3€) for a simple meal for two at a supermarket.
3# Transport & moving around
The cheapest and questionably most efficient way to travel in Nicaragua are old Bluebird buses, also known as Chicken Buses. To estimate the cost of a bus journey just keep in mind that the average ratio is roughly 28COR (0.75€) per hour of travel.
Even though buses go pretty much everywhere, taxi are sometimes used to reach small towns or move around big towns. Expect inflated fares even for short rides!
4# Tours & Day-Trips
Most tours and entrance fees to national parks have increasingly adapted to the modern tourism featuring very high prices compared to locals costs (even the prices are listed in $ and not local currency!). Pretty much for any half-day tour expect paying 25-40$/pp, for one-day tours 40-60$/pp and multiday tours start at 75$/pp.
Thankfully, with a bit of planning, 99% of the hiking tours offered by local agencies can be DIY resulting in a huge saving! Here some of the DIY and guided tours we did in Nicaragua:
Half Day – Isletas de Granada ——> 40$
Half Day – Guided Trip to Masaya ——> 25$/pp (impossible to DIY)
Full Day – Nature Trekking in Selva Negra ——> 30$/pp (DIY 7$/pp)
Full Day – Somoto Canyon ——> 15$/pp (possible to DIY but not worth)
Two Days – Hiking & Camping on El Hoyo ——> 75$/pp (DIY 25$/pp)
Final Thoughts
From the first moment we landed in Cancun (Mexico), every traveller we met going up kept telling us that Nicaragua was cheap, very cheap. But you don’t really understand how cheap it can be until you realize that with 50€ a couple can easily live off a couple of days!
During our stay, we rarely cooked our meal and mostly ate out at local comedores or enjoyed the street food. For the sleeping we alternated dorms with private double rooms. All in all, as a couple staying below the 30€/per day mark is a lot easier than what you would expect! Time to pack your things and go!
The final budget for Nicaragua was 966.55COR/day for the both of us and it was broken down into the following:
Food & Eating out – 373.83 COR (10.10€)
Accomodation – 338.14 COR (9.14€)
Transport & Moving Around – 94.24 COR (2.55€)
Tours & Day Trips – 115.71 COR (3.13€)
Extras – 44.62COR (1.21€)
TOTAL – 966.55 COR/day (26.12€)
PLANNING A TRIP TO NICARAGUA? CHECK MORE GUIDES BELOW!
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