Border crossings can be nightmares! Ask me how I know: been through all sorts of shakedowns and secondary inspections than anyone could ever want, always come out clean BTW. So here are some key tips that will help on your surfing vacation trek between the surf breaks in Costa Rica and Nicaragua:

Crossing with car: We did have a rental car for this trip so we were forced to change cars a the border. What we did learn here is that if you have a car it will require a visa to pass into Nicaragua or vis versa. It seemed like a bunch of red tape, all sorts of latin american fee’s and a time dump, we will assume most will not have this option.

Renting a car: This is the option we took. We valued the flexibility and, not knowing at the time, our condo was much further than initially expected, which could have been a real disasterous way to start the surf vacation. The agencies that do this typically charge an additional $50 for the swap and you drop off your surf rental car on one side of the border and walk across. The walk across is a bit of a journey so the next part is important. There are “coyotes” for hire (frequent local border crossers that can help point one in the right direction and even mule your gear for you — just be careful it’s like anywhere else sketchy on a surf vacation). We we skeptical of these guys on the way in and humped our boards a good kilometer, for the return we hired two guys and made there day when we threw them a $20 US. Going north, don’t forget to stop at the Costa Rican immigration station and get stamped out (this is on the right hand side of the road), further up again on the right had side is the Nicaragua immigration station, where you will get stamped in and pay like $14 bones of fees.

Crossing with Cab: Taking the cab up to Nicaragua seemed to be the popular option with drivers at Liberia airport quoting around $100 US for the hour drive to Penas Blancas, I have heard this rate can get as low as $25 US. Depending on your negotiation skills you may be able to drop that number. Once on the Nicaragua side it is about a 40 minute drive to San Juan Del Sur proper and about a $20-$40 ride.

Chicken Bus: There are buses that leave Liberia and head toward Managua. To reach San Juan you could get off in Rivas (a city situated on Lake Nicaragua) just to the east of SJDS. Local navigation and transport would be required from Rivas. Long Boards may be difficult to ride with.

For some more granular info on crossing the Penas Blancas border with a map check out this link:http://www.nicoyapeninsula.com/nicaragua-border.php