Caribbean and Central America Travel Forum

Need a bit of help here.. I'm a solo female American traveler, and this is my very first COMPLETELY solo international trip.

What's the safest way to travel from, specifically, San Jose to Granada then up to La Ceiba and the Bay Islands? I'm thinking about King Quality from San Jose to Managua then bus or cab to Granada (I'm on a budget but can afford to spend a little more to ensure safety). Only departure times I can find on the site are 3am.. and the idea of hanging out at a bus terminal at 3am in any of these cities doesn't sit right with me. There must be more departure times, are there?

And not gonna lie, I'd like to bypass Tegucigalpa altogether if possible. There's nothing I'm dying to see there and to be honest, stories I've heard scare me quite a bit. And considering my departure... would it make sense to get a cab from La Ceiba to the airport in Tegucigalpa or should I just save Honduras for a future trip (there WILL be one!) and spend more time in CR and Nica? Or maybe shoot over to Panama in addition/instead? I have done research, am just a bit indecisive.

I'm in Grecia, CR July 26-Aug 9 and have the rest of August free to explore everything and fully intend to do so. :)

it's understandable that you want to bypass tegucigalpa. it is a big city with not much to offer (in my opinion). you can catch a ticabus all the way to granada, which is on the way to managua. otherwise, public buses to penas blancas borders and another chicken bus to granada or you might have to stop in rivas. consider a stopover in omotepe island or san juan del sur on your way to granada.

if you want to bypass teguc, you can technically fly with Taca regional from managua. sometimes it means 4 flights to get all the way to the bay islands as they usually go through san salvador. if you're lucky, you can catch a flight from san salvador straight to one of the islands which theoretically exist.

i suggest spending all the time you can in nicaragua so maybe you can consider skipping honduras and doing it on another trip.

When planning my 4 weeks trip to CR and Nicaragua in July I did a lot of research and wanted to go also to Honduras. But I skipped it because there is a lot to do in Nicaragua itself. I travelled there as a solo female Swiss traveller in 2006 without any problems. Now I am taking my teenage son to this wonderfull country to visit old friends and exploring places I hadn’t enough time last time. And even now I feel like I wouldn’t have enough time.
You dont’t need to go first to Managua and then back to Granada. As far as I know is Transnica leaving San José at 6 a.m or so and they stop at Rivas and Granada. Their buses are perhaps not as luxurus as King Quality’s are but they help you with border crossing and cost about 13 $.

Thanks for the helpful advice! I didn't know about Transnica, I'll pick that over KQ since I'm absolutely not looking for luxury and the price is right. :)

Looks like I'll save Honduras for another trip and keep things simple and spontaneous.

There's no need to be affraid. I met lot of solo female travelers around Nicaragua. It's not the safest place on Earth, but it's not that bad.

Another thing you can perfectly avoid are those expensive and luxurious buses... there's plenty of public transportation from ealry morning to mid afternoon. They are called chicken-buses after those old US school buses. It's much cheaper and exciting, since you'll be traveling with lots of locals. As an advice, always try to keep your baggage with you, wether at the end of the bus or underneath your seat. I never liked to leave my back-pack on the roof.

Like a previous poster mentioned before, Ometepe Island is worth to visit before you get to Granada. And since you'll be heading to La Ceiba, Trujillo is another good choice along the Hondura's shores.

If you still feel a bit scare of this trip, go to any public library and get the Lonely Planet's "Central America in a shoestring". It has so much information on border crossings, bus transfers and stuff. It's very useful, although it sucks almost everybody has it... so everybody ends up doing the same trip and staying at the same places.

Everyone else has covered the details nicely for you. I just wanted to throw in my two cents about Honduras. I traveled through Central America this year an in my experience FAR more people had trouble in Costa Rica than in any other country I visited. Tegus isn't a fantastically interesting city so you could avoid it and miss nothing. Like any city it has crime but I didn't find it any more seedy than the other capitals. I think Costa Rica has this safe feel to it because so many gringos visit every year. Don't be lulled to sleep by the high quality bus services and facilities - keep an eye or a hand on your bags at all times and don't be overly trusting of people at first approach. I never had any problems traveling alone in any of the countries but I did hear a lot of stories about robberies in Costa Rica. You likely won't have any problems what-so-ever if you practice good common sense travel habits.

Enjoy your trip!

Scott