The Mercadito in Chinandega is more like a busy street than a proper station. If you are coming from Managua or León the bus will arrive at the Mercado Bisne and will need to get a taxi here to the Mercadito – which should cost you about 20C$ and takes about 5 minutes. Don’t be shocked if the driver picks up others along the way, many of the taxis are colectivos.
Both the Mercado Bisne and Mercadito are indicated on the map so you can get oriented – the Mercadito is the marker on the left (see map).
**Keep you eyes on your luggage when travelling to Potosí and Asseradores, stories of theft from unattended bags is not uncommon.
Chinandega to Potosí
You only have one option for Potosí – chicken bus. Depending on who you ask, this bus takes anywhere from 3.5 to 5hrs. It leave several times per day and as of May 2017 the driver informed me the schedule is: 6am, 9:30am 10:30am 1:10pm, 2:20pm, 3:45pm and 5:30pm. The price is 50C$
Chinandega to Asseradores
You only have one option for Asseradores – chicken bus and there is only ONE bus per day at 12:45pm. The trip takes about 2hrs and costs about 30C$.
Chinandega to El Viejo
Both microbuses and regular buses are available. Note that the microbus departs around the corner from where all of the ordinary busses line up. They .
(microbus): 5am to 9pm, leave when they reach 12 people, 20min, 8C$
(bus): 5am to 6pm, approx every 15 minutes, 25min, 5.50C$
Chinandega to Playa Jiquilillo
Five buses per day at 7am, 10am, 11:30am, 3pm, 4:30pm. The cost is 25C$ and takes about 2hrs depending on time of day.
Chinandega to Mechapa
Only ONE per day at 1:40pm. This one is a long one, 5hrs.
Help your fellow traveller
If you have taken any of the buses on this page, please drop us a comment below about how the trip went, what time you left, how long it took and what it cost. And, definitely let us know if we have anything wrong.
Lets help each other in our travels!
There is also a bus from El Veijo to Asseradores at 3pm.
I also took the 2.20pm bus to Potosi and it was so rammed with people, but that is chicken bus life😂
We got the Asseradores bus In Feb 2020 it left from the Mercaditio at 12:40 Just be aware the bus we took did not say Asseradores on it. It was a blue/yellow bus which said “unidad de repuesto” on the front. Obviously this may have just been a replacement bus but be aware. We waited outside a hotel at the market and the receptionist in there was very helpful and pointed us to the bus when it arrived. We were charged 40c for 2x large packs and a surfboard. Some locals who had larger items on the roof were also paying extra when departing the bus so don’t feel like this is a ‘gringo tax’ its really not a lot of money to those of us privilaged enough to be able to travel. Tickets were still 31c
Jiquilillo busses fill up quickly and are rather full (understatement). Keep an eye on your bags. And enjoy the madness.
To try to get a chair, walk to gasstation at back of the church at central square and drop for example a water bottle on a chair. They might won’t let you sit in the bus yet, but chairs are claimed with bags/food/scarfs. Don’t leave anything valuable.
We know that little kids are paid to claim seats(they jump in when bus from Jiquilillo arrives), but haven’t been able to find out how to arrange that.
The bus to Asseradores left Mercadito at 12:40pm and cost C$ 31 per person. It took a bit under two hours to Asseradores. They asked for C$ 20 extra for my surfboard when we arrived in Asseradores but I just said that it wasn’t necessary to pay.
On the way back to Chinandega the “5 am” bus didn’t leave Asseradores until around 5:20am it does a lap around town honking so you will hear it. Same price and same driver/conductor so they didn’t ask for money for my surfboard.
The following time I learn a weblog, Com SB I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as a lot as this one. I imply, I do know it was my choice to learn, however I really thought youd have one thing attention-grabbing to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about one thing that you would fix if you werent too busy on the lookout for attention.
Return Asseradores => Chrinandega
C$31
05:00
07:00
Buses leave from the Marina Puesta del Sol and pass along the main road. If you are in Aposentillo you will need to walk to the paved road to catch the bus.
Chinandega => Jiquilillo
Times are correct. Some locals may tell you that there is a bus at 1330, this information is incorrect.
Price is now C$35