If you are crossing from Costa Rica to Nicaragua it is unlikely that you will see any more of Peñas Blancas than the border entrance. Buses headed to the border will drop you right there.
Peñas Blancas to Liberia
Buses come and go very regularly back and forth from Liberia. You will arrive at the Municipal Terminal in Liberia. The trip takes about 2hrs and as ofFebruary 2018 the price is 1650₡.
Monday to Friday: 5am, 5:45am, 6am, 6:35am, 7:15am, 8am, 8:45am 9:30am – then every 30 mins until 5pm, 5:45pm, 6:30pm, 7:30pm 8:35pm.
Saturday and Sunday: every 45min from 5am until 8:45pm
Peñas Blancas to San José
Buses to San José are serviced by Transportes Deldu. You will arrive at the Gran Terminal del Caribe. The schedule as of May 2017 is: 3am, 4am, 6am, 8:30am, 10am, 12pm, 330pm, 5:30pm. Price is ¢4680 (Jan 2018)
San José to Peñas Blancas: 3am, 5am, 6am, 8:30am, 10am, 12pm, 2pm, 4:45pm, 7pm
A recent photo (May 2017) of the schedule is in the photos below.
Peñas Blancas to La Fortuna
One helpful traveller named Theo has shared this info:
“We got to the border at Peñas Blancas and found a direct bus to La Fortuna. It was from the second bus store in the line of booths. We caught it at 2.30pm and it dropped us off at Tanque which is 7km from La Fortuna. There is a connecting bus at this point or can easily get a cheap taxi. Cost of the bus was 3000 Colone. Trip took 4.5 hours, hence its easier, faster and cheaper than taking the 3 buses that it would take going via Liberia. I got the impression this bus only left once a day so I believe we were very lucky.”
Another traveller recently reported that there is a bus from from Peñas Blancas to Tanque at 6:30am as well (May 2018).
International Buses
One option is to travel in style with a/c and a bit of help across the border with Ticabus: website and station; TransNica: website, station; Nica Expreso: website; or Central Line: station, schedule photo below. These services are more expensive and with some you will likely have to pay full fare to Managua even if you are only going to Rivas. Have a look at the websites to see hours and prices.
Nicaragua Border
Here is what the border looks like on the Nicaragua side: Peñas Blancas – Nicaragua side – buses come and go very regularly for Rivas and they will pass the intersection La Virgin, where you can switch buses if you are heading to San Juan del Sur. Check the San Juan del Sur page for photos and directions.
Border hours
Monday to Saturday from 6 a.m to 10 p.m and closes a bit early on Sunday at 8pm.
Border Process
There is a full write up of the border crossing coming soon…. maybe. Since this is generally a favourite topic for travel bloggers, and googling it will find you a ton of stories we may just leave the details about the crossing to the experts.
If you have written (or read) a guide to this border crossing, please post a link below!
Here is a great blog post from the Costa Rica travel legends at Mytanfeet: Crossing the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua
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!
From Ometepe to La Fortuna in 1 day
Took the ferry at 8, arrived San Jorge around 9:30 and then take the colectivo taxi to the bus station just the opposite of the supermarket MaxiPali. Waited for the bus to Peñas Blanca , bus arrived around 10：30 , paid 30C max. I arrived the Peñas Blanca at 11:50 and crossed the border to Costa Rica , finished the immigration around 13:00.
Do not need to exchange currency when you got off the bus in Nicaragua border, Costa Rica accept USD. And the exchange rate is 10USD = 5000 Colones. And outside the Costa Rica immigration has ATM.
After immigration, you can buy the 2:30 p.m. bus to Tanque, which is 8km far to La Fortuna. The ticket office was green and white,
opposite to the immigration. Depends on the traffic, if you can get off the bus before 19:30, there are local bus to La Fortuna, or Uber, shared taxi costs 1000 colones to the center. I arrived La Fortuna around 8:30, and spent 12 hours in total.
The bus from border to La Fortuna was 4700 colones. 9 USD approximately. Several stops to toilet.
Traveled from Nicaragua to Costa Rica today. Bus from Las Penas Blanca to San Jose is around 10 Dollars 🙂
+ if you arrive at the bus terminal Caribe in San Jose, do not ever go with a so called taxi driver (especially if his name is Jonathan). These guys will charge you like 100$ for a ride. Better insist on picking an uber which is a lot cheaper and safer,even tho it might be pretty expensive compared to other countries.:D
Took a bus from El Tanque (CR) to Penas Blancas at 7:30am on a saturday.
It cost 4500crc and took almost 6 hours. The bus got very crowded so it took a bit longer than usual. The driver said it normally takes 5 hours.
This is such a great resource! The writer is super knowledgeable and a good friend of mine 🙂 I have actually started my own project! If you like learning about ecology and nature as you travel around, check out our ecology and naturalist guides -> https://naturefolx.com/guides
We post guides every month based on where we are travelling including plant and animal species ID, cool, ecological hot spots and fun facts and articles about nature! Check it out if you’re keen 🙂
Three of us just taken bus from the border to Liberia. Tow of us paid 1945 colones and the other paid 1965 colones. The first two people paid together and the third person paid separately. I’m guessing he didn’t quite have the right change but it looks like 1950 colones is the right price however upon boarding the bus I asked a lady passenger that was about to board same bus how much the fare should be and she said 1900 colones but she may have just given me a round figure estimate either way I think this gives a pretty good estimated price.
We took a bus from the border to Liberia which costed us 1850 or 1950 colones per person (sorry can’t remember the exact price). There is a list of prices whitin the bus as you get in. It took us a bit less than an hour and a half to get there.
Thank you so much for this post, it helped me to get over the border with confidence as a solo female traveller. Would have been so much more difficult without your information!
Travelled south from Nicaragua to Costa Rica today. The bus to Liberia came after a short wait. They picked up right outside near where you exit the CR immigration office. The fee to Liberia is now 1775 colonies. Each way. Took 1.5 hours to Liberia, with longest stop in la Cruz. Great website. Thank you.