Potosí is your gateway to El Salvador (La Unión) if you are travelling by boat across the Golfo de Fonseca. Taking the bus is much cheaper than the package taxi-boat-taxi tour options out there, but it’s a long trip! If you go by bus then keep an eye on your things. There have been a few travellers stories out there of theft enroute.
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$
Potosí to Chinandega
If you are taking the bus from Potosí to Chinandega you can head to the Hotel y Restaurante Brisa del Golfo which is close to the Potosí immigration building. The bus will pass right by here (photos coming). We don’t have the schedule but know that the last bus passes at 2:45pm. Trip takes about 2.5hrs.
To El Salvador
There are a few different options to choose from to take you across the Golfo de Fonseca from Potosí to La Unión. La Tortuga Verde is a popular hostel located near El Cuco and they offer this trip – you can learn more about it here: Tortuga Verde crossing. Another tour operator called Ruta del Golfo offers this trip and you can read more about it here: Ruta del Golfo crossing. The third option is to just show up and see what happens. You can sometimes hitch a ride for a fee with a fishing boat – use your discretion here obviously.
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!
I can update new bus schedule from potosi to chinandega as of August 2022
4 am
10.30 am
1.30 pm
7 pm
Photos => Chinandega
Price:C$58
03:40
04:00
05:00
06:00
07:00
08:00
09:00
10:00
12:40
Last =14:45
These are the times told to me by one of the drivers. Only time I can confirm is 12:40 because that’s the one we took.
We have made the trip from Potosi to El Salvador and it was easy and an adventure! We dediced to try our luck to avoid the roadblocks in Nicaragua on the way to Honduras. We had contact with Mario from Ruta del golfo by WhatsApp. He wanted at least $200 to do the trip up and down, and tried to get some passengers from El Salvador. He did find a couple there, and asked for $55 each for four passangers, but we didn’t make it in time. That couple paid $100 each. Then we decided just to show up in Potosi to see what would happen. We arrived at 18.00 and directly went to the immigration guy to meet up with him. He was nice tot talk to and adviced us to show up at 7.00am next day. We did, we shared numbers and he would call us if some fisherman would show up. We head some breakfast and waited in the hotel. Finally he did call, but they didn’t go to la Union. The fisherman asked us for $30 each and the immigration $12 each. We went to an island where we could get a stamp for El Salvador, and from there next morning a panga could bring us to la union. Then he asked us if we would like to go to Playa el Tamarindo, and from there we could take a bus to El cuco. We did. We had to get another bus halfway, but hitchiked the rest to El Cuco. We left Potosi at 11.00 and arrived in El tuca Verda around 14.00!
Awesome info contribution, thank you!
Potosí to Chinandega – Dec 2017. The last bus was at 2:45 the price is still the same 50c$ and the trip took 2h and 30/40min.
Thank you, Tsveti! This is very helpful for other travellers.