The main bus stop is in front of the Market (see map and photos) and leaves basically every hour. There are several different buses that do the loop to Rivas and back and some are nicer than others.
Rivas to San Juan del Sur
5am, 5:45am, 6:30am, 7am, 8am, 8:25am, 9am, 9:30am, 10am, 10:45, 11:30am, 12:10pm, 1pm, 2:20pm, 3:20pm, 5pm, 30C$, about 45minutes
Rivas to San Juan del Sur: Every half hour. Takes about 45mins and costs 30C$. Last one 5:30pm.
Peñas Blancas to San Juan del Sur
From Peñas Blancas, grab one of the many buses heading to Rivas and ask to be let off in La Virgin, this used to cost 30$C (Dec 2018). From here you can get another bus for 20C$ to San Juan del Sur. This is a very common spot for both travellers and locals to get off. You then need to cross the street and walk about 50meters down the road that branches off of the highway. You will come across a nice covered bus stop. Wait there for your bus to San Juan del Sur. (see photos) If you don’t want to get off in La Virgin, you can go all the way to Rivas, and switch to the SJDS bus.
San Juan del Sur to Peñas Blancas
If you are heading to Peñas Blancas you can get off at the highway junction mentioned above and then wait for the bus heading to the border. The only drawback to waiting on the highway, as opposed to heading all the way to Rivas and taking the bus from there, is that by the time in reaches you on the highway you may not get a seat. But, fear not, the trip is only about 25minutes from this spot.
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!
Hi, does anyone know what time the buses travel from La Virgen to San Juan Del Sur? We Will not be arriving until approximately 7:30 pm on a Sunday.
Today we travelled from Balgüe, Ometepe to SJDS.
1. Taxi to Moyogalpa (50mins, 25 USD split between 3)
2. Ferry to San Jorge (~1hr, 50 Cordobas)
3. Taxi to Rivas Bus Station (2USD pp, 10mins)
4. Bus to SJDS (70 mins, 50 cordobas incl. Bags).
Journey was very smooth, the bus was warm but not packed or overly uncomfortable. Only a handful of people were standing intermittently. Our bags were in racks inside the bus and the experience felt very safe.
Notes:
2. We turned up at 10.50am expecting to gry the 11.30 ferry but there was 1 leaving at 11am so we saved ourselves half an hour. Super easy to turn up and go even just 10 minutes before departure.
3. Left the port area and immediately picked up a taxi. Agreed the price beforehand. He was very helpful but incorrectly (dishonestly) told us the bus would be 3 usd pp to SJDS, and offered to take us all the way there for 10usd pp. Not a bad deal but we took the bus from Rivas anyway. There was a toilet on board.
4. Rivas was busy and chaotic though not nearly as bad as some online posts suggest. We asked a local where the bus to SJDS would go from and when we got to the right place we confirmed with another that we were in the correct place and also how much it would be. They told us 30 cordobas pp but weren’t sure about bags (conversation was in Spanish and we’re not totally sure what they actually said about bags). The bus arrived at 1pm and departed a few minutes after 1.30pm. We were expecting to be charged 20 cordobas for bags and the ayudante asked for 50pp as expected. All other travellers seemed to be charged the same price but we couldn’t see if locals were being charged the same.
*clarification: toilet on board the boat not the bus!