How to Get from Ometepe to Granada (and How We Actually Did It)

We had only spent about 24 hours on Ometepe Island, but somehow managed to pack a waterfall hike, a lost hostel key, a lot of sweating, and an unreasonable amount of chaos into that time.

When it was time to leave, our plan was to continue to Granada. In theory, getting from Ometepe to Granada is actually pretty straightforward.

In reality, we made it considerably more complicated than it needed to be.

How to Get from Ometepe to Granada

If you want to do this route the easy way, you basically have two options: local buses or a shared shuttle.

The first part is the same either way. You take the ferry from Ometepe back to San Jorge, the port just outside Rivas. From there, you can continue to Granada by local bus, or book a shared shuttle that takes you directly to Granada.

The cheap option is to take a local bus from Rivas to Granada. This is what we ended up doing. It costs roughly $1–$2 and takes around 1.5–2 hours, depending on the bus and what happens along the way. You may need to get yourself from San Jorge into Rivas first, and you’ll be dealing with a local bus station rather than a door-to-door transfer.

If you don’t feel like dragging your backpack around, asking random people which bus is yours, and potentially getting dumped somewhere outside Granada like we did, you can also book a shared shuttle from San Jorge/Rivas to Granada. These are around $25–30 per person and take roughly 1.5–2 hours, with some services dropping you directly at your accommodation in Granada.

So basically: Ometepe → ferry to San Jorge → Rivas → Granada, unless you book a shuttle that handles the San Jorge/Rivas-to-Granada part for you.

And one important lesson from us: if you’re taking the cheap local-bus route, don’t leave Ometepe ridiculously late in the day. We did, it was a Sunday, and we discovered that the buses apparently had other plans for us.

Because of course they did.

This is how you can do the journey without making your life unnecessarily difficult.

This is not how we did it.

Our Journey From Ometepe to Granada, Nicaragua

Trying to Leave Ometepe

Our plan after Ometepe was to continue to Granada that same day.

That did not happen.

We could have left the island in the morning, but we’d only been there for about 24 hours and absolutely did not want to waste the little time we had. We still wanted to see more of the island, do the waterfall hike, and explore the other side, so we stayed as long as possible.

Eventually, we checked out and headed back toward the port.

Somewhere along the way, I also managed to lose the hostel key.

I have no idea how I did this. I just know that I had to pay about $5 for it, which felt particularly ridiculous considering how cheap everything else was.

Then we got to the port and discovered that the ferry we wanted was sold out.

Of course it was.

So instead of leaving Ometepe when we planned to, we had to wait another two or three hours for the next available ferry.

This completely messed up our timing.

The thing is, we were traveling through Central America by basically doing everything the stupidest possible way: not really planning transportation in advance, getting to the next place, and then asking locals how the hell we were supposed to get there.

Usually, it worked.

This time, it was starting to fall apart.

Eventually, we got onto the ferry back to Rivas.

The ferry itself was ridiculously cheap — around $1 — and eventually we made it back to the mainland.

Now we just had to get to Granada.

Simple, right?

Nope.

Getting Stuck in Rivas

Once we arrived in Rivas, we started asking people where we could catch a bus to Granada.

It was Sunday afternoon.

And every single person we asked gave us basically the same answer:

No more buses today. Tomorrow.

We asked again.

Same answer.

We asked someone else.

Same answer.

At that point, the sun was getting lower and it was becoming pretty obvious that we were not making it to Granada that day.

So we did what backpackers do when they have absolutely no idea what they’re doing.

We found somewhere to sleep.

Rivas isn’t really the kind of place where you’re surrounded by tourists and hostels on every corner, so we found one cheap place that looked more like somebody’s house than an actual hostel and took a taxi there.

The private room was already taken, so we got a dorm.

At this point, I had been moving around so quickly that I honestly didn’t care anymore.

Normally, I would probably have walked into this place, looked at the room, and immediately started questioning every decision that had brought me there.

Instead, I looked at it and thought:

Fine.

That’s totally fine by me.

And honestly, it was.

The Most Basic Room Ever

The room was… basic.

And by basic, I mean there were parts of the ceiling and walls that were unfinished, and the door opened directly toward a garden.

The bathroom was even better.

The wall around it only came up to around my height, so the top was completely open. My friend could literally stand outside and hold his phone up over the wall and see me brushing my teeth.

Obviously, we found this hilarious.

We took photos and videos because at this point we had reached that stage of backpacking where things that would normally have stressed me out were just funny.

And the weirdest part?

I slept incredibly well.

Like a baby.

The door was basically open to the outside, the room was ridiculously basic, and there was nothing particularly luxurious about the whole situation.

I did not care.

I was exhausted, and I was perfectly happy to have somewhere to put my backpack and lie down.

The woman who owned the place was also incredibly sweet. The next morning, she even helped me make coffee before we left.

So despite the room looking like it was still being built, ask me if I would stay here again and my answer will be yes.

Noodles, Air Conditioning and Survival

That evening, we needed food.

We found a mini-market that reminded me a lot of 7-eleven from Asia – a place that sold a bit of everything, would prepare the food there and where you can find cheap quick food and run away from the heat into the air conditioning.

It was so freaking hot.

And humid.

Even after traveling around for a while in Central America, I don’t think I was ever going to get used to how hot and humid it could be.

So we ate our food and then basically refused to leave.

We just sat there enjoying the air conditioning.

At some point, I think we stayed longer than we actually needed to because going back outside meant immediately being hit by a wall of heat again.

The air conditioning was the attraction.

The Chicken Bus to Granada

The next morning, we got up and left.

We grabbed something really quick to eat at the bus station and then started making our way there with our backpacks.

I think the walk took around 30 minutes, and by the time we arrived, I was already completely covered in sweat.

And this was still early in the day.

The bus station was exactly what you’d expect from a local Central American bus station: chaotic, loud, full of people, street vendors, buses coming and going, and people shouting things in every direction.

We had no idea which bus we needed.

So we did what we had been doing the entire trip.

We asked:

“Granada?”

Someone pointed.

Okay.

Granada it is.

We got on another chicken bus, and as far as I remember, this one was direct.

It was cheap, local and absolutely nothing like taking a comfortable tourist shuttle.

Which was fine.

That was how we were traveling.

Until the bus stopped.

And stayed stopped.

For about an hour.

We had absolutely no idea what was happening.

Eventually, my friend got off the bus to see what was going on, and after a while we finally started moving again.

At that point, I wasn’t even surprised.

We were going to Granada.

Eventually.

Dropped 10 Kilometers Outside Granada

And then we finally arrived.

Sort of.

The bus dropped us somewhere 10 kilometers outside Granada, in what seemed to be a little town or roadside area.

So obviously, we tried to hitchhike.

Because why wouldn’t we?

We stood there with our backpacks and tried to get someone to take us the rest of the way.

Cars stopped.

Every single one was a taxi.

And every single taxi wanted money.

We kept trying anyway.

Eventually, after waiting for quite a while and realizing that nobody was going to magically drive us into Granada for free, we gave up and took a taxi.

That taxi looked like it had already been through several questionable life choices.

There was literally a dent or bump in the door that made it look like it had been in an accident.

At that point, though, my standards had dropped so dramatically that I genuinely didn’t care.

Was it going to get us to Granada?

Yes?

Great.

Let’s go.

Finally Arriving in Granada

And then we finally arrived in Granada.

And just like Ometepe, I immediately loved it.

Granada was completely different from the island. It was busier, more chaotic, full of people and markets and things happening everywhere, but it had this really good energy to it.

It was beautiful.

And after everything we’d just gone through to get there, I was very happy to finally be somewhere that felt like we had actually arrived.

Of course, we had no accommodation booked. But that was just our thing on this trip anyway. So we just needed to get some internet, found a cafe, and started looking for a place to stay.

My friend basically said, “Just find something.”

So I did.

And for once, I decided we deserved something a little nicer. But we stayed on budget so all good!

Our Poolside Room in Granada

We ended up staying at Hotel Casona Macondo, and I absolutely loved it.

The location was fantastic, the whole place was beautifully decorated, and there was a pool.

But the best part was our room.

It was basically like a little apartment, with an entrance area, a separate bathroom and a separate bedroom.

And the pool was literally right outside our door.

I mean, right outside.

We could open the door and the pool was about a meter away.

And the whole thing cost us $21 total for both of us.

So about $10 each.

After the ridiculous journey from Ometepe, arriving in Granada, finding this place and opening the door to a room with a pool directly outside felt like we had somehow won the backpacker lottery.

And that was it.

We had finally made it from Ometepe to Granada.

Not efficiently.

Not comfortably.

And definitely not in the way I’d recommend doing it.

But we made it.

And honestly, that’s pretty much how that entire Central America trip went.

We figured things out as we went, asked random people where the hell to go, got on buses without really knowing what was going to happen, and somehow kept ending up exactly where we wanted to be.

Granada turned out to be another place I loved in Nicaragua.

But that’s a story for another post.

Read My Ometepe Guides

Costa Rica to Nicaragua: Journey to My Country #53/197

Ometepe Island: The Nicaragua Stop I Immediately Fell in Love With

Is Ometepe Worth Visiting? My Experience on the Island

How Many Days in Ometepe? How Long I’d Stay Next Time

Cocos Hostel Ometepe Review: My One-Night Stay

Best Time to Visit Ometepe: When I’d Go Back

Is Ometepe Safe? My Experience, the Good and the One Weird Moment

18 Things to Do in Ometepe Without Turning the Island Into a Giant Tourist Checklist

My Ometepe Itinerary: What We Did & How I’d Plan It Now

Where to Stay in Ometepe: The Best Areas for Your Trip

Disclosure: Some posts on this blog contain affiliate links. If you make a booking through one of my links, I may earn a small comission - at no extra cost to you. Thank you for helping me keep my dream alive!