Guasaule, Honduras to Somotillo, Nicaragua | Customs and Immigration

Nicaragua

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Song of the Road

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This is the border crossing from Guasaule, Honduras to Somotillo, Nicaragua.

Be prepared for lots of tight weaving around trucks going both directions and double parked to get through the Honduras side.

Nicaragua - 1x passport copy & 1x vehicle title for passport person & $13 usd for stamp + admin fee. no copies for TIP & it's free. ADD: 15 USD for car clearing process + 4.50 USD for fumigation

The Nicaragua process starts by parking on the footpath just as you have finished driving down the wrong side of the bridge. Get a customs form outside the hut in the middle. Drive up to the next building for passport and customs. Insurance at final check if you don't have it.

You might have problems if you have a drone!!!

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Came by bicycle. Exchanged money (lempira and USD) on the Honduras side for a fair rate. Getting stamped out of Honduras was a snap. Nicaragua entry involved answering some questions before paying 13 dollars to a guy for a tourist card plus receipt, then answering more questions at the window marked “Minsa” (the health agency, I guess?), then progressing to aduana to put my bike bags through the X-ray (the bike could remain outside) and getting a paper signed, which I showed to the final agent to enter Nicaragua. The first guy was definitely watching TV on his phone while thumbing my passport; everyone else was professional. I had filled out the pre check (and gotten email approval) and brought my vaccination card, but was not asked about either.

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Crossing Honduras to Nicaragua.
We might have been very lucky, as this fronteer was the quickest until now, coming from Canada. We had two cars (canadian and french plates), we did not do the check in online previously.
We arrived early on a sunday morning, around 7 am. 30 minutes to exit Honduras, then followed advices from ioverlander to arrive at the fumigation in Nicaragua. We then made the papers for passeports and cars (13US$ / person and 4.5US$ / car). As we were almost the first ones, people were all very friendly. The policewoman who came to check the cars did not seem very well awake and just quickly checked the trunks (she looked at maybe 5% of our luggages). She asked several times if we had a drone and then let us off without using the scans, nor for the car or for luggages ! The whole process in Nicaragua lasted only one hour.

Make sure you have enough us dollars, and try to arrive as soon as possible when they still have patience. I hope you will be this lucky :)

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Crossed today from Honduras to Nicaragua with my daughter and the dog in a VW van. I didn’t make the online check because their site was not working, nobody asked me for that neither for Covid or other vaccine. For the dog the health certificate(copy) from Guatemala 3 weeks old worked perfectly plus vaccine carnet. The van was checked very quickly because it was so hot and they have no trees on their parking. The guy went out his office with air, put his head into my van, told it’s too hot and that was it. Asked for drone, never mentioned the skan of the van. We were done in 2 hours (from 10h30 to 12h30). You have to pay for everything, but that was told before.

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ENTERING NICARAGUA

Came CYCLING (2 ppl) without online sollicitud done. It was eventually ok, but they really ask for it (5 to 7 days in advance). They check luggage on X-ray but we skipped it (we were lucky).
Drone not possible.
13 USD pp.

From exit Honduras to enter Nicaragua was a total of 1h and a bit.

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IF YOU HAVE A DRONE - HIDE IT!!!!

Nearly impossible to get it back!
And impossible to immigrate!!!!

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Thanks to those who have described their crossing experiences and itemized the requirements.
I crossed from Guasale to Somotillo this morning, Saturday Sept 16, 2023.
A brief narrative (note: my Spanish is passable but not competent) follows.
Approaching Honduran checkout, the assistants are truly over the top aggressive. I was progressing well in the left lane passing juggernauts and came upon a road block by two bicycle venders. Stopping I was inundated by ‘helpers’ insisting the road was blocked and they would lead me to another entrance. Sussing the situation I sensed there were a couple young men who’d been waylayed into using their 3 wheeled bicycles to create the block. A stern look from me followed by a smile got them to hesitantly move their rigs. I proceeded unencumbered to immigration…
Where I was waylayed again with this tactic: the agent, unsolicited, showed me to a very long line of people at immigration and insisted he could get me around it. On closer examination, the line was for entradas into Honduras. The Salida line had one person in it. No shame.

I was through Honduran Immigration and Aduana in 25 minutes and that included a 5 minute problem with the computer system.
Drove directly across the bridge (left hand lane) checked in at the kiosk in the center of the road, was pointed to fumigation. Was in and out of fumigation in 60 seconds, and directly on to Nicaragua Aduana. A very helpful official in Aduana walked me over to immigration and pointed out what I needed (first) to do there.
This began the slowest part of the process. There were a dozen people in line. I had done the pre-check online in the afternoon before. Turns out this was too late to do it.
At immigration the official was very offput by my flimsy accommodation plans. After some interrogation she passed me off to a superior officer in an office in the back. She too was skeptical that I had a hotel and a place picked out but no confirmed reservation. I showed them the website for the place, which very slowly softened them to my characteristic laissez-faire approach. There was also a young trainee involved and some of this may have been posturing for his sake. So, they were very skeptical about my “plans.” If I had to do it over, I would book a hotel online and print the reservation for proof. Note: very few other travelers came through as the better part of an hour passed during this do-si-do.

Back to aduana where the same very helpful person led me to the “police“ who operate the x-ray machine. They asked me some questions and were definitely having authoritarian fun interrogating me. It took a few minutes to catch on and laugh at the situation which may have facilitated speeding it up. After this brief interrogation, one of the agents went out and did a visual inspection inside my Chevy Astro van, asked me to open up the cargo box on the roof. Showed her a few things in there. Maybe five minutes total. Then back inside to pay for the fumigation and to pay for the importation of the vehicle and then I was on my way. No X-Ray, hallelujah!
That was all a little under two hours.

Right now I have just finished eating lunch in the restaurant where the owner sells insurance policies from a clipboard at a table in the corner. Altogether tiring, a bit confusing, definitely kind of fun. I had anticipated a much more exhaustive exercise than it turned out to be.

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Crossed on a Wednesday. From Honduras, the process took about 2 hours, including the car being scanned and doing our pets paperwork. We had done the precheck so we weren't asked about covid vaccine. They did pull it up. $13 dollars each to get in. ($26 for 2 adults). $20 for a cat and a dog. They let my partner stay inside the AC controlled room with the pets during the whole process. They also have free WiFi that helps pass the time. Staff were all very nice to us. Including the guys joking with me when searching the car. Everything was in the same building expect the car scanning. Most steps on here are accurate expect the insurance one. You get it after existing, right after a “bienvenido” sign to the right. We didn’t experience the headaches other have. We are Latino and speak fluent Spanish not sure if that played a role.

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We passed the border on a Sunday morning, took about 2.5h. We had to show our C-vaccine and got asked about the precheck which we didn’t have and also several times about drone and camera. No scanner pass needed, just short inspection. Import dog costs 24$. Make copies of all IDs in advance including dog passport.

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Honduras to Nicaragua

Look on the other pin for la_fordtuga's excellent description for the most accurate. This is what we would add:

- We cross on a Friday and they told us everyone was being scanned.
- Our motorhome was scanned and also inspected inside by 2 officers. They opened every single cabinet but they just looked, they didn’t open our stuff
- It took us a total of 3 hours. Immigration was quick and done in under 30min. What it took the longest time was the waiting after our vehicle was scanned (photos attached to see how it looks the scanner area) and also the wait to be scanned since there were lots of tracks and some of them we couldn’t overtake them for lack of space on the “road”
- For the scanner. Only the driver can drive it trough. I (the co-pilot) waited outside with my backpack.
- We were asked if we had a drone or any cameras only once.
- Everyone was very friendly.
-We were able to pay all the paperwork with USD.

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Smooth 1 1/2 hr crossing from Honduras to Nicaragua starting at 7:45AM. We read every comment for both pins on this border, look at la_fordtuga's excellent description on the other pin on the Honduras side for the most accurate step by step description. Here is what we would add:

-We did not do the Nicaragua pre-check. This did not present any issues, immigration agent just asked our occupations. Immigration was complete in 20 minutes.
-In terms of customs and vehicle search, we were asked 3 different times by 2 different people of we had a drone, we answered no honestly as we had shipped it ahead. Also asked about cameras, answered honestly that we had one, they did not ask to see it. Never asked about binoculars, something else we were worried about/had read about. Search of the vehicle was pretty cursory, looked in a few drawers, but no removing bags that are packed in in several places in our truck.
-We did not need to go through the scanner, and never needed to make any copies. Customs and issuing TIP took 30 minutes.
-Make sure to get $12 USD insurance from lady at restaurant just after exiting port area. (Left of Bienvenidos sign over road) Cop stopped us at a checkpoint 30 miles down the road and asked for it, first document check of entire trip for us.
-We needed $48 USD in total for crossing with 2 people including insurance.

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Refreshingly easy after all the horror stories. In answer to the previous comment they were fairly strict with the Covid stuff - my qr codes didn't work and that was an issue. eventually between having a little card with the vaccination dates and numbers, the qr codes printed out and the app that showed the codes along with the dates and countries of vaccination and my name, that was deemed sufficient.

Didn't scan the van or have more than a cursory look at the bits they could access.

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Same experience as all recent posts, just want to add that you'll need to show a COVID vaccine certification (I guess that any document with your name and COVID mentioned can work).
Also, don't do the same mistake as I did changing to fast my dollars for Cordoba's, as you'll still need USDs for all the different expenses at customs.

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Honduras - Nicaragua. Still fascinated how experiences can differ and sorry for those unlucky on this border. We arrived around 10 AM on a monday and it took us just about 90 minutes for the whole thing. Steps still as described down below - cheers for that. No need for any copies within the whole process though. We sent our drone ahead as some reports were not so nice but in the end they just had a 30 sec peek through our sliding door and off we went. no scanning action today. don't forget the insurance before heading out.
Current fees we had to pay (got receipts for each, no idea how official though):
13 USD per person immigration
10 USD for vehicle processing
4.50 USD for fumigation (no matter if spraying works or not, needs to be payed to get a certain signature on car sheet)
12 USD car insurance for 30 days

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I am so mad I’m shaking writing this. After waiting 2 hours for the COVID BS we made it through and to fumigation. Then to get passports stamped. The website wasn’t working so had to get checked there. Laid out on the floor and rested until it was done. Then after all finished he demanded we pay in US dollars. Yep. We are in Nicaragua 2 countries away from the next country that uses this currency. Will they accept limpera. Nope. Córdovas nope. Boy I won’t lie when I say I screamed at him and said we are in Nicaragua no?!?! I only pay with your countries currency. Took over an hour and finally someone exchanged it for me. They wouldn’t give me my passport and demanded I leave without our passports. Is this a nightmare crossing? Not if you are fully prepared. This guy obviously was having a bad day

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We just love si much these "giftoflife" or whatever experts visiting 49 countries (which is not many at all and especially when most likely 30 of them are in Europe) and giving us their hard earned tips like "every country has its rules".

God damn this app would really need an administrator to filter comments...

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Faire le prechequeo jusqu'à 7 jours à l'avance. ***https://solicitudes.migob.gob.ni/ ****

Soyez prêts.... il faut être patient.

Arrivée aux douanes pour sortir du Honduras vers 13h. Puisqu'on arrivait tard, on a payé un tramitador 20$ US pour qu’il nous fasse passer rapidement. 20 minutes plus tard, tout était fait. On a passé une longue file et éviter beaucoup de temps.

Après, le fun commence!! On doit traverser un pont pour aller au Nicaragua. Un côté est bourré de camions, pare-chocs contre pare-chocs. Et ça ne bouge pas. Il faut passer ailleurs. Dans l’autre voie, les camions passent à sens inverse et personne ne semble vouloir nous laisser passer. Les voitures roulent sur le trottoir. On nous demande de faire de même… Pas question qu’on roule sur un trottoir avec notre VR! Je vais voir le gars qui est sensé faire la circulation pour lui demander de nous laisser passer. Il me demande une propina de 5$… sinon il ne me garantit rien. On décide de passer sans la propina. On roule à fond la caisse sur le pont pendant une pause de camions.

Après le pont: s’arrêter à la cabane bleue. C’est la place de santé (salud). L’infirmière, qui avait l’air excédée de devoir lire un document en anglais, regarde nos preuves avec nos passeports. Elle nous laisse passer en nous donnant un micro-papier avec ses initiales. Personne ne m’a jamais demandé ce papier… 🤷🏻‍♀️

Au même bâtiment, un monsieur te donne un formulaire avec ses initiales à l’endos. C’est pour plus tard, pour l’importation du véhicule.

On passe par la fumigation.

On se rend ensuite à la migracion pour avoir le stamp. Le douanier a cherché mon conjoint sur Facebook. On doit payer 12$ US/passeport. On passe du côté de la douane.

Il faut faire passer le VR dans le scanner. C’est long et ceux qui y travaillent font plus d’Instagram que du scan. On a dû aller les voir 2 fois pour leur demander si ça avançait. Parce qu’il nous faut leur OK pour continuer.
Une fois qu’on a leur ok, il faut qu’une personne vienne inspecter le véhicule. On a été « chanceux ». Ils ont oublié cette étape.

On va ensuite payer la fumigation . 4,50 US au bureau IPSA.

Puis, avec le document dûment rempli par tous, tu passes à la fenêtre pour avoir le TIP pour le véhicule (fenêtre juste à côté de la fenêtre IPSA).

En sortant de la zone de douane, il ne faut pas oublier d'acheter une assurance pour le véhicule!!! C’est 12$ US pour 1 mois. Sinon, ça peut vous coûter 1200 córdobas de pénalité.

Et il y a plein de barrages policiers sur la route qui surveillent si on a nos assurances.

Bref, on est entre au Nicaragua vers 17h. Le processus aura pris 4h40 en tout (sortie du Honduras avec aide + entrée au Nica)
_______
Make the prechequeo up to 7 days in advance. ***https://solicitudes.migob.gob.ni/ ****

Be ready...you have to be patient.

Arrival at customs to leave Honduras around 1 p.m. Since we were arriving late, we paid a tramitador US$20 to get us through quickly. 20 minutes later, everything was done. We had a long line and skipped a lot of time.

Then the fun begins!! We have to cross a bridge to get to Nicaragua. One side is packed with trucks, bumper to bumper. And it doesn't move. You have to go elsewhere. In the other lane, the trucks are passing in the opposite direction and no one seems to want to let us pass. Cars drive on the sidewalk. We are asked to do the same… No question of driving on a sidewalk with our RV! I go to the guy who is supposed to be doing traffic and ask him to let us pass. He asks me for a propina of $5… otherwise he guarantees me nothing. We decide to pass without the propina. We roll the body at full speed on the bridge during a truck break.
After the bridge: stop at the blue cabin. This is the place of health (salud). The nurse, who looked annoyed at having to read a document in English, looks at our evidence with our passports. She lets us pass by giving us a micro-paper with her initials. No one ever asked me for this paper… 🤷🏻‍♀️

At the same building, a gentleman gives you a form with his initials on the back. This is for later, for the importation of the vehicle.

We go through fumigation.

We then go to the migracion to get the stamp. The customs officer looked for my spouse on Facebook. You have to pay US$12/passport. We go through customs.

You have to run the RV through the scanner. It's long and those who work there do more Instagram than scanning. We had to go see them twice to ask them if things were going well. Because we need their OK to continue.
Once we have their ok, someone has to come and inspect the vehicle. We were “lucky”. They forgot this step.

We will then pay for the fumigation. 4.50 US at the IPSA office.

Then, with the document duly completed by everyone, you go to the window to get the TIP for the vehicle (window right next to the IPSA window).

When leaving the customs area, do not forget to buy insurance for the vehicle!!! It's 12$ US for 1 month. Otherwise, it can cost you 1200 córdobas in penalty.

And there are plenty of police roadblocks on the road watching to see if we have our insurance.

In short, we entered Nicaragua around 5 p.m. The process will have taken 4h40 in all (exit from Honduras with help + entry to Nica)

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Just entered my 49th country. Nicaragua. I have a few things to share after this crossing. We entered from chotaluca Honduras.

Nicaragua gets a bad rap as a 'horror' crossing. No one could be more wrong. They have rules. They are
1. Apply 7 days in advance of your entering
2. Arrive at border without the form then be prepared to wait or not be let in. All depends on your attitude towards them.

I realized they need the 7 days to look you up. Or They will look you up on arrival. That takes time. How do I know?
The offier came up to me asking why I 'Hid' I was working for gift of life adventure Foundation for organ donation. I smiled and explained I did not hide it. That it was my charitable work and that I answered his question on where I worked. That was it.

NONE of the staff were rude and nothing but nice cooperative and patient with the use of translators to communicate.

Step 1. Get a form at the guard gate as you enter Nicaragua. Fill it out. This is for the TIP not immigration. You will get this form after you give them your PP with copies of pp, DL and Title.

Then go get your car fumigated. You later pay inside after TIP is handed to you. $4.50

1.Get the online form filled 7 days ahead.
2. Walk up to immigration.
3. Pay $13/person
4. This is how simple it would be. Stamped in with three pieces of receipts. SAVE THEM.
5. Don't have online form filled? Then be prepared to wait till they complete the process and background checks. If you want to not fill the online form then consider arriving at about noon this way they would have cleared the crowd. Or arrive at 7am, before the crowds and you get out to customs faster.
6. Now take that form you got at the gate filled up along with your original license with copies of title and PP. Give it to the police uniformed person inside the customs office (same building) There are two peoe sitting at a table in the lobby. The other is from customs.

The police will take that over to the XRay guys outside the building. She leaves that with them and you get it back only after your car has been Xrayed and cleared. Once you are done with your X-ray you will see a loading dock like place on the right. Wait patiently there for the paperwork and scan report to get to them. Based on their discretion they will physically check your car for things they don't want you to bring into the country. Like a drone. They found my drone case in the xray so they checked. Please cooperate. Smiling. That process can become easier. If you had mailed the Drone to another destination ahead (like I did) then save the receipt and a picture of the packed DHL box. They will want proof of it. If they find components of the drone. Like they did with me.

NOTE on Drone: they don't like it so don't try and sneak one in. Respect their laws. Ship your drone ahead. It cost me $100 from Honduras to Panama City via DHL. Would have been more if I had sent it all. I just sent the drone with NO battery as spare parts. This helps with customs on the destination end. It was valued at $40. When you pick it up you won't pay through your nose for what was already yours.

Once the car is cleared they send you back to the Aduana office. Now take the paper you got from the scanner and the form you got at the gate with a copy of your title DL and PP to the customs girl on the table in the lobby. She checks it and then sends you to the officer across from her in a window. They then fill out the paperwork on the comp and hand you the TIP. The next window after that you pay the $4.50 for the fumigation. THE TIP IS FREE.

You are now DONE. Drive out to the exit gate and get the papers you just got which inudes the TIP, Your passport stamp and a receipt you get from immigration after your pay the $13 fees. DONT LOSE THAT. It's easy to have it slip away with all the opening and closing of the pp after.

As soon as this is done.. immediately park in the right side of the road. Walk across the street where long truck line exists. A small restaurant will have some ladies who sell Vehicle Insurance for $12 for my 3 days. More if longer stays are involved. Now you are truly ready to explore Nicaragua.

We got a transit entry which gave us 3 days to exit.

Driving into the country, well this part atleast (I imagine all of it is like this) Such a gorgeous nation. To recap no matter what country you enter and exit... here are some guidelines if followed will guarantee a smooth process and a great start to your journey in that country.

1. Every nation has its rules.
2. Follow the rules
3. Respect the law
4. If you have no patience. It's you not them and reconsider traving by road.
5. Every nation is different and adopt what's good for them not you.
6. Approach all borders with a smile and great attitude.
7. You may be on a vacation. The men and women in uniform are not. Help them do their jobs with a smile.
8. Red tape exists everywhere. Yeah! Even in your country whatever that may be.
9. Timing is everything. Get there at the right .time you may get out faster. If not, wait like everyone else. A Great way to feel the pulse of the people in the country you so want to get into.
10. Nicaragua is my 49th border. I may have learned a thing or two. So listen up. 😀

PRO TIP: DO NOT attempt to cross or enter in the evening. This is the time the corrupt get the time and opportunity to scam you with things you cannot dispute like say an Interpol call on your car. It happened to me. This time of the day the area the office is deserted with no help in sight and no scrutiny of travelers who are now all cleared out. You are most vulnurable here. Be nice at all times and don't give in. Play dumb. That you don't understand. Do not get aggressive or show fear. Stay calm. Stand up to the bully by asking simple but uncomfortable question. This Interpol thing? Scam. They made it look real by giving us a hand written note to the exit border to let us pass. That border had no clue about Interpol and now they had written letter is just a souvenir of our Adventures. 🤣 this was El Salvador.

Ok happy overlanding.

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Pretty chaotic exiting Honduras (lots of people, put us in the wrong line for getting stamped out). Cancelling TIP took all of 2 seconds (they take the doc but don't give anything in return). Took about an hour; there was a massive line of trailers backed up about 5km so we had to drive on the wrong side of the road and dodge other cars / vans to get to the border.

Mounted the curb to get around the impasse of trailers, got checked by a guard, then went into the Nicaraguan building, which was virtually empty. Altogether took around 30 minutes. Order went: stamp in passports with $13 fee per person, get car checked out by guard, get TIP (free), pay $3 disinfection fee, good to go.

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Nous avons vraiment hésité à passer la frontière du Nicaragua au vu de tous les commentaires sachant que nous y allons que pour 2 semaines et devons faire la même chose au retour... nous nous sommes lancé et tout a été hyper simple. Tout est indiqué, tout le monde nous aide et très gentils. Plus simple que le Guatemala par exemple pour notre part. À chaque endroit, une personne en t-shirt bleu va vous expliquer le prochain step à passer.

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Compared to the Honduran side, Somotillo was so easy. We stopped to get a form from the white guard tower just after crossing the bridge on the wrong side because the truck line was so long.

Then some offroad driving to the Aduana building. We were the only ones there at 3pm. All the regular immigration people were on break so the supervisor checked us in. We had to provide an address where we were staying but she didn't require us to prove it.

We had a guy escorting us around from place to place. He had an official shirt, so I'm not sure if he was a fixer or not TBH. He helped but didn't shorten anything timewise. We still had to unload our entire car for the Nica scanner. But a bus pulled up right after us, so the people didn't check to ensure we pulled every bag out. So we just removed all the big bags.

The supervisor asked us if we had drones or guns. I said no, definitely not. Just cameras and I showed her my cell phone and handheld fuji, then said 'we are just tourists here for one week.'

The scanning supervisor was selecting all the bags with lotions and liquids in them for additional inspection. She kept a nice smelling perfume from the bag of a woman in front of me. But she wasn't interested in my unscented lotions and bug sprays so we were free to go.

It was weird to see her behave like that but everyone was very nice to us. They even gave my son a chair to sit in while we jumped through all their hoops.

Overall, we spent far less time on the Nica side even having our car contents all scanned than we did in the mess on Guasale. Everything in the Nica side is in the same building so you just walk from area to area. It was pretty efficient.

The last thing we did was pay for fumigation, and I asked if I needed to do anything else and they said no. So I didn't buy any car insurance because no one suggested it or said I had to.

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Crossing to Nicaragua with a dog.
Everything went well...but very expensive border.
Took us 3 hours

pretty straight forward until aduana office. People wave to tell you were to go. There was a monstruous line of trucks at 8 in the morning. We passed them all as the drivers were inviting us to do so.

Important things to know:
You need covid PCR test for all, even if your vaccinated, even if you're a baby as of end of May 2022.
They check your tests at the entrance in nica.

They only accept US cash at the migracion office ($12 US pp for tourist card) + $12 por adminastive fees (i think). receipt for all. They would accept cordoba but then they will go change it to the dealers for you (while you wait).. We were not sure about the currency deals so we went to change ourselves.

Then to the scanner, they saw our dog, came to see him. Out of nowhere asked us $24 US. Gave us a receipt.

So we left the border completely broke since we had to do 4 covid tests (for us + our 2 childs under 3). $200 for PCR tests + $60 at migracion + $24 for the dog.

Pretty expensive border, be prepared ;)

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Got through today in a little over 3 hours for 4 people and our truck. All of the other posts are pretty accurate so I won’t repeat. Just adding another data point. We did use a helper guy even though we could’ve managed without. I think the immigration workers might like this since it makes their job a touch easier and it helps a local. They X rayed our truck and did a light inspection of a couple areas. Lots of romping curbs and driving over medians. Have fun with it!

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Sortir du Honduras : fait en 20 min, arrivée a 6h10

1-Passer tous les camions. Au bout, il faut prendre le rond-point. faire presque un 1/2 tour et prendre la sortie à droite. On pense être en sens inverse mais non. C'est juste le chaos avec tous les camions. Ne pas hésiter à y aller à contre sens. Il y a un building déglingué sur la gauche (attention celui de droite est encore plus déglingué car en ''réfection''. S'y garer.

Là, il y a quelques marches avec à droite une fenêtre pour les aduanas, puis un bureau migracion et un troisième bureau (à gauche celui ci pour la salud. Ne pas aller à la salud car vous sortez du pays. Aller d'abord au bureau à gauche puis tout de suite après au 1er bureau à gauche.

Après c'est ok pour le Honduras, bonne chance pour la suite.

Entrer au Nicaragua. Attention soyez prêts à entrer dans la maison des cons et des fous. Fait en 3h40, ce qui est rapide mais quand même...on est arrivé à 6h30, et il y avait déjà du monde.

1- du honduras prendre le pont et s'arrêter à la guérite pourrie au milieu du pont. C'est la Salud TEST PCR. Attention montrer une copie couleur en disant que c'est l'original. La conne nous a fait chier car la copie était en noir et blanc. Et bonne chance pour lui expliquer que le labo envoi cela de façon numérique.

2- Après que la conne de la salud à verifier le tout (sans vérifier nos vaccins!), le gars avec elle vous fait un papier de migracion (sur un post it) et vous donne une déclaration de douane à remplir).

3-Passer à la fumigation du véhicule, continuer une 50aine de mètres et se garer au bâtiment sur la gauche Transporte de pasaje.

4- Ici c'est la guerre, entrer dans le bâtiment pour aller à un bureau de migracion. Il y en a 12 mais sûrement un seul d'ouvert. Il vont sûrement checker votre 'solicitud', et valider la validation de la validation pour voir si la survalidation du  'solicitud'  est bonne (que vous ayez bien reçu la confirmation par courriel que tout était correct, car sinon ça va être encore plus long). Puis donner une adresse d'hôtel qui va être checker peut être (vive google map version douanier).....puis au bout d'un moment, vous allez être validés pour la migracion et payer 13$ par pers.

5-Let the fun begin. Trouvez dans le bureau à côté (où il y a les scanners pour bagages) un mec qui bosse. Eux ils sont en polo bleu ciel. Lui donner le formulaire que le tout 1er gars vous avait donné. Là, il va vous faire un gribouillis dessus et vous dire d'aller faire le scanner.

6- Pour faire le scanner il faut avoir une copie du papier que le mec vient de gribouiller (à faire au rond point qui donne côté Nicaragua, 200m plus loin, à la pupuseria, ok pour payer en $, dans le doute prendre au moins 2 copies).

Après, trouver (vers le bureau du scanner à bagage) là où le flic du jour qui bosse. Elle/il va prendre ta copie que tu viens de faire, ton permis (original et copie) plus copie licence véhicule. C'est pour t'enregister pour le passage au scanner du véhicule.

7- Se rendre au scanner (aller vers le rond point du nicaragua et 1er sortie à droite puis 1er à droite)

8- Attendre au scanner en ligne et espérer que le connard de flic ne va pas mettre 2 plombes à finir son poulet pour t'enregistrer dans la ligne du passage.

9- Scan du véhicule (alors une seule personne, dans le véhicule, l'autre doit sortir et faire le tout en attendant)

10- Attendre à environ 30m après le scan a la zone de check. Là tu sais plus qui bosse là, qui attend, c'est un vrai bordel, les mecs vont chercher les papiers en bécanes dans un autre bureau. Bref t'attends, t'espère qu'ils n'ont pas paumé ton permis, que le scan est OK sinon ils vont ouvrir ta bagnole.

11- Ok bravo t'as passé le scan...mais c'est pas fini. Retourne au bureau du scan bagage (comme tu le peux, ya des camions partout, faut passer off road jusqu'à reprendre l'aller de fumigation). Ok t'es au bureau, là tu fais le permis pour l'auto. Tu rencontres donc la 2e personne qui bosse réellement dans cet enfer (la 1e étant la migracion)

12- Cool t'as le permis, tu peux commencer à te barrer...mais la tu payes maintenant à la guérite du rond point vers le Nicaragua la fumigation (4.5 US$)

13- À la fin du rond point, tu montres de nouveau des papiers à un mec qui n'a pas l'air de travailler là mais en fait oui. 
14- Et là tu te barres et t'écoute même pas ceux qui veulent te vendre une assurance tellement ils t'ont tout pris, vider, t'es kapout. Et tu te trouves un endroit peinard pour chiller quelques jours, te remettre et te dire que peut être que ça vaut la peine de rester au Nicaragua.

Oh et puis tu gardes tout ça en mémoire car le processus est exactement le même pour sortir et aller au Costa Rica selon ce qu'on nous a dit (et dire qu'on va le faire 4 fois :( )

Papiers à avoir, plusieurs exemplaires (genre 6 à 7, ils adorent avoir des copies) Des copies couleurs style Original des PCR, les habituelles copies des passeports, licence véhicule, permis de conduire, les préchequéo. On les avait imprimé mais ils ont fait une vérification dans le systeme. Idéalement faire la solicitud' au nom de celui à qui appartient la voiture)

Bonne chance à vous

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oh and to add to my last comment, we did get our drone through even though they scanned us and searched our van. We hid it amongst other electronics and cords. They didn't search super thoroughly.

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For gods sake I do not wish the scanner upon any one! It took us 4 hours to get through this border. mostly due to waiting in line for the scanner and then I had to have my van checked by an officer, waiting at least an hour between each. Luckily we started the process at 9 am or else it would have taken longer with the trucks piling up. Do not start this border crossing any later than that. It's a fairly straight forward process other than that with people constantly telling you where to go.

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As allready describen the Honduras checkout is a nightmare, we recommend to park your car directly in front of the building were you get your exit stamp. The Nicaragua entery took us 4-5 hours!! We send the PCR result per eMail the night bevor, as well fill out the prechequeo. We shown them the printscreen and it was ok. The scanning of the car with the associated waiting time was awful. At least the customs building is air conditioned and the TIP is for free. We only get 30 days, for us enough.

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Today we drove from El Salvador to Nicaragua and arrived at this border around noon. The Honduras immigration check-out was a nightmare. The Immigration building is under construction, they only have small office room on the other side of the parking lot, with only 3 desks where immigration officers work. Outside around 1.000 people waiting from both directions Nic-->Hon & Hon-->Nic in rather unstructured queues. Its complete chaos. We had luck knowing sbd who already waited for 5 hour rather close to the office, therefore we could manage the check out in 3 hours. I would assume other people will spend the night there. Trucks were already starting to block all spaces without any car beeing able to move in either direction. Hopefully this problem will be solved within next days or weeks, but today it rather reminded me of a refugee camp at some border. So check out current status before going.

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Exit honduras - lots of trucks double parked along the road for many km. carefully go around. the customs building is being renovated (Jan 2022) you need to drive past it and Do a u turn to get to a small building on the other side you will see parked cars

Ben's description is spot on. I must add for Nicaragua you need 2x PCR test copies, one for the health hut just after the bridge (you park on the foot path) and one for the annoying passport stamper. $13usd total pp. for passports. no vehicle fees. You need a passport photocopy and vehicle title copy for passport person. You need to write down the name and address of a hotel within driving distance of the border both the health and passport person annoyed me about it. The TIP person scanned everything and was very helpful no copies needed. on the customs form just write 1 suitcase each. walk straight from immigration through to customs where the x-ray machines are and if your lucky after you say you don't have a drone (only if they ask), and only some clothes in your van, they will sign off the customs form without any inspections or x rays. I turned up at 7am and it was super chilled everyone was feeling too lazy to do any inspections. the final guy on the way out only wanted 1 of our 2 customs forms. I purchased central america vehicle insurance from todo riesgo Guatemala so no need to purchase insurance at the border.

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I came here because the Nicaraguan gov't didn't approve my PCR Covid test to get into Managua by air and the Honduras gov't does not require one to fly in (they do require vax). I was on a time crunch and needed to get to Nica ASAP. Essentially the border is extremely loose and you could probably walk right in if you don't have a car (i didn't notice one person conducting security) but that might make it difficult to get out of the country so I would not recommend that. Technically to get into Nicaragua by land you are supposed to fill out the prechequeo online (migracion, customs and COVID form) a week before you get there. I filled mine out only about a day or two before I got there and they let me in. I may have gotten lucky but I was also told by the Nicaraguan Migration help line that all I needed to do was send my negative PCR test to this email [email protected] and I would be good. The requirements are pretty confusing and I got varying information from the US / Nica gov't. If you fill out the prechequeo form a week before, have multiple copies of your negative pcr test, and have a valid passport you are good to go. I am not recommending you go without filling out the prechequeo form a week before you get there but just know that it is possible that you can get in without doing so. I may have gotten lucky or they may not be that strict but either way I got in with only sending the form in a day or two before getting there. I do not speak great spanish but luckily had my driver there to help me. I would highly recommend if you plan on doing this you speak great spanish or have someone there to help you. Let me know if you have any question :)

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Having passed through from Honduras into Nicaragua on motorcycles;

1. First stop at the small blue/white building that’s in the middle of the road, before the round about, immediately after the bridge.
2. Hand over your PCR test copies, and obtain a slip. Someone will also hand you a customs/aduana declaration to fill out.
3. Continue through the roundabout to the left towards the large blue building/complex.
4. Be stamped into Nicaragua, we were given two slips each. Pay US$13.
5. In the same building that houses immigration is the aduana. Find an agent amongst the X-ray machines who will inspect your motorcycle if needed. We had to bring in a couple of bags to scan. They’ll sign off the customs dec you pre-filled and collect the documents for your vehicle (title or registration, licence, passport).
6. Carry these to the aduana officer at the vehicle processing window and you’ll receive your TIP after they type away. This cost us nothing.
7. Drive/ride to the exit. Another person will check you have your TIP paperwork, and collect a slip that was provided by immigration.
8. If insurance is needed, a lady was offering it immediately after the gate. If you already have it, ride on!

All in, it took us about an hour and US$13 each on the Nicaragua side. Not too bad at all.

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So I don’t know why almost no one is talking about this sort of prechequeo here, but apart from what everyone says you also need to send an e-mail (!) to two distinct addresses of the migración services, with a form that you need to fill. Funnily enough it was hard to find on a Nicaraguan website, I found it pretty easily on a Honduras migration site. And that, 7 days (!!) before your intended arrival date. In theory then, the government sends you a reply saying that they officially invite you to their country, with a specific number etc. Middle-Age practices. I don’t know if that’s new or something, but I just did it the day before - too late - and then at the border it took them two hours to double check everything, they even actually called the contact that I have here in Nicaragua to check if it was legit. Crazy! But yeah after hours finally made it with a 13$ payment .
Good luck! Most complicated border crossing of my life so far.

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Took us 6 hours to get through. Thorough search of our rig on the Nicaraguan side. They do not accept covid vaccination only pcr. The nurse called the lab to make sure it was real.

Word of caution: if you have a drone HIDE IT AT ALL COSTS. We are still waiting on approval of it after multiple customs agents came to check it and we may have to destroy it.

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We crossed from Honduras into Nicaragua on March 25th.

Exiting Honduras you park at immigrations building. Go in and get your passport stamped out. They do your right hand fingerprints.

Next step go close your TIP Honduras does not let you keep it open or pause it.

This part took us all of 15 minutes.

Next you drive around the rotunda and head towards Nicaragua. Skip the line of trucks. Pull over on the left side in the dirt and you will see a little white building with a staircase. Go in there and bring your PCR test and a copy. The nurse will take your temperature. Check your pcr test and keep the copy. They’ll give you a little white paper to take to immigrations. Once this is all done drive up to the blue and white immigrations building. Park and walk into immigrations. It’s set up kind of like an airport. Go to the immigrations officer. They’ll ask where you’re staying and how long you’re staying etc. We did the prechequeo a week in advance and we never got a confirmation it was approved but they never asked us about it. Once this is all done the immigrations official will give you a receipt and you go up to another booth to pay for your entrance visa. It is $13 usd per person. We paid in American dollars. Next step is to go to aduana. If you have suitcases they’ll ask you to put them through the scanner.

Next step is to have the tip paperwork signed by the guy who searches your suitcase. He will also search your car and then he and another official will sign off on the white paper you’re given for the TIP. Then you go to the Aduana window to start your TIP paperwork. Their entire system was down so the official was doing everyone’s tip paperwork by hand the day we crossed. There was no fee and our car wasn’t x-rayed. I don’t know if they usually X-ray smaller vehicles or not. We have a 2016 Crosstrek. This border crossing took 3 hours. But it was because their computer system was down. Once it was actually our turn it only took 15 minutes for him to write out our TIP paperwork. He gave us 30 days.

They also give you a little white piece of paper at immigrations to hand to the officer when you are leaving the border crossing area and entering the country. Give this paper to the man there and he will also suggest you buy car insurance.

A woman walked up to our car to sell us the car insurance. It was $12 and a small piece of paper with the lawyers phone number on it in case we are to get in an accident. It took 5 minutes.

Once we got on the road we came to a police checkpoint within 15 minutes of the crossing and the officer asked for all our paperwork, so I would suggest having it handy. He also asked us for our passports and if we had insurance. I believe you are fined if you don’t have insurance so definitely get some at the crossing!

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Nicaragua to Honduras
Honduras border.
No need of fixer. We filled the prechequeo online (migracion, customs and COVID form) but nobody asked us the proofs.
entering the building, go to the Salud window on the left. Present the original and copy of the PCR test. They keep the copy, take your temperature and give you a little paper to keep and show at the next border crossing.
Go to migracion window. 3$USpp entry stamp. We didn't fill any form. just took our finger prints. Because we stayed over 9 months in Nicaragua because of the pandemia, they only gave us 5 days visa to cross the CA4 area.
go to customs window. Give 2 copies of driver's license/vehicle tittle/passport. Cross the parking lot and make 2 copies of the entry stamp. return to customs. give the copies and pay 35$US. The lady fills in the TIP and gives it to you.
All done.
Drive out. A guy checks TIP and passports and you're good to go.

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Nicaragua to Honduras.
get copies of PCR tests, driver's license, passports and vehicle tittle + original documents ready. An official checks them at the blue tower entry and gives you the customs form to fill in.
then, he directs you to the right to the white building.
migracion 3$USpp (keep the receipt). Because we stayed over 9 months in Nicaragua due to the Covid, they gave us a special exit stamp of 5 days to leave the CA4 area (Honduras, el Salvador,Guatemala) and reach Mexico.
Friendly customs guy. Cancelling TIP took 5 minutes.
At exit blue tower, a customs officer takes the customs form and a migracion officer takes the receipts.
cross the bridge and park near Honduras building.

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Easy border, no very pushy helpers needed. Pass all the trucks and pull into immigration parking on the left. Stamp out of Honduras cancel TIP, stamp pets put at OPSA window if needed. Drive across the bridge. Due to all the construction things get a little crazy. Official at the bridge will look at passport, give declaration form and send you towards fumigation building. I was told to park in the small lot on the left next to the immigration office. Did passport stuff inside and went looking for the DGA guy to inspect the vehicle but was told to do IPSA first. IPSA is a small green building on the far right past all the trucks parked. IPSA guy walked back and looked at the dog and cats then filled all paperwork sitting in my rig $30 US for 1 dog 2 cats. Inside again had to show new IPSA papers to x-ray guy and where they scan all documents. Insurance lady was waiting for me at the last checkpoint $12. All told it's not hard, just time consuming 3 hrs because I have pets. Make sure you have a ton of extra copies of everything. You don't need the very pushy helpers! They are expensive and not needed.

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similar experience as bruttin.jules. exiting Honduras, drive past long line of trucks and to aduana/immigration building on the left. park and go inside, a lot of helpers, but you don't need it. walk to other side of building to migración (entrada and salida at same windows). get passport stamped and fingerprints (right hand only). walk back around to aduana window, near the entrance, and hand over original TIP (they keep it) and passport with exit stamp (they don't keep it). done with Honduras, we paid no money to exit.

drive past more trucks to enter Nicaragua, will come to an official in a bright vest, he/she will give you a declaration form to fill out (different then the one you can do online). this border crossing is still under some major construction, follow the handmade sign for tourists and another official will direct you where to park. they will want to see the declaration form filled out, and they also asked to see inside our van. you bring the form, along with passport (original +2 copies), drivers license (+1 copy), original vehicle registration (they give it back), to the teal/green building behind parking area. they will show you where to enter, as it's not very obvious. there was a medical official at the entrance checking our passports and asked us to wash our hands (corona virus outbreak time). we then went through the double door to migración, a bunch of windows, we were instructed to go to one guy (for tourists, we guessed), handed over our passports and gave the confirmation number of the form we filled out online. you can find that form on wikioverland. they also asked for passport copies. this process took roughly 40 mins- 1 hour, no sure why...they do give you a receipt, keep it, will be checked at the final point on entry to Nicaragua. charged $12 USD pp. we then went back through the double doors to aduana for TIP. Big window (only one in the room), handed over passport, with receipt (driver only), drivers license, original vehicle registration. paid $5USD for fumigation (received receipt), nothing for TIP. this process maybe took roughly 30 mins. since the official in the parking lot made us declare our dog, we were instructed to the IPSA office. just ask them where to go, it's incredibly not obvious and a bit of a walk.

at the IPSA office, we were able to use the health certificate obtained in Guatemala (it was roughly 19 days old), received our form and paid $10 (they accept dollars/córdobas).

drive to border entry and the official there will want to see passport, with receipt, and TIP. there is an insurance official there as well if you need it, but the insurance we bought in Guatemala was still valid.

this process took roughly 3 hours total...

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1:45 the full process, but we advise to do your pre-registration online at least 7 days before arriving to shorten that time and avoid being asked for document photocopies. Of course it depends on buses arriving at the same time.
Every one was very nice and helpful.

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Cross this border around 11am from Honduras to Nicaragua. With motorcycle.
Take me 2 hour.

On the Honduras side (no fee):
A huge line of truck where there. I pass all of them until I see the aduana. A lot of pushy helper.

-Go through the building, to the other side are the immigration post.
-In front is for your moto where you can cancel your TIP.

-change money if you need (be really careful and aware of the change, they try to take an huuuuge comission)

On the Nicaragua side (10+2+2+12 dollar fee):
-Drive to the other side of the bridge
-There a man check your passeport and give you a formular to fill.
-Fumigation (free)
-As it is in construction you need to go to the other side of the road to the "green" building.
-inside you can have your passeport stamp. 12 dollars (no corobora). Also need to show the formular previoulsy fill om internet.
-Go outside to find the man who will check your motorcycle. And after he will send you to the x-ray room. It's inside the green building, the big black door.
He said that I should take one of my luggage to the x-ray, but I didn't and they sign the paper anyway. They just don't care.
-They scan all your paper and then you good to go. 2 dollar fee again.

- Pass in front the green building to exit.
- Just when you will be on the road again, a man stop me and I needed to show him my paper.
-At the same place you can have your insurance for 12 dollar.

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The most easy border crossing since USA Canada........No help needed.....And we don 't send the mail before....3.5 hours...

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We followed the instructions of « wherearedanyandmatt » and everything went smoothly.

For us, immigration took almost 1 hour, just because we arrived just after a tourist bus. Nevertheless, since we had made the online registration, it took 15 minutes when our turn came. 12$pp (paid in USD) for entering the country.

For TIP, there was no queue at all and the whole process took 30 min. 4$ of aduana fees paid in USD.

No grumpy officers for us, but a little chit-chat in castellano and some jocks may help

There is free wifi in the building, no need of a password. It helps when you have nothing to do except waiting ;)

Note : from Honduras, before arriving at the Nicaraguan border building, you have the pass on a bridge. We were stuck besides several trucks and the queue was not moving at all so a señor made us roll with our van up on the side walk in order to overpass the trucks.

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The process has been described in detail well enough in other posts. But to update, for anyone who, like us, doesn’t submit the online form 7 days in advance. We stupidly waited until the night before crossing from Honduras to Nicaragua to check entry requirements. This is what worked for us at the last minute:
1) https://solicitudes.migob.gob.ni/Tramites/RegistroN
This is the online version of the form that you can fill out and submit. It’s in Spanish but we figured it’s a faster way to get your info into the system than emailing a pdf for someone else to enter on their end. Once submitted, you’ll get an email response giving you your ticket number and verification code. This info is how the border agents will find you in the system.
2) we overnighted in Choluteca the night before crossing. We got up super early and departed at first light to be at the border before the throngs of people trying to cross. After exiting Honduras it was around 6:45am when we entered Nicaraguan customs.
3)we only waited about 5 minutes in a very short line before being asked for the confirmation of our form immediately upon talking to the agent. We explained the situation, gave her our ticket numbers, and even though we had not been processed yet, at least they could find us in the system. Since we were their so early we were on the top of the pile for one of the other agents in a separate office to manually process our entry form. He asked us a few questions (where are you staying? - this one is important, even if you make it up or it’s a loose, unconfirmed plan, tell them something. We gave him hotel names and dates even though nothing was for certain. How long will you be in the country? And where will you be exiting? Again, just give them a confident answer, even if you’re plans are loose).
4)he asked us to sit off to the side and wait. We were the first ones to sit down but by the time he called us back (about 30-45 minutes later) the office was packed with people, many of whom had been told to wait for additional processing like us. I think getting there super early was the only reason we only waited such a short time.

From there, the rest of the process was pretty straightforward. Several agents spoke English and were very helpful. We crossed on two motorcycles. They didn’t look in any bags/panniers. They x-rayed our duffle bags but didn’t make us remove panniers or tank bags etc. Total time at the border was 2 hours 15 minutes. We needed 1 copy of our main passport page for the guy who did the “additional processing”. Not sure if you need copies if you’ve actually received your approval for you online application before you cross.

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We're a Chinese couple in our 60s drove a Chinese plate SUV, we were a bit worried about if we'll get rejected at Nicaragua border, but they were surprisingly nice. Because our nationality we had to pay the extra 50USD which makes 62USD for the border crossing. All we had to do was to sit in their office, they did all the work, copying documents and explain things to other staffs at different departments. Took total 2.5hrs to exit Honduras and enter Nicaragua(would be faster but one of the lady was a bit confused with our documents). They asked us how many suitcases did we have, we had four and put it through the machine, they did not check inside of the car. We got our insurance at Leon , the girl was nice but worked really slow took an hour to get our insurance done.

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I expected the worst and got the best. I arrived just after noon and thought lunchtime is the worst time to be there. I was completely wrong.

On the Honduran side there's just one building where you can get everything done. There was a bunch of pushy helpers, but at least they don't follow you inside and only pester you when you're in the car. There was no queue to either migration or customs. Everything took five minutes, completely hassle free. First, they check your passport, then cancel your TIP. Once done, you drive across the bridge to Nicaragua.

In Nicaragua, the process is more complicated, but even without reading all the tips provided here you'll be fine.

First, there's a checkpoint where customs will ask for your documents (passport, driving licence, car registration). They will hand you an immigration form, which you need to fill out and present to customs further on. Right after the checkpoint there's a fumigation station. It was free and no-one asked for any receipts at any point.

After that it's a bit more complicated. There are major roadworks in the area, and it's easy to go in the wrong direction, but there's a greenish building to the left, where the offices are. First you need to go through immigration. It's a separate booth from where everyone else queues to have their IDP's checked. I stood in that queue and the officer took me to the right one once he saw my passport and I gave him the reference number of my online application. At the right booth I paid $12 (they're able to give change in dollars, but it may be in coins) for the tourist card. That was it.

In the meantime the jefe checking the cars outside asked me a couple of times about my car and brought a lady who would check it, whilst I was queuing to immigration. When I got back to him, he couldn't be bothered and only asked me how many suitcases I have. When I said I have one, he said I have zero, wrote that on the form, and signed. That meant that when I went to the room with X-ray scanners, they didn't want anything from me and just co-signed the form.

Finally, in the same room, there was a bit of a queue to get the TIP, but it didn't take long. Perhaps half an hour. They didn't even want any copies, scanned everything on the spot and no paper involved. The biggest challenge seemed to be finding out whether I'm English, British or United Kingdom-ese according to their systems.

Finally, you need to drive around the construction site slightly back and to the right to exit. They'll check your passport and the TIP at this point again. You'll also need to present a receipt of payment for the tourist card, that they'll keep. This is also where the ladies changing money sit in the shade.

That's it. Everyone, particularly the officials, was very helpful. It took 1:40h altogether rather chaotically on my part. No helpers at all on the Nicaraguan side. Everything very professional and zero hassle.

A good idea is to eat and fill up near the border. The road is good going east, but there's little by it for miles ahead. I didn't see any other petrol station until Leon.

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Insurance for Nicaragua is sold outside of the building by ladies that don't look too official, but it seems to be legit. I have been stopped by police before I made it to Chinandega, they asked for insurance and was ok with what was presented.

I had filled the application online, didn't get any response, checked using the link they emailed and printscreen the result. They were ok with it at migration. Motorcycle import was quite fast and without any troubles.

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Exiting Honduras: Once again circumnavigate the extremely long line of trucks. Sometimes they will need to slide ahead or backwards to allow you to tuck in to clear on coming traffic. Once clear of trucks bear right and park in front of one story office building. All can be accomplished within that one building. 1st immigration window and around the corner to customs. All of it is done there. Dogs, vehicle all of it. Very easy then drive on to Nicaragua.

Entering Nicaragua: Very challenging. Avoid “helpers” they are extra bad here. Same situation with trucks just go around the line and keep inching ahead. A man will give you a form to complete for immigration and then direct you to fumigation. We were required to go to a small green hut on the right to process dog paperwork. Then drive around trucks and get to another large one story building and get dogs inspected. This is where we received 2nd form for dogs. From here we had vehicle inspected and purchased our vehicle insurance from ladies sitting at desks outside. Then we went inside to immigration. Very important to have $12US per person to enter. No change given or cards accepted. We filled out the online form and printed our acceptance letter. That seemed to expedite things. When finished with immigration we entered the only air conditioned office directly behind immigration lady. This AC office is where we paid $4US for our fumigation and paid for our 30 day TIP. Again this was a multi step process but avoid “helpers “ at all cost. Bring USD in small denominations. We were not X rayed and our vehicle inspection and dog inspections were minimal.

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Leaving Honduras, the aduana staff were gone. No idea where. People said they would come back. Stood around for an hour just waiting for someone to return and stamp my bike out of the country in my passport. Hard to understand how customs official would just vacate their post with no explanation.

Entering Nica - I did not complete the form in advance. Had somewhat good luck - good-spirited immigration officer was friendly and happy that I was able to chat a little in Spanish. As such, he made my entry easy. Aduana, as usual, was illogically time consuming. Took 2.5 hours in total on the Nica side, mostly due to aduana line/watching staff manually type details into their computer. Drunks on both the Honduras side and Nica side harassed me fairly persistently.

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Hicimos La salida de Honduras en 45 minutos. Solo hacer la fila y te atienden muy amablemente. No se paga nada al salir.
La entrada a Nicaragua nos tomó 2 horas y media. Nosotros no traíamos el formulario hecho (hay que hacer el pre chequeo online) y nos atendieron muy amablemente e hicieron ellos el chequeo online por nosotros. Nos dijeron que podíamos esperar en el Motorhome si queríamos y ellos nos avisaban cuando estuviera listo.
Así fue como sucedió!
Recomendamos venir con el pre chequeo hecho y será muy rápido el trámite. Se pagan Us$12 por persona de trámite migratorio y el seguro del coche es obligatorio. Otros Us$12

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Crossed here and found the guides here super helpful, but we experienced some minor differences.

Nobody asked to pay for fumigation when we did it, and we only got asked for the receipt when we left, so we paid then.

Insurance was sold by people outside instead of in the green building.

We did the only form a few days in advance but never got a confirmation, so the migration process took ages, the lady was not nice and asked millions of pointless questions leading to nothing. This was annoying, but in the end more for here than for us.

One thing she got stuck with was that she wanted to know exactly where we were staying etc, which we didn’t know and didn’t want to plan. This took at least an hour before she accepted that.

Outside, our vehicle was checked literally within 2 sec, instantly approved.

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Exiting Honduras took 15 minutes, easy.
Entering Nicaragua: terrible, very unorganized. Took us 3,5 hours although we were more or less the only ones. We filled the online form, but nobody wanted to see it. We followed the instructions below (which are perfect), but when we queued for the tourist card some weird immigration officer came by and started to ask questions. First we thought its small talk but then he started to write random things down and asked very detailed questions about our trip. He looked stoned and acted really weird. This delayed everything pretty much and other overlanders which arrived more than an hour after us were gone before us. Bad luck I guess.

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Crossed today. Took about 2h30. HIGHLY RECOMENDED to do the online form @ https://solicitudes.migob.gob.ni
Then send email to [email protected]

That will save you more than 1h

They say insurance is compulsory, 12$

You can skip the spry by driving to the left as you enter the country after the bridge

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Crossed this border on foot and found it quite easy and straightforward.

Leaving Nicaragua: l was handed an immigration form at the first passport check and then proceeded to the building and joined a small queue to get my exit stamp. Took 10-15 minutes and then had to pay a 2 dollar fee. Wasn’t asked for the form I had filled out. However, after I left I passed a final passport check and they asked for the form there along with a yellow piece of paper I had gotten with my stamp.

Entering Honduras: Joined the main immigration queue but a bus load of people had just arrived so the line took just under an hour. When I reached the window, I paid a 3 dollar fee and got my entry stamp. Walked outside and there were no final passport checks.

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*Fill the form online before coming to Nicaragua (did 2 days before and got the answer the day before crossing) and made it so easy!
*you can find the form on WikiOverland (nicaragua).
*A friend of mine passed 2 days before me and got
stuck there 4 hours, got interviewed and waited in line for long time ! she didn’t do the form in advance)
*took us about 1:30 and it was done!

-Did fumigation on the right side. Then drove back on the left side to Aduana building. *make sure you have change in paper bill (US$), the lady at the “bank” to pay for the stamp was a real problem, it was 24$ for 2 pp and didn’t accept our only 4 25 cents (they do accept 1$ in coin). Then nobody around had change for 4 quarters, we were told to wait at the bank the other side of the street but the line was just too long. We went back to the fumigation building and got change there then came back and paid, she didn’t even looked at me and through my papers at me in the window, bad day for her !
-then did the inspection with a blue pollo guy outside, filled the paper and went back inside the aduana building, in the back, where the scanner are, to get our TIP.
*Make sure to declare your animals there, we came to exit Nicaragua further and they saw we had pets and wanted to see the certificate of nicaragua and didn’t had any because nobody told us anything even if they saw it at the inspection!We could have been in trouble but they let us go without saying anything hoping for us to be able to get in costa rica no problem.

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we crossed from Honduras to Nicaragua here. After a long day we made some mistakes and were consumed by fixers. Do not except help from anyone here, they will scam you out of lots of money! Follow the words of the others here and do everything yourself. Pass the massive line of trucks, take your time to go through the steps, and it won't be bad.

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Followed the instructions below and all went fairly smoothly. We got lost after fumigation though - first off they didn't even fumigate our car. We just paid for a ticket then drive round a load trying to find the fumigation area until we return to where we bought it and they said we didn't need it done. After it drive forward and park outside the bank you can walk through it to the immigration building .

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Entramos de Nicarágua para Honduras.

Os trâmites de saída de pessoa e carro foram rápidos, pagamos $2,00 dólares por pessoa para sair.

Em Honduras a imigração foi rápida e pagamos $3,00 dólares por pessoa para entrar.

Já a aduana demorou bastabte, pagamos $35 dólares para entrada do veículo.

O seguro para carros não é obrigatório, não revisaram a Kombi e não pediram nenhum papel para o cachorro.

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We followed the description from „wherearedaniandmatt“ and crossed the border very smooth! We had about 2 hours- each border one hour (in Honduras a bus just arrived before us so we had to stay in line for 45min).

They didn’t ask or search for drones! Not even checked one cabinet in our van at the Nicaragua border.
Most people are very friendly and helpful! Just be friendly and patient. :)

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One of the longest and most tedious border crossings so far. Arrived at 6:30 am when it was empty and people were nice but as the morning went on the staff got more irritated and annoyed. If you haven’t filled out the permit online, you can do it there. Took about an hour but be ready to answer tons of questions from where you’re going to profession and marriage. Some super personal. Then we had our van thoroughly inspected and they even brought a dog to sniff it. Wanted to see all of our camera gear (we hid the drone). After 4 hrs of this they messed up the van paperwork and put down the wrong make and model. When we asked to correct it they said ‘Eh should be fine’ and refused to correct it. I guess we shall find out when we exit Nicaragua.

If you have a pet you will need health certificate and rabies shots. Costs $10 right next to fumigation.

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We arrived at the border around 830pm and it was pretty breezy. Nicaragua took a bit for the paperwork so they let us sleep in the parking lot and showed us a place to eat then opened again at 5am and sent us on our way after processing the car's paperwork. Really nice/funny people.

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Border Update: coming from Honduras with cars, the immigration does not let foreigners (German, French, Russian) into Nicaragua citing security concerns.
This happened yesterday and today at Guasaule and El Espino.

I don’t think this will change in the next week...

Also the online form (approved) was mandatory.

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>> Nicaragua
Didn’t need fumigation as it rained.

Immigration checked my job title online via Google, etc (1.5h +)...I suppose they are currently rigorous due the security situation in Nicaragua.

Only got 4 weeks visa...since you can only stay in the 4C (Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador & Nicaragua) for 90 days.

Next to the immigration building is a small tourist ministry office for tips on sights & safety (roadblocks).

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We just crossed this border and it wasn’t that bad! Just a bit slow, that’s all!
Make sure you do your online form before arriving, it’ll speed up the process so much more!
Follow the steps by wherearedaniandmatt down here, it’s exactly what you need to do!
Re the drone: just hide it well and when asked if you have one, say no! ;) They don’t scan the vehicle and barely search it. They just pick any random bags you have lying around for scanning (if they do).
Just be patient and relax, you’ll soon be driving away! :)

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Crossed the border today and it was exactly how ‚wherearedaniandmatt‘ on March 26th described. Just more chaotic, total time 4:15h, more than 3,5h to enter Nicaragua!
Maybe you should fill out a document online which is kind of a registration form who should make the procedure faster they said
https://solicitudes.migob.gob.ni/
7 days in advance. Check photo attached!
Oh and insurance for 12,- US is valid for 30 days.

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3 USD fumigation
12 USD immigration fee
12 USD insurance for 30 days
TIP FREE

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Positives first:

Exiting Honduras:

An absolute breeze -
1. Immigration (passport) on one side of building
2. Exit TIP on other side

In and out within 15 mins - no fees.

Entering Nicaragua (approx 2.5 hours):

Agree with fellow overlanders - this is the worst border crossing we have experienced in CA. That said, if you know the process it will make it much smooth but very slow.

Here are the steps we experienced.

1. Once crossing the bridge you are stopped by immigration officer, asked where going, want to see passport, and should provide a customs form - make sure you ask for this form (we had to remind the officer to give it to us - if you don’t get it it could set you back in the process and will require you to drive back to this area to get it!)

2. Fumigation - easy, drive to right of fork. Pay $3USD

3. In front of fumigation is a green building where you can buy insurance. It was US$12. Get the compulsory insurance as if you get pulled over later on your trip you could be fined!

4. After this you drive from
Green building around and park outside blue and white building for immigration. This is where you get your passports stamped, clear customs and obtain TIP. It is VERY important to follow the follow in order otherwise you will be subject to massive delays.

A. Once parking enter building and go to immigration to passport stamped and pay for tourist visa (12 dollars pp)

B. IMPORTANT (we did this order wrong and it cost us lots of time due to significant lines for the TIP permit) - Go outside and look for a vehicle inspector - wearing blue shirts and reflective vests and give them your completed Customs form (the form you received when first entering Nicaragua). They will inspect vehicle and likely require you to pull a few bags for scanning at their selection (they made us pull out 4 bags). The bags were scanned - the girl was very grumpy and was asking me how many guitars in my guitar case in Spanish - and it’s value!

C. Enter the TIP permit line (this line is in the same room as the large scanner like at an airport and at the back of the same immigration building.

D. To obtain your TIP provide - we experienced a very grumpy lady who yelled spanish at us, after we apologised for knowing little Spanish in espanol. What she is yelling is basically requesting the customs form, originals title, passport, registration, licence documents. This line was painful and don’t wait here unless you have completed your customs form and had your vechile checked outside by the inspector and (if requested bags scanned) first!! We made this mistake and had to wait in this line twice!!!

E. When exiting - you will be stopped again and documents checked!

Lots of grumpy people but once through Nicaragua looks like a beautiful country!!! Have fun!!

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Exit Honduras: Terrible. We had to wait 1:30 minutes in queue just to get our passports stamped. A lot of hustle with people trying to sell you peanuts and exchange money, very dirty and uncivilized. When it was finally our turn a guy appeared with a “client” and forced his entry ahead of us. We made noice about it to the officer, but he accepted the other person first and than us. Very corrupt. Disgusting.
Enter Nicaragua: The worst so far. They inspected our vehicle and saw we had a drone. They put a custody on our drone and send a guy with us to cross the border up to Costa Rica. The process took us more than 3 hours at the customs, the banking system to pay the custody failed. A complete mess and a tedious useless process. Paid 40$ for the custody of the drone that would involve carrying with us a guy that would make sure we would not use the drone inside Nicaragua up to the borders with Costa Rica. Apparently in Nicaragua is illegal to use drones. So hide your drone if you have one when crossing this border. The officer that did our inspection expected a bribe, called the police to scary us. We were not impressed. We preferred to pay at the customs and follow the process rather than give them a bribe. After we thought everything is ready and we can go a guy insisted that we are obliged to buy car insurance. I don’t think so. But the “custody” insist that we should buy it, so we did pay 12$ for the insurance. What a mess. A miserable system and corrupted people.

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Exiting Honduras/Enter Nicaragua - the most bureaucratic and frustrating border crossing. Lots of corrupt people

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Easy crossing to Nica from Honduras. All together took an hour for both side (that include car permit and immigration (on both sides), insurance, and duty free shop.
Roads are bad on Honduras side (last 40km), Awesome on Nicaragua side.

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Worst border ever. Honduras side was pretty fast and simple like described before. Nicaragua was hell, they don’t like motorcycle, so we had a lot of extra stuff (like interviews with the officals and others stuff) and they made it very complicated for us.
Fees: 3$ US for fumigation, 12$ US for tourist card, and NO fees for the motorcycles (i think there is no more fees for the importation permit at all). We didn’t bought insurance. There is an ATM if you need, because they only take US at the border.
Nica side:
1-Fumigation
2-You go to your left after the fumigation, you cross the street and it’s a blue green building
And you do the costoms and the permit in this building.
We needed some photocopy of liscence, immatriculation, exit stamp of honduras and our main page of passport. (there is a tienda but it close at 6 PM)
They need to scan your stuff (we just bring 3 bags and not everything anyway they don’t look they just don’t care). It took us about 3 hours just for the Nica side.(and there was almost only us doing the process) We arrived at 5 PM a wednesday and gone at 8PM. (It was still open when we left).9

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We crossed this border from Honduras into Nicaragua. I found these step-by-step instructions for borders very useful, but didn't see any here, so I'll type up how it was when we crossed

Honduras side:
- long line of trucks, pass them on the left side
- lots of "helpers" around, I think you'll be just fine without them
- big yellow building features immigration (migracion) on the left side (inside), go there first, they ask you where you go (Nicaragua), do finger-print-scans and make some sign in your passport - quite fast, no fee
- go around the row of counters to the right side (inside) of the building, you'll find the costums (aduana) for canceling your temporaray vehicle permit (permiso). You give them the multi-colored permit that you got when you entered Honduras, they stamp "salida de vehiculos" into your passport and that's it - very fast, no fee
- you drive forward, somehow try to further pass the line of trucks. The line of trucks is also across the border-bridge, just pass them whenever there is noone coming the opposite direction (a man, whose function we didn't understand, held us back for a while for no apperent reason, said we can't pass the trucks - when we saw another car just ignoring the man, we just took off and crossed, it worked)

Nicaragua side:
- at the other end of the bridge, there is an aduana-officer who asks for your passport and destination and hands you a customs declaration
- couple of meters later, there are several ladies waving with note-boards at you. this is the insurance - you are not asked for the insurance at the border, but if you want to have one, you can get it here - price was 15 USD for 30 days.
- about 100 meters later is the fumigation, a guy with a a spray-canister walks around your car and sprays some chemicals on your wheels - costs 3 USD, payable at a little building to the right
- now there are two greenish/blueish buildings on the left - one right in front of you, the other accross the street - you take the second one, park in front of it. Then you fill out the customs declaration that you got from the officer at the beginning
- you go inside and get your tourist card (they ask you about destination, marital status and profession), it costs 10 USD + 2 USD service fee
- you go to your vehicle and search for an aduana-officer (usually bright blue shirt) who inspects your car - other overlanders next to us had to get their luggage scanned by a security scanner, some had to go by a drug-detection dog - we didn't have to do any of that (lucky us)
- you go back into the building where you got your tourist car, yet not by the main door, but a door to the right of it - you enter a room with a large security scanner like on an airport - there is an aduana-counter where you can do your temporary vehicle import - there is no fee and they even make all the copies they need themselves (they scan your documents - passport, license and title). In the end they give a the vehicle-permit and your customs declaration.
- you drive past the trucks towards the exit, an officer looks at your passport and takes the customs declaration from you and off you go

The Honduran side was quite fast, the Nicaragua side took more than two hours. But they said they had computer problems that day, so it might normally be faster.

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We did 2 boarders in one day (north to south). Arrived here at 2pm and were all done two hours later. Nothing special. We didn't signed up with eMail/online formular. But they did not even mensioned it.

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Easy border crossing!

NICARAGUA TO HONDURAS

EXITING NICARAGUA
1. First stop to check your TIP and the guy gives you an Aduana paper you have to fill up
2. Migracion: bue building on the right stamp your passport and pay the exiting fee ($2 pp)
3. Look for the aduana inspectors outside the building and ask some to check your car (they might ask to x ray your bags)
4. Go back to Aduana in the blue building and you're done

PUT YOUR SEAT BELTS ON AND DRIVE ACROSS THE BRIDGE

ENTERING HONDURAS
1. Politely ignore the helpers
2. Big old building go to Migracion where they take your finger prints and your picture
3. Same building go to Aduana they fill up the paper for you. Make all the copies ($1 outside) and pay the car fee ($35)

Now you're ready to drive the worst 'paved' road ever!!! Have a safe trip ;)

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I travel by motorbike... Super easy border... Took me 30min for everything coming from Nicaragua. Played 35$ for my bike. There is no control... so in case you are planning to do Honduras twice -> this is the border to do... Last time I left Honduras via Sokoto and they cancelled my bike out... Would had been no problem here and could had saved me this dollars... I didn't had a lot of trucks coming from the south... On the other side though there was like at least 50 big trucks waiting... Knowing both borders I also highly recommend using the other one if you travel something bigger then a motorbike...

cheers.

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Pretty straight forward. 2pm on a Thursday and it took about 1.5hrs. Could have taken one if your Spanish is good. Oddly large amount of little papers and recipets for everything. Lots of copies and Remember the insurance ladies.
Again I don't know why the one set of ppl thought expired papers and law breaking at a boarder would be ok. Thou they posted it on all the boarder crossings. Follow the rules and it's an easy cross. Everyone was nice.

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What an experience. I did this border at night. OMG. First mistake. Drunken folks everywhere. Ended up paying $100usd in bribe to get the hell out AS FAST AS POSSIBLE. Took 30 minutes. So fast. No one in lane. Would do again. 10/10, if you want your life to be a movie.

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Honduras Nicaragua con bicicleta.
10$ pp y 60C pp en la entrada a Nicaragua. Te hacen recibo por tanto debe ser normal pagar.

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Exited Nica no problem. No help needed. Standard exit plus an inspection. 30 minutes. Man named Francisco followed along politely as we explained we didn't need his help.

Hopped in van, crossed bridge, and was greeted by first Honduran police stop on other side. Messed up and didn't have our seatbelts on.

Cop demanded my license. Wouldn't accept a copy. Then stated that it was a 75 usd fine payable at a bank 40 km down the road, and license would be returned after receipt from bank. we said point us in the right direction. That's when a helper named Sabado stepped in to f up our whole day. Up until this day we've made border crossings without helpers from Argentina northward.

He offered to get the license back for 60 usd which we agreed to. He then stated that he could get us through in thirty minutes without hassle. We agreed and it went downhill for the rest of the long day.

He pointed out the expiration date on the insurance portion of our Canadian title and said that in Honduras that it's illegal and we wouldn't be allowed entry but that he had talked with the official who agreed to take a bribe of 2000 lempira to allow us to pass. After trying to talk with the official the guy at the window claimed that if we asked his boss the car wouldn't be allowed to enter. We relented just wanting to pass on our way and ended up paying 1400, or 88 usd to get our TIP. Then after getting everything he demanded 500 lempira for a road tax that does not exist. He became aggressive and would give us our documents so of course we paid the 500, so in total we spent 165 usd to get into Honduras.

Helper was nice enough to call ahead to El Salvador border and tip off his friends and cops about our title issue. In all a 300 dollar day. Woohoo finally we have our very own panamerican nightmare story.

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We sleep at the border, a better night than pemex in mexico, secure and tranquilo !!

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All good. Took 1,5h on a Sunday afternoon. Crossed from El tunco (El salvador) to Nicaragua in one day. All as decribed (inkl. Prices). Aduana was a little strange, as they really wanted us to declare even our rusty bikes etc.

First go to Migration, then get an aduana official in the parkinglot to sign you filled out form, then go to tge aduana guy inside and let him type and scan away. Insurace for 12US$ outside from guy in pink shirt who also exchanges money. Then it's fumigation time, and you are out of there. Remember to always drive past the truck lines!

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Crossed from Honduras to Nicaragua right before new years. Big mistake. Super long lines. We crossed with a truck camper and they wanted us to pay taxes for the oven and some tools we use to repair whatever is broken in the camper... We had to talk our way out of it and it took a while. If you are debating between borders, save yourself some trouble and go to El Espino. Much better roads and relaxed border.

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Crossing from el salvador/honduras to nicaragua.

Classic border, go to migration, then declare the vehicule and do the paperwork. Not too much of a hassle and almost no helpers harassement, only wait periods and heat to slowly melt you down

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we were worried that this border would be insane as per other reviews but it wasn't bad, took us about an hour - maybe less.

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If you can, do not cross here, but go to Lafraternidad/somoto, where it is much more relax. Here is what we wrote about it : SOMOTO BORDER : Very easy border, we encountered no tramitadors ! We came from Nicaragua into Honduras and it cost 3$ per person plus 35 for the car. When we came down we crossed into Nicaragua through Guasaule border : big mistake, lots of stress and fear, lots of people telling lies. If you are hesitating between borders this one is way better

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nicaragua to honduras- quicker and easier than the reverse going down.
total time to exit Nicaragua and cancel vehicle permissio- 15 mins
to enter Honduras- 20 mins.

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Honduras to Nicaragua on a Saturday morning. arrived at 930am- 2 adults, 2 kids in our campervan and 2 dogs. We did pay a helper who was really kind about 5$ U.S as it did make things alot easier- he also spoke english. We were finished and in Nicaragua 1 hour later. A lot quieter on weekends early.

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Nicaragua -> Honduras -> El Salvador
We arrived at this border a sunday at 6:15 AM and finished all the paperwork at 8:45 AM.
They will not stamp your passeport to leave Nicaragua. Only to enter Honduras.
Paid * 45 cordobas pp to exit Nicaragua
* 3$ pp to enter Honduras
* 35$ for the camper to enter Honduras
No vehicle insurance needed for Honduras.

Sunday morning seems to be a good option to avoid police / military check-point and their bride when crossing Honduras (we saw only three check-points but never been stopped)

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From my early 2010 border crossing. Blog at A Few More Miles http://afewmoremiles.com/2010/01/12/nicaragua/
Usually as we approach a border we’re surrounded by local guys speaking English who offer to “help” us through the border process. They tell us that it will take 6 hours but that they know someone who can make it faster or that the costs are expensive but they can get us a deal or that or that the papers have changed recently and they will help us complete it. I’ve heard horror stories about these guys, always asking for more and more money (that they eventually pocket) for things that aren’t even needed. We always decline the offer. Helpers aren’t needed and we always get through the process with relative ease without paying any of these guys for help.

Many of these Central American borders are difficult to navigate because there are no signs telling you which dilapidated building contains the immigration or customs office. Then within each building, there’s a dozen different windows to go to. Charles and I have developed a new system. We continue to drive past all the buildings until someone comes running after us telling us that we need to go here or there to get paperwork. That makes it easy.

Before we can park the bikes, a lady comes up to us telling us to fill out paperwork. We do, then she says it’s a $12 USD fee. Huh? Is this a scam? She’s not even dressed at all professionally and has no certification badge (even her helpers have fake badges). I can’t read the Spanish document. I hang on to the papers and tell her I’ll pay later. Again, I take our paperwork to get the visas and vehicle import papers while Charles watches the bikes. I enjoy the border rigamorole and Charles is happy to let me do all the paperwork. Having 2 people is great for the border crossings to be able to keep an eye on all the gear.

I get all of our paperwork sorted and I ask an official if this paper the woman handed to me is legitimate or if it’s because I’m a gringo. He says it’s legit but I’m still not buying it… I’ve heard too many fake gringo tax stories. Charles and I are getting ready to mount the bikes and the lady is demanding that we pay. I tell her that I’m not certain it’s necessary and ask her why she’s been following me around and hasn’t had anyone else pay. She rambles. I tell her I’m sorry but we’re not going to pay. Another man comes over (also without any ID). He motions that the cops will handcuff us if we don’t have this receipt. Charles and I look at each other. It’s just a scare tactic we’re thinking. I tell her that we’re not paying and she gets angry and rips the papers from my hand. Another woman comes over and now there’s 3 people yelling at us. We suit up and decide that if anyone signals us to pull over we’ll just pretend we didn’t see them and continue on.

That night we run into another motorcycle traveler. I ask him about the $12 at the border. Ya, he says, it’s the mandatory insurance. Ohhhhhhhh…

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This post is from  Life Remotely [LINK: http://www.liferemotely.com/] . To read their full experience and see photos, see the detailed article at  http://liferemotely.com/trip-shenanigans/honduras/170-honduras-to-nicaragua-border-crossing

Border name: Guasaule 
Closest major cities: Guasaule, Honduras and Somotillo, Nicaragua 
Cost for visas: $12 per person
Cost for vehicle: $3 for fumigation. $12 for insurance. Permit is free.
Total time: 1 hour

Note: This is part two of the border crossing marathon day. We left from San Miguel, El Salvador in hope of reaching Leon, Nicaragua on the same day.  Part 1 of the border crossing is here. http://liferemotely.com/trip-shenanigans/el-salvador/169-el-salvador-to-honduras-border-crossing  To complicate matters, we were attempting this on the Friday of Semana Santa, which turned out to be a blessing. Borders were quiet and touts had better places to be. We were in Leon drinking mojitos before sun down.

When you see a small shack on the left of the road with a guard. Go to the far left. It will look like a bomb recently went off in the area, and your intuition will be telling you that you are about to be mugged. Welcome to the Guasaule border.The guard will ask to see your permit and they wave you forward. I repeat, stay to the LEFT. Drive all the way to the back, past the sketchy buildings. In the back of the parking lot you will see two gray buildings.In the building to the left chances are the official will have moved his desk outside cause it’s too damn hot. That’s immigration. Give the hot grumpy dude your passport. Be nice, this has to be the worst border post on the planet.He will stamp the passports and return them.Wander aimlessly around the bombed out wasteland looking for customs. Finally walk to the back side of the building on the left (directly behind where immigration was).There is no door, just a bunch of windows. Finally, a smiley lady will tell you through the barred window that she is a customs (aduana) official. Hand over your original Honduran vehicle permit and the driver’s passport. She will keep the original permit and scribble on the stamp in the driver’s passport, effectively cancelling the permit.Then with a smile, she’ll wave you back to your car. Where you should go, immediately, before the bombing starts again (ok, just kidding).Drive back out of the parking lot, and head to Nicaragua.When entering the border area, stay to the right. There will be a fumigation area. Roll up your windows and get fumigated.Go to the window just after fumigation and pay the $3 fumigation fee. Keep the receipt.At some point you will need to buy mandatory insurance. For us this happened at the fumigation shack. It cost $12, and you can buy it from anyone with a clipboard, providing they don’t try to charge more than $12. He/she needs to see the driver’s passport and title. She will ask for 2 copies of the drivers' IDs. Our insurance lady didn’t keep the copies, she returned them with the vehicle paperwork.From there, take a sharp left and park on the left side of the big parking lot. Look for the signs to migracion and aduana.Go into the long building on the left of the parking lot (hidden behind all the trees). Immigration is in front of the building.Hand over your passports, pay a $10 tourist card fee, and a $2 tax per person. They do accept USD and have an ATM in the lobby that dispenses USD and Nicaraguan Cordobas. Keep the receipt from the passports.

NOTE: Be aware that, even though Honduras doesn’t respect the CA-4, all other countries count your time in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua cumulatively. You have 90 days total. No exceptions. We were reminded of this when we entered Nicaragua.Head over to the aduana counter. Hand over your title, drivers passport and drivers license. The official will want a copy of the driver's documents but doesn’t need a copy of the title.The official will ask some random questions about the car and where you are going, then will issue a permit. Check the info on the permit carefully. Ours claimed that Kobus was from Sudan. Not far off from South Africa if you’re in Nicaragua, I suppose. The guard corrected without hassles.With the vehicle permit, tourist card receipts, fumigation receipt and insurance paperwork in hand, drive to the right past the immigration building.Just past the building, officers will stop and ask for all of the above paperwork and may verify your VIN. Then they'll send you on your way to Nicaragua.Get to hostel, and have a mojito or six. Pass out. Do not repeat.

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Exit Honduras

When you start seeing the helpers swarm your car you know you have arrived. Park next to the large yellow building.

Honduran Immigration: When you enter the building, go around to the other side of cubicles to the window marked Migracion. If you happen to have a small puppy, the friendly lady will ask you to push your puppy through the hole in the glass so she can play with the puppy. After she has carried the puppy around for a little while and shown all of the other immigration officers, she will return your puppy and ask for your passports and tourist visas. She will stamp your passports and keep your visas. No Fee.

Honduran Cuarentena: At the OIRSA window next to Migracion, hand in your dog permit. They will stamp the dogs out of Honduras and give you a copy. No Fee.

Honduran Customs: On the other side of the cubicles, where you originally entered the building, look for the window marked Turismo. Hand over the driver’s passport and your original Honduran vehicle permit. The customs officer will keep the permit and write in your passport. No Fee.

Enter Nicaragua

Drive out of the parking lot and into Nicaragua.

Nicaraguan Fumigation: When you approach the border area, stay to your right. Roll up your windows to avoid helpers and get fumigated. Go to the window right after you get fumigated (on the right) to pay and get a receipt. Keep receipt as you will need it later. 3.75 USD

Continue driving ahead and make a sharp left. Park next to the large building.

Nicaraguan Immigration: At the Migracion window, hand over your passports and receive tourist cards. 620 NIO

Nicaraguan Cuarentena: Hand over all your original dog paperwork plus one copy. They will write down payment instructions on a piece of scrap paper. Take the payment instructions to the bank and pay. Go to the copy shop and make two copies of the receipt. Return to Cuarentena where they will return your original paperwork but keep the canceled Honduran import permit and give you a new Nicaraguan import permit. 359 NIO for the permit plus 16 NIO for copies.

NOTE: The copy shop is outside, on the other side of the building.

Nicaraguan Customs: Hand over your vehicle title, driver’s passport plus one copy and driver’s license plus one copy. They will ask where you are going and then issue an import permit. No Fee

Check the import permit carefully. Ours said Jason was from Slovakia. When we pointed out the error, the customs woman typed up a correction on the bottom of the form.

Nicaraguan Insurance: Outside of the Immigration building, there was a friendly lady selling insurance. She will look at the driver’s license and issue you insurance good for one month. 12 USD

Drive out of the parking lot to the right. Just after parking lot, an official will ask to see your tourist card receipts and passports. Another official will want you to hold up the vehicle import permit but he won’t actually look at it.

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