Nicaragua is an interesting country as far as the whole global Covid madness is concerned because they are one of the few nations in the world that never closed their borders at all. They also never had limitations on gatherings and while there technically were mask mandates at various points in time, they were never enforced.
Nicaragua is a country I haven't been to in many years but it does have a lot going for it as far as budget travel is concerned.
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With beaches on both sides boasting wonderfully clear water, why wouldn't you want to travel here? There is a lot more to this country than just beaches though as they have plenty of mountainous territory and even several active volcanos.
You will almost certainly arrive in the country's capitol of Managua, but just like a lot of countries in this part of the world as well as globally, there isn't much reason to stick around for long and most people head for the coasts or to other, less crazy cities like Leon and Granada that have some pretty amazing architecture and very walkable streets.
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The main reason to visit this country though, like a lot of the neighboring countries, is the very affordable beaches. You can basically take your pick but one of the more popular ones among surfers is the city of San Juan del Sur, which is very close to Costa Rica and shares a lot of the surf-culture.
Although I haven't been there for many years it is very easy to get a room near the beach for $10 to $20 a night.
I don't often say this about various countries because I believe that anywhere is dangerous if you are stupid, but foreigners are frequent targets of petty theft, namely pick-pocketing and phone theft from people stupid enough to sit at a cafe with their phones or wallets simply sitting on the table in front of them. These crimes are rarely violent and most of the country's crime exists in the capitol city.
This is a tradeoff of all budget travel anywhere in the world for the most part though. Just exercise a bit of common sense and realize that you are not in danger if you don't put yourself in danger. Most surfing areas have lockers that you can rent with staff at them and I highly recommend that you take advantage of that.
One thing I recall that was a real problem in Nicaragua was taxi scams and no, this is not unique to Nicaragua but is actually very common all around the world including good ol' safe USA. When you get into a taxi ALWAYS agree on a fare before departing, carry small notes with you because they conveniently never have any change, and insist that the driver not pick up additional passengers along the way.
The above recommendations are basically true of almost anywhere in the world, so instead let's focus on how laid back this country is in relation to Covid.
Basically the only thing that you have to do is have a PCR test 72 hours before arrival. If departing from the United States this is something they require of you to travel internationally to go basically anywhere anyway, so it isn't a big deal. There is talk of this being scrapped and a friend of mine who recently traveled to Nicaragua said that his negative test documentation was never requested by anyone anyway. Just like the mask mandates a year ago, it was just an official announcement that was never really enforced by anyone.
Of course nervous countries like the US suggest that you definitely do not travel there because of high Covid risk but they say that about almost any country in the world that didn't do exactly the same thing that they did with their reaction to the pandemic. Despite the fact that Nicaragua didn't really do anything to prevent the spread like almost all other countries did, their statistics are lower than most countries. They only have 219 recorded deaths to date which is pretty fantastic for a tiny country of 7 million people. They nay-sayers will suggest that they are lying about this statistic, but I don't see what the country could possibly gain by doing that.
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There are no insurance requirements, no vaccine requirements, and no noticeably-enforced mask requirements in Nicaragua at the moment.
At the moment one-way flights to Nicaragua are possible for around $300 from many major US airports. I highly suggest having a plan about where you want to go before arriving because the capitol city is hectic even by my standards and I have traveled to every continent except for that really cold one way down south. Even though it costs more, I recommend arranging private transport to your beach destination before you arrival or at the airport. You can always use public transport a lot more easily once you get to your destination.