Nicaragua - Which Route?
 

I will be traveling through Nicaragua in late July on my way back to the US from Costa Rica. Which route should I take. The Leon-Chanandega along the coast or the more northern Matagalpa-Esteli-Somoto route?

Thanks,
Dave

You say on your way "back"to the USA.Does this mean you rode down ther too? If so take the alternate route to whatever you did when you rode down , logical.
Either route will be fine , they both basically fork from the same Panamerican highway point south east of Granada and Managua and are all good pavement. The coast route may be a bit warmer but you pass along the front of a row of volcanos. This will put you into coastal hot Honduras on a short path to El Salvador.
The Esteli path is a bit higher and desert type country first then gets into hills and more farmland. Then you can choose whether to go from Somoto back to the same coast route to El Salvador OR you can go nort into Honduras and to Danli ,then the high country route to Tegucigalpa .Again all good paved roads . You may encounter more heavy rain showers there in the wet season you will be travelling, it is your call , there may be the occasional bit of road wash out if weather is particularly heavy.

Thanks for the reply. I plan on flying down to Costa Rica and riding back. I think I will take the western coastal route through Leon.

if you want the more scenic route and easier border crossing then go through the mountains.
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There is a nice good dirt road from Jinotega-San Rafael del Norte - Yali - Condega.

http://salcar.smugmug.com/photos/257786642_W9Y4A-L.jpg

From there you can visit Somoto a gorgeous canyon where the largest river in central america is born

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Are there any dangerous creatures in the water there? Where I come from if you jumped in a river like that you might not come out alive :(

The canyon part of the river is safe - just some fish. Down the river where it get's bigger you run the danger of alligators... down further reaching Waspam there is a legend of a Mermaid. The Mermaid will take you under water and kill you. Your body will be found the next day still warm and you'll be bleeding from you nose....