Travelling & Living Abroad With Your Dog in Nicaragua

Seeing the world with your dog is the dream. Bringing your best friend with you to a new and exciting place can be a lot of fun for both of you, but it involves a lot of extra research and preparation. There are endless things to consider before booking that plane ticket so I have created a comprehensive guide to help you decide if it is something you want to do and if so, how to go about it.

 
 
  • Read here for information about the process of bringing a dog between Canada, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Mexico. Every country has their own entry requirements.

  • Click here to read my article on how to find pet-friendly accommodation abroad for both short-term and long-term rentals.

  • Getting from point A to point B with your furry friend adds a whole other layer to your travel plans and what you will need to be prepared for.

  • Click here to read my article on the most dog-friendly corners of this beautiful and diverse country

  • Read this article to find out why San Juan Del Sur is the perfect place for you and your dog to use as a base in Nicaragua.

 
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Paperwork to Travel With Your Dog

In this post you can read about the super fun process of all the necessary paperwork and logistics involved in crossing borders with your dog before you decide whether to take the next steps. Be ready for bureaucracy that will test your patience to the limits. But I am here to help & hopefully this article will make things a little more clear and point you in right direction. The rules can change so always refer to government websites for up to date requirements. I outline the process for the destinations that I have taken my dog to. For most countries, it’s a similar process where you get your licensed vet to fill out an international health certificate and then you bring it to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for them to endorse it at a federal level before you take your pet on a flight. Some countries have their own version of the international health certificate that you will need to use, which you can find on the CFIA website. If you are American or you are bringing you dog from America to another country, then it is the same process, but instead of the CFIA, you would be getting the health certificate endorsed by the United States Department of Agriculture.

Bringing A Dog from Canada to Nicaragua

What you need from your vet: A Trilingual International Health Certificate and Certificates of Vaccination

A Canadian International Health Certificate for Dogs and Cats. This is a form that you print off from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency that you can find on the government of Canada website. Make sure to print off the trilingual option as it needs to be in Spanish! From the CFIA website that I have linked here, you can scroll down on their page to the list of countries. At the very top of the list, you can find the Canadian International Health Certificate for Dogs and Cats. Click on this to access the form that you need to export your dog or cat from Canada to Nicaragua. It is the generic one that Canada had to export dogs and cats to a country that does not have their own specific form they have negotiated with Canada.

Next, take this form to your licensed veterinarian and they fill it out. After they have filled it out, you need to bring this form (and the vaccine certificates) to a government office called the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Use the government of Canada website to find the CFIA office nearest you and then you need to call or e-mail to make an appointment. Make sure to make your appointment with the CFIA as soon as you know your travel dates because they can get busy. At the appointment, you just bring the paperwork and not your pet. At the appointment they will check all the documents and then they will endorse it with their signature and official stamp. Now they are very particular so make sure you have everything correctly filled out. When you go to the CFIA office, you must also bring supporting documents - Each vaccination that your pet has had which is listed on the health certificate must also be accompanied by individual vaccination certificates. The vet charged $200 CAD to fill out the international health certificate. The vet also gives your dog a physical exam prior to filling out the paperwork. The CFIA charged me $20 to endorse the form. On the form you must also have your vet fill in that your pet is on a dewormer as well as flea/tick treatment.

We had a 3 hour layover in Mexico. All our checked bags were supposed to go straight through to Managua, but we were told we would have to collect our dog from the baggage area, and re-check her for the next flight. The reason they have you do this is because you have to visit the Zoo Sanitary Sagarpa or SENASICA office in the airport. This was a small kiosk located after we went through immigration and it was right by the baggage area where our dog rolled out on the conveyer belt. They checked that we had the correct paperwork to pass through. They made copies of her international health certificate and they stamped it with a transit stamp.  

Now along with our international health certificate that was required to be endorsed by the CFIA in order to export Ducky to Nicaragua, the airline told me that I needed a health certificate to bring her through Mexico and I thought they meant that I needed a second one in addition to the one I already had for Nicaragua. The airline told me it had to have been completed within 5 days before the flight whereas Nicaragua was 10 days so I made sure to get it completed only within 5 days before our flight so that I could also meet the requirements for transiting through Mexico. In Mexico, they made copies of and stamped the paper. Note that my destination country is listed as Nicaragua. Make several copies of your international health certificate after it has been endorsed as well as the vaccination certificates. Bring all paperwork with you and keep the originals until you get to your destination (Nicaragua in this case) where they may take the originals.

Canada to Costa Rica:

If you are going to Costa Rica, they have their own international health form that you are required to use which is specific to the exportation of your dog/cat from Canada to Costa Rica. This one is a different international health certificate than the one that you would use for Nicaragua. It can also be found on the government of Canada website, which I will link here, but you need to scroll down through the list of countries and click on Costa Rica. Then you will have access to the export form that is specific to Costa Rica. Here is the link to the page that will give you access to the export forms for each country. This certificate needs to be endorsed by the CFIA in Canada before you fly. The CFIA may send you a link with the correct international health certificate when you make your appointment depending on who you are communicating with. Make sure you give yourself a few days as something will almost certainly not be correct and you will likely have to go back to your vet and ask them re-do something before going back to the CFIA to get the endorsement. Vets are used to filling out thee forms but there are different particularities for each country that they are not familiar with - so the CFIA knows all of these and it’s their job to make sure everything is correct in order for you to export your pet to the particular country and its requirements….so there is a good chance they will send you back to your vet with something that needs to be corrected after their first review of your paperwork. So my advice is to give yourself two extra days between your CFIA appointment and your scheduled flight in case this happens. My vet put a different lot number for the rabies vaccine on the health form than they had on the vaccination certificate. Another problem that came up was the international health certificate I had saved in my email (to be printed out and filled out by vet) was actually not the right one. The form had since been updated about a month before I was supposed to be leaving so I had to drive all the way back to the vet with the updated version and bring it back to the CFIA (could not be e-mailed as it is a legal document and needs to be the original form that they endorse). Thank god I left an extra day, but my vet is also a 2 hour drive each way from the nearest CFIA office. Oh well, not as bad as the person who had their appointment in front mine and had to drive 10 hours! That’s what I get for trying to be organized and sending myself downloaded form that needed to be printed off in advance… they go and change it! So do not download the form until the day you go to the vet. Instead e-mail yourself or make a note of the directions of where to find the form or the link to the page with the download so that you know you have the most up-to-date version. Cross check that the lot numbers and expiry dates and all the other info on the vaccine certificates match up to the numbers/info that the vet has written on the international health certificate before you take these documents to the CFIA. 

When I was looking at requirements for entry to Nicaragua, I read that you only need the rabies vaccine certificate and that you do not need the individual vaccine certificates for all the other vaccines - you only need to have them listed on the health certificate. I asked the vet for the additional vaccine certs to be safe, but he said they don’t require those ones - just rabies. Having the others listed on the health cert was enough. Now of course I go to the CFIA and they said that they will not endorse the health certificate because the vet has listed 4 vaccines, but there is no evidence of them (because I did not have the certificates for lyme, bordatella, leptospirosis, and DA2PP). So of course when I went back to the vet I asked for each of those vaccine certs to be printed out and signed. So just have everything to be safe. I know for costa rica, you also need all the supporting documents for each vaccine as well.

Finally we were ready to go. I made sure to get a waterproof folder to keep all these precious documents in as you never know when a rainstorm may hit or something spills in your bag.

Bringing A Dog to the UK from Canada

This one is more complicated. If you are flying into the UK, all dogs have to arrive in cargo (even if they are small enough to fly in the cabin with you) unless they are service dogs. This is because all the animals arriving must undergo a check by a veterinarian at the airport before you are reunited with your dog. You have to request this appointment in advance and when we tried, they were booked for 3 months in advance and we had already booked our flights from Mexico to the UK because even after hours of research, I found nothing about needing to let them know so far in advance. So before you book your flight, make sure you have an appointment. Then after you book your flight, you get a Great Britain animal health certificate which your vet will fill out within 10 days of your arrival in Great Britain. Within 5 days of your arrival, your dog must have a tapeworm treatment that the vet signs off on. So really, the certificate can’t have a date from the vet that is prior to the 5 day timeframe otherwise they will not endorse it if the tapeworm treatment was taken and signed more than 5 days prior. What I did is I had my vet fill out the health certificate prior so that I could review it and then I took it back, with some corrections and at the same time, they dated it and filled in the tapeworm treatment section. This time, when I went to the CFIA, nothing was wrong and they endorsed it without needing any corrections. But I had to go back to the vet maybe 3 times prior because I noticed mistakes on the health certificate like my dog’s date of birth was wrong and and it wasn’t filled out in the correct colour of ink. So make sure to review the paperwork after you get it back from the vet because they don’t necessarily know the requirements for each country and the CFIA is very specific about how these forms need to be filled out.

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Mexico With Your Dog

A guide to travelling Mexico with a dog - everything you need to know about getting your dog there, where to stay, what to do, and getting your dog home.

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Exploring Nicaragua With A Dog

The best destinations in Nicaragua to see with your dog

Dog-friendly Destinations & Getting Around

So you’ve decided you want to take a vacation with your dog and you are thinking that Nicaragua might be the place. Make sure to also read my article about what paperwork you will need and the entry requirements for your dog. I’ll outline here how to get to get around the country with a dog as well as which corners are the perfect paradisical escape for you and your dog. From volcano boarding to wide open beaches, there are no shortage of adventures to experience with your dog in this beautiful country.

Surfing and traveling with a dog

Surfing on a remote beach in Nicaragua

Moving Around the Country With A Dog : Renting A Car Vs. Hiring Drivers

If you are flying into the country like I did, there are a few options for airports. You can fly into Managua and then hire a private driver to take you to San Juan Del Sur. This will cost between $60-$80 USD depending on the driver. The buses will not allow you to bring a large dog on board (only very small ones that fit in carriers at your feet and must stay in carriers at all times). Hiring private drivers to get around gets expensive and you have to pay more for a larger car to fit the crate. If you can unscrew your crate and fit it in the trunk of a regular car, then that would be ideal. That way it will be easy to bring your crate around while your dog rides up front with you. If you are wanting to see a lot of the country in a shorter amount of time, then you can rent a 4x4 vehicle for about $1000 per month. We did 3 months in Nicaragua with our dog and we didn’t rent a car because we were spending about one month in each place so it didn’t make sense as it would have costed too much to rent a car for 3 months. Instead, we hired a driver for the longer travel days (since they were only happening once per month) and then we rented scooters and hitch-hiked to explore the areas we were staying in. If you are trying to see the whole country in one month, it would make a lot more sense to rent a car so that it’s easy to get around and go off the beaten path with your dog.

Here’s what our transportation costs for the longer drives in a private car with a driver were over the span of 3 months: Managua to San Jorge in Rivas (ferry terminal to get to Ometepe) : $85 USD

Rivas (ferry terminal) to San Juan del Sur: $30 USD

San Juan del Sur to Managua : $70 USD

Managua to Leon: $70 USD

**Make sure to shop around with different transport companies to get the best price. Most of them use whatsapp. Prices are always quoted in USD but you can pay in either the local currency or in USD.

Where & Where Not to go in Nicaragua with A Dog

While I had an amazing time seeing this beautiful country with my 4-legged best friend, it wasn’t all compost and butterflies. I am writing this so that readers can get an idea not only of the best places to visit with your dog, but also places to that might be a bit stressful to visit with a dog. There was no guide like this that I came across when choosing where to go, so I really hope that this will help people prepare and be ready so that they can have the best time abroad with their dog! Firstly, I wrote a whole article on why San Juan Del Sur is the most dog-friendly destination in Nicaragua and perhaps even the Americas, but that’s not to say the whole country is suitable for exploring with your dog. If you are planning on staying in the country for a long time (i.e. 6 months) then you may decide after this that there are areas that you want to explore without your dog and the best thing may be to leave them with a trusted person who does over night dog care. As a generality, if you are going to a rural, less built- up area, be sure that your accommodation has a lot of outdoor space for your dog to get its exercise because it is in these areas that it’s not so fun to be walking down the road with your dog past other properties/farms that have territorial guard dogs.

Surfing Turtle Lodge - Los Brasiles

This was one my favourite places to visit with my dog! If you are looking to walk along a deserted stretch of coastline for hours and not see a single other person, then this is the beach for you. Every evening we saw the most spectacular sunsets. The accommodation is dog-friendly, budget-friendly and they have a few other dogs on site. I kept Ducky on leash for about 2 hours after we arrived so they could get used to her. After that, she was free for the remainder of the time we were there to play and run and watch me surf!

Dog walking on the beach Los Brasiles

Getting to Surfing Turtle Lodge

Located in the north of Nicaragua along a stretch of pristine, untouched coastline and cut off from the mainland by the lagoon, sits Los Brasiles. Getting here involves taking a boat from the small village of Poneloya and then a horse carriage as there are no cars on Los Brasiles.

From the city of Leon, you can take a taxi to Poneloya for about 400 cordobas ($15). It’s a half hour drive. Tel the driver you want to be dropped off at Chepe’s bar. This is where you can catch a boat across the lagoon to Los Brasiles. This boat ride costs about $1. Then you can walk along the beach to reach surfing turtle lodge (about 15 min walking on the beach and there are no other buildings around to confuse it with). If it has been arranged/if there is someone at Chepe’s to notify the lodge of your arrival, then after you get out of the boat there will be a horse-drawn wooden carriage to pick you and your things up. The horse will take you down a path through the jungle to get to the lodge. Ducky is a big dog and she couldn’t fit on the cart with us and our things so she got to run behind and she was very excited about that!

Surfing turtle lodge has everything you need to relax, unwind, disconnect and take it the breath-taking scenery. The waves are perfect for surfing. There is a bar and a restaurant to order all your meals from. There is also a lot of choice for room types. The second story dorm has an incredible view of the ocean. There are private rooms with washrooms and private rooms without for a bit less money. There are also huts that sleep two and beach cabins with private washrooms that sleep four.

Beachfront cabin in Nicaragua dog-friendly

Volcano Boarding near Leon

Volcano boarding is a must-do adventure when visiting Nicaragua. Hiking up an active volcano for incredible views and then sliding down it? Yes! Can you bring your dog? Yes! From Leon, you can do it as a day tour and it costs about $30. There’s a few different companies organizing these tours and you can most likely sign up through your hotel.

Volcano boarding with my dog in Nicaragua

My dog Ducky and I preparing to slide (and run) down the volcano.

What To Consider Before Going To Ometepe or The Corn Islands With A Dog

Two places that I visited with my dog that were challenging were Ometepe Island and the Corn Islands. But you definitely need to experience both of these places and I just want you to be aware so that you can plan where you stay accordingly. If you do need to bring your dog to these spots, make sure that you are staying on a large property where your dog can roam free because you will not want to take them on leashed walks off-site of wherever you are staying. Both of these areas have many, extremely territorial dogs that are not actually strays. People always ask me about the strays and they think that the strays are the problem. No. The strays everywhere I have been in Mexico and Nicaragua are the least of my problems! They are usually very timid and will give me and my dog lots of space when I am out walking with her. The problem is almost always the dogs that belong to people - they are the ones who are territorial and aggressive towards unfamiliar, new dogs that they have not met before. They are protective and they will smell your dog as you walk down the road before you even see them. Then they will bark and come running out off of their property and onto the road. In doing so they will alert all the neighbours’ dogs and before you know it you will suddenly have seven dogs all from different households running toward you barking, growling and flaring their teeth. You will have to walk around with huge sticks and rocks (don’t throw them) because if you don’t your dog will be attacked and because you are holding your dog by a leash, it will feel as though they want to attack you as well (even though they do not). Now if you walk down that same street, on the same day, WITHOUT your dog, the exact same dogs will completely ignore you and may even walk calmly up to you for pets on the head. And you’ll think ‘wait a minute, earlier when I had my dog you wanted to eat me!’ When you are in more built-up areas, such as San Juan del Sur, people have their dogs behind fences, so you don’t have to worry about this drama. On Ometepe, there is a lot more poverty and it is much more rural so the dogs that belong to people don’t stay behind a fence and if their house is alongside the road and the dog is not properly trained (and most are not), well it’s not a good time to be the person walking by with their dog. To give you a bit of context, my dog is a spayed female who never barks or growls at other dogs. So it’s not like these dogs are smelling a rival alpha or anything like that. When they are being aggressive, she doesn’t make eye contact and walks calmly on as if nothing is happening and it’s up to me to defend us!! I definitely did not foresee this problem and it made a few situations very stressful. If it does happen to you, bend down and pick up a rock and make a hissing noise (this is what the locals showed us). I never had to actually throw a rock at a dog or hit it with a stick, but they know what the rock means so if you bend down to get one, they will stop advancing on you. They will keep barking, but they won’t come closer.

The Corn Islands were a similar experience to Ometepe in terms of the dogs. On both the Corn Islands and Ometepe, we booked accommodations with huge properties so that it didn’t really matter - our dog didn’t need to leave for a walk because she had so much room on property to run on the beach/in the jungle. Our property on Ometepe was especially perfect because we could do hikes through the jungle right from the property, which was a permaculture farm where she could run free all day long. So if you want to bring your dog to Ometepe, be sure to book something similar (i.e. not a hotel in a town, but a space where your dog can play and explore without leaving the property. I only took my dog off the farm once and as soon as I made it about 5 minutes down the main road before I had to turn around because of all the dogs chasing us! So when we wanted to go into town or off the property, we left our dog on the farm after that and then we would have no problems walking down the road if she wasn’t with us.

The Corn Islands are a little bit different. I spent most of my time on Little Corn Island, which has no motorized vehicles. So when you get off the boat, you have to walk to your accommodation which means you will most definitely be passing by dogs who belong to people, but are roaming free. These are the ones that will follow you, barking and snapping while you wave a stick to keep them away from your dog. Obviously not all dogs here are like this, just some. But enough to make it stressful. And there are some that are curious, friendly and playful - so of course those ones would come up and sniff/play with my dog. If you are planning on staying a long time or even living on the Corn Islands temporarily, then the other dogs would get used to yours or you could just make sure to stay at a property with space on the beach for your dog to play and walk. If you are just going for a week, you may find it’s less stress to just find a trusted dog-sitter on the mainland and then you can fly to the Corn Islands from Managua rather than taking the boat (which can take 2 days). But whatever you decide to do, definitely do not miss the Corn Islands because they were one of my favourite places in Central America! If you want to read more about how to get to the Corn Islands, where to stay and what to do, check out my article I wrote on the Corn Islands.

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San Juan Del Sur : The Most Dog-Friendly Destination in Nicaragua

One of my favourite things about the vibrant yet laid-back beach town of San Juan Del Sur is how dog-friendly it is. And of course the surfing, the partying and just how oh so easy everything is there. It’s kind of one of those places where anything goes. I also love this town because it is compact and quick to walk from one side to the other while running all your errands. You can walk from one side of the commercial part of town to the other in less that ten minutes and it has everything you will need with many options for a beer break or ceviche in between. It’s a great spot to meet new people and to party. Once you are in town, everything is walkable and the veterinary office there is amazing! It’s called SOS veterinaria and animal shelter and there is english-speaking staff who can handle all your travel paperwork that you will need to bring your pet home or on to the next country. There is also a lot to do in the surrounding area of San Juan Del Sur so if you are looking to stay in one place, this is a great choice and you will not get bored! It also makes an excellent spot to use as a base that you can come and go from while seeing the rest of the country with your dog.

If your main activities will be long walks on the beach with your dog and surfing, then I would recommend staying farther away from the town and consider something close to Maderas beach. There are still a good number of fantastic restaurants out this way, but of course there are many more options for restaurants and nightlife in town. To get between Maderas beach and the main town of San Juan del Sur, you can take shuttle (and dogs are allowed on too!). The shuttles are open air pick-up trucks with benches. The bumpy road isn’t super comfortable, but it’s only a 25 minute journey and costs $3 one way or $5 roundtrip. You can catch the shuttle and buy tickets from CASA D’ORO?? right in the center of San Juan del Sur. From Maderas, you can catch it from the parking lot at the beach or outside Hush (a boutique hostel/hotel) or Selina hostel. When deciding whether you want to stay at Maderas or in town, consider what you will spend more time doing. I stayed in an airbnb in San Juan del sur, about 5 minutes walk from the centre and I was taking the shuttle with my dog to Maderas because the beach there is much more beautiful and less crowded for walking. Plus it is also one of the closest surfing beaches as you can’t actually surf on the beach in San Juan del Sur itself because there’s no break here. We were mostly cooking food in our kitchen and not eating out as much so if I could do it again, I would stay at a dog-freindly accommodation near Playa Maderas beach and then I would take the shuttle in to town only to run errands or to party: My favourite was the Sunday Funday pool party which runs every Sunday, where you hop between different pool parties with awesome DJs at each one. Don’t be like me that you get so drunk that you forgot that they keys are in a lock box and you run back and forth from the bar to your apartment at 2 am only to realize that the keys were right there the whole time. At one point a taxi driver picked me up because he was worried about me walking alone at that time of night and so he offered to drive me home and then I couldn’t remember where I lived so I just had to go back to the bar and retrace my steps back to the apartment..

Okay back to dogs: one of the easiest ways to find dog friendly accommodation is to use airbnb or booking . com and use their pet-friendly filter. In Nicaragua, I found that even a number of hostels were also dog friendly as well! Make sure to always whatsapp or e-mail the property before you book and ask if you can bring your dog if they do not specify they are pet friendly on whatever website you are booking through. A lot of hostels in Nicaragua will allow you to bring you dog if you book a private room. After our month long reservation, we stayed in town at a fun, social hostel called Surf Junction. The owner also has a friendly dog so our two dogs played all day long. They have a pool and they are very welcoming. There are activities run by the staff most nights so it’s easy to make new friends. Some nights the activities are going to another hostel for a party and some nights there’s more calm activity like a movie night. If you you want to book on hostelworld LINK you can do that and it would be a great place to start off in San Juan del Sur to make some friends and get a feel for what area you want to choose for a longer stay. It is also very inexpensive. From here, you can scout out some monthly or longer rentals that are listed locally and you can view in person. You can also check out Maderas beach and decide if you would prefer to stay out that way. Make sure you stop by Hush Maderas either to stay for a few nights or at least to eat in their restaurant. This beautiful boutique hotel/hostel is set high above the Pacific ocean with breathtaking 360 degree views from their rooftop terrace and panoramic ocean views from their infinity pool. The food and drinks are amazing and I came here for lunch with Ducky every time I was at the beach. From the hotel, it’s a quick 5 minute walk down a private jungle trail to the beach where you can surf, swim, or take a long walk with your dog! One thing to note is that you don’t have to pass by any properties with territorial guard dogs or stray dogs to get between the hotel and the beach down below. If you want to book private rooms here, you can do so airbnb and they are dog-friendly! There is another very cute and friendly dog that lives on site.

If you would rather stay in an apartment with a kitchen and you want to skip the hostel business altogether, then you can get some great monthly rates on airbnb. A lot of places will do a huge monthly discount. If you want to wait until you get there a find a monthly rental that is not listed on airbnb, there are a lot of inexpensive options. The villa that I lived in books up about 4 months in advance has a nightly rate of more than $250 per night. Months before arriving in San Juan Del Sur, I booked a full month through airbnb and with the automatic monthly discount this place has it came to less than $40 for night. This was one of my favourite places I’ve ever stayed in. The architecture had a very Mediterranean feel to it. We had two ocean view patios, a huge kitchen, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a vaulted ceiling that made my jaw drop when I walked in. It was a great place to have the dog because there was a lot of space inside and it was cool under the tile roofing. The complex also had an incredible restaurant with beautiful ocean views and three pools that looks over the ocean. I spent many afternoons reading a book by the pool and many mornings doing yoga from my second floor patio looking out at the ocean. It was pure bliss. We enjoyed being so close to town, about 5 minutes of walking through the complex to arrive in town where we could buy all of our groceries. If you are interested in this place, you can check it out here on airbnb to see how far in advance you will need to start thinking about booking.


Another reason that San Juan Del Sur is so dog-friendly is because every single restaurant allows you to bring dogs inside! So Ducky came everywhere with me. My dog is a very large, black dog so she looks a little bit intimidating although she is very friendly. Despite this, all the restaurants and taxis welcomed her with no questions asked. It was refreshing that all the restaurants were so welcoming to her. This is not so much the case in Mexico where we were only ever allowed to have her on patios outside. Where we lived in Canada, most restaurants wouldn’t even allow dogs on the patios! So it was very fun for us to go to restaurants and bars together in San Juan Del Sur because Ducky loves to be out and about. All the taxis in Nicaragua were happy to take our dog as well, but again in Mexico, this was not the case and about half the taxis that pulled over would drive away when we asked if we could bring her inside. This meant more time waiting for taxis and also having to pay more many times in order for them to say yes, and having to reassure them many times that she does not bite. All the beaches in Nicaragua are very dog-friendly. In San Juan del Sur, I didn’t feel comfortable letting Ducky off leash, but that is because of who she is as a dog. Many people would walk their dogs off leash on the beach in town or play fetch with them. Ducky doesn’t play fetch, she just likes to play chase so the one time I let her off leash, she took off towards a stray dog and went running with him onto the road with traffic that runs beside the beach. But if your dog has excellent recall, the main beach in town is definitely a great spot for dog walks off leash and games of fetch. For us, we would go to Maderas beach, Hermosa beach and Hermano beach for Ducky’s off leash adventures. At these beaches, there were other dogs for her to play with and no busy streets any where near to worry about.

San Juan Del Sur As A Base to Explore Nicaragua with Your Dog

San Juan Del Sur is a great base because everything you need is located within a small, compact area.The vet with english-speaking staff, dog food/accessories ATMs, all of it within walking distance and easy to find. There’s no traffic like there is in a city and there’s no bugs. At some point however, you’ll most likely want to see the rest of the country. From San Juan del Sur, you should definitely rent a car and do a day trip down the coast to beautiful beaches that stretch endlessly between San Juan del Sur and Costa Rica. There are no shuttles running to these beaches, such as Playa Yankee or Playa Hermosa (which we hitch-hiked to in the back of friendly locals’ pick-up trucks with our dog!) Make sure it’s 4x4 because of all the dirt roads to get to the beaches. If you want to see more of Nicaragua, you could rent a car for a road trip and because the country is relatively small, you can access all parts fairly quickly. There are so many stretches of deserted coastline to explore and sunsets to see with your pup! If you want want more beaches and surfing, head up to Popoyo, Las Penitas or Poneloya (Los Brasiles) in a rental car. You can also go to Leon and go volcano boarding with your dog. Read my article Exploring Nicaragua with your Dog to read more about these other areas!

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