Planning a trip to Laguna de Apoyo

It's a 20-minute drive from Granada to Laguna de Apoyo, and a C300 taxi ride is the most convenient way of getting there. Alternatively, you can arrange the trip via the hostel Bearded Monkey (see earlier in this chapter) or its sister lodge the Monkey Hut . Don't think about driving on your own; once you get off the highway from Granada, the road is a beautifully brick-paved lane -- an anomaly in a country with such bad roads. But the perfect paving stops after just a few minutes, and the rest of the way makes for very difficult driving.

Another way of getting to the lake is to simply walk from Granada. A dirt road from the city cemetery's northeast corner heads west until you reach a crossroads just below the crater's lip. You must then turn right and cross a field to get a view of the lake. The trek takes approximately 3 hours there and back.