12-night Itinerary Suggestions

What are your 2-3 main interests for this trip, hiking, beaches, etc.?
I'll be honest, your trip is silly, down right silly. You can't travel from El Tunco to SJDS in one day, same for Granada to Copan, well I guess you can technically, but it's all travel. The whole trip is way to rushed.

What time of year is this trip? Do you already have you flights booked? Travel is very slow in Central America.

With 12 days you have time for Antigua, time on the Lake, Tikal and Dulce if you fly one way to Flores, still lot of moving but doable at least. Unless you really enjoy 1 night in every place while traveling a lot.

I don't mind taking a shuttle bus and paying an extra $20/30 and cutting down on time. Granada to Copan I was going to fly into San Salvador and then take a bus over to Copan. I'm not stopping at El Tunco, I'm going further down to El Cuco. I think if I head out of town early enough (6/7am) I should be able to travel between these areas by bus within the day. Also a lot of these places are fairly close together (Antigua/Lake Atitlan & Granada/San Juan del Sur/Ometepe). Really, it's just El Cuco and Copan that's kind of out of the way relatively speaking, but I'm hearing a lot of good stuff for Copan.

I might take out the last bit with Rio Dulce/Livingston and spend more time at Copan/elsewhere. I'm flying down in January, flights are booked.

What do you think?

Wow. This itinerary looks impossible...

Just some thoughts:
1. I highly, highly doubt that you will able to make it from El Cuco to SJDS in just one day. If it does happen to be possible, you most definitely will only arrive in the evening. So what will be the point of going all the way to SJDS just to stay one night and leave the next day to Ometepe?
2. Going to Ometepe for just a day is a very, very bad idea. Travelling there, in other words taking the ferry, takes quite a bit of time as well. You will arrive in Moyogalpa, the port town, but will not have any time to explore the island. So for that matter, you could just as well allocate your time to a prettier town that's not so difficult to reach
3. If you agree with me on the above, then just going to Nicaragua for Granada is a bit of a hassle as well. Why not just go to Guatemala/Copan now and save Nica for later?
4. For Copan, you said you'd be flying into San Salvador. I personally do not know of any shuttle that can take you to Copan from there. This means you probably have to use public transportation, and the combination of flying AND trying to bus to Copan on the same day is downright impossible because of the distance.

I do understand your wish to see as much as possible, but doing it this way I doubt that you will actually be able to see things...

For twelve days, I would stay in Guatemala only. What you have planned is just beyond impossible, to be honest with you. Travel is incredibly slow in Central America. In 2012, my friend and I spent eight days in Nicaragua, with three nights on Ometepe. Three nights alone was not enough for Ometepe. It deserves maybe at least a week on the island alone. I loved Ometepe!

Guatemala is amazing in itself, also. Antigua deserves at least two nights, Lake Atitlan...I always spend at least six nights at Lake Atitlan! The perimeter of Lake Atitlan is 100 miles around it with a dozen Mayan villages, each one offers their own specific handcrafts and atmosphere. Amazing place with incredible views!

Copan, Honduras: I spent ten days in Honduras with six days around Copan alone, which offers not only those amazing Mayan ruins, but a very cool town, horseback riding, zip-lining, all sorts of adventure!

Please do yourself a huge favor and rethink this itinerary, if you can. Even if it costs you some fees for cancellations...you are doing yourself a huge injustice to rush through and I am not sure it is even thinkable...

I agree with the advice above. Lots of folks want to cram a lot into the time they have but by trying to see so many places that aren't closely grouped geographically, you would actually be diluting your time to explore and enjoy and spending way more time sitting on buses and shuttles than most of us would tolerate. Almost sounds like that's your priority and what you want to do most.

12 nights is plenty for a nice trip but I'd choose just 3 (or maybe 4) locations at most and drop Nicaragua altogether this trip. If it was my trip I'd either stay in Guatemala or maybe just that with time in Copán. ¡Buena suerte!

Really appreciate the tips everyone, I don't know what to expect so this is all very helpful

Alright, I guess I'll have to make some sacrifices then; I didn't consider it would take more than a day to travel the large distances by bus. In terms of activities, I don't plan to do too much outside of hiking, wandering (on a scooter perhaps), or just sitting at a beach - I can skip the zip lining/horseback riding/walking tours/etc. It's also worth noting I am doing this alone.

I feel like I would enjoy seeing more variety of places on this trip than getting too immersed into one place. If I really enjoy a place enough, I will definitely plan another trip to spend more time at this awesome new place. The problem is, I don't know which of these places I will love, granted it sounds like all of these places are pretty awesome in their own merits.

Anyway, would you guys say this is more reasonable:

Wednesday (landing in GC @1300) – home => GC => Antigua
Thursday – Lake Atitlan
Friday – Lake Atitlan
Saturday – Antigua
Sunday - Antigua => Copan
Monday - Copan

Now here I am considering getting creative. From Copan, I take the bus(es) back to GC and fly down to Managua (round trip back to GC). Then from Managua, I take a bus down to San Juan Del Sur.

Tuesday - Copan => San Juan Del Sur
Wednesday – San Juan Del Sur
Thursday – Ometepe
Friday – Ometepe
Saturday – Granada
Sunday - Granada
Monday (flight out of GC @1730) - Granada => GC => home

Obvious downside is that flying is $150 for that round trip. Alternatively, I can listen to you all and scrap Nicaragua altogether :( and just head up to Flores/Tikal or just spend more time between Copan/Rio Dulce/Livingston.

Dude, your looking at traveling 4 countries in 12 days, 3 days per country.......say it out loud.

San Juan de Sur is a pit, it sucks. Granada is way overrated. Ometepe is killer but you'll want/need 3-4 nights at least, IMO.
Can you fly to San Salvador from Managua? There is a shuttle between El Tunco and Leon but takes 12 hours or more, easy.

Copan is awesome, probably my favorite town in all of Central America.
I've been to every place on your list, I've done the travel time. If all you want to do is sit on shuttle/buses for 12 days go for it because that's all you'll do.

I recommend:
2 Nights - Antigua
5 N - Lake Atittlan - It's a big place, many many towns.
3 N - Copan
1 N - Antigua

So you're saying 3 nights Copan then go back to Antigua? At that point I would just time it so I catch my flight back in GC.

So couple follow-up questions between Lake Atitlan and Copan. What do I spend doing for 5 night? Since it's 100 miles round, I guess I will need to look for accommodation in a couple different areas around the lake and plan a couple day trips. Is there particular part(s) of the lake I should stop by? I was thinking of renting a scooter in Antigua then riding it out to the lake and then using the scooter to explore around. Is that dangerous/ridiculous? I'm game for spending the $40/day for the scooter, think it's totally worth it. Is there a place to enjoy the water somewhere between Antigua/Lake Atitlan, i.e., sit at the beach?

As for Copan, I figured Copan was just ruins. What would I do for 3 full nights? Or perhaps I have the wrong idea and it is a fairly lively town?

The Tuesday you have yourself leaving Copan to Guate City and flying to Managua, it is a five hour bus ride from Copan to GUA. Then you would have to be able to catch a flight. From Managua to San Juan del Sur is a long drive. I know they quote you two and a half/three hour drive, but in reality it was closer to four hours. We saw a really, really bad accident on the highway enroute to SJDS and then there were horses, cows, whatnot, you name it on the road...

You would have to probably give up something to make this one even work.

Have you considered visiting Chichicastenango, or Quetzaltenango? There is so much to see in Guatemala.

I would do one country at a time or do Guatemala and throw in Copan.

By the way, Nicaragua is too good to rush through also.