We made all of our Central American border crossings using local public transport, mostly by chicken bus. Check out my personal experiences and guide to Central American border crossings below:
Mexico-Belize, Belize-Guatemala, Guatemala-El Salvador, El Salvador-Honduras, Honduras-Nicaragua, Nicaragua-Costa Rica, Costa Rica-Panama
Mexico – Belize
Bacalar to Belize City, crossing at Santa Elena
This was the only Central American border crossing that we made using an international bus, and ironically it was by far the most sketchy.
We took the ADO bus from Bacalar directly to Belize City. The bus also stopped at Chetumal to pick up more passengers, by this point it was completely full of tourists. At Chetumal the bus driver advised us all to withdraw money from the ATM in order to pay a $35 USD tourist tax at the border.
There is conflicting info online and a lot of confusion about this tax. Some people on our bus mistook it for the Quintana Roo ‘visitax’ for people flying into Cancun Airport, but it isn’t the same thing. The long and short is that this is a legitimate tax, but if you entered Mexico via plane then you’ve probably already paid the tax as it is included in most airfares. Get an itemised receipt from your airline which should clearly show the tourist tax has been paid, print it out and present it to the border guards if they ask for it. The border guards can be extremely persistent and might try to bully you into paying the tax anyway. They might try to ask you for random documents or tourist cards which are no longer issued on entry. We witnessed people on our bus who did have an itemised receipt but were still intimidated into handing over $70 at the border.
I don’t want to go into detail about our personal experience at the border other than the fact that we got our exit stamps and did not pay the border guards. Everyone else on our bus did pay. Do your research and stick to your guns if you know that you’re in the right.
Belize – Guatemala
San Ignacio to Flores, crossing at Melchor de Mencos
Chicken buses in Belize are really easy to navigate as there are only three main routes in the country – north, south and west from Belize City. Almost all of the westbound chicken buses will terminate at Benque Viejo, the nearest town to the Guatemalan border. The buses run every half hour or so, so from Belize City, Belmopan or San Ignacio you probably won’t have to wait very long. Ride the bus all the way to the end in Benque Viejo, from the bus terminal it’s around a 40 minute walk down the highway to the border, alternatively you can take a taxi from the terminal. It is also possible to take a relatively cheap taxi from San Ignacio to the border – this is what we did as there were some other guys waiting and it wasn’t much more expensive to split a cab which would take us all the way to the border rather than taking the bus and then having to walk.
Across the bridge into Guatemala – take the first left for the bus station
The border crossing formalities were very easy. There is an exit fee at the Belize side, this is a legit fee which is clearly signed on the walls in the immigration building. It was only possible to pay this fee with cash when we were there as the card machine was out of service. We took a receipt for this fee and handed it to the next border guard who then gave us the exit stamp. The Guatemala side of the border was very smooth and efficient, we had heard warnings of possible shenanigans here with guards trying to extort tourists for bribes etc but we experienced nothing of the sort, the whole thing was very professional. After leaving the border points and entering Guatemala, walk over the bridge and take the first left to get to the bus terminal, where you can get regular and cheap colectivos to Flores. The bus terminal is around 200m from the station and very easily walkable, ignore anyone who tells you otherwise. If you need cash, there is an ATM a few hundred metres further up the hill on the main road near the Texaco fuel station. Make sure you have cash before getting in the colectivo – Dan went to get cash from the ATM and the driver tried to set off without him! We had to do a detour to find him and pick him up.
Guatemala – El Salvador
Guatemala City to Santa Ana, crossing at San Cristobal
We took a chicken bus from Guatemala City to the border. The buses are located between Zone 4 and Zone 9 in Guatemala City. We had some difficulty finding the correct bus here as there were many buses parked in the area – we eventually found the buses we were looking for in a parking lot here https://maps.app.goo.gl/oVE4RGSMLUvdGxxAA (co-ordinates 14.611881902963102, -90.52084787080751). We asked the bus conductor if he was going to the frontera San Cristobal and he said yes. What actually happened was that the chicken bus terminated in Jutiapa and the conductor then put us straight onto a tiny, cramped minibus which went the rest of the way to the border. This was annoying as we had to pay for both the chicken bus and minibus and didn’t quite have enough quetzals – the minibus guy let us off for 2Q but threw our bags in the dust when we arrived at the border! If we were doing this again we’d probably just tell the chicken bus to take us to Jutiapa and then find the minibus to the border ourselves, as they were both leaving from the same station and this way we would at least make sure we had enough cash.
The grand exit from Guatemala
The minibus dropped us a few hundred metres away from the border, the border process was easy with no fees or hassle on either side. After leaving the border controls and entering El Salvador we were able to take the 236 bus straight to Santa Ana. The buses were parked very close to the border, down a street to the left hand side and cost less than a dollar each.
El Salvador – Honduras
San Salvador to Copan Ruinas, crossing at El Poy
We made this journey in a day! Check out my blog post here for info on how we did it!
Honduras – Nicaragua
Tegucigalpa to Leon, crossing at Guasaule
Check out my blog post on this tricky border crossing which took us an entire day.
Nicaragua – Costa Rica
Ometepe to San Jose, crossing at Peñas Blancas
After getting the ferry from Moyagalpa in Ometepe to the mainland, we took a taxi to the bus stop in Rivas. There are many scammers around the Rivas area, it is notorious for them sadly. We agreed a price with a guy for what he told us would be a colectivo from the docks at San Jorge to the bus station in Rivas, this was then changed to a private taxi as nobody else got in. The driver spend the entire journey to Rivas trying to talk us into letting him drive us all the way to the border, making up all sorts of stories about how the border was ‘closing’ soon and why we wouldn’t be able to make it there in time on our own etc etc… We ignored this nonsense and told him to complete the journey and price that we had originally agreed, which in the end he did. The taxi driver dropped us off at the ‘rotunda’ in Rivas (co-ordinates 11.444257218017114, -85.82714511392973) rather than the bus terminal, this is a roundabout where it is easy to flag down passing buses on the highway. Here we waited around 20 minutes and were then able to get a passing bus (which I think was coming from Managua) to the border at Peñas Blancas. It can be a little confusing to know where to wait at the rotunda, the bus we took stopped to let passengers out on the northwest side before the roundabout so it’s probably best to wait there. The bus dropped us off near the border in an absolute minefield of hasslers and market sellers, we were able to skilfully avoid them and walk the hundred or so metres to the frontera.
On the way out of Nicaragua
At the Nicaraguan side of the border we were only asked for $1 USD to enter the immigration building and no exit fee at the border point, which was a surprise as we had been expecting to pay around $4 each. We then left Nicaragua and headed into Costa Rica.
The Costa Rican immigration building is not the first thing you come across on the Costa Rican side of the border at Peñas Blancas and it is not immediately obvious where to go. We eventually found the building (at co-ordinates 11.211778631881328, -85.6114001866034) next to the ATM (which was out of service).
We always prepare meticulously for border crossings to make sure we have the correct documentation, all forms etc are filled out in advance where possible so that everything will go smoothly. On this occasion, we decided to chance it and got bitten. We were aware of the proof of onward travel requirement for Costa Rica but had also read reports of others who were arriving by land not being asked for it, or just giving a verbal explanation and being allowed through. For us, even though we had arrived in the country via chicken bus, would be leaving via chicken bus and had flights booked out of Panama, the border guard demanded to see proof of onward travel in the form of bus or plane tickets out of Costa Rica. Despite our many protests, he wouldn’t budge on this. We had no mobile data, the wifi in the immigration building didn’t work and none of the bus vendors outside the immigration building were able to sell us advance tickets. After over an hour of standing in the immigration building frantically trying to get the wifi to work or think of another way out of this mess, we were eventually helped by a Swiss backpacker who let us use her mobile data to buy fake flight tickets from an onward travel website (easy to find on Google). We finally presented this to the border guard and were allowed through.
The proof of onward travel rule that some countries have is really counter-productive in my opinion, especially when trying to enforce it for those arriving via land. Anyway, fake plane tickets in tow we were able to get a direct bus to San Jose from the bus terminal directly opposite the immigration building. Strangely we were also able to exchange money here with some street exchangers for a better rate than the official rate online. Eventually we arrived into San Jose in a rough part of town well after dark and had to walk to the nearest McDonalds to try and use their wifi, eventually giving up and hailing an overpriced cab to take us to somewhere near our accommodation. Overall this was not a great border crossing.
Costa Rica – Panama
Palmar Norte to Boquete, crossing at Paso Canoas
The Panama immigration building is a dead giveaway
We took the Tracopa bus from the bus station in Palmar Norte to the border at Paso Canoas. The Tracopa website has a lot of information about buses heading that way from other destinations and is usually accurate.
Paso Canoas is a confusing place as the entire town seems to be within the border area. The bus actually dropped us off past the Costa Rican immigration and we had to turn around and walk back to the border point. To pay the Costa Rican exit tax, it is necessary to go to an unofficial-looking kiosk on the opposite side of the road from the immigration offices (co-ordinates 8.53479378785614, -82.84074263692607). The fee is $9, we were able to pay using some of our remaining colon but the exchange rate wasn’t really that great. From here we got a slip of paper that we then gave to the border officials at the immigration building across the road and got our exit stamps.
The Costa Rica exit tax needs to be paid at this unofficial-looking building
We then walked to the Panama border, which was a lot easier to find as it was the tallest building in the area and had the word Panama written on the side in large letters. The Panama border guard asked us some basic questions and took a scan of our fingerprints but was very friendly and welcomed us into the country. After passing through immigration, we walked the short distance to the bus stop (https://maps.app.goo.gl/1KqH8daGfcniGXh19 co-ordinates 8.533796444308898, -82.83771978733229) and got a colectivo to David for a few dollars. This dropped us off at the bus terminal in David, from where we were able to get an easy chicken bus to Boquete.
For my guide to chicken buses and other public transport in Central America click here!