Taking the Bus from Mexico to Guatemala: My Experience Crossing the Border

📍 Route Overview: Bacalar, Mexico -> Chetumal (Stop) -> Belize City (Stop) -> Flores, Guatemala

🏢 Bus Companies & Booking Options: I booked directly through my hostel. However, they use: Alianza-bacalar which you can find here.

⏳ Total Travel Time: 9 hrs

💵 Costs & Fees: $1600 MXN Pesos = $125 AUD for the bus ticket

🛃 Border Crossing & Visa Requirements: For my Australians check the Smartraveller website here.

💱 Currency & Payment Tips: I usually bring $100 USD in cash just in case! However, I did not need to use it this time.

🛣️ The Start of the 9 hr Journey

In Bacalar I stayed at many hostels, with my last one being the Yak Lake House. Originally, we were planning on making our way down to Guatemala after Mexico, however, I never thought I would cross the land border to get there. The idea of crossing two borders by land in Central America was really daunting and I was honestly pretty afraid of the whole process.

It wasn’t until our second last night that my friend and I, after chatting with other hostel guests about their plans, decided to book the land crossing. A receptionist who had done the trip in reverse was very convincing, so on a whim, we booked the tickets. I planned to head down solo first and wait for my friends in Flores.

The reason we did it this way was a bit complicated, while I was staying in Bacalar with one friend, his plan was to head back up to Tulum to meet another friend who had just arrived in Mexico. Since I had already been to Tulum, I chose to head south solo instead, to avoid the back-and-forth trip.

The trip started off with me and 3 other guests crammed into a taxi. The taxi took us to Chetumal where we had to pay the exit fee (see more in border crossing process). After a couple of British tourists refused to pay the exit fee then inevitably giving in, we swapped to a mini van and made our way down to Belize.

🚌 Stopping over in Belize

The first stop in the journey was at Belize. After passing through migration we were told that if anyone needed Belize currency that they could exchange money through the fence at the border. This was pretty interesting as it felt very suss, but the driver and the currency exchangers assured us it was perfectly legal!

This was the second last bus off the journey, and although there were a lot of bus changes and things were pretty confusing, the bus drivers have the process so dialled down that you can basically switch off and just listen to the drivers as they move you around.

Although I found most of the buses pretty comfortable, I recommend boarding as soon as possible! As usually the last person on would need to sit in this super cramped seat for hours…

🛂 Border Crossing Process and 💰 Costs

In total you will need to cross four migration areas.

1. Exiting Mexico
2. Entering Belize
3. Exiting Belize
4. Entering Guatemala

This may look like a lot, and well it is. But I really didn’t encounter too many problems at either one of these borders. My main concerns were of the rumours of needing to pay off officials to be let in, and needing a yellow fever vaccination certificate to enter into Guatemala. At the time (late 2024), I found mixed information online about whether you need the vaccination to enter Guatemala. However, on the day I didn’t need it and I was set to enter.

In terms of the fees, I ended up paying 500 MXN at the Mexico/Belize border and I paid 32.50 BZD at the Belize/Guatemala border. I did not pay any fee at the Guatemala entry border. I have found so much conflicting information online and in person whether these fees are legitimate or not and to be honest I am still unsure. At the time, there was much push back by other tourists in paying the 500 MXN exit fee however, they refused to let us pass unless everyone had paid. Our driver also advised us at the time that if we did not pay, we would miss our connecting bus. The Belize border price was something I did push back on however. As our driver said the exit fee if you did not stay in Belize overnight should be only around $3-$7.

But, as I got to the exit, the immigration officer told me it was around $20 and refuted any push back I had with the increased fee. I turned to my bus driver for clarity or support and he simply raised his hands in the air and said “I don’t know man, I don’t know”. So in the end I just reminded myself that I have literally 0 bargaining power and I paid the fee to get through 😒.

After many long hours on multiple buses, I had finally arrived at Flores. My bus rides had maybe 2 toilet breaks and we didn’t stop to get food, so I was hungry. But I think every trip is slightly different as my friends that did the same trip 3 days later said they had many toilet breaks and even stopped for lunch.

Overall, I don’t miss the long bus rides, but I’m definitely glad I took the journey. Crossing the border by land is much cheaper than flying into Guatemala and lets you start your trip in the beautiful small town of Flores.