Essential Advice for Crossing Borders in Central America
On our first long Central America trip, we crossed every border from Guatemala to Panama independently and by public transport (and with the exception of a single trip between Nicaragua and Honduras, we’ve done exactly the same every time we’ve returned to the region).
Arriving on foot, passports tucked in dusty daypacks, waiting in slow-moving queues with locals, traders, families and backpackers. For us, there is something quietly satisfying about stepping across an invisible line and into a new country with our own two feet.
It really is a proper backpacking experience!
If you’re planning to travel overland in Central America - whether on a big trip or hopping between two countries - the good news is that most borders are straightforward, and crossing them independently remains very doable. A few rules are enforced more consistently these days, and the process sometimes feels a little more administrative than it did a decade ago, but the essence remains: show up, stay aware, follow the flow, don’t overthink it.
You Can Do It With Public Transport
There is no border in Central America that requires a shuttle or private service to get across.
Shuttles certainly exist, and as the backpacker trail has grown, so has their coverage, with many travellers seemingly unaware that they have other options. And whilst they can certainly make life easier if you’re short on time, tired, or carrying surfboards, there’s no denying that you lose a little of the adventure and a lot of the autonomy.
When you take the buses and colectivos, you learn the true meaning of ‘the moments in between’. You see the edges of towns, the countryside, the way life actually looks when it isn’t curated for travellers.
It makes the country feel like somewhere real rather than a string of stops designed for you.
Importantly for those travelling on a budget, shuttles also tend to cost several times more than piecing it together yourself.
The only thing to be aware of when crossing independently is that onward transport on the other side of the border is not always obvious the moment you are stamped in; sometimes the next bus stop is a few minutes walk down the road, or you need to jump in a shared taxi for a short ride to the nearest town.
And, of course, there will always be someone who offers to help you - for a price.
The simplest approach is to step back for a moment and observe. Watch where people who clearly cross regularly - older women with shopping bags, commuters, families - are heading. They know where the transport leaves from. You do not need to ask the first person who approaches you (because that person is often not the one with your best interests at heart).
Do Your Research The Night Before
If crossing over on your own, a little preparation solves almost all border problems.
Check whether the border has set opening hours (some smaller crossings close for lunch or stop stamping passports surprisingly early), skim a recent blog or two to see if anyone mentions construction, protests or temporary closures, and make a rough plan for the journey on the other side. The biggest mistake overland travellers make is treating borders as isolated events, rather than points on a longer day of travel. You want to know there is some onward transport running when you arrive, and roughly how long it will take to reach the nearest town worth sleeping in.
The most reliable information will come from recent travel blogs, Facebook groups, and Reddit threads - people who crossed last week, not last decade. Old forum answers and guidebook footnotes are often charmingly out-of-date at best, and misleading at worst.
This isn’t about eliminating spontaneity; it’s about avoiding being stuck in a border zone as the sun goes down, realising the last bus left an hour ago.
Always Keep The Receipt
After paying any exit or entry fee, make sure to keep the receipt with you until you have officially left the country. There may be some check-points further along the border crossing where they ask for proof of payment.
If someone asks you to pay a fee but refuses to issue a receipt or claims the machine is ‘broken’, politely insist on seeing the official fee board inside the immigration office. This usually resolves the situation immediately.
For an overview of entry and exit fees at all these borders (and where they'll try to charge for non-existent ones), check out our article.
Don't Trust Anyone
This isn’t about paranoia, and it isn’t about assuming everyone you meet is out to get you but years of travel mean this is a mantra we’ve come to agree with.
The reality is that border zones operate on a different social logic to everywhere else. These are transient spaces where most people are either passing through, working, or hustling. It’s not the place to be open and chatty. Keep things polite but brief, get what you need to do sorted, and don’t hang around longer than necessary.
At borders, interactions tend to be transactional, and some of those transactions are designed to tilt in someone else’s favour.
So be friendly enough, but guarded. Don’t hand over your passport to anyone who isn’t behind an official window. Don’t follow someone who approaches you offering to ‘show you where to go’.
Don’t accept ‘help’ locating the bus stop unless you’ve already confirmed where it is.
Move with purpose, handle what needs to be handled, and continue your journey. The opportunities to meet people, have conversations, and be open to connection will come - they just do not come here.
Leave Early In The Morning
Crossing a border is rarely just the crossing itself; it’s almost always one segment in a longer travel day, and the outcome of the day depends more on timing than on difficulty.
We always start our border crossing days early, allowing time for missed connections, immigration queues, lunch breaks, slow paperwork, and the occasional rerouted bus for an unplanned road closure. The goal is to be past the border and moving onward while daylight is on your side, so you can choose where you end the day rather than taking what’s left.
Arriving at a border at dusk or dark doesn’t automatically equal danger, but it can make everything more difficult: there’s usually fewer onward transport options, fewer people around to observe and follow (and give you a feeling of strength in numbers), and a creeping sense of being rushed.
Daylight gives control. And control is comfort.
Check Your Pockets
On the evening before you cross, empty your daypack and your pockets: jacket, jeans, laundry bag, the zipped sleeve of your backpack you always forget exists*. The amount of orphaned currency travellers accidentally carry across borders is astonishing - enough to buy dinners and bus journeys left trapped in the wrong country.
Small coins are especially hard to exchange. Spend them the day before on snacks for the bus, water, a final plate of something delicious you won’t find on the other side.
(we do have to note that we are still dreadful at this, and currently have several jars of unspent change from various trips where we failed to follow our own advice)
You Can Get A Good Exchange Rate
We always recommend that you enter the new country with enough local currency to last you the day.
With the exception of the crossing between Panama and Costa Rica, you will find armies of money exchangers at every border in Central America (in fact, you often know you’re getting close when the first man waving a wad of folded notes jogs towards you).
Despite their reputation, we actually found that many of these exchangers offer perfectly fair rates - sometimes better than banks. The issue is not whether you exchange money with them; it’s how you do it.
Firstly, always head to the border with an awareness of what the exchange rate is that day (xe.com is a good bet for this), then approach them, rather than letting them swarm you.
State the amount you want to exchange and the rate you expect - calmly, not aggressively. Do your own maths rather than relying on their calculator*, and don’t be hurried; the speed is where mistakes happen. Don’t make yourself a gringo target by changing obscene amounts of money, and only hand over your money to them AFTER they've given you theirs.
Before concluding the exchange, make sure you’ve checked a few of the notes for authenticity and condition. Torn and heavily marked notes are often refused elsewhere, and you don’t want to be the one stuck with them.
USD remains the unofficial backbone currency of the region, and most will gladly exchange dollars whether their country uses them or not (carrying a few clean, crisp notes is still one of the most useful habits for travelling here).
*They're all armed with calculators which they'll type your numbers into very very quickly, sometimes inaccurately. Some of these calculators also have a trick button which automatically deducts some money from your total, which you might not spot.
Local Transport & Shops Accept Both Currencies
Border economies are bilingual in money. The shops nearest the immigration buildings, the first food stalls, the first buses or shared taxis - they will almost always accept either currency, simply because so many people cross without having yet exchanged anything.
However, this should be a bridge, not a plan.
The exchange rate you’ll get in these encounters will rarely be favourable, and there’s something grounding about having the correct currency in your pocket as soon as practical. So yes, use both currencies if it keeps the day smooth - but aim to get some local cash soon after crossing so the day continues on your terms.
One Visa, Four Countries (Sort Of…)
Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua share a regional visa arrangement called the CA-4. For many nationalities, this means you’re granted 90 days total to travel across all four countries (not 90 days in each.) It’s one shared clock.
For most travellers, this is still one of the most convenient visa setups in Central America.
However - and this is where things have changed recently - British citizens can no longer simply rely on the CA-4 to include Honduras. Although Honduras remains part of the agreement, UK passport holders now require a separate visa to enter Honduras, which must be arranged in advance. This rule applies whether you’re arriving overland or by air.
The other three countries (Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua) still honour the CA-4 arrangement for UK citizens, so if your route excludes Honduras, the system works exactly as it used to: one entry stamp, one time limit, four borders.
But if your plans include Honduras, treat it as a standalone visa requirement, separate from the rest of the region, and give yourself enough time to apply before you get anywhere near the border. Turning up and hoping it will be waved through on goodwill or confusion is no longer something to rely on.
The CA-4 hasn’t disappeared - it just no longer applies uniformly, and if you’re British, that’s the detail to know before you set off.
Never Travel With Drugs
It feels absurd to still have to include this, and yet here we are.
We met a shockingly high number of travellers who found it amusing that they'd had a few close scrapes at the border when people were searching their bags, as if it’s some edgy travel anecdote.
It isn’t.
Central America is not a place to test the tolerance of border officials.
The consequences for drug possession vary between countries, but the common thread is that none of them are mild. Fines can be enormous. Detention can be lengthy. Legal processes can be opaque and slow. You do not have the cultural context, the language, or the local support network to navigate that kind of problem.
So yes: don’t travel with drugs. Don’t carry anything for anyone. Don’t be the person who thinks they’re smarter than everyone else.
It isn’t cool. It’s just stupid.
Costa Rica & Panama Require Proof of Onward Travel
Of all the border rules in the region, this is the one that travellers are most likely to be caught out by - because it hasn’t softened with time; if anything, it has become more consistently enforced (we have been asked seven out of eight crossings).
At the border, you may be asked to show that you intend to leave before your permitted stay expires. That usually means either:
A bus ticket leaving the country
A flight booking
Or a temporary onward ticket reservation (there are now legitimate services that provide these, valid for 24–72 hours)
This can be a real pain for long-term travellers who may only have a one-way plane ticket and don't always know what their travel plans are when they enter a new country, but it’s better to plan for it than negotiate frantically with someone in uniform who has no interest in your vision of backpacking spontaneity.
There Are Some Scams
The scam that used to be most talked about - the unofficial exit sticker fee on the Panama side of the Sixaola–Guabito crossing - still appears occasionally. The people asking for it sometimes wear official-looking clothing, which makes things confusing if it’s your first time.
The simplest, calmest response is always the same:
Ask to be taken to the official immigration desk and to see the posted fee list.
Nothing instantly evaporates a scam quite like the request for paperwork.
Elsewhere, the scams are rarely elaborate. Someone insisting the bus isn’t running. Someone telling you there are no ATMs on the other side. Someone trying to funnel you to a currency exchange they recommend. Most of it is opportunism rather than danger. If something doesn’t feel right, step away rather than debate.
This is one of those moments where being unhurried and unbothered is the most powerful stance in the world.
An overview of scams we encountered in Central America is here.
