Bus Travel

Bus is the most common way to enter Belize from Guatemala or vice versa. Travel from Guatemala to the border by bus or minibus and cross the border on foot to pick up a Belize bus on the other side, or travel through the border on Guatemalan transport to San Ignacio or Belize City. You need to disembark and cross through immigration on foot, carrying your own luggage. Línea Dorada runs two direct daily buses from Flores to Belize City, a trip that takes a minimum of five hours. Línea Dorada and San Juan Travel also run to and from Chetumal in Mexico to Flores, Guatemala (eight or nine hours).

For us, we left Caye Caulker on the 1pm ferry to Belize City, arriving at 1.30pm. From Belize city ferry terminal, we were touted by several taxi drivers who wanted to charge US$10 for the short distance to the bus terminal. Seeing that it was only a 10- 15 minutes walk from the map, I decided to drag our luggages along the uneven roads of Belize city and to the bus terminal.

Upon reaching the bus terminal, we looked for the bus to San Ignacio. There were various buses, from the slow buses to the express ones. There were no bus tickets to be bought beforehand, we would pay the fare on the bus. I asked around and found out that the next express bus for San Ignacio leaves at 2.45pm. The friendly Belizean even ensured that we got on the right bus as there was an earlier bus leaving at 2.30pm but it would make many stops along the way. Since we had not eaten lunch, we bought a pack of Belize local rice to eat while waiting for the bus.

Belizean highways are not as developped as in Mexico. There was some moderate traffic getting out of the city, but once out of the city, the bus driver sped towards the north. We only made 3 stops at some towns along the way before reaching San Ignacio.

Once we alighted from San Ignacio, there was a quick transfer to a shared taxi to the border which cost BZ$20 (US$10). It was a 20 minutes drive from the bus terminal to the Guatemala-Belize border customs. It was already dark by the time we reached the Belize customs.

There was not much of a queue to exit Belize. We had to pay BZ$40 (US$20) each for the exit fee. This comprises the departure processing fee, border development fee and PACT fee.

After exiting Belize, we walked a short distance to the next building which belongs to the Guatemalan customs. There was a queue of people waiting to exit Guatemala, but no queue entering the country. The process was quite disorganised because there is no proper partition, only a line and signs on the ground which said “entry” and “exit”. I can imagine how chaotic it can get during the peak periods.

No questions were asked and we got a 90-day visa stamp in our passport. It was already dark by then when we reached Guatemala even though it was only 6pm. Not wanting to be scammed, we avoided all the touts shouting for taxis to Flores or Peten (our destination). We were supposed to catch the last bus of the day towards Flores.

However, upon checking with some locals, apparently the bus had left already. There was a overnight bus headed to Guatemala City and along the way, it passes by Flores somewhere along the highway. The bus was going to travel for 9-10 hours overnight, so the bus was quite comfortable, with wide, cushioned seats that can recline around 150 degrees. The bus driver arranged for a taxi to pick us up at the fork (near La Ponderosa) to send us to our destination. As we alighted from the bus and thanked the driver, our taxi was already waiting for us. Our taxi had some difficulty finding the place in San Benito and was grumbling about it. It was 8pm by the time we reached our accommodation in San Benito, which is a neighbourhood just outside of Flores.

Crossing the border from Belize to Guatemala was one of the easiest that I have experienced. No questions asked and only a simple bag check through the scanning machine. Even though most forums advised not to cross the border when dark, we did not notice any imminent danger. If we had reached San Ignacio earlier, we could have probably caught the last bus from the border to Flores.