My Overland And Oversea Backpacking Route Through Central America

“Teotihuacan” – Noel Gallagher.

Reminiscing on my 2014 overland/oversea trip through Central America, I realised I skippacked a load of places and that my route was not so obvious. My exact route would also not have been clear from my blog posts on here on Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica. Here, finally, 11 years later I decided to write my exact route and rough timetable of those nuts days. Please note this is my rough route as I recall with a list of where I visited in each place. Whackpacking Central America remains one of my highlights – days were jam packed, unpredictable and the blog was on a roll back then, July to September 2014.

The red dots are places I stayed in, or visited, for at least an hour. If it was a fast lunch stop or a border crossing, I didn’t put a red dot on it. The red pin in the above photo is Livingston, which I was NOT in, but it was chat on the Don’t Stop Living page from a follower about Livinston that inspired this post. I was shocked that I spent 4 weeks in Guatemala yet had never even heard of Livingston. When you see it on the above map, you can see I circled all around it – skippacking it textbook like. I don’t feel I missed anything by skipping it – I wasn’t inspired by Guatemala very much and am still baffled why we spent a month there, a lot of it was time wasted that could have been saved for Nicaragua (Managua for example) or Costa Rica. Both of those countries, my last on this trip were fast ones since I had pre-booked my flight out of San Jose and was on a deadline rush…as you can see below.

Please also note that at the time, all my accommodation was free or sponsored, as were my tours. This meant that I had to fit my schedule with the free dates of hotels, hostels, tour companies etc. that they had booked me on. This meant I’d end up spending more days in a place sometimes than I expected (like San Salvador and Xela), so that I could arrive at the next place in time for the review, and vice versa, sometimes I only had one night in a place – like Flores for example – I decided to only stay one night there as I needed to be in Belize sharpish the next day to ensure I crossed the border early and got to Belize City for my boat out to San Pedro. Most of the photos and routes on this post have NEVER been shown before – here they are for the first time!!

In terms of the order of countries visited it was – Mexico (1) (I arrived by flight from Panama), Guatemala (1), El Salvador (1), Guatemala (2), Honduras (1), Guatemala (3), Belize (1), Honduras (2), Nicaragua (1), Costa Rica (1). It is somewhat ironic that Guatemala was my least favourite here yet I hat-tricked it and spend 30 days there, more than any of the others.

Mexico (1)

I started my overland/oversea Central American tour in Mexico by landing in Mexico City from Panama City on a direct flight. I was in Panama twice (both times flew in and flew out), so I didn’t need or want to include Panama on my overland oversea route. I had covered the Panama Canal on the blog about 3 years earlier anyway.

Some people argue whether Mexico is in North America, Central America, just America or South America – for me it is in all three of America, Central America and North America. But since Canada and USA are so massive, Mexico seems very central to me in the entire America continent.

Of course I had to visit Teoutihuacan (a Noel Gallagher song inspired by his visit to the Aztevan/Mayan ruins), Estadio Azteca and Oaxaca as well as Mexico City and a few other spots in the land of tacos, enchiladas and Hugo Sanchez. One regret is I didn’t manage to visit Cafe La Habana, where Che Guevara and Fidel Castro planned the Cuban Revolution. Luckily Trevor of Nomadic Backpacker was on had to visit and blog it for us.

I have to also add that none of this was really pre-planned back then, we played it day by day, bit by bit and changed our plans often, almost daily. I do have some regrets though – I backpacked Palenque, Monte Alban and Teoutihuacan but MISSED Chichen Itza – which to date is the only modern wonder of the world I wasn’t in on the list of 7!!

Also, at no point did we expect to spend (waste) a month in Guatemala – it just happened like that. This was the first 3 month trip where I didn’t pay for any single night of accommodation – all of it was sponsored, as were 90% of the tours and sidetrips (for the PADI Diver’s licence of course I had to pay, but this was on a mega good deal). In Mexico City we stayed about a week. Panny needed the dentist there, a story I never really covered and I watched football and hung out in bars while she was getting her teeth sorted.

Here was our short but sweet route during 3 epic weeks in Mexico.

Mexico City to Teoutihuacan
Teoutihuacan to Mexico City
Mexico City to Oaxaca
Oaxaca to Monte Alban
Monte Alban to Oaxaca
Oaxaca to San Cristobal de las Casas
San Cristobal de las Casas to Palenque, Misol Ha, Aqua Azul
Palenque to San Cristobal de las Casas
San Cristobal de las Casas to Ciudad Cuauhtemoc
Ciudad Cuauhtemoc to La Mesilla (Guatemala border)

Guatemala (1)

After overlanding into Guatemala, we headed to Xela / Quetzaltenango first. We ended up spending two weeks in that city, but had 2 side trips – to Santa Maria and Tajumulco. We did a load of other stuff here including kayaking on Lago Atitlan and I stayed in and review a writer’s lair where I met up with writer Richard Morgan. I did some groundhopping too and a cycling tour of Guatemala City.

La Mesilla (Guatemala border) to Xela
Xela to Tajumulco
Tajumulco to Xela
Xela to Santa Maria
Santa Maria to Xela
Xela to San Pedro La Laguna
San Pedro La Laguna to Indian’s Nose Hike
Indian’s Nose Hike to San Pedro La Laguna
San Pedro La Laguna to San Marcos
San Marcos to San Pedro La Laguna
San Pedro La Laguna to Panajachel
Panajachel to Antigua
Antigua to Guatemala City
Guatemala City to Valle Nuevo (El Salvador border)

El Salvador (1)

I originally planned to stay in El Salvador for 4 days, all of it in the capital city, San Salvador. This changed quickly once I realised how amazing the country was!

I was offered a stay in Santa Ana and also in Barra De Santiago as well as a tour of the crocodile creek and to attend the Fireball Festival. It meant I needed to stay here for the festival, so I stayed 10 or 11 days in the end. I also did a lot of day trips from San Salvador and Santa Ana, the highlight of which was Chalchuapa – an incredible little town!

Las Chinamas to San Salvador
San Salvador to Sonsonate
Sonsonate to Barra De Santiago
Barra De Santiago to El Zapote and Crocodile Creek tour
El Zapote to Barra De Santiago
Barra De Santiago to Sonsonate
Sonsonate to Santa Ana
Santa Ana to Chalchuapa
Chalchuapa to Santa Ana
Santa Ana to San Salvador
San Salvador To Devil’s Point/Gate/Door
Devil’s Point/Gate/Door to San Salvador
San Salvador to Joya De Ceren
Joya De Ceren to San Salvador
San Salvador to Nejapa
Nejapa to San Salvador
San Salvador to Anguiatu (Guatemala Border)

Trevor Warman, the Nomadic Backpacker also overlanded the El Salvador to Guatemala border at Corinto.

Guatemala (2)

I was then back in Guatemala for the second time, but basically in transit. We stopped for lunch somewhere then headed into Honduras, my first of two trips to Honduras on this adventure. I don’t know why I did it that way as looking back it seems complicated, but the tour company I used for the fireball festival were giving me sponsored stuff and discounts, and they had a mini-bus service to Copan Ruinas.

Anguiatu (Guatemala Border) to Aldea Caparja (Honduras border)

Honduras (1)

I arrived into Honduras for the first time at a barely known place called El Florido. On this visit to Honduras, I only visited Copan and Copan Ruinas, as I knew I’d be back here a few weeks later after backpacking more of Guatemala and into Belize. As well as seeing parrots and ruins, there was a brewery tour and I had a massive argument with an English girl who owned a bar here as she was 100% convinced the Titanic was built in Liverpool. Nobody used Wi-Fi back then so I couldn’t prove how stupid she was and I just walked out of the bar. Stupid girl. Titanic was built in Belfast!

El Florido to Copan City
Copan City to Copan Ruinas
Copan Ruinas to Copan City
Copan City to El Florido (Guatemala border)

Guatemala (3)

I crossed the same border back into Guatemala, from El Florido to Aldea Caparja and suddenly I had hat-tricked Guatemala when I only really wanted to visit it once! On route from Copan to Coban we stopped at a village called El Rancho.

I remember eating lunch there but can’t even find it on the map now, perhaps I got the name wrong. Then I visited Coban (as opposed to Copan) and north again to Semuc Champey, a waterfall type place. Finally I stopped in Flores before entering Belize for the first and only time on this trip.

Aldea Caparja to El Rancho
El Rancho to Coban
Coban to Semuc Champey
Semuc Champey to Flores
Flores to Melchor De Menchos (Belize border)

Belize (1)

I arrived in Belize from Flores. I remember our mini-bus was direct to Belize City but we had to get a ferry across a river at one point, on the Guatemala side. Once in Belize, we had a resort stay lined up on Madonna’s island. First we had a few hours in Belize City, then took a boat to San Pedro (Madonna’s island). Here I reviewed the stunning Xanadu Resort.

We were only in Belize for 8 days but we did a lot! The only British Pub in Belmopan, backpacking Belmopan, Belize City, Xunantunich, Actun Tunichil Muknal, Spanish Lookout, Caye Caulker, San Pedro and finally Placencia.

Benque Viejo Del Carmen to Belize City
Belize City to Ambergris Caye / San Pedro
Ambergris Caye / San Pedro to Caye Caulker
Caye Caulker to Ambergris Caye / San Pedro
Ambergris Caye / San Pedro to Belize City
Belize City to Belmopan
Belmopan to Spanish Lookout
Spanish Lookout to Belmopan
Belmopan to Xunantanich
Xunantanich to Belmopan
Belmopan to Actun Tunichil Muknal
Actun Tunichil Muknal to Belmopan
Belmopan to Placencia
Placencia to Puerto Cortes (Honduras border)

Honduras (2)

My second trip to Honduras was an arrival by boat. I remember the waters being very choppy and dangerous and two girls being sick. I also remember there were no seats and we had to basically lie on the lower deck for hours with waves crashing on us. After arriving back into Honduras, we toured San Pedro Sula, the world’s most dangerous city before doing out diving certificat on the island of Utila. After Utila, it was ziplining in La Ceiba and into Tegugigalpa the capital city before moving on to Nicaragua.

Puerto Cortes to San Pedro Sula
San Pedro Sula to La Ceiba
La Ceiba to Utila
Utila to International Waters (deep sea diving)
International Waters to Utila
Utila to La Ceiba
La Ceiba to Rio Cangrejal
Rio Cangrejal to La Ceiba
La Ceiba to San Pedro Sula
San Pedro Sula to Tegucigalpa
Tegucigalpa to Guasaule (Nicaragua border)

Nicaragua (1)

As a kid, I always thought of Nicaragua as “Nicotine Water”, as I often translated it from Spanish into English that way. I expected it to be dirty and smoky and wet. And actually it was, mostly rained here and felt a bit dirtier than Honduras and Belize. This sentiment could be echoed by Nomadic Backpacker, who within days of his arrival in Nicaragua, was struck down with Dengue Fever! Ouch!

I spent a couple of nights in Leon, then got a bus to Managua (the capital city). In Managua, I didn’t stay overnight, just changed buses to Granada. This was due to the 2 sponsored nights allocated to me in Granada, I was also supposed to review an eco resort there at Lago Xolotian, but the dates clashed. I do kind of regret not spending a night or 2 in Managua since it is the capital city, as for me Belmopan, San Salvador, Tegucigalpa, Mexico City and Guatemala were all stunning capitals so far. Nicaragua was short and sweet for me. I already had a flight from San Jose, Costa Rica to Atlanta in USA so time was ticking towards the last part of this adventure.

Guasaule to Leon
Leon to Managua
Managua to Granada
Granada to Penas Blancas (Costa Rica border)

Costa Rica (1)

Costa Rica was the final leg of this tour, and the only one which I arrived into where I knew when I would leave. I had pre-booked 3 flights from here onwards – San Jose to Atlanta (USA), Atlanta to New York (USA) and New York (USA) to Barcelona (Catalonia). Costa Rica was very inspiring as I met two writers, Deacon Blake and Michael Miller during my stay in The Hemingway Inn, San Jose. I also met up with my university colleague, Sigal Kahana who comes from Costa Rica and spent some days in the countryside. Again, I was meant to review more tours and hotels here – many were lined up, but I ran out of time…

Penas Blancas to San Jose
San Jose to Alajuela
Alajuela to Cacao
Cacao to Grecia
Grecia to Alajuela
Alajuela to San Jose Airport (departure to USA)

I hope you enjoyed that. It feels good to finally get it typed up this way – it might be helpful for others wishing to do a similar route. Perhaps I will backdate document some of my overland/oversea/via air backpacking adventures in this way.

Adios Amigos!