We compiled a comprehensive backpacking Central America route – 8 countries, 1-3 months, 28 stops, no flying (just public transport).
We recently spent 6 months backpacking in Central America. Here is our ultimate Central America backpacking itinerary.
We visit 8 countries in our itinerary:
The dry season is from December to April. We travelled from January to June and must say that the months of the wet season are quite humid and rainy and definitely not our favourite weather-wise.
We paid 40$ to 70$ per person and day.
You don’t have to take a single flight. You can easily travel around by bus, tuk-tuk, or minivan. Tourist transfers are mostly a convenient option. Islands are connected by boats.
If you want to see everything (or at least most of it), we recommend at least 3 Months or 90 days. This means around 28 stops and 3 days per stop on average.
We have also created a 1 and 2 months itinerary in case you have a shorter time limit.
Our suggested Central America travel route for 1, 2, or 3 months.
# |
Country |
City |
3 Months Itinerary |
2 Months Itinerary |
1 Month Itinerary |
1 |
Mexico |
Playa del Carmen |
X |
||
2 |
Mexico |
Valladolid |
X |
X |
X |
3 |
Mexico |
Tulum |
X |
X |
X |
4 |
Mexico |
Bacalar |
X |
X |
|
5 |
Belize |
Orange Walk Town |
X |
||
6 |
Belize |
Caye Caulker |
X |
X |
X |
7 |
Belize |
Hopkins |
X |
||
8 |
Belize |
San Ignacio |
X |
X |
X |
9 |
Guatemala |
Flores |
X |
X |
X |
10 |
Guatemala |
Rio Dulce |
X |
||
11 |
Guatemala |
Semuc Champey |
X |
||
12 |
Guatemala |
Lake Atitlan |
X |
X |
|
13 |
Guatemala |
Antigua |
X |
X |
X |
14 |
El Salvador |
El Tunco |
X |
X |
|
15 |
El Salvador |
Santa Ana |
X |
X |
|
16 |
Honduras |
Copan |
X |
X |
|
17 |
Honduras |
Utila |
X |
X |
|
18 |
Honduras |
Lago de Yojoa |
X |
||
19 |
Nicaragua |
Somoto |
X |
||
20 |
Nicaragua |
Leon |
X |
X |
X |
21 |
Nicaragua |
Granada |
X |
||
22 |
Nicaragua |
Ometepe |
X |
X |
X |
23 |
Nicaragua |
San Juan del Sur |
X |
||
24 |
Costa Rica |
La Fortuna |
X |
X |
X |
25 |
Costa Rica |
Monteverde |
X |
||
26 |
Costa Rica |
Manuel Antonio |
X |
X |
X |
27 |
Costa Rica |
Corcovado |
X |
||
28 |
Costa Rica |
Limon |
X |
X |
|
29 |
Panama |
Bocas del Toro |
X |
X |
|
30 |
Panama |
Boquete |
X |
||
31 |
Panama |
Panama City |
X |
X |
X |
32 |
Panama |
San Blas |
X |
X |
For time reasons, we concentrate on the Yucatan peninsular of Mexico. If you have more time, you can (and should) start in Mexico City and also visit Oaxaca, Puerto Escondido, and Palenque.
We love public transport in Mexico. The offer ranges from super comfortable ADO buses which you can book online and are safe and comfortable enough to take overnight to super cheap and local colectivos (shared taxis).
You can go literally everywhere in Mexico by public transport – be it from one town to another or from your hotel to your next sight. All of the destinations on our suggested Mexico itinerary are connected by ADO bus. You can easily reach sights like Chichen Itza or the cenotes by colectivo.
We paid 40$ per person per day on average.
The highlights of your time in Mexico will be:
# |
Where? |
What? |
How many days? |
1 |
Playa del Carmen |
Beach, Akumal turtles |
2 |
2 |
Valladolid |
Chichen Itza, Las Coloradas, Ek Balam, cenotes, colonial houses |
3 |
3 |
Tulum |
Mayan Ruins, cenotes, Sian Ka’an, Beach, Instagram |
4 |
4 |
Bacalar |
Lagoon of 7 colours, boat tour, beach clubs |
3 |
Come for Caye Caulker, stay for the rest.
Travelling Belize by public bus is easy and reliable. Normally, you can just jump on the bus and buy your ticket. It should cost you around 4 and 6 BZD. There are well-established north-south and east-west routes connecting the country which are connected in the capital Belmopan. If you don’t want to get off at the major bus stations, you can just tell the conductor where to stop.
We paid 55$ per person per day on average.
The highlights of your time in Belize will be:
The easiest way is to take an ADO bus across the border.
# |
Where? |
What? |
How many days? |
5 |
Orange Walk Town |
Lamanai |
2 |
6 |
Caye Caulker |
Snorkelling with sharks and manatees, Blue Hole, going slow |
3 |
7 |
Hopkins |
Cockscomb Jaguar Preserve, Beach |
3 |
8 |
San Ignacio |
ATM Cave, Caracol |
3 |
To be honest, we did not hear good things about public transport in Guatemala. Other travellers told us they got robbed. Others mentioned that they had to change buses a lot – and without any English information.
That’s why we opted for tourist shuttles all the time. It raised our costs quite a bit but they were always punctual, safe, and reliable. You can buy tickets from every travel agency – and you will find plenty of them in tourist destinations.
We paid 50$ per person per day on average.
The highlights of your time in Guatemala will be:
You can take a quick and easy taxi to the Guatemala border. After you crossed, take a shared direct minivan to Santa Elena. Here, you change into a tuk-tuk to Flores.
# |
Where? |
What? |
How many days? |
9 |
Flores |
Lake Peten, Tikal, (El Mirador) |
10 |
10 |
Rio Dulce |
Swimming, hot spring waterfall, Caribbean Coast |
2 |
11 |
Semuc Champey |
Waterfall, caving, and tubing |
2 |
12 |
Lake Atitlan |
Party in San Pedro, Yoga in San Marcos, scuba diving in Santa Cruz, San Juan for arts and crafts,…. |
4 |
13 |
Antigua |
Acatenango volcano, colonial architecture, food and drinks |
4 |
Don’t skip El Salvador! It’s super easy to incorporate into your itinerary!
To be honest, we were shocked at first when we realised that we could not book any tourist shuttles in El Salvador. Here’s the reason why:
The public transport in El Salvador is amazing. In fact, it was our favourite public transport in the whole of Central America. Buses come super often and you can just flag them down on the side of the road – no bus stop needed. The prices are super low – we never paid more than 1$ – and they are signposted in the driver's cabin to prevent scams. You can do the entire Ruta de las Flores with public transport – no tour needed.
We paid 40$ per person per day on average. Mostly because of the cheap public transport.
The highlights of your time in El Salvador will be:
Shuttle buses from Antigua to various destinations in El Salvador leave regularly.
# |
Where? |
What? |
How many days? |
14 |
El Tunco |
Surfing |
3 |
15 |
Santa Ana |
Santa Ana volcano, Ruta de las Flores, Salto Malacatiupan, Coatepeque Lake |
4 |
Although Honduras was our least favourite country in Central America, we have still compiled three must-see places for you.
Honestly, both public transport and tourist shuttles are horrible in this country. If you want to go to Utila and want to avoid spending a night in La Ceiba (which is not really recommended), you cannot avoid taking a shuttle.
Because of a rather mediocre experience, we opted for public transport afterwards which was also less than optimal. Buses do not run very frequently, it’s hard to find information (either online or from locals), and they are pretty pricey compared to what you get. On the plus side, they always brought us where we needed to go and we never felt unsafe. Except maybe for when we changed buses in Tegucigalpa and everybody told us that we should not be walking because it’s not safe.
We paid 65$ per person per day on average. Involving some overpaying for accommodation (when you go scuba diving, your basic accommodation will be included in the dive prize) and being scammed. In general, not the best value for money so don’t plan to stay too long.
The highlights of your time in Honduras will be:
We took a shuttle from Santa Ana to Copan which drove through Guatemala for a while. Currently, the shuttles don’t leave every day so plan in advance.
# |
Where? |
What? |
How many days? |
16 |
Copan |
Copan Ruinas |
2 |
17 |
Utila |
Scuba Diving |
4 |
18 |
Lago de Yojoa |
D&D Brewery, boat tour |
2 |
Most people stick to the Pacific side of Nicaragua which is amazing. If you have more time, check out Little Corn Island and other places on the Caribbean side as well!
Public transport in Nicaragua was frequent and cheap enough that we never opted for a tourist shuttle although they exist. All of our suggested destinations are well connected by buses and vans. A ferry connects Ometepe to the mainland.
We paid 40$ per person per day on average.
The highlights of your time in Honduras will be:
In case you stick to our advice and start your Nicaragua itinerary in Somoto, you can take a bus from Tegucigalpa to Choluteca where you change into a bus to San Marcos de Colon. From here, a shared van will take you to the El Espino border. Make sure not to arrive too late because buses and taxis stop running on the Nicaraguan side.
# |
Where? |
What? |
How many days? |
19 |
Somoto |
Canyoning |
2 |
20 |
Leon |
Volcano boarding, colonial architecture |
3 |
21 |
Granada |
Masaya volcano, Tree House Party, colonial architecture |
2 |
22 |
Ometepe |
Beaches, volcanoes, Ojo de Agua, petroglyphs, sunsets, chocolate, island vibes |
4 |
23 |
San Juan del Sur |
Sunday Funday, beach |
2 |
The wildlife here is out of this world!
We took buses around Costa Rica because the shuttles were crazy expensive compared to other Central American countries. We have met travellers who experienced theft on the buses so always keep an eye on your belongings.
We paid 50$ per person per day on average. Although everybody always says that Costa Rica is expensive, it was by no means our most expensive country on this trip.
The highlights of your time in Costa Rica will be:
Bus companies like Trans Nice or Nica Bus conveniently cross the border.
# |
Where? |
What? |
How many days? |
24 |
La Fortuna |
Volcano, waterfalls, hot springs, Rio Celeste |
3 |
25 |
Monteverde |
Cloudforest, zip lining, coffee |
3 |
26 |
Manuel Antonio |
National Park |
2 |
27 |
Corcovado |
Corcovado National Park, Cano Island |
2 |
28 |
Limon |
Caribbean vibes and beaches |
2 |
Nightlife and beaches? Yes, please!
We took a combination of public transport and tourist shuttles depending on the length of the trip. They both worked fine. San Blas is easiest visited on a guided tour.
We paid 70$ per person per day on average. Our highest daily cost in Central America.
The highlights of your time in Panama will be:
We booked a transfer from Limon to Bocas del Toro which was super convenient and did not even cost more than public transport.
# |
Where? |
What? |
How many days? |
29 |
Bocas del Toro |
Filthy Friday, island hopping, scuba diving, starfish beach |
3 |
30 |
Boquete |
Hiking, coffee, waterfalls, volcanoes |
3 |
31 |
Panama City |
Panama Canal, Casco Viejo, rooftop bars |
3 |
32 |
San Blas |
Island hopping, relaxing, Guna culture |
3 |