Favorite or least favorite border sites
 

3 of us are crossing into Mexico on the 9th of Feb, our goal is to see the Panama Canal. We are looking for any recent border crossings that you would recommend using or crossings that are best avoided. We plan on skipping Belize but your input on all the other countries of Central America would be appreciated.

Not a lot of point telling you all about the border crossings into mainland Mexico if you are planning to go down Baja first.

go with the flow
 

Border crossing experiences change over time. The process getting into Honduras at El Amatillo in 2008 was pretty chaotic. The same border in 2012 was much better.

The best advice, pick a border that is not on the beaten path (i.e. the PanAM) unless it the most convenient border for your itinerary. Stage yourself within striking distance the night before. Get up early and arrive at customs and immigration before their morning coffee is cold. You'll beat some or all of the tourist buses and the truckers that are pissed that your are cutting in front of them in line. There are few border rats (helpers, cambo guys, etc) early in the morning.

I saw a post a while back about a very small border crossing going into Honduras where they rider was not properly papered by the officials, then was run through the gauntlet further down the line.

Don't fear borders. Deal with them and move on.

Tony, not going to Baja, been there done that.

We have read that Guatemala requires travelers to cancel their Mex TVIP before entering Guat. Is this true? I had not planned on canceling mine since it is good for 180 days. Anyone recently crossed into Guatemala and was REQUIRED to cancel the Mex TVIP?

There are a few wrinkles going from Mexico south and that is one of them, One country further down suggests you do not cancel their paperwork if you intend to come back within 90 days because if you do you are locked out until then.

Cancelling your Mexican TIP shouldn't be something any other customs should be bothered about. I know lots of US travellers that just want to visit the next country down for a few weeks do not cancel the Mexican TIP and you just tell the Mex aduana that and it is OK. If you don't cancel it and then decide never to go back into mexico then you lose your deposit AND you will have problems coming back into Mexico in the future if you change your mind..

iOverlander has a fair bit of information on a lot of borders and I know there was a really informative post in the Central America section of the HUBB on all border crossings but for some reason was not made a sticky and so it would be well down the list by now.

No need to cancel the Mexican TVIP when going into Belize and Guatemala , and beyond , provided you will be back into Mexico and exit to the USA within the 180 days of validity of that TVIP.
This is the MEXICAN. rule on TVIP holders . What any other country's border worker says about it has no force or value .
Mexico does this as a service for those tourists on a round trip vacation , saves the bother and expense of refunding twice and double purchasing of TVIP .

Sjored, thanks for that confirmation. It seemed nonsensical but it is CA.

Our group is looking forward to putting your booklet of places to stay in Mexico and CA to good use.

Not sure when you plan to cross into Guatemala and the last post in this thread was 4 weeks ago but here's our experience. We crossed from Mexico into Guatemala at La Mesilla on the Guatemalan side in mid January 2016. I cancelled the Mexican TVIP and was asked for proof that I had done so by the Guatemalan aduana i.e. they wanted to see the paperwork.
Steve

Best so far - US to Mexico at Piedras Negras. Totally professional, and the crossing into Guatemala at Messilla was good, too.

Worst so far - Nicaragua to Costa Rica on the PanAmerican. Highest BS factor by a longshot. Just go with the flow and you'll get through.

But hey, once they are done, they are done, and when you come back through, you will know how they all work. Or don't work.

For an great source of info on border crossings in CA, check this out:
http://advrider.com/index.php?thread...#post-23863347
I bought it, and we relied heavily on it. Some info is already out of date after just a few months, but you will know all the steps to take at each border, how many stamps, etc. to get, fees expected, and where to be careful.

Adventure!

KMM