Border crossing: Belize to Guatemala

Disclaimer: The following is based on our own experiences crossing the border in December 2025. While this worked for us, but I can't guarantee it'll work for you! Best of luck :) TLDR at bottom of page.

£1 = $2.73 Belize Dollar

When we looked at the transport for crossing over from Belize to Guatemala there was three main options;

1. A shuttle - this was the most convenient of the options, it would pick us up from San Ignacio where we had been staying and take us over the border to Flores, Guatemala. Unlike when we crossed the Mexico - Belize border, there was also a few different companies to chose from.

2. Public buses - this option wasn't as convenient and required a few changes along the way. Although the buses from San Ignacio run every hour, their end point is still a taxi ride away from the border, adding another mode of transport into the mix.

3. Taxis - the most expensive of options. You might be able to find a taxi driver who would cross the border with you, but most likely this would be two taxis. One to the border and another once you've walked through to the other side. It would be the quickest route but would require a lot of negotiations to get a fair price.

Although the shuttle was tempting, the reviews online still weren't all that great so we decided to make our own way across. It gave us more freedom to leave when we liked and we weren't beholden to anyone's schedule, so if we happened to have a lie in ... that was just fine.

We intended to travel by bus. We left our hostel and was happily stood on the road waiting for one when a car pulled up. Although it had no signage, it's green licence plate showed us it was legit. So after a brief bit of haggling, we hopped in. The bus would have set us back $5BD each, and the taxi was double the price at $20BD for us both. Not exactly the deal of the century, but it saved us the hassle of finding a taxi at the bus terminal. The journey was a quick 30 minutes.

We needed the following for crossing the border:

• Our passports

• $20USD/$40BD per person for the Belize exit tax.

Simple enough.

We walked into the Belize border control, and the first desk we approached was where we needed to pay the exit tax. This had to be in cash, and could be paid in either Belize dollars or in US currency. We left that window and continued through the building to passport control. Here, a rather sassy border agent asked us about our stay in the country before quickly stamping us through.

The next part was kind of confusing. There isn't really a clear way to go as once we left the Belize side of Passport control, we seemed to enter the lorry holding area. We wandered through this and eventually came across the Guatemalan passport control building on our left.

The line snaked through most of the building but thankfully it moved pretty quickly. When we reached the border agent we were slightly worried - according to the UK travel advice page there was a immigration form we needed to fill out for entry to Guatemala, however, there was no clear way to fill it out for a land crossing... so we didn't. This turned out to be a complete non-issue and we were stamped in without any questions whatsoever.

Before we left the line we checked our stamps. A common border SCAM is to process your passport but to not stamp it, although it wouldn't give you any immediate problems, you would be faced with a unfortunate $100 fine when leaving at any of the borders.

Our passports were stamped so we were free to leave.

All that was left was to convert our last Belizean Dollars to Guatemalan Quetzals. Informal money changers hang about both sides of the border and although their rates aren't wonderful, we normally only loose about £5 in the exchange... this time was no different. Money in hand, it was time to find our next mode of transport.

Even though Google Maps shows a location marker for "Colectivos to Flores" right after the passport office, the actual starting point is across the bridge in town. At first, we couldn't locate the colectivo station, but a helpful man directed us to a side street where it was situated. Since we were going to El Remate instead of Flores, we asked the driver to drop us off in El Cruce, which he gladly did. From there, just a 40 minute walk to town (although some other colectivos offered us lifts along the way).

A nice easy start to our adventures in Guatemala.

TLDR:

• We took a combination of taxis and buses which worked out pretty well.

• Don't forget the $40BZD exit tax.

• Check for your entry stamp!!

• The colectivos for Flores are across the river, second left.