Driving alone to Belize from Vancouver

Good Morning, I was going to. Had my dogs papers, studied the route, and was ready. Then the airlines had tickets under $200, and I chose to fly. Other than the adventure their really is no benefit to driving down.

Mexico is so dangerous that I can't imagine anyone driving to Belilze from Vancouver unless you have a death wish. I am all for travel adventure...but maybe you want to try Syria...it is lovely this time of the year and probably safer. LOL!

"Mexico is so dangerous". What a crock of shit!
Driving thru is VERY doable, plenty of people have done it successfully...

Whatever...with all of the kidnappings and Department of
State warnings...I would not consider it. Especially a woman alone. But if you know a safe route, let her know. Quitanna Roo is pretty safe, but getting there is horrendous. We would fly back and forth to Cancun for cheaper airfares. Expensive at the time we were living there to fly into Belize City. We brought our stuff in by container directly to Belize City. You can ship stuff there...you don't have to do a full container like we did.

I live in Chetumal Mx at the border of Belize.
There is an Airport. One could fly  mx city and then with Interjet to Chetumal.
Or driving to the US. Boder and have a Mx company bring your car to Chetumal.
As someone else mentioned fly to Cancun and then fly Tropic Air to Belize city or take the Ado bus to Chetumal and to Belize city, more than 6 or 7 hours drive.
Or once in Chetumal border a Belizean taci can bring you anywhere in the country of Belize.
In Chetumal, there is a water taxi that departs everyday to Ambergris Caye to Belize city.
Of course that does not answer the question as to cross alone all these countries. Well for sure I would dare try.
Best to you in that adventure
France

Be aware the Belize buses and taxis are not what you expect in the US. Typically the buses are old derelict US school buses and the taxis are not better. If you speak Spanish (or can learn) Chetumal is a lovely location. We used to drive there to shop. I, personally, love Belize and would highly recommend it. There are, of course, many Canadians there. Driving there is problematic. You might be able to find armed Mexican guards that would escort you through Mexico. Vaguely I remember something about that. We never tried it. I do know that 8-10 years ago people did drive through Mexico, but by the time we moved back to the States, it was no longer safe. Just me saying...I would defer to someone with more recent knowledge. Still have a lot of FB friends from Belize and can contact them and ask and update my info. It seems to me that it has gotten worse, not better in the last few years.

This driving direction is from Mr. John P, he had done this trip more than 6 times.

Driving Direction from Mission, Texas to the Belize Border.

Now for those of you who have new done this, it is not that bad!! I have done this trip six times down and back. I have never paid or been asked to pay a Police officer. There are Federal Police check points and there are Military check points. Both are polite and most of the time no one speaks English. Use that to your advantage. Even if you do don’t act like you do. If they can’t talk to you they just look at your paper work and send you on your way. This year I drove down and back and was never search in Mexico or for that matter even at the US boarder Station.

Now what I have done here is detailed the route to the mile. We zeroed the trip odometer at the Mexico Boarder station. My passenger wrote down details at every turn. Now that won’t mean our reading will be exact but they should be close. Oh do yourself a favor cash in at least $1500 Us into pesos!!!!!!

Exit the Mexico Boarder Station Zero your odometer and relax you have 1519 miles and two nights in Mexico. I will give you two options to make this trip. One puts you south of Mexico City in Puebula the first night, and 80 miles from Belize the second night. This is the way I run the route. I will drive both nights one hour in the dark. I will give you options for the first night in Quetareo, and the second night in Villahermosa. This route brings you to the Belize boarder around 2:00pm and you spend the night in Corozal. I actually end up in Hopkins the third night.

Exit the Boarder merge to the left, 90 Reynosa Drive 3.9 miles turn right on Hwy 40 to Monterry.

18.8 miles to a check point you must go thru it.

27.2 miles merge right onto the Hwy 40 Cuota (toll road) to Monterry.

56.4 miles enter a toll both (210 Pesos) or exchange rate was 12 pesos to the dollar.

108 miles come to a small town, pay attebtion to where you are going. Mostly stay straight and on the main drag. Follow sign to Monterry.

11.4 miles enter another toll. (44pesos)

116.2 merge right to Saltillo still Hwy 40

127.8 miles another toll both

134.8 stay straight towards Saltillo Cuota

148.7 Another toll for the by pass around Monterry.

158.2 miles Merge right onto couta again?? Pay another toll (66 pesos)
181.1 yes another toll BUT you don’t go thru this one. Exit to Saltillo just before it. When in doubt follow signs to Saltillo (Cuota).

Just before you get over by Saltillo we screwed up and missed a turn. Day dreaming this area was mountains and very pretty. If you see a hugh orange building you missed it also. Look for the signs 57 south to San Luis Potosi and Metuhla. Hope I spell these correct.

We needed gas and the was a nice spot at mile 207.

226 toll both (50 Pesos) Plenty of gas stations after this one.

346 exit left on the San luis Potosi cuota. This is the by pass around Methula. There is plenty of gas station along this area.

350 miles toll both for the by pass cuota around Methula

452 miles merge left towards Mexico City, Queatero.

466 miles a toll both.

473 The cuota splits stay left towards Quetearo

Now here is where you must decide! Do I push thru to Puebula or stay in Quetearo. There is n where that I have found to stay in between. And you will not get to Puebula until 8:30 pm It should be around 5:00 pm now. Your choice!!
If you choose to go on to Puebula follow these. If you stay in Quetearo follow 57 thru town it is not bad. You will find a Best Western on your right just south of town

568 miles exit right real quickly it splits go right. Splits again go left. This is tricky and it happens fast but there are signs. Follow sign for the cuota to San Juan Del Rio, and Mexico City. This is the by pas around Quetearo. If you miss this don’t worry I went thru last year it was easy. In fact that is how I found the best western you can stay at.

580 miles is another toll both (40 Pesos)

592 miles stay left the by pass reconnects to Hwy 57 south to San Juan Del Rio and Mexico City.

620 miles another toll (70 Pesos)

656 miles - you are south of San Juan Del Rio, This gets a little confusing and happens fast. Look for signs, Pachuca and Puebula. This is a by pass around Mexico City. DO NOT MISS THIS!!! Split to the right! Take the second split to the right. It is label 75D Pachuca, Puebula. You then pull up to a toll both but at this one you just take a ticket, and pay at the other end.
Also you have now fuel here until mile 740. If you need fuel do it before this exit.

760 miles you come to the toll both it will be dark now. Give them your ticket it was 565 pesos for us. But we were towing a trailer. We can only guess the toll for you would be half that.

Now they are working on the road for the next few miles until you tie back into the main road from Mexico City to Puebula.

763 mile the road splits stay left and this road is bumpy slow down.

766 miles toll both for a crappy road. 777 miles you will see a Mcdonalds.

778 miles you will see a “one” Hotel a big tower on your left.

780 miles you will see the Fiesta Inn and a Holiday in right next to each other. Stay at one of these.

Next morning get up early leave at six if you can. You have a mountainous decent this morning. And then some bumpy roads.

794 miles toll both (55 pesos)

840 miles toll both and there is a volcano on your left. It had snow on the peak in January, early feb. Hang on and take your time for awhle. You will be going down hill for the next few hours. It is steep and you go thru tunnels. Don’t ride your brakes!!!

877 miles another toll (24 pesos) 895 toll both (85pesos) 966 toll both (177 pesos)

1031 toll both (155) 1069 toll both 17 pesos)

1076 exit right to Villahermosa Stop at the stop sign. Turn right?

1081 miles the road splits stay left to Villhermosa

1095 Inspection station, we got wavied thru.

1111 miles another toll, wow imagine that.

1166 miles you have now been in some traffic for a little while. You passed the Walmart distribution center. You cross this bridge with a sign that says welcome to Villahermosa!!! Pay attention the road splits just over this bridge. Take the left split!

The best direction thru Villahermosa is to follow the main flow of traffic. Towards the airport. I always make it.

1168 under a bridge

1170 Lake on the right

1171 over a cool bridge

I think this is were it turns into Hwy 186 to Escarsega

Sign that says 11 Km to the Airport just over the bridge

Now we left Puebula at 7:00am and we are passing the Hilton south of the Villahermosa Airport at 2:30pm. 1177 miles into Mexico.

If you stayed in Quetearo you will be later and should stay here for you second night. Go past the Hilton, it is on your left. Two miles in front of you is a RETURNO! Circle back and spend the night. On your return trip home you will also stay here.

1181 miles another toll both 20pesos

1200 miles switches from divided Hwy to two lane road for the rest of your trip. The road in actually real good except for a small area here and there. But they are working on them.

1260 miles toll both (20pesos)

1354 miles you are entering Escarsega take the split to the left. Burger King will be on your right. Just after that a couple hundred yards turn right towards Chetumal. You go right thru the middle of town. Looks rough but it is not. Nice Mayan statue in town.

Now somewhere after this is will get dark and sometimes there is a check point at the far edge of Escarsega. The next part is very easy just follow the road to mile 1448. You have past the Beacon Mayan ruins by a couple miles. You will have past the ECO Village on your left. You can stay there also. You will come to a Hotel just before the town of Xjupil. Can’t miss it. DEBLIZ HOTEL on your right. Nice little place and they are always there.

Spend the night. You might even want to check Beacon out, they are cool ruins. You are about 80 miles from Belize. Sleep in if you want.

Next morning head to Chetumal and at mile 1511 exit right to Chetumal

1515 miles is the last Mexico gas station. Fill up if you have not.
1518 miles exit right up and over a bridge. Once you reach the boarder pull over to the right you will see a small both for immagrations. They will take your tourist card. Then if you have a vehicle permit listen carefully. If you are not driving that vehicle back look to the left find the Banjercio and cancel your vehicle permit.
If you are returning with the same vehicle you can wait until you get back to the US/MX border to cancel it. Once you have done that travel over the bridge into BELIZE.

Sounds like a great trip. What excellent directions.

Did that trip in may 2015 and had no problems with any officials, broke down twice and the locals were very helpful.  Tip : do not speak Spanish and put a Canadian flag in the window of your vehicle, this will wave you through most stops. Not once where we asked for a contribution and when we got lost everybody was extremely helpful

Victorialady - this site is interactive, with distances and toll fees. We are driving down shortly, and will use John P's route. I'll keep a log and would be happy to forward you details. We've driven before, (from Alberta and back) but used the coastal route.  http://app.sct.gob.mx/sibuac_internet/C … eIdioma=si

Can't wait to hear about your experience.
We plan to drive down to Corozal in March 2017.
Be safe and happy travel.

People are driving to Belize through Mexico all the time.  I see someone has kindly posed John p's detailed directions I see on other forums reports of how this info has been ideal. If you are happy with the legnth of time and happy to drive the 1000's of miles involved go for it but I think the Flight might work out cheaper.:-)

The key to an exciting trip is to drive a real expensive car, and wear expensive, frilly, feminine clothes (maybe a fancy hat?) and lots of jewelry. Also put all sorts of expensive electronics on the dash, back seat, etc. Hang a fine brooch from the mirror. A bunch of decals from expensive US resorts will heighten the excitement, as will carrying lots of big bills. This will endear you with the best of Mexican nationals as far as you go.......

We drove from Edmonton to Placencia Jan 18 to Jan 26, 2016. The roads were good no snow storms in Alberta. Crossed into USA at Sweetgrass. Had no problems at USA customs just told them we were driving through USA  and Mexico to Belize. Again roads were good  only 1 place we hit icy roads North of Denver for about 1/2 hour driving. Snow was blowing across the road and made it icy. We crossed into Mexico at Eagle Pass. I picked that border crossing as it was easy to get to the place where we got out paperwork for us and our truck . We wanted to follow the instructions above but if you don't cross at the same time they did in the Am or it takes a bit longer at the place you get permits the Banjercito it does not work as you can be a hour or 2 later them them so not get as far so we just used it as a guide and for information and did our own thing. . We had no problems at the border, they just took a peek in our bins did not even want me to take them out of the truck. We got our paperwork and the truck paperwork  about 1/2 hour out of Piedras Negras and on our side of the highway. Easy to get off highway and easy to get back on and easy to find.It was just before the first toll booth on the right side of the road gotta look for it as it is kinda off the road a bit and close to Allende (?) drove to Saltillo and spent our first night there. Then our second night we drove to Puebla It was about 1/2 hr-45 min of driving in the dark. and it was really dark..  We took the first hotel we seen got off the main road onto the side street and seen it. It was the fiesta I believe.  The next night we were going to stay in Villahermosa but could not find a hotel there. So decided to hit the hilton on the outskirts. We seen it it was across the 4 lane on other side so had to drive for over 1/2 hour to returno which was closed so had to go through tollbooth then around and back . When we drove by The Hilton it looked really busy people parked along the road so we were not even sure we would get a room so we kept going. About 1/2 hr after the tollbooth maybe less there was the Oasis Autohotel on our side right side of the  of the 4 lane. It was in a big fence, and you drive into a garage with a door so we did not have to unload the truck. The hotel was very very clean. We ordered room service as that is all you can do, no restaurant.  We ordered food and a few beer price was very good and so was the food.  Then we hit the border and watch it you lose a hour. We got there about 1 PM and left at 6-6:30 pm. We had our Belize insurance already I got before we left Canada. It took a long time as we were leaving our truck in Belize. Drove to Orange Walk and got a room it was really dark then too. Got to Placencia the next day. The roads everywhere  were very good mostly 4 lane, the roughest was from Villahermosa to Belize border and in Belize.  We stayed on mostly toll roads  I bought our pesos from a place in Vancouver VBCE ( Vancouver Bullion & Currency Exchange )  They had a great exchange rate and we thought it easier then to try and buy them at the border. I had downloaded 2 free apps Navmii and Maps.me they are great as they are downloaded so you do not need to use data. It still shows you in real time where you are and what is coming up and would also tell you if you needed to turn right in 2 km etc. or stay left etc,  I also had AMA trip Tix and a map. ( did not use them much other to mark our routes it was hard as you don't know where you are)  I used both navmii and maps,.me as both had something I liked so used them both. My i phone is with Bell so I bought a USA data and text and talk add on. I think it was for $5.00 a day it starts the first time you use it .It was unlimited texts and calls to Canada and in the USA, ( I think USA,  Canada for sure )  and so much data each day.It ends once you leave USA. I also bought a data package for Mexico which I used for finding hotels. I think that one was $75.00 for so much data.   I would not do that drive alone. It would be very difficult as I was looking at the phone maps most of the time and hubby was driving. Would be hard to do both especially once you get to overpasses as some can be very big in both the USA and Mexico. In Mexico the city it is crazy even Denver is Crazy., busy and lots of turn offs so you have to be in the right lanes..  Mexico there is the main road and side road so if you want to go to a hotel you need to be on the side road. It would be hard to drive and look for something e.g. hotel, gas station. We stopped for gas a lot  once our gauge was down to half we stopped, We actually had a jerrycan but did not fill it until we crossed into Mexico. It HAS to be empty when you cross the Mexican Border.Maybe USA as well and Belize but we made sure it was empty each time we crossed a border. They did ck that at the Mexican border. .   Everyone thought we were crazy for driving our 2004 Dodge Dakota 4 door . I was wondering what the hell are we doing the Am we were going to cross into Mexico and was  scared ..before we left home a friend asked hubby aren't you scared someone will take your truck and your wife ? Hubby said old truck old wife not worried.. lol..   Once we got into Mexico and seen how busy the roads were with tons and tons of big trucks and traffic and that lots of the roads were 4 lane I was not scared any more. Watch though some places on a 4 lane, flat land the speed limit in Mexico is 80K. No one was driving that mostly going 100K  So we did too so I guess we were lucky not to get stopped. We got stopped at  a few ck stops. All I said was no comprende and Belize and had out passports in my hand. They just waved us through. There is also a sticker you put on your windshield by your rearview mirror so easy for them to see.   Sometime they just waved us through and none of them ever looked at our passports .We had no problem with the gas stations they all made sure the we seen that the pump was zeroed out before they started to pump. Make sure that when you leave Mexico you have to stop at a booth and they ck your passport and take your visitors visa. At that booth look to your left there is a couple of buildings across the road to the left that is where you have to go to return your sticker and get your deposit back for your vehicle.  don't forget to stop and do that. Don't take off the sticker they come out and take it off. We had a great time Only had 1 argument ..  seen a lot in both the USA and Mexico but did not do any touristy things just drove long days up and out by 5:30 -6 am and stopped at usually 5 or 6 PM. I would do it again but never would I do it alone. Also hubby is really mechanically inclined so changed all the fluids and belts , tires, windshield before we left . We drove the central route from Alberta through USA and through Mexico not the costal route through Mexico.. Any questions please feel free to e mail me at **. I would be more then happy to answer questions or share our route.

While we felt safe in Mexico past the border area, my husband and I felt it was better to have both of us traveling together.  At times, he was busy dodging potholes and trucks so having me navigate/watch for signs really helped.  TexItalian recently drove it alone though so maybe he's got better input.

The idea that Mexico is too unsafe to drive through is just ridiculous.  The one thing you want to do is get across the order border early in the morning and get your patut as far South as you can by Nightfall