Welcome to Guatemala! This ultimate motorcycle travel guide explains everything you need to know about riding a motorcycle in Guatemala including paperwork, safety and where to go. If you’re planning an overland motorcycle adventure in Guatemala – start here.
This Guatemala motorcycle travel guide is based on our ride through Guatemala during our round the world motorcycle trip. The guides on this website are constantly updated with info from contributors to keep them current, up-to-date and as helpful as possible for you.
Contents
Motorcycle Travel Guide Guatemala
By Andy Davidson
Mad or Nomad - RTW motorcycle travellers
Welcome to Guatemala! The land of volcanoes, stunning lakes, the legendary Tikal ruins, coffee, chocolate, beautiful little towns and brilliant riding. Guatemala is a fantastic country for motorcycle travellers, especially those traversing Central America. If you’re planning a motorcycle ride through Guatemala, this packed guide has everything you need to know.
Of all the countries in Central America, motorcycle travellers tend to spend most of their time in Guatemala – and for good reason. It’s big, cheap, there’s lots to do and it’s a pretty safe and fun place to be. So, if you’re planning a route through Central America, you may want to allocate a bit of extra time here…
READ MORE: All Guatemala Guides
Our motorcycle ride through Guatemala
We (Andy and Alissa from Mad or Nomad) are on a round the world motorcycle trip and entered Guatemala in June 2024. This guide is based on our experiences and what we learnt. However, as with all our guides, readers and fellow travellers kindly contribute more info, which we always update our guides with so they stay current.
For more info on our ride there and what we got up to, have a read of our Guatemala Blog.
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Paperwork
For motorcycle travellers entering Guatemala, you will need your passport, motorcycle registration document and driver’s licence. The paperwork required to ride in Guatemala is as follows.
Fumigation
The first step at the Guatemala border is to have your motorcycle fumigated. This involves a chap with a small pump hose spraying your wheels in some sort of liquid (probably water). This step costs around 16Q
Immigration
Once your tyres are wet, you’ll need to visit immigration. You can leave your motorcycle at the fumigation area and walk into immigration to get your passport stamped.
Guatemala offers a visa free entry for 86 countries including the UK, Europe, USA, Canada, Australia etc. To see if your country is on the list, check this page.
You will still need to visit immigration to get your passport stamped even though it is visa free.
CA4
The CA4 stands for Central American 4. This represents a deal between Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua whereby if you enter any of the four countries, you will receive a 90-day visa that is valid for all four. However, importantly, the clock starts ticking once you enter your first CA4 country and doesn’t reset or stop once you enter the next. You have 90 days in total from the date you enter until the date you leave any of the CA4 countries.
For example, if you enter Guatemala and spend 40 days there, you have 50 days left for the remaining three countries (if you wish to see them). The 90 days does not reset when you cross a border into a neighbouring CA4 country.
Temporary Import
You will require a temporary import to take your foreign registered motorcycle into Guatemala. To get your TIP you will need copies of your passport, vehicle registration and driver’s licence. If you don’t have copies you can make copies at the border.
A TIP costs 160Q and lasts 90 days.
Note that when you leave Guatemala to enter El Salvador, you will need to take a copy of your cancelled and completed Guatemalan TIP with you. So make sure you get a photocopy at the Guatemala border before you leave.
Insurance
Motorcycle insurance does not seem to be a requirement for Guatemala. You do not need to purchase it at the border. There may be insurance available from some companies, but it is not normally purchased by motorcycle travellers for Guatemala.
More info on paperwork
If you’re planning a motorcycle trip and aren’t used to the different types of paperwork requirements, or are just trying to get your head around motorcycle paperwork in general, have a read of our packed paperwork for bikers guide too.
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Getting in and out of Guatemala
Guatemala is bordered by Mexico, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras so you have plenty of entrance and exit options. The most common route in and out is via Mexico and El Salvador. We personally crossed into Guatemala from Belize and exited to El Salvador. Both crossings were easy.
There are plenty of border options to choose from, however, border situations are always changing, so we recommend using the iOverlander app to find a border that suits your route and reading the current and up-to-date info left by other travellers to pick your border.
Note that border towns (not just in Guatemala, but throughout the world) are rarely the nicest places to stay. So, it’s always worth getting to the border early with a full stomach and drinks and snacks to hand so you’re not rushing or stuck in mid-day heat.
When to ride in Guatemala
Guatemala is a mountainous and volcanic country with high and lowlands. It may be hot in the north and cool in the south. You may find serious rains in one part and scorching heat in the other. The dry season is from November to April. May to October is rainy season but it can be very humid especially in places like Tikal. It tends to rain in the afternoons and evenings, so you’ll still be able to ride in the mornings.
Money and costs
Guatemala is a relatively inexpensive country, especially compared to its neighbours Belize and El Salvador. Petrol and food are cheap. However, accommodation can be expensive, especially in touristy areas like Antigua and Atitlan dependent on the time of year.
Money can easily be withdrawn at ATMs in large towns, you’ll find them using Google Maps.
Accommodation
We recommend using iOverlander and Booking.com to find cheaper accommodation options in Guatemala. AirBnB is also surprisingly good in Guatemala, especially in Antigua and Guatemala City.
Camping is possible in Guatemala, but as always, use your common sense and don’t camp just anywhere. Speak to locals and make sure you have a good understanding of the area you’re planning on staying first.
For more info, have a look at our camping guides.
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Safety and security for motorcycle travellers in Guatemala
There are some parts of Guatemala where you need to be extra vigilant and even some areas that you should avoid.
The best way to figure these areas out are to use iOverlander and check the pins. For example, a section on Route 5 towards Semuc Champey is a known area for robberies. So it’s best to take the road to Coban and then head east on the 5. You’ll also find certain roads to, from and around Lake Atitlan are marked with warnings of robberies, here it’s best to take the main CA1 road. The same goes for certain areas between the Guatemala and Mexico border. Again, the iOverlander app marks most of these problem areas.
For safety advice specific to Guatemala, we recommend having a look at the UK Gov website here and checking regional risks page here.
As with everywhere in the world, use your common sense, don’t travel to the dangerous parts of towns and cities, talk to locals, don’t ride at night and consider where you’re staying.
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Getting stopped by corrupt police and bribes
Unfortunately, corruption does exist in Central America. However, it’s not often reported on in Guatemala. But that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. If this is a concern or if you don’t have experience dealing with bribes, we recommend having a read of our dedicated guide.
READ MORE: How to Deal with Bribes
Health and safety
Vaccines
When travelling abroad, it’s important to read up on the vaccine recommendations and requirements of the countries you are travelling through.
The best website we have found, that clearly explains what is needed and required is travelhealthpro.org.uk. Simply click on each country you plan on travelling through and read through the vaccine recommendations.
Yellow Fever
There is a risk of yellow fever transmission throughout parts of Central and South America. And some countries in the Americas will require you to show a yellow fever vaccination certificate. So, we recommend getting the vaccine before travelling. You can find info on the travelhealthpro website, and the fitfortravel.nhs.uk website has additional info with a map of areas at risk of yellow fever.
READ MORE: How to Stay Healthy on the Road
Travel insurance and emergencies
We highly recommend getting decent personal travel insurance before you leave on your trip. It’s incredibly important that you’re covered in case of an accident and your medical bills will be taken care off.
If you are planning on heading into very remote regions and off-roading, then we also recommend carrying an emergency satellite GPS device so you can call for help if you have a medical emergency.
Alissa had a serious crash in Nepal years ago and we wish we had an SOS device back then. Luckily we had excellent travel insurance though, which took care of the £20,000 hospital bill. Do not risk it, make sure you are covered.
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Planning your motorcycle route through Guatemala
Where you go and what you see in Guatemala depends on where you plan on entering and exiting and how much time you have. Most overland motorcycle travellers will enter from Mexico in the west, cut through the belly of Guatemala and exit into El Salvador. The other option is to enter Guatemala from Belize in the north east.
If you are entering from the north, we highly recommend visiting Tikal and then either taking the western route to Semuc Champey or the eastern route to Rio Dulce. Which you choose depends on which you like the look of more.
Either way, if you cross from Mexico in the south west or Belize in the north east, it’s likely you’ll be heading south towards Antigua and Atitlan, which are two of Guatemala’s most popular destinations.
We have compiled a short list of places we recommend riding to and visiting while in Guatemala.
Tikal
Tikal is seriously impressive. It’s an ancient Mayan city hidden away in Guatemala’s northern rainforest. They reckon it dates back to the 1st Century AD (although agriculture has been found here dating back to 1000BC and the first buildings went up 400BC), it boomed between 200-800AD becoming the most important and largest city state in the Maya region – before being abandoned and nobody really knows why.
Walking around this huge park alone, early in the morning with a cool breeze, listening to the trees sway in the wind and watching monkeys jump from branch to branch overhead, it’s still hard to picture its 100,000 inhabitants walking these same paths.
There are over 3,000 structures here. It’s huge. But only 5% of it has been uncovered. The temples and palaces are ridiculous. How they built this back then is just indescribable.
Firstly, it’s the sheer size. Towers measure over 60m high, royal palaces, pyramids, administrative buildings, jails, ball courts, monuments and astronomical observatories to calculate the 260-day Mayan calendar as well as pyramids used to calculate equinox and solstice.
The buildings were designed with serious precision. The temples face the sun and create sounds due to the way they were built. If you clap in front of one it makes the sound of the Quetzal (national bird).
This place and the Mayan civilisation is incredibly impressive… Rivalling and often surpassing the achievements of European civilisations and empires of the same time…
It’s a short ride up to the park from Flores (another beautiful place to stay). But we recommend staying at one of the accommodations actually inside the park. These hotels are worth the extra price because you’ll be a five minute walk from the ruins and can get there for when the park opens and the weather is cool. We had the place almost all to ourselves and left when all the crowds started coming in at lunchtime when the sun started blazing.
We recommend staying at this hotel when visiting Tikal: Tikal Jaguar Inn
Semuc Champey
Semuc Champey is a natural limestone bridge. Over a thousand years, the Cahabon River carved its way through the limestone and now passes underneath it. What we’re left with is a 3,000 metre long ‘bridge’ covered in stunning crystal clear turquoise pools.
We recommend staying in Lanquin and riding to Semuc early in the morning. The ride is 10km and the road is being fully paved. Currently, the first 5kms are asphalt and the last 5km are hard packed gravel (by the time you read this it’ll probably all be paved) and the las 100m to the car park is steep and rocky. But, you can park before that bit by one of the hotels if you don’t fancy the steep bit.
We recommend getting there for 8am when it opens like we did. We had the entire place to ourselves for three hours before the tour busses arrived.
Check out our Semuc Champey guide for more info.
READ MORE: How to Visit Semuc Champey
Lake Atitlan
Lake Atitlan is a volcanic lake in the Highlands of Guatemala. Pretty towns circle the lake along with three volcanoes. The lake basin itself lies in a caldera created by a supervolcanic eruption 85,000 years ago. The eruption was incomprehensively huge. 270 cubic kms of rock burst out of it. That’s so ridiculously big that its ash can be found as far as Florida and Ecuador.
Today, it’s a very cool place to spend a few weeks. The towns surrounding the lake are gorgeous and so are the steep switchback hills to get between them. Alternatively, you can ride to one town and just catch the cheap little boats flitting between villages. We recommend San Juan on the western shore.
We recommend staying here when visiting Lake Atitlan: Casa Argentina
Antigua
Antigua is a must. It’s a beautiful colonial styled town nestled between Atitlan and Guatemala City. Note that Guatemala City is heaving with traffic and we wouldn’t recommend riding in unless you have to. Antigua Guatemala (meaning old Guatemala) was the former capital of the country. Beautiful architecture, great restaurants, an active volcano as a back drop, cobbled streets and an awesome vibe. It’s a worthwhile stop on your ride through Guatemala.
Here’s a list of hotels in Antigua: Antigua
Spanish School
If you’re planning a long ride through South America and fancy learning a bit of Spanish, Guatemala is the place to do it. It’s very cheap and very well setup for it. Antigua and Atitlan have the most popular (and probably the best schools). You can opt to stay in a homestay too whereby the host family cook you three meals a day and you attend the school for 4 hours a day five days a week. It’s typically one to one with a teacher and motorcycle travellers tend to sign up for anything from one week to four weeks on average.
We did two weeks in Antigua and one week in Atitlan. Which school is best is largely determined by your teacher. If you don’t connect with your teacher, you can easily ask to change. We also stayed in a homestay, but don’t necessarily think it’s important. So if you prefer your own space then opt for an AirBnB.
We recommend this Spanish school for Antigua and this one for Atitlan
Riding gear
We always recommend choosing an ultra-lightweight, breathable and well vented adventure riding suit – and one that is not waterproof. Pack a cheap and light set of throwover waterproofs in case it rains. The aim of the game here is a layering system. It can get very humid in Guatemala’s north and cold and wet in the south, so you want to be in well vented kit with easy access waterproof.
For more info and guides on adventure riding gear have a look at the below guides.
READ MORE:
Rentals and tours
Guatemala isn’t known for it’s motorcycle rentals. If you want to rent a bike or join a tour, your best bet is to find somewhere in Antigua. There are a number of companies operating out of this town and the best rides will head west towards Atitlan. You can choose whether to go off or on road.
If you’re an enduro rider and want to properly explore the country on a bike, check out our recommended company for Guatemala.
Top tips
Whatsapp – We recommend joining the Motos in Mexico and Central America WhatsApp group.
Language – Learning the language goes a long way in any country you visit. And luckily, Spanish is a relatively easy language to learn for English speakers. We recommend at least learning the basics (hello, thank you, please etc) to be polite and make an effort. Anything else you learn goes a long way in improving your experience interacting and engaging with locals. But don’t worry, it’s easy and fun to communicate even if you really struggle with languages and you can get by without it. Communicating When You Don’t Speak the Language
Apps – Download the Google Translate app onto your phone, and then download Spanish onto it. This will work offline and you can easily communicate with locals using this app.
iOverlander – It’s a fantastic tool for overland travellers and is free. Download it and contribute wherever you can.
Maps.Me – A free offline map and navigation app. Simply download the maps for Guatemala and use it offline. The Best Free Apps for Motorcycle Travellers
SIM card – We recommend purchasing a Guatemalan SIM card for your travels. It will make life easier when travelling and you can make phone calls to book hotels. They’re easy to buy from any Claro store. However, you may want more data or not want to have to deal with swapping your SIM out.
We personally use Holafly eSIMs. This way, you can get mobile data on your phone ready for when you cross into the country. It’s the easiest and quickest way to have unlimited data on your phone.
Speak to the locals as much as possible – Make an effort in learning language basics and practice as much as possible. Locals always appreciate it when you try. Guatemala is a great country to learn the language too. So if you have time, we highly recommend putting a few weeks aside to chill out in Antigua and join a Spanish school. You’ll be amazed at what you can pick up with a one-to-one teacher after a week.
Read more on motorcycle travel in Guatemala
Thanks for checking out the Motorcycle Travel Guide: Guatemala. We hope you enjoyed it! Here’s a few more articles on motorcycle travel in Guatemala and North America that we recommend you read next.
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Are you planning a motorcycle trip in Guatemala? Do you have any questions, tips or suggestions? Let us know in the comments below.
I am Canadian and I am planning a motorcycle trip from Florida to Panama (country) by the east coast and return from Panama to Montreal ( on the west coast) . We are planning a +- 24,0000 km trip on a +- 75 days period. How much $$ must we expect the trip to cost ? Anything special we should know ?
Hi Gabriel, thanks for your comment – that’s great to hear about your upcoming trip.
How much should the trip cost and anything special you should know – unfortunately, that’s impossible for me to answer. It completely depends on your budget, hotels vs camping, where you go, what you do etc. You can spend as much or as little as you like. The only fees that are constant are petrol (relatively cheap throughout Central America) and paperwork fees like insurance, visas etc which are purchased at borders.
You can find those costs, as well as a general idea on accommodation and prices for each country in the North America Destination Guides.
Also check out the South America Guide for a general view on each of the countries you’re travelling through.
I hope this helps, have a great trip,
Cheers
Andy
Thanks Andy
Have a nice day
Gabe