Puerto Escondido > Guatemala Border

Puerto Enscondido > Salina Cruz > Tapachula > Hidalgo

Mexico | Oct 2025 |

I stayed 5 nights in Puerto Escondido. Next steps were not so easy to decide: 1) head to the Guatemala border, 8 hours; or 2) drive to Yucatan, cross into Belize for a short stay, then into Guatemala, altogether a much longer ride. After having stayed in Mexico for 5 weeks, I chose the fast route (and I kind of regreted it later; will share details in upcoming updates about Guatemala).

Duration & Distances

3 days / 2 stops / 14 hrs riding / 750 km

Ride 1: Puerto Escondido to Salina Cruz

Coming out of Puerto Escondido, there was a massive road construction project, maybe the biggest I have ever seen. The road I was on was poor, but the new one will be amazing. About 1 hour into the ride I did a diversion down the coast road past Puerto Angel and the small towns along the way, nice area. After this terrain flattens out and the mountain fade away and then its just flat for a while. This area is the biggest wind farm I have ever seen, liotteraly 1000s of them. And, no surprise, this stretch of road also has the worst wind I experienced in Mexico, almost blew me off the road. I stopped at about 5-hour point in Salina Cruz, as I need to park and watch game 7 of the World Series, Toronto-LA. This is a gritty port town, and I stayed in a guest house that reflected that aspect of the town (with good wifi, so no issues). I ate some excellent Ceviche on the street, and mole enchelandas for breakfast - both fantastic

Ride: 252 km / 5 hours

R2: Salina Cruz to Tapachula

This was a long ride to get close to the boder. Nothing special along this straight road, but it was traffic free and fast, a good, mostly 2-lane road. I had read about convoys of immigrants on this road, heading north in recent years. But the onlty convoys I saw were groups of US-plated beat-up vehicles "in-tow", loaded with furniture and/or motorcycles, heading for central America. When I finally got to Tapachula, I was struck by the massive number of African and other black people here, literally thousands. Apparently, since the US crackdown on refugees and immigrants, many of these people have stayed in Tapachula, some even opening F&B outlets and barbershops.I stayed in a nice traditional hotel right downtown, basic but nice, great parking. Had my last meals in Mexico, and they were fantastic.

Ride: 450 km / 8 hours

R3: Tapachula to Hidalgo

Will keep this short, look for a detailed post on the Mexico / Guatemala border crossing. In short: there are 2 border crossings near Tapachula, Taslisman and Hidalgo. You want to go to Hidalgo to cross into Guatemala.

Ride: 30 km / 30 mins

Route

Here's my route. Click on the little door top-left on the map for place names.