Central America backpacker travel porn thread.
October 9, 2013 9:00 AM Subscribe
With a month, a thousand bucks, Puerto Vallarta as a starting point, and a hot travel partner, what's our best backpacking travel option? Cross-Mexico drive? Hop down to Costa Rica/Panama? Something else?
We'll be in Puerto Vallarta (PVR) on December 22 and ready to travel. We've already got to go to Puerto Vallarta so we figured, hey, let's make a trip of it.
We're on a budget and we're thinking 3-4 weeks or so, flying to San Antonio (SAT) around 1/16... ish. We want to spend about $1,000 more than we would've spent already flying to PVR already.
I've at least passed through on land every country in CA other than Panama (which really does appeal to me). However, there's a lot of everything I haven't seen, so I'm up for anything. Boyfriend's mentioned Costa Rica a couple times.
We like mountaineering, and have considered climbing the Mexico volcanoes, but it looks like the guide service would tap our budget quick. I'm into archaeological sites, he's a little more metropolitan, but we're both into sporty adventure outdoorsy stuff. I speak enough Spanish to get by without English.
I've priced flying from Puerto Vallarta (PVR) to Panama, spending the three weeks meandering up to San Jose CR, and flying out of there to SAT. Also, the reverse. But they're both around $700 more than we would've already spent SAT to PVR roundtrip, and that doesn't leave much of a budget to do stuff on for the three weeks.
So I've also priced renting a car in PVR and doing a cross-country drive to Cancun (CUN) and flying out of there back to SAT. By the time we rent a car and pay for petrol for the 1,800 mile drive, it's $670 more than the SAT>PVR roundtrip. Again, not leaving much wiggle room. (PS: Did you know that Mexico is really BIG?)
Hopping down to San Jose CR and doing the CR thing and back up to SAT from there adds $568. So, a little more wiggle room, but I'm not sure that $450 is enough for three weeks in CR with transport. I mean, we're totally cool with shoestring, but that seems pushing it, right?
The added factor are holidays. Wherever we go from PVR, we'll be spending Christmas there, and then wherever we end up a week later... New Years. It'd be cool to have a really fun something to do on New Years, something to look forward to. I spent a New Years in PR years ago that was pretty memorable.
I originally thought we'd just bus across Mexico from PVR. Holy moly, those bus times are awful. And it's not that cheap, at least from what LP says in the book. Seems like between every city it's 7 hours and $30. By the time you add up a series of those things, you are grumpy with crampy legs and you've spent half your trip looking for bus stations and in buses. To get to the Yucatan it'd be a lot of bus time, which is where I got the renting a car thought. But then I'm wondering, with the costs so similar, should we just go down to Panama? Is that a better trip? Is traveling cheaper there? I've looked at the travel costs calculators and it seems like Mexico/CR/Panama are rated about the same. It's been too long for me to use my recollection of CR as a metric. I looked at the Pacific coast of Mexico and it didn't look all that interesting, to be honest, not three weeks worth of interesting, and the buses look difficult. Is that incorrect? Are there gems out there to make it worthwhile to just bus around out of PVR for the month?
So, mefites, what do you think? If you found yourself in PVR on 12/22 with a thousand bucks to burn and three weeks to kill, what do you think you'd do? Are there any no-technical-climbing mountaineering opportunities we should consider? Where would make awesome places to spend Christmas and New Years? Would driving across Mexico be interesting and fun? I don't have a good feel for the vibe west of the Yucatan. And if we do pick one of the $700 options (like going and doing the Panama/Costa Rica thing), what are you thinking would be a respectable backpacking budget? If a couple hundred bucks makes a big difference, I'm still listening.
Thanks so much for your thoughts and ideas and opinions!!
We'll be in Puerto Vallarta (PVR) on December 22 and ready to travel. We've already got to go to Puerto Vallarta so we figured, hey, let's make a trip of it.
We're on a budget and we're thinking 3-4 weeks or so, flying to San Antonio (SAT) around 1/16... ish. We want to spend about $1,000 more than we would've spent already flying to PVR already.
I've at least passed through on land every country in CA other than Panama (which really does appeal to me). However, there's a lot of everything I haven't seen, so I'm up for anything. Boyfriend's mentioned Costa Rica a couple times.
We like mountaineering, and have considered climbing the Mexico volcanoes, but it looks like the guide service would tap our budget quick. I'm into archaeological sites, he's a little more metropolitan, but we're both into sporty adventure outdoorsy stuff. I speak enough Spanish to get by without English.
I've priced flying from Puerto Vallarta (PVR) to Panama, spending the three weeks meandering up to San Jose CR, and flying out of there to SAT. Also, the reverse. But they're both around $700 more than we would've already spent SAT to PVR roundtrip, and that doesn't leave much of a budget to do stuff on for the three weeks.
So I've also priced renting a car in PVR and doing a cross-country drive to Cancun (CUN) and flying out of there back to SAT. By the time we rent a car and pay for petrol for the 1,800 mile drive, it's $670 more than the SAT>PVR roundtrip. Again, not leaving much wiggle room. (PS: Did you know that Mexico is really BIG?)
Hopping down to San Jose CR and doing the CR thing and back up to SAT from there adds $568. So, a little more wiggle room, but I'm not sure that $450 is enough for three weeks in CR with transport. I mean, we're totally cool with shoestring, but that seems pushing it, right?
The added factor are holidays. Wherever we go from PVR, we'll be spending Christmas there, and then wherever we end up a week later... New Years. It'd be cool to have a really fun something to do on New Years, something to look forward to. I spent a New Years in PR years ago that was pretty memorable.
I originally thought we'd just bus across Mexico from PVR. Holy moly, those bus times are awful. And it's not that cheap, at least from what LP says in the book. Seems like between every city it's 7 hours and $30. By the time you add up a series of those things, you are grumpy with crampy legs and you've spent half your trip looking for bus stations and in buses. To get to the Yucatan it'd be a lot of bus time, which is where I got the renting a car thought. But then I'm wondering, with the costs so similar, should we just go down to Panama? Is that a better trip? Is traveling cheaper there? I've looked at the travel costs calculators and it seems like Mexico/CR/Panama are rated about the same. It's been too long for me to use my recollection of CR as a metric. I looked at the Pacific coast of Mexico and it didn't look all that interesting, to be honest, not three weeks worth of interesting, and the buses look difficult. Is that incorrect? Are there gems out there to make it worthwhile to just bus around out of PVR for the month?
So, mefites, what do you think? If you found yourself in PVR on 12/22 with a thousand bucks to burn and three weeks to kill, what do you think you'd do? Are there any no-technical-climbing mountaineering opportunities we should consider? Where would make awesome places to spend Christmas and New Years? Would driving across Mexico be interesting and fun? I don't have a good feel for the vibe west of the Yucatan. And if we do pick one of the $700 options (like going and doing the Panama/Costa Rica thing), what are you thinking would be a respectable backpacking budget? If a couple hundred bucks makes a big difference, I'm still listening.
Thanks so much for your thoughts and ideas and opinions!!
If you're willing to suck it up and deal with a few long bus trips, I'd head to Guatemala and Nicaragua. Your $1,000 will go much further. Long-distance buses in MX are expensive but very comfortable, and once you get into Central America, you can use Ticabus, which is convenient and reasonably comfortable.
posted by lunasol at 9:42 AM on October 9, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by lunasol at 9:42 AM on October 9, 2013 [1 favorite]
Honestly, I'd just fly from Mexico to wherever you want to go in central america. The flights are not that expensive compared to travelling by bus, unless you take chicken buses and that would be a long, uncomfortable trip. Also the border between Guatemala and Mexico is not great fun to cross -- you're basically in cartel controlled territory, and the Guatemalan and Mexican cartels have been warring over the border for years.
If you want to save money and are more adventurous, I'd recommend Nicaragua over Costa Rica. You'll spend about 30-40% less on everything while you're there, though it's a bit rougher than Costa Rica is. There's a lot to do there, especially on the southern side of the country -- Grenada, Ometepe, Laguna De Apoyo, San Juan Del Sur, Masaya -- you could easily spend weeks there with just a few hundred dollars.
posted by empath at 7:41 PM on October 9, 2013
If you want to save money and are more adventurous, I'd recommend Nicaragua over Costa Rica. You'll spend about 30-40% less on everything while you're there, though it's a bit rougher than Costa Rica is. There's a lot to do there, especially on the southern side of the country -- Grenada, Ometepe, Laguna De Apoyo, San Juan Del Sur, Masaya -- you could easily spend weeks there with just a few hundred dollars.
posted by empath at 7:41 PM on October 9, 2013
If you want to spend a few weeks in Guatemala, just fly into Guatemala City and go straight to Antigua and book tours from there. You can book trips to El Salvador surf beaches, Copan in Honduras, Lake Atitlan, Tikhal, Semuc Champey, whatever you want to do in the region from there. Just depends on your interests and how much time you have.
posted by empath at 7:44 PM on October 9, 2013
posted by empath at 7:44 PM on October 9, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
Well, specifically, the Yucatan is really big, and the towns on the Yucatan coast are really far away from the rest of the country. In my opinion trying to cover a lot of ground on this sort of trip is a mistake. The right question to ask isn't "How far can we get?" but "What's cool and close by?"
If I were in your shoes, I'd aim for Mexico City and Oaxaca. (And I'd definitely do it by bus —over a shorter distance like that, bus travel becomes a lot more pleasant. First class busses in Mexico are still tiring as hell as a way to cover a lot of ground, but they're lovely as a way to hop to the next town over.)
posted by Now there are two. There are two _______. at 9:13 AM on October 9, 2013