Puerto Barrios Getting there & around

Getting there & around

Local transport

Taxi

Most cabs charge around US$3 for ridiculously short rides around town.

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Bus & tram

Bus & minibus

Transportes Litegua (7948 1172; cnr 6a Av & 9a Calle) leaves for Guatemala City (US$7, five to six hours, 295km), via Quiriguá and Río Hondo, 15 times between 1am and noon, and also at 4pm. Directo services avoid a half-hour detour into Morales.

Buses for Chiquimula (US$4, 4½ hours, 192km), also via Quiriguá, leave every half-hour, from 4am to 4pm, from the corner of 6a Av and 9a Calle.

For Río Dulce, take a Chiquimula bus to La Ruidosa junction (US$1, 50 minutes) and change to a bus or minibus (US$1, 35 minutes) there.

Minibuses leave for the Honduras frontier (US$1.30, 1¼ hours) every 20 minutes, from 5:30am to 6pm, from 6a Av outside the market. The paved road to the border turns off Hwy 9 at Entre Ríos, 13km south of Puerto Barrios. Buses and minibuses going in all directions wait for passengers at Entre Ríos, meaning that you can get to or from the border fairly easily, whichever direction you are traveling in. The minibuses from Puerto Barrios stop en route to the border at Guatemalan immigration, where you may be required to pay US$1.30 for an exit stamp. Honduran entry formalities may leave you US$1 to US$3 lighter. Pickups shuttle between the border and the small Honduran town of Corinto, nearby, for about US$1 (or you can walk the 2km, in about 15 minutes). From Corinto buses leave for Omoa and Puerto Cortés (US$2.50, two hours) about every two hours. You can continue by bus from Puerto Cortés to San Pedro Sula and from there to La Ceiba, but it’s touch and go whether you would make the 3pm ferry from La Ceiba to Roatán island in one day from Puerto Barrios, even if you took the first vehicle out in the morning.

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Boat

Boats depart from the Muelle Municipal at the end of 12a Calle.

A ferry departs for Lívingston (US$2, 1½ hours) every day at 10am and 5pm. From Lívingston, it leaves for Puerto Barrios at 5am and 2pm. Get to the dock from 30 to 45 minutes before departure for a seat, otherwise you could end up standing.

Smaller, faster lanchas depart from both sides whenever they have about a dozen people ready to go; they cost US$4.50 and take 30 minutes.

Most of the movement from Lívingston to Puerto Barrios is in the morning, returning in the afternoon. From Lívingston, your last chance of the day may be the 2pm ferry, especially during the low season when fewer travelers are shuttling back and forth.

A lancha service of Transportes El Chato (7948 5525; 1a Av) departs from the Muelle Municipal at 10am daily for Punta Gorda, Belize (US$18, one hour), arriving in time for the noon bus from Punta Gorda to Belize City. Tickets are sold at El Chato’s office. Before boarding you also need to get your exit stamp at the nearby immigration office. The return boat leaves Punta Gorda at 4pm.

If you want to leave a car in Puerto Barrios while you visit Lívingston for a day or two, hotels such as the Europa 2 and Miami provide off-street parking for US$2.50 to US$3 a day.

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