6 weeks in Central America
Replies: 12 - Last Post: Oct 7, 2012 5:42 AM Last Post By: eddystonelightk...
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6 weeks in Central America
HiI'm looking to plan a trip to Central America in November and December for about 6 weeks. I'm flying from the UK and was planning to fly to somewhere like Guatemala City and then fly back from Panama or somewhere similar (or vice versa) as loops generally don't seem to be the best thing to do. Does anyone have suggestions of places that are Must-Sees? Suggested routes? I'll be travelling over land internally and am on a backpacker budget.
Also, where are the cheapest cities to fly into as most of them seem to be very expensive from London.
Any info would be much appreciated!!
Thanks guys,
James
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where are the cheapest cities to fly into as most of them seem to be very expensive from London.The cheapest is to fly to Cancún; although not everybody considers Cancún to be in Central America.
If you want to purchase and open-jaw ticket into Guatemala and out of Panama, you can make it with Iberia (changing planes in Madrid) or going through the USA (e.g.: with United or Delta). However, it'll probably be more expensive.
If you are in a budget, I would suggest to fly to Cancún and to make a loop around it.
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You really dont have time to go from Guatemala to Panama, thats 6 countries in 6 week, at 1 country per week you will miss a lot to say least and be very rushed, getting around CA is not fast.I also suggest flying into Cancun MX, work your way down to Guatemala, add Belize of you like diving and ruins, if not hit Guatemala and Honduras, the cultural highlights of the region, Guatemala for most takes at least 3 weeks, and thats a rush. Fly back out of Guatemala City.
Any transit thru the USA will require a ESTA online approval depending on your Passport, see USA Branch. NYC, Atlanta and Miami all have direct flights to the CA region capitals.
Some europe flights go to San Jose Costa Rica (SJO), which would be better if you want to do a loop from there to Nicaragua and then down the Pacific coast of CR and loop around PC and back up the caribe coast of Panama/CR, which would be a good solid 6 weeks of nature, wildlife, parks, surf beaches volcanoes.
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Cancun is the gateway to Central America.Hey, why stop in Panama? Go for Antarctica! Oh, I forgot: you've got only 6 weeks.
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we also have 6 weeks- got air mile tickets in and out of belize, looking at a loop including coastal belize, caye caulker, placencia, san ignacio, tikal, antigua, coban ?? atitlan and highlands??, hopefully be able to do copan an go back to belize by boat...i did not list these in "order"!
any input would be great!
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6, consider a south transit of Belize, including Raggamuffin tours 2 night sailing trip from Caulker to Placencia, then up Rio Dulce, then Copan and double back through Guatemala.8
thanks all!i'm now thinking fly to Cancun and fly out of San Jose in Costa Rica. Is it feasible to get everything done in the countries in between in 6/7 weeks? I wont go to El Salvador and will probably just briefly pass through Honduras. I was thinking a week in Southern Mexico, 2 weeks Guatemala, 1 week Belize and 2 weeks Nicaragua with a couple of days passing through Honduras and getting to San Jose at the end? The main things i am interested in are diving, volcanoes, jungle trekking and a few Mayan temples.
The other option would be to do some kind of loop and just get return flights to Cancun from London which would be marginally cheaper than an "open jaw" return.
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That would be fine. But as far as logistics go, you would go Yucatan>Belize>Guatemala>Honduras>El Salvador> Nicaragua and then Costa Rica. Doubt you need 2 weeks in Nica if not going to Corn Islands.What about all the nature/beaches in Costa Rica? At least on the way from Nica border hit some national parks and even a beach...6-7 days would suffice for that portion.
If not, fly out of Managua, why bother 9 hour bus journey from Nica to San Jose?...also there is a airport 2 hours from Nica border, Liberia in CR (LIR).
