After a very hairy incident last night crossing from Tumbes to Ecuador involving us being dumped in a back alley and ripped off, does anyone know of a safe way to cross the Ecuador Peru border as a solo female traveller.
Need to make my way back to Lima the week after next but I´ve priced flights and I´ve been quoted 500 usd!
A private bus would be another option, if I could find one that is safe and comfortable. We travelled on a regular bus last night and it wasn´t very nice at all.
Any suggestions would be brilliant.
Thanks,
Lorraine
lorraine_bergin
1
rich
Crossing the border between Tumbes and Huaquillas is one of the few places that makes me a bit uncomfortable when I pass through. It like many border crossings in the world tends to attract it's share of theives and overall bad actors.
A couple of options. One is to deal with the buses than run internationaly. I tend to adapt pretty easily to whatever bus I am on (despite being 6'3" and wider than average) so I cannot give you a judgement on which buses would be comfortable. Cruz del Sur and Ormeno have service that runs from Quito to Lima, Ormeno is the more popular with travellers, I prefer the service on Cruz Del Sur. It is a long trip in a bus but eliminates the problems of navigating the border region and is much cheaper than flying.
The other option is hook up with a group of other travellers giving yourself strength in numbers. Make sure you stick together and share combi's from and to bus stations.
A third option that you may or may not want to consider is when you reach the bus station at the border area ask the driver if he can recommend someone to help you through. There are often kids who are known by the bus drivers who will guide and guard you through the border process for a tip ($3-5US is normal.) These kids take their job very seriously and can be worth considering if you don't have better options.
2
cbravo
Cruz del Sur does not have international buses.
www.grupo-ormeno.com/</a> is an erratic website, but around 3pm they have buses on Mondays from Lima to Quito US$80?, 36 hours, & daily from Lima to Guayaquil US$60. They pass through Trujillo around 11pm.
www.perucaracol.com/caracol.php</a> has international buses also Lima Quito & vice versa.
CIFA has international buses from Tumbes to Guayaquil, 8 hours US$8, & Tumbes Machala & vice versa.
Transportes Loja has 4 buses daily each way, leaving Loja for Piura at 7am, 1pm, 10.30pm & 11pm.
The most beautiful crossing is Vilcabamba-Zumba-Balsas-San Ignacio-Chachapoyas over 2 days.
A more remote crossing is to Ayabaca in Peru.
It is best to cross the frontier in the day.
Peru Ecuador frontier posts
Peru flight
3
churute
Hi, unfortunatly these situation happend very often, they seem to be TAXI WORKING WITH THE POLICE, THEY OFFER TO TAKE YOU THE 2KM CROSSING THE BRIDGE AND THEY END UP ROBING PEOPLE. PLEASE THIS IS A WARNING TO EVERYONE * DO NOT CROSS THE BORDER PERU ECUADOR WITH A TAXI, TAKE AN INTERNATIONAL BUS THAT WILL CROSS YOU OVER.
I Know that Ormenio leaves Guayaquil at 11 am in the morning and cross you over.
4
valk659
I crossed that border several times with CIFA, no problem whatsoever. Once I was even the only passenger needing to visit the passport control and the co-driver escorted me into the building, took me to the front of the line, told the officer that there was a bus waiting outside for me, and got everything organized in record time. So yes, I can recommend CIFA.
6
wlady
Stop wasting your time trying to figure out the safest way to cross through tumbes.. there isn´t is the worst border specially in the peruvian side.
CROSS THROUGH MACARA IN LOJA.. MUCH NICER SIGHTS, AND VERY EASY TO CROSS.. LESS GRINGOS TO RIP OFF..
Hope it helps
travell safe:)
Pro tip
Lonely Planet
trusted partner
trusted partner