Santa Ana to Copán Ruinas. This route comes from an adventurous traveller named Alex at atewasabi.com.
Update: since we first posted this route we have had several great comments by other travellers on their experience and how to do it with prices and details updated (2018). Check the comments below to find updated times and prices and to read others’ experiences.
#1 – to Metapan 0.9$ 9:28 to 10:40 bus 457 / 201A/ 235 (235 is the main bus, but the buses run every 20min – just take the first that reads: Metapan)
#2 – to Anguaiatu (the border) 0.65$, 10:57-11:30. The bus stops meters from the border. At 11:50 I was out of El Salvador at 11:55 entering Guatemala
#3 – shuttle to Chiquimula 20 GTQ, 12:52-14:25 (shuttle leaves when full). There is an option to get down before Chiquimula at Rio Dondo, where the road turns right and to the valley (this saves about 20km in total, and some trouble – the shuttle/bus gets full at the bus stop and many get off before this turn/stop)
#4 – leave to Florido. The bus leaves from the central station – can’t miss it with 20 people screaming “Florido/frontera” even before you get off the previous bus. Fixed price 30GTQ – takes you to many villages, goes round and round to pick up more people before heading to the border. 14:25 – 16:12
#5– at 16:20 I entered the GT border by foot, exit to Honduras at 16:35. Border fee: 3USD/70 Lempiras/40GTQ. If paid in USD, must pay 4USD. But you may not be able to pay in USD so best to have GTQ or Lempiras.
#6 – shuttle from right outside the Honduran border to Copan Ruinas. Leaves when full. 16:50-17:07, cost 15 Lempiras (about 10km).
I just did the route the other way around (Copan to Santa Ana). The instruction are just as described above but inverse.
It was an 8 hour ride counting 45 minutes to eat ( I left at 8am)
Here are the prices:
Copan Ruinas to El Florido (the border) : 25Lempiras
El Florido to Chiquimula (well, just before chiquimula, at the intersection where you can get off and catch the bus heading to Anguiatu : 20Q
Before Chiquimula to Anguiatu :30Q
Anguiatu to Metapan: 0.55USD
Metapan to Santa Ana: 0.80 Usd
Has anyone done it the other way around? From Copan to Santa Ana?
I just did the route the other way around (Copan to Santa Ana). The instruction are just as described above but inverse.
It was an 8 hour ride counting 45 minutes to eat ( I left at 8am)
Here are the prices:
Copan Ruinas to El Florido (the border) : 25Lempiras
El Florido to Chiquimula (well, just before chiquimula, at the intersection where you can get off and catch the bus heading to Anguiatu : 20Q
Before Chiquimula to Anguiatu :30Q
Anguiatu to Metapan: 0.55USD
Metapan to Santa Ana: 0.80 Usd
Thanks a lot for sharing this route and the updates everyone! We used the descriptions today (January 2020) and everything worked out fine! A couple of prices sightly vary: Sometimes we payed a tiny bit more, sometimes a bit less. But that’s the way it is when traveling in central america, I guess! 🙂
As of December 2019, pretty much everything was the same.
1. Santa Ana – Metapan
Bus: 235
Cost: $0.80
Around 1hr 15 min
2. Metapan – Anguiatu
Cost: $0.55
Around 20 min
3. Border Crossing
No cost
Super quick
4. Anguiatu – Vado Hondo (bus goes to Chiquimula)
Cost: 20Q
Around 2 hours
5. Vado Hondo to El Florido (with a stop in Jocotan)
Cost: 16Q
Didn’t time this one, but maybe around 1hr 30min?
6. Border Crossing
Cost: I didn’t have enough of Quetzals or Lempiras, so the guard let me pay 70L and 5Q
Super quick
7. Minibus from El Florido to Copan Ruinas
Cost: 20L
Around 20 min
Can confirm this having travelled today, we started in Juayua
1. 6.10am Juayua to Santa Ana, 80c, arrived 7.40am close to terminal de occidente.
2. Go to exactly where it says on Mapsme, the 235 to Metapan. Couple blocks up from terminal occidente.
8.10am Santa Ana to Metapan, 80c, arrived (can’t actually remember).
3. Metapan to the border, 55c.
Crossing was a breeze
4. Border to Vado Hondo turnoff, Q15. When you get off just go wait in the shade at the Tienda.
5. Vado Hondo to El Florido border Q20. We changed in Jocotan as well, a couple of don’t panic things…
– you will pass jocotan and go to Camotan before coming back to Jocotan.
– At Vado Hondo and Jocotan it’s actually the bus company Litegua, not just a random collectivo, so the ticket to change buses and not pay a second time is a given.
6. El Florido to Copan Ruinas, L20. Arrival 3pm.
Every bus stop drops you at the same point you need to get on one except Santa Ana but if you’re starting in Santa Ana then that doesn’t matter to you.
The Guatemala exit and Honduras entry point is in one building on the Honduras side of no man’s land, in fact the booths are next to each other.
Oh and Q30 at the Guatemala Honduras border
I just did the route the other way around (Copan to Santa Ana). The instruction are just as described above but inverse.
It was an 8 hour ride counting 45 minutes to eat ( I left at 8am)
Here are the prices:
Copan Ruinas to El Florido (the border) : 25Lempiras
El Florido to Chiquimula (well, just before chiquimula, at the intersection where you can get off and catch the bus heading to Anguiatu : 20Q
Before Chiquimula to Anguiatu :30Q
Anguiatu to Metapan: 0.55USD
Metapan to Santa Ana: 0.80 Usd
Hi, where does the last bus/shuttle leave you in Copan ruins? tk you
Close to parque central
tk you Michael. So, do you know where i can take (in this process) some quetzals and lempiras? I dont intend to keep any quetzal with me cause im only visiting El Salvador and Honduras?
Earlier today I followed this plan from Juayua. Everything worked out, except I paid more for all the minibuses in Guatemala and Honduras. The minibus to Vado Hondo was 25 GTQ, the one from Vado Hondo to the border was 35, and the one from the border to Copan Ruinas was 20 lempiras. Also, no one checks your passport when leaving immigration to Honduras. I got an exit stamp for leaving Honduras and walked to the minibus to Copan Ruinas, only then discovering there was no Honduras stamp, whereupon I returned to the immigration clerks and got the entry stamp for Honduras!
Should read, “got an exit stamp for leaving Guatemala…”