I haven’t had the best of luck with overland border crossings.
They’re nearly always confusing, inconsistent, and lengthy, and occasionally rife with scams. Despite having tackled 100-odd border crossings over my 15 years of travel, something always seems to go wrong.
There was the time my minivan casually drove off and abandoned me at the Thai–Burma border, leaving me stranded with my passport and a growing fear that I might have to live there permanently.
The hour of intense questioning Indian immigration gave me when I crossed into the country from their sworn enemy of Pakistan, during which they asked me to describe my job in painstaking detail: “and what programming language is your website coded in?”.
I’ve had to pay a bribe to Cambodian immigration no less than six times.
And my partner Dave was even refused entry into Thailand one time when he exited Malaysia on his New Zealand passport and tried to enter Thailand on his British one.
Needless to say, border crossings can be more than a little nerve-wracking. And Central American borders, I’d read, can be particularly sketchy.
Great.
We would be crossing the Benque Viejo del Carmen – Melchor de Mencos border, which is located eight miles (13 km) southwest of San Ignacio, Belize.
This is the main border crossing between Belize and Guatemala, so if you’ll be travelling overland between the two countries, this is almost certainly the one you’ll be using. (The other border crossings are located in remote jungle areas and aren’t even consistently open).
Tourists will generally travel between Belize’s San Ignacio and Guatemala’s Flores; with the latter being one of the best places to base yourself when visiting the ruins of Tikal.
It’s possible to visit Tikal from San Ignacio as a lengthy day trip, too (seven hours on a bus getting there and back), although by doing this, you’d miss out on the magical experience of Tikal at sunrise. If you are in Belize and planning on hopping across the border to see Tikal, I’d recommend spending the night in Guatemala so that you can see the ruins at their best.
But back to the border.
We crossed the border in both directions, so I’ll start by walking you through what to expect when you’re travelling from Belize into Guatemala.
Getting from San Ignacio to the border is simple: simply jump in a cab from the centre of town and ask the driver to take you to the Guatemala border. We paid BZ$10 for the eight mile, 10-minute drive.
The Belize side of the border was orderly and trouble-free. There were signs everywhere explaining how much the Belize exit fee is, how and where to pay it, where to take your passport to get stamped out, and which direction to walk in order to enter Guatemala.
Yes, you do need to pay an exit fee in order to leave Belize. As of 2026, the fee is BZ$40. We paid in cash with Belize dollars. Once you’ve paid, you’ll receive a receipt that you then show to immigration at a different booth in order to get stamped out.
There’s money-changers milling around on both sides of the border, and they all seemed to offer the exact same rate, so it’s a good idea to exchange your money into quetzales here, as you will need some cash when you get over to Guatemala and begin your onward travel.
And then, when we crossed the river and reached the Guatemala side that thing got hilarious.
No, really: this was where I encountered one of the funniest bribe attempts of my life.
There Dave and I stood, watching the immigration official slowly flicking through every page of our passports, occasionally looking up at us and holding eye contact for just enough time to make me want to squirm. He held up our passports multiple times and studied the differences between our photos and our faces.
Eventually, he turned his attention to Dave.
“You need to pay the entry fee.”
We’d read about this scam attempt in advance, so were prepared to stand our ground for a few minutes before giving in and paying the bribe; that’s how these things normally go at shady border crossings.
“What entry fee?” Dave asked him.
“Entry to Guatemala fee. It costs Q20.”
Now, Q20 wasn’t exactly an aggressive attempt at extortion. If I’d been travelling alone, I’d have most likely paid it to get through the border as quickly as possible.
But I wasn’t travelling alone. I was travelling with Dave, who really gets a bee in his bonnet about bribes. Several years ago, we spent over an hour sitting in an overheated shed at the Thai-Cambodia border after Dave refused to pay a bribe to an official because he wanted to take a stand against corruption. (Yes, we ended up paying the bribe in the end).
“There isn’t an entrance fee,” he said to the official. “No entry fee for Guatemala.”
“Yes, entry fee. Q20 entry fee for Guatemala.”
“Okay. Can I have a receipt for the payment then?”
Now, this is a trick we’ve used before. If a fee is legitimate, there will be a receipt. If it’s not, there won’t be.
In Southeast Asia, this usually results in an awkward standoff where the official insists the fee is real, we pretend we believe them, and eventually we just pay it anyway because, at the end of the day, we’d quite like to enter the country.
In Guatemala, though, something quite different happened.
The guy took a step back and looked around the room as though in search of help. I watched as he shook his head a few times, muttered something to himself, then quickly stamped our passports. We took them from his outstretched hand.
“No entry fee,” he told us. “Welcome to Guatemala.”
And that was, without a doubt, the most terrible attempt at a bribe I’ve ever seen.
We had made it to Guatemala, and we couldn’t stop laughing.
Our next dilemma: how to get to our accommodation.
Related Articles on Belize
💙 How to Spend Two Weeks in Belize: An Itinerary for First-time Visitors
💰 How Much Does it Cost to Travel in Belize?
🇧🇿 Stepping Back in Time at Cahal Pech
🐒 Xunantunich: My Favourite Mayan Ruins
🚌 San Ignacio to Placencia via the Worst Travel Day Ever
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☀️ Sunrise at Tikal: A Travel Highlight
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Aww you can’t beat the guy for trying! ;)
It’s funny, because if he’d just said, “no, I can’t give you a receipt”, we would have just paid his bribe!
I never would’ve thought to ask for a receipt. That’s genius!
Haha, thanks! It’s definitely Dave’s thing. I usually just end up paying the bribe to avoid confrontation!
Haha, I had the EXACT same bribe attempt except it was a ‘leaving fee’ and it was whilst going from Guatemala to Mexico. Except my guy lost his rag with me – essentially starting screaming and yelling at me in Spanish about how there wasn’t time to get a receipt, and how it would take hours to get to the bank and how the bus was going to leave me in the middle of nowhere alone and how I should just pay. When I told him I didn’t understand him because he was speaking too quickly, he just sneered at me and said “well, you don’t really understand very much, do you, sir?”
Yeah that guy was a real prick. I got away without paying though. That little victory has stayed with me for a long time, especially since it was during my first ever backpacking trip when I was 20! :-)
Oh, score! That’s so awesome you managed to get away without paying. Crazy how border crossings depend so much on the immigration official you get.
Haha! Well, I suppose it’s the effort that counts. ;)
Great tip on asking for a receipt, though!
It’s an easy way to avoid paying a bribe if the immigration official isn’t very motivated. Of course, they can just say no and stand their ground until you end up giving in and paying it, too!
I crossed the border from Guatemala to Belize earlier this year and was expecting someone to try their luck with a bribe as I’d read in several places online that it’s a common practice, but the whole thing was completely uneventful! I was actually surprised at how easy it was. It’s strange how different people’s experiences can be!
~ Kate
Yeah, it totally depends on the person you get!
I’m so going to try that trick next time! I always end up paying bribes when travelling between Cambodia, Laos and Thailand by bus. It might only be a few dollars but it does get irritating after a while. I remember one traveller telling me that the border guards often save up for years to pay a bribe to get the job as a guard in the first place because it’s so lucrative.
I actually managed to avoid paying the bribe when travelling from Thailand to Cambodia by asking for a receipt! Sometimes it does work!
I just left Guatemala 2 days ago with no problems and felt lucky for once to have gone 7 days un-scammed. But then going through security at Guatemala Airport one of my traveling companions had his phone and kindle stolen from the X-ray tray while security ‘guards’ watched then laughed about it. To their surprise my friend may have looked like a dumb gringo but he actually worked for the US State Dept in Guatemala City for three years before retirement last year. They targeted the wrong guy.
He started shouting making a scene then demanded to see the boss. The thief magically ‘found’ his electronics but my friend got airport management Involved who opened an investigation. Turns out the security guards are private contractors and airport management was grateful he came forward and promised to review the tapes and prosecute (believe when seen).
My friend missed our flight but got his pound of flesh and the security people were no longer laughing. He will follow up with contacts at the State Dept – he’s a bulldog like that.
Ooooh, damn! That’s definitely the wrong person to try to mess with!
Did they give you any issues or require anything for crossing the border. Do you still have to show proof of a hotel reservation?
Beyond the attempt at a bribe, no, no issues! And no, we didn’t need to show proof of a hotel reservation!