Central America is the thin section of land that links the North America continent with the South America continent. Geographically part of North America, it is made up of seven small, mostly tropical countries that have much more in common with South America and Mexico than the more affluent north. Mexico is occasionally considered part of Central America due to the language and indigenous/Hispanic cultural heritage it shares with several of the countries in the region. The northern geographic border of Central America is often considered to be the isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico whereas the southern border is considered to be either somewhere in Colombia or Panama. Culturally Central America is often considered to consist only of the 5 countries that simultaneously gained independence on September 15 1821, thus excluding Panama (then part of Colombia) and Belize (former British colony). <br clear="all" />
The only Central American country without a Pacific coastline, and the only one where English is the official language. Still, many people here speak Spanish
Costa Ricans like to call their country "the Switzerland of Latin America" and indeed it does have mountainous terrain, political neutrality and relative wealth to back up that statement
The only Central American country without an Atlantic coastline marred by decades of civil war now thankfully in the past
One of the centers of Mayan culture and civilization and still blessed with many Mayan sites
A long Caribbean coastline graced with beaches and coral reefs, and a mountainous inland home to Mayan ruins and colonial hill towns
Nicaraguans like to call their country "the country of lakes and volcanoes", and, indeed, those are the two defining geographical features
The wealthiest country in the region mostly due to the eponymous canal, this country only gained independence in the early 20th century from Colombia
Five countries (Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guatemala) formed the United Provinces of Central-America in the first half of the 19th century, a first short-lived attempt at the elusive dream of a unified Central America. They still have a lot in common, and consider each other pueblos hermanos (brother peoples). The CA4-agreement in theory allows free movement for everyone, including tourists, between El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala in a similar vein to the European Schengen agreement.
Since about the 1850s Central America has been seen as the "backyard" of the United States. American influence in the region has ranged from corporate interests (United Fruit), private "filibuster" expeditions seizing government control, and interventions such as the toppling of the Guatemalan government in the 1950s, the Iran Contra Affair in the 1980s, and several interventions in Nicaragua in the 1930s. The most famous filibuster was William Walker, who, at the head of a 250-man private army, declared himself president of Nicaragua and launched an invasion of Costa Rica in the 1850s. He was shot by firing squad in Honduras on his third attempt to unite Central America under his rule. Panama's very existence is often ascribed to U.S. influence. Panama was part of Colombia, the government of which refused to grant the U.S. the rights to build a canal. The U.S. signed a treaty with the fledgling state of Panama, effectively supporting its independence. During the Cold War, overt and covert U.S. influence reached an infamous peak as a guerrilla war was fought in Nicaragua (left-wing government vs. CIA-backed rebels) and El Salvador (right-wing military government vs. Cuban/Soviet/Nicaraguan-backed rebels), and various administrations backed the less-than-democratic right-wing regimes in Guatemala. In Panama, the unelected strongman Manuel Noriega established a U.S.-backed regime that was heavily involved in the drug trade. He was removed from power in the late 1980s after falling out of U.S. favor in Operation "Just Cause" (the "just cause" being the removal of a regime involved in the drug trade). Notably different was the development in Costa Rica where, after a short civil war, its president abolished the army in 1948, and the country has enjoyed a relatively stable, peaceful democracy with free and fair elections ever since. Panama followed Costa Rica's example, and abolished its military after the ousting of Noriega. The country has enjoyed several peaceful transfers of power since. Belize, on the other hand, managed to stay out of trouble by continuing to be a British colony until 1980 (as British Honduras). After a peaceful transition, independent Belize was never important enough for Cold War proxy fighting.
This dark political and social situation changed with the end of the Cold War and after the signing of peace agreements at the beginning of the 1990s. However a constitutional crisis in Honduras in 2009 raised fears of unstable or delegitimized governments returning to the region when the president was unseated by the constitutional court and the military, and forced to leave the country. As of 2017 these fears have proven groundless, although in 2015 the Guatemalan government stepped down in the course of a corruption scandal, and the 2016 Nicaraguan general elections were partially boycotted by the opposition amidst allegations of fraud. While the political situation is well shy of perfect uncorrupted democracies, political developments are unlikely to in any way negatively affect travellers.
Now the region is living a process of change and reforms that will hopefully allow travelers to discover an interesting and relatively cheap travel destination. Generally, the people of Central America are kind and warm, and welcoming to foreigners. There is a diversity of culture from one end of Central America to the other, and indigenous culture plays an important role in the region, especially in Guatemala, Caribbean Nicaragua and Honduras.
The Caribbean side experienced more British than Spanish influence: parts of the east coast of Nicaragua and Honduras formed a de facto British protectorate and Belize was a colony. This is still notable in the culture, language and (sadly) lacking infrastructure in parts of the region.
The region is also a very popular destination for retiring abroad, and several governments in the region offer special long-term visas specifically for retirees.
Due to the extensive Spanish colonial presence in the region, American dialects of Spanish are the primary language, especially of the government and in the cities. (English is the official language of Belize, a former UK colony, but you will still find yourself speaking a lot of Spanish in the country.) Native languages are still spoken in many rural areas. English is co-official in Nicaragua's Caribbean coast, along with indigenous languages. English-speaking people can be found on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama. The English spoken at the Caribbean coast of these countries is heavily Creole (if you are unfamiliar think Jamaican Patois for a rough approximation of what to expect) and sometimes hard or even impossible to understand for those unaccustomed to it. The most widely spoken indigenous language is Miskito, a language spoken mostly on the Caribbean coasts of Honduras and Nicaragua. Several Maya languages are spoken in the North of Central America and the South of Mexico, sometimes even by people who work in the tourism sector (though they invariably speak Spanish and often other languages as well).
People from industrialized countries should have no problem in crossing borders and might expect a border fee from around US$2–20 depending on country. When crossing the border, no one will flag you down to get your stamp. You will need to find the immigration office on your own and get your stamp.
A visa ahead of time is usually not required.
Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala are parties to the CA4 (Central America 4) border agreement, that similarly to the European Schengen agreement allows visa-free travel between the countries. Once you have entered any of those four countries, visa- and fee-free travel to any of the other three should not be a problem (but there are reports of border officials collecting mysterious "fees", regardless).
By far the most popular entry points to the region are Panama City Tocumen Airport 📍 (IATA: PTY) and San José Juan Santamaria Airport 📍 (IATA: SJO) (which is in Alajuela). Both of these airports have a great number of flights from Europe, North America, South America and connections to other airports in the region. Even if there is a direct flight to another Central American airport available, connecting through SJO or PTY can often work out cheaper. To leave the airport in Panama you must have proof of yellow fever vaccination.
There are other airports with domestic connections and international connections only from other parts of Central America, USA or Mexico in: - Philip S.W. Goldson International Airport 📍 (IATA: BZE) in Ladyville 16 km north/northwest of Belize City. - Monseñor Óscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport 📍 (IATA: SAL) serves as a hub for Avianca El Salvador and Volaris El Salvador, 42 km south of San Salvador in San Luis Talpa. There are onward connections to North America, South America and Central America from San Salvador with Avianca, Volaris and their affiliates. - La Aurora International Airport 📍 (IATA: GUA) in Guatemala City - Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport 📍 (IATA: LIR) in Liberia CR - Augusto C Sandino Airport 📍 (IATA: MGA) in Managua - Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport 📍 (IATA: SAP) in San Pedro Sula - Toncontín International Airport 📍 (IATA: TGU) in Tegucigalpa
The majority of international flights to Central America are from the United States and Mexico, but comparatively fewer from Europe and other continents. Therefore, travelers may find better airfare deals traveling through the United States than through Panama. The following are airports that serve as de facto hubs in the USA and Mexico for travel to Central America: - Cancún International Airport (IATA: CUN) is the closest airport to the Central America with flight connections from Canada, Cuba, Europe and the USA. From here travelers can continue to the Belizean border by surface transport via Chetumal or transfer to a flight going to Central America with Volaris, Avianca, Tropic Air (Belize City) or Copa Airlines. - Miami International Airport (IATA: MIA) and Fort Lauderdale International Airport (IATA: FLL) are the gateway cities to South & Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean from the USA, Canada, Israel, Qatar, Morocco and Europe. Just about every South & Central American airline flies to Miami and/or Ft Lauderdale airports from their respective countries. Miami serves as hub for American Airlines while Fort Lauderdale is a hub for Jetblue and Spirit Airlines with connections to Central America. - Los Angeles International Airport (IATA: LAX) is the next closest airport to Central America and Mexico with additional connections from East Asia, Australia and Oceania with multiple airlines. - Benito Juarez International Airport (IATA: MEX) is the major airport in Mexico and the second busiest after São Paulo in Latin America with international connections from East Asia (Japan & China); Europe, US, Canada and South America. Aeromexico Connect, Avianca, Copa Airlines, and Volaris offer onward connections to Central America from Mexico City
The caveat for transiting through the U.S. is that all travelers must be able to enter the U.S. on the visa waiver program or hold at least a C-1 transit or B-2 tourist visa to enter the U.S. even to transfer between international flights. See the Avoiding travel through the United States article.
The following bus company serves the eastern and southeastern regions of Mexico near Belize and Guatemala:
The following are international first class (pullman) buses from Tapachula, Mexico to Central America via Guatemala. Passengers transfer in Guatemala City to continue to other parts of Guatemala and to Honduras and El Salvador. Addresses and phone numbers given are from Guatemala City:
There are no roads leading to Panama from Colombia. See By boat under Get in in the Panama article on ways to cross from Colombia into Panama by sea (surface travel).
There are a few boat services from Mexico to Belize. See the Chetumal article.
If you have money to burn or you're in a real hurry, both Avianca and Copa Airlines offer point to point connections throughout Central America but are relatively expensive due to the lack of competition.
Mexican airline Volaris offers direct flights between the major airports in the region with additional hubs in San Jose and San Salvador.
There are a number of airlines almost exclusively focused on domestic flights within their prospective countries with one or two international routes to adjacent countries, namely: - 🇨🇷 Nature Air (Costa Rica, Bocas del Toro and Managua) - 🇵🇦 Air Panama (Panama and San José) - 🇨🇷 Skyway Airlines (dead link: February 2023) (Bocas del Toro, Panama, and domestic destination is Costa Rica) - 🇳🇮 La Costeña (Flies from Managua to Bluefields, Bonanza, Corn Islands, Pto Cabeza, Siuna and Waspan in Nicaragua and to Tegucigalpa in Honduras. There are some point to point routing without going through Managua) - 🇭🇳 CM Airlines (Flies between Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, Roatan, and La Ceiba. International flights from San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa to Belize City, Guatemala City & San Salvador) - 🇨🇷 SANSA (SANSA flies to 14 destinations in Costa Rica. Its fleet is composed of Cessna Grand Caravan monoengines.) - 🇬🇹 TAG (Guatemala and adjacent countries of El Salvador and Honduras) - 🇧🇿 Maya Island Air (Belize, primarily along the coast and islands off the coast) - 🇧🇿 Tropic Air (Belize, Cancun, Merida (Mexico), Guatemala City, San Pedro Sula).
These airlines do not necessarily show up in aggregator search engines and they fly to places that are otherwise hard to reach because they're off the coast or in the middle of the jungle with only a dirt road going there. They mostly fly small piston, turboprop or regional jet aircraft.
A regular boat service exists between Corinto (Nicaragua) and La Union (El Salvador). You can also cross the Nicaraguan/Costa Rican border by boat from San Carlos (Nicaragua) to Los Chiles (Costa Rica). The boat goes through a scenic jungle, but both sides of the crossing are a bit off the beaten path and departures have been reduced due to the opening of the bridge. A boat also connects Eastern Honduras and Belize.
See also: Pan American Highway#Central America
International travel routes are mostly on the Pacific (west) side of Central America. The Panamerican highway (which is the main road in much of the region) basically starts on its journey north in Panama City, crosses on the Pacific side into Costa Rica, passes by San José, crosses again at the Pacific coast into Nicaragua. It's possible to cross the Costa Rican-Panaman border at the Caribbean coast but it takes longer and the border is just open during the day.
Between Costa Rica and Nicaragua there are two official border crossings. The more frequented one is "Peñas Blancas" at the Pacific side and the other one is between Los Chiles and San Carlos as the bridge is now open to regular traffic.
Between Nicaragua and Honduras three border-crossings exist. Honduras and El Salvador share various border-crossings as do Honduras and Guatemala and El Salvador.
Driving rental vehicles across borders is not allowed by most central American car-rental companies and even driving your own car across the border requires some advance planning. The used car markets are tightly controlled in most countries of the area, and you have to prove that you haven't sold your car when you leave and that you don't intend to when you enter. However every year many people do just that, so it is anything but impossible.
Bus travel is the most common way to travel across Central America without a car. The following are international (first class/pullman) buses serving Central America with reserved comfortable seating and with A/C at full blast which makes them uncomfortably cold inside. They typically serve only the major capital cities of Central America and a few scheduled stops en route. They do not stop at random places to pick up and drop off people. Except for Platinum Centroamerica and Tica Bus, most bus companies do not travel the entire Central American isthmus but only to adjacent countries from home-base and most do not connect Belize with the other countries. They operate on limited schedules (early mornings) from their own terminals or designated stop in the cities they serve. The addresses in below are listed for their home office. Please see a particular city article for their local address and phone number:
The most common and popular options are the second-class chicken buses (chicken bus, camionetas, autobuses de parrillas, polleros, mini-bus, microbus) in decommissioned U.S. school buses painted in all sorts of funky colors and patterns. Other second-class buses operate in the Toyota Coaster mini-bus, a smaller Toyota "HiAce" van (referred to as "microbus", "minibus"), a pick-up truck with only standing room on the bed (picop), or some similar type of vehicle that functions the same way as the "chicken bus". Second-class bus routes are more frequent and reach more places for a cheaper fare than first class pullman but they also take considerably longer to travel over longer distances with multiple stops to pick up and drop off people. Chicken buses don't cross international borders but they go to the border crossing station or border town on their side of the border. Travelers would then walk across the border and then continue on another bus from the other side.
The region has long neglected its train lines and no trains cross any international borders. For the most part trains are at best entertainment, but not really faster or cheaper than the bus. The main exceptions to this are found in Panama, where the Panama Canal Railway links Atlantic and Pacific and in Costa Rica where a commitment to expanded train service exists and several lines radiate out of San José with more to come in the future, including a link to the airport just outside Alajuela. Panama City also boasts a metro, which is also undergoing expansion.
All these make this region a great yet undiscovered and affordable treasure which is worth visiting.
Someone once quipped you can do anything but skiing in this part of the world, but thanks to volcano boarding this is not entirely true any more!
Just about every country in Central America accepts the U.S. dollar. Other currencies are difficult to exchange. You can exchange Mexican pesos at the Belizean or Guatemalan border but that is about it. The U.S. dollar is the official currency of El Salvador and Panama. You can buy pretty much anything or any service in U.S. dollars, but it is often cheaper to use local currency. Currencies like the Nicaraguan córdoba or the Honduran lempira are usually subject to high inflation, so only get what you need (the Cordoba for example loses about 5% of its value every year compared to the U.S. dollar). Nearly all banks change money from U.S. dollar to the local currency and a passport is usually required to do this. Beyond border towns, currencies from other countries are always useless, so change money with official money changers at borders or change local currency to U.S. dollars.
If bringing U.S. cash to Central America, make sure that the bills are new, clean and not torn or it may not be exchanged. Many stores that generally accept U.S. dollars do not accept $100 bills for fear of counterfeiting, banks however will accept them. $2 bills are considered lucky so bring some for tips. Banks in Belize do not exchange the Guatemalan quetzal; they must be changed at the border or at some travel agents and tour operators.
Euros are becoming more and more accepted, but the exchange rate you get for them is always worse than for U.S. dollars. The same goes for other currencies if they are accepted at all. It is better to buy U.S. dollars in your home country and then exchange them for Central American currency on arrival to Central America. Central American currencies are not exchangeable outside of the region.
ATMs can be found in banks and in major towns but in the countryside it is often hard to find working ATMs. Most ATMs dispense the local currency and U.S. dollars.
In Central America, you can often find cheap buys from gifts to personal necessities. Almost everything can be bargained for except for upscale department stores. Tourists will usually pay a higher price so this is where your haggling skills will be useful. More often than not speaking the local language (usually Spanish) may get you a small reduction in price or at least more sympathy when haggling.
Central American cuisine has influences from local indigenous cultures, as well as the Mexican cuisine, South America, and the Caribbean.
Guatemala is the country of tamales, there are regular tamales made out of corn "masa" with either meat, chicken, turkey or pork filling and tomato, and sometimes "chile". "Black tamales" are similar to the former ones but are sweet, "paches" are tamales made out of potatoes, "tamales de cambray" are small sweet "masa" balls", tamales de "chipilin", and many others; rellenitos (sweet fried bean-stuffed banana bonbons) are a tasty dessert sold on street-corners. Black beans are the main staple after corn of course. There is a variety of soups ("caldos"). Guatemalan cuisine is a mixture of Mayan and Spanish dishes.
Gallo pinto is a mixture of rice and beans with a little cilantro or onion thrown in, it is the national dish of Nicaragua and Costa Rica? This mixture is called Casamiento ("marriage") in El Salvador and Guatemala. And on the Caribbean side of Nicaragua and Honduras it is made with coconut milk. While one might presume that rice and beans are the same anywhere there are subtle differences that locals will tell you about and a traveler spending some time in the region will notice Costa Rica uses another type of beans than Nicaragua, for example.
On the Caribbean side of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Honduras coconut milk is the not-so-secret ingredient in almost everything. Try coconut bread, Gallo Pinto with coconut or fish in coconut sauce. Seafood is also worth a try and often remarkably cheap for international standards (US$8 lobster, anybody?).
Pupusas and "chicharron con yuca" (pork skin & yucca) are very popular dishes originated in El Salvador.
Nacatamales, which are big tamales containing pork, potato, rice, chile, tomato, and masa is steamed in platano leaves, they originate from Nicaragua and can be bought in the colonial city of Granada.
Oven tamales, wrapped with platano leaves, are very good in Costa Rica.
Grilled octopus is a very tasty dish in Panama.
The fresh fruit is delicious but avoid fruit that you don't peel before you eat because if you are not used to Central America's food standards you may become ill. Generally follow the peel it, wash it, cook it or reject it rule when it comes to food to greatly reduce the risk of travellers' diarrhea.
Horchata is a drink made out of rice and it is of Spanish origin. It is drunk in most Latin American countries. A popular drink in most Central American countries is "Rosa/Flor de Jamaica" (Hibiscus sabdariffa). "Tamarindo" also makes a very popular drink
Piña Colada, a drink made from pineapple juice, coconut cream, crushed ice and rum, is drunk all around the Atlantic islands.
There are two major rum producers in Guatemala, distilling some of the best rums of the region, Ron Zacapa Centenario (aged to 12 and 23 years) and Ron Botran añejo (25 years). In Nicaragua there is Flor de Caña, rated one of the best rums in Latin America and also commonly exported to countries such as Costa Rica. It is made in Chichigalpa, Nicaragua. Trips can also be made to visit the Flor de Caña factory.
Costa Rica's domestic guaro the widely available Cacique is not bad, but notably not as good as the rum offered by its northern neighbors. This is however offset somewhat by various international liquors (including Flor de Caña) being widely available in supermarkets and bars, though at a notably higher price than domestic fare.
None of these countries is a traditional beer nation as the low temperatures needed for proper beer-production were unobtainable in the region prior to the invention of artificial refrigeration in the late 19th century. Notable brands include Imperial (Costa Rica) Brahva, Victoria and Toña (both Nicaragua; produced by the company behind Flor de Caña rum).
This area is home to some scarily high murder rates, particularly in the northern part. In 2017, Honduras had 41.7 intentional homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, El Salvador had 61.8 and Belize had 37.9. Things are better in the southern part of the region with Costa Rica at 12.3, Nicaragua at 7.4 (2016) and Panama at 9.7 (2017). This is higher than the U.S. murder rate of 5.3 per 100,000 (2017) and dramatically higher than the UK (1.2) and Europe, where murder rates below 1 per 100,000 are common.
However, those scary figures do not tell the whole story. Yes, the region has an endemic problem with gang violence and domestic violence, but the vast majority of all violent crime happens in areas few tourists would ever wander and both victim and perpetrator are usually locals and either personally known to one another or involved in drug enterprises. It is never smart to offer any resistance when being mugged and you should exercise caution in the big cities, especially at night. Taxi crimes are a problem, so only take licensed taxis and if possible text the license plate number to a trusted friend when getting in. As the murder rate is seen as a national embarrassment and a deterrent to tourism (Nicaragua even has a placard at Managua airport informing how safe it is compared to other countries in the region), a "super hard hand" policy is sometimes enforced. This mostly shows in heavily armed police/military even at tourism sites. Don't worry, police are there to help, not harm tourists and any area patrolled by tourism police is safe enough.
Various underdeveloped rural areas (e.g. the Nicaraguan east) are a major area of operation for various drug-related enterprises (mostly cocaine-trafficking) influencing the security situation, especially if you choose to consume or buy/sell (not advisable at all, not least because of the harsh prison sentences that face even first time offenders). It's best to avoid the issue and the topic altogether while in the region.
Crossing into South America overland might seem like a good idea when you look at a world map, however, it's not. The border to Colombia in Panama's Darien province is surrounded by a dangerous wilderness and the only break in the Pan-American Highway. Known as the Darien Gap, this is the playground of ruthless drug smugglers and militias who will be happy to kidnap or kill you. Unless you're a movie Predator, stay away.
Driving can be another scary experience, especially if you watch TV news that have a weird fascination with the latest accidents in the capital and you're advised to avoid driving at night, in big cities or on dirt roads. Some roads are cut into dramatic scenery with very little to protect you from the abyss to one or either side. Renting a car with a driver is usually not that much more expensive than renting a car by itself and it helps navigate the confusing layout of cities like Managua that have undergone wild and unregulated growth leaving them with neither a logical street grid nor even street names and navigation by landmarks (some of which don't exist anymore), gut feeling and what appears to be earth's magnetic field.
See also: Tips for travel in developing countries