The Mexico –Belize border is 250 km and almost exclusively follows the course of the Hondo River.  It separates Belize from the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. In contrast to our visit to the smaller crossing point between La Union (MX) and Blue Creek Village (GT) where we crossed on a small rowing boat, this major crossing point was modern and streamlined.

Belizean Side

Driving north one reaches the Belizean passport control and immigration, the facilities are modern and straightforward but still take time. One booth was open and there was a line of people waiting, after getting our passports stamped, the cancelling of the car import permit was next. By the time all this was done it was dark.

Point B

Heading north we took the opportunity of crossing across into Mexico on the old bridge. This bridge also leads to the duty free zone which sells high end alcoholic brands and clothing and the Princess Casino – a Las Vegas style casino not found on Mexico . International travellers cannot cross here and it is designed only for locals, we therefore turned around and headed to the new bridge to cross.

Point A

In 2007, construction began on a second border bridge across the Hondo River , which was completed in 2013. The new crossing is known as the Chac-Temal International Bridge . That same year, the old Subteniente López International Bridge was closed, diverting most vehicular traffic to the new roadway and leaving it open only to pedestrians and light vehicular traffic from Mexico to Belize during restricted hours.

Unfortunately the bridge was unlit so photographs at night were difficult. Traffic was light, which allowed for us to stand on the border with its demarcation plaque.

Mexican Side

The Mexican side was modern and streamlined. As we were driving a Mexican car there was no paperwork required and our car was not fumigated whereas BZ plated cars were. A lot of roadworks were occurring north of the border.

Our road trip from Mexico to Guatemala and Belize was complete. Cross border travel with a hire car is not straightforward, few companies allow it, it costs more and the bureaucracy is time consuming. With more time I would hire in each country and cross the borders with public transport.