Guatemala City to Tikal--Taking a bus?

Hi all,

I'm a vet student headed to Nicaragua this summer with a spay/neuter community outreach project, but I'm hoping to spend some time in Guatemala before it starts in late May. I'll be flying in to Guatemala City, and hope to take a bus north to Flores and on to Tikal. I know that it's a long trip--I'm planning for a day there, a day at the ruins, and a day back, and I'm just wondering if this sounds feasible, as well as how easy it'll be to take a local bus out of the city. Can I likely leave on the next bus out, or would I need to try to set something up in advance?

Also, leaving for Nicaragua I plan to take Tica south through El Salvador. There's only one agency/terminal location listed on the website--if I go there my first day in the city do you think I can reserve a spot headed south 3-4 days in advance (in May)? I haven't been to Central America before, and google's only getting me so far!!

Thank you,
Kristen

You are going to be one sorry worn out son of a gun if you try that. would advise holding up a 7 -11 or rolling some drunks and getting the extra cash to fly it back and forth.

Of course your plan is doable, just plan on spending a night in Guatemala City before heading to Flores, spend the night & take a Shuttle to Tikal in the morning then overnight bus back to QC where you catch Ticabus to Nicaragua with an overnight stop in the safe San Benito area of San Salvador.

If you want value out of your trip to Tikal, I recommend you spend two days in Tikal, not one, and the bus will tire you out incredibly. The plane is actually worth the price, I hear, from people who have gone both ways. This way you fly in from Guat city, go to Flores, get a place to stay, relax, next day see Tikal, maybe next two days, then fly back. Tikal is amazing and worth two days of seeing, especially if you want to see the sunrise from the top of the highest pyramid. If you REALLY want to spend money and have an intresting time, you can stay in the Tikal Jungle Lodge, and see it very early and stay till later than the bus runs back to Flores. That will run you far more than the plane to Flores, by the wau, so it is a wealthier persons idea.

bTW

Course, you could come in on an all night bus, come in tired, see the ruins tired, and then go home tired. Its your choice, and only your available budget knows which is better.

I´ve never bought tickets in advance in Guatemala, never had to, but if you arrive the day before, or two days before, and see the bus terminal, you´ll be sure to have a seat. I usually do that out of habit, rather than trusting to luck. Sometimes luck runs out,. and thats a bitch.

The plane is also much safer because North Guatemala is full of drug cartels and it is very dangerous. My son lives in Guatemala with the U.S. Peace Corps (27 months) and they won't even let the volunteers go to Tikal unless they fly.

Renee wrote:The plane is also much safer because North Guatemala is full of drug cartels and it is very dangerous. My son lives in Guatemala with the U.S. Peace Corps (27 months) and they won't even let the volunteers go to Tikal unless they fly.

I would take any US (or any other) governments CYA warnings with a bucket full of salt. Hundreds of people use buses in the area daily without problem. Took the overnight bus to Guatemala City a couple years ago no problem!

This is a backpacker web site and if you are going to listen to the fear mongers, then you probably aren't a backpacker at heart. It all takes the first step, and once you discover that you can be visiting a local town where 30 people are beheaded and you didn't notice a thing, whilst you were taking collectivos, sashaying down a drug smugglers river, traveling into the jungle where the lions and tigers and snakes, and wild pigs, and spiders hang out, not to mention the carpenter ants which are ravenously eating the 5 story platform you are clambering up, and that you can travel like the locals and not have any problems and you don't hardly speak a word of the language - when you can do these things and travel freely, and not be a worry wart, then you will start to really experience travel and not armchair reading.

It's really easy to create excuses to not do things.

yeah, but... in this case they really do stop and rob the buses to Tikal. not as much as one would think, but it happen., It so happens I heard how uncomfortable it was, and decided to fly. I was satisfied with the experience, even if they do use russian planes.

as I said, its a question of budget, comfort, and time. both ways are possible.

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'll look into taking one of the flights for sure, but my initial plan for busing it was based on my having a bit more time than money for this part of my trip (I think I'll go with what y'all said about a second day up there for sure). I've looked into the safety issues, and I'll definitely be aware and use good judgement while traveling alone, but I'm confident I can get there! I'm living in Grenada now, in the East Caribbean, and while based near a university with largely US students, I've definitely learned to be resourceful and handle setbacks over the last few years!

Also, I had the thought that taking a local bus, rather than one of the tourist sponsored shuttles would be less likely a target of any potential crimes that may happen...does that idea hold water, or will it still probably be mostly travelers anyway?

Thanks again-- everything is much appreciated

Ddrezner wrote:yeah, but... in this case they really do stop and rob the buses to Tikal. not as much as one would think, but it happen., It so happens I heard how uncomfortable it was, and decided to fly. I was satisfied with the experience, even if they do use russian planes.

as I said, its a question of budget, comfort, and time. both ways are possible.

You could at least post links to the alleged happenings showing their frequency & dates.

I can post links to a beheading + a knife attack killing passengers on Canadian Greyhound buses, would you then advocate flying everywhere in Canada? Or staying away from Canada as it's too dangerous a destination?

zoomcharlieb is spot on in his assessment IMO

BTW after the US style "security" BS + the flight terminating in El Salvador nonsense,I had to put up with flying TACA from SAL-BOG for a visa run this past weekend, I may rethink flying & stick completely to buses in the future

No murder links, please.

Just so I can make an objective comparison, I spent some time in Quito, Ecuador a few years ago and enjoyed it very much. I know it has a bad reputation for petty crimes and such, so Guatemala...comparatively...I mean, I know the Guatemala City isn't the greatest place to be, but traveling smart would it be markedly worse than Quito, crime-wise?

Never been to Quito, just returned from a visa run (live in El Salvador) to Bogata which I loved.

Once out of the capital cities most crime is crime of opportunity, as long as you have some street smarts, take taxis after dark etc, you are as safe in Guatemala as in your home town.

Ticabus/King Quality buses are as safe as buses anywhere in the world & chances of having problems (other than a bag lifted if you're not aware) on chicken buses are slim to none.

This flying to Tikal to avoid problems on buses is utter nonsense, in my opinion.

Well one thing no one mentions is that there is no airport at Tikal that i'm aware of unless it is a drug runners airstrip on a side road. you still have to land southof flores, take a bus or taxi to to Flores, then catcha bus to Tikal. It seemed to me the bus ride to Tikal was several hours long so it must be a good place to get robbed also, in case you are in the mood to get robbed. "Robbed Robbed rape and pillage, that's what we do when we leave from the village." Nice little ditty to go with your road trip maties.

Maybe the Peace Corps charters helicopters to fly their people into Tikal so they don't have to put up with the local riffraff on buses!