Texas to Costa Rica

[bmason31]

Route suggestions, anybody? I've been told to keep to the toll roads through mexico, but what does that entail? Anybody know?

[TravellingStrom]

It will entail a pocked full of dollars, the most expensive toll system I have ever seen, in fact in one day I spent more on tolls than I did on acommodation.

If you can stay off it then do so, it will mean a slower trip on the more winding roads, but the scenery is better

[John Downs]

Hi Bmason31,

The Mexican cuotas (toll freeways) are mostly straight and boring. Think Texas four lane interstate freeways. They have regular toll booths, cha-ching, that cost roughly ten cents a mile. Fast, expensive, straight and boring. There are Libre (free) roads that wind around and go through the towns. Similar to two lane county roads. The Mexican libre roads are a bit rougher in areas, especially in the poorer areas off the beaten track and farther south. They also go through all the towns where you will bounce over a lot of topes (traffic calming speedbumps).

So the choice of routes and roads is up to you. Depending on what bike and whether you have the time to take the fun backroads. Hard to give route suggestions on a 7,000 mile round trip from Texas to Costa Rica and back. I think it is fine to take the freeway for a while across the Mexican border down to Monterrey or so if this is your first time to Mexico, just to get used to the riding and get through the northern desert. Taking freeways all the way through Mexico would be like riding Interstate 10 across Texas instead of checking out Big Bend and the hill country.

I would suggest searching for Costa Rica ride reports, both here and on ADVrider to get route ideas. Plenty of great reading and pics on both these sites to keep you entertained.

I just got back from Panama. It was a BLAST! My route selection consisted of asking the locals where the fun twisty roads were with lots of curvas peligrosas (dangerous curves).

You'll have fun no matter what.

Best luck,
John Downs

[Sjoerd Bakker]

There is a major misconception about Mexican toll roads as all being fourlane toll freeway type highways.Wrong!
Mexican toll highways come in several forms, and yes there are four lane freeway toll roads built in a more direct route to avoid towns and cities .But many are simply new two lane paved highways built to a more modern standard with controlled exits and toll booths. Others are simply the older existing federal highway rebadged as a toll road with the free (Libre) alternative diverted onto lesser and more roundabout former state or regional highways.Around the major cities many of the new ring roads are toll, with toll booths in the bypass segments.
Trying to do an entire trip exclusively on toll roads is futile because there is ( as yet ) no existing interconnected system of toll roads to cover the entire country, and likely won't ever be( happy to say ).
If you run a toll road sooner or later you will be re -introduced to the regular free roads for a major portion .In many cases the toll road is run right beside the libre- like a fourlane with one side (2 lanes) toll and the other Libre, with a fence between them.
Many of the toll roads are operated by private for profit companies. Tolls can be very expensive if you do nothing but toll roads, and you miss seeing a lot of interesting Mexico, which was the point of the trip in the first place , no?.
Save your money, allow a bit of extra time , chill out and enjoy the trip on LIBRE roads.
Also take it very cautiously the first few days and get a feel for all the Mexican traffic practices . The rules are basically the same but some local tweaks my be new to you. Especially in city streets look out for the "disguised stop signs" as they exist in colour coded one-way street arrows.
whcich function as stop signs if they are red.

This still did not address your request for route suggestions, so here is an idea.Assuming it is your first trip thru Mexico and CA there really is little point in recommending too strenuously any route, they will all be new and interestig to you .Best make the return trip by different roads than the first ride south. Forinstance take Mex 85 south from the Laredos all the way which will give a major cross section of climate/ vegetation types and topography which increases in "spectacularity " the farther south you go. Wend your way around the DF and pick up Mex 190 to Oaxaca and Tehuantepec down the center of Mex and carry on thru Tuxtla Gutierrez and S.Cristobal . More spectacular scenery again. From there crosss into Guatemala on CA 1 , the Panamericanighway and stick to that thru the other countries into CR. Lots of stuff to see and enjoy en route, your tastes may vary.


By the way which folks have been telling you to stick to toll roads? Usually it is the timid types ,afraid of all the "bad' things that might happen , or the RV and motorhome crowd who want to beeline to a destination to park it for a spell and cannot handle anything other than straight open roads. If they happen to run afoul of such fast routes it is a disaster for them and it may take hours to get the rig freed from traffic snarls, turned around and back on the freeway.
As motorcyclists we have none of these worries, no road is too narrow or too winding, in fact these features should only enhance the trip. Again , give yourself lots of time, take it at a sane reasonable pace, do not ride the open highways at night . You get there when you get there. Enjoy.

[Scrabblebiker]

I´m in Oaxaca right now. I rode from Victoria, BC to Yaviza Panama and am now on the return part of the trip, back in Mexico.

My thoughts on toll roads are to avoid them for the most part. They are definitely faster but quite expensive. They also tend to skirt some of more interesting sights and landscapes. On the way down I used maybe a total of 50km´s of toll roads and the rest were free roads. Now on the way back up I´ve used toll roads quite a bit more due to time constraints. In some cases the toll roads can be almost twice as fast. But in some cases the difference is negligible, especially on a bike. Topes are great for passing lines of cars that have slowed down to a crawl.

I´ve taken toll roads in the southern part of Mexico just to quickly get me through some boring and hot terrain.

Routes which I´d recommend are

Heading into Creel and then south towards Hidalgo Del Parral. Very twisty, pine forests and very little traffic.

Espinazo Del Diable (route 40) from Durango to Mazatlan. Absolutely stupendous. Expect to average about 60km/h on that one and watch for semis coming at you in tight corners.

The drive up into the moutains (take the free road, it´s much nicer) from Tuxtla de Guttierez to San Cristobal De Las Casas, Chiapas.

San Cristobal De Las Casas to Palenque.

Oaxaca City to Salina Cruz.


...enjoy!

[Scrabblebiker]

Oops, forgot Central America.

Just about any route in Guatemala is fantastic. Just look for the ones in the hilly areas. I recommend a visit to Fuentes Georgina, San Marcos, Antigua, Volcan Pacaya, Finca el Paraiso at Lago Izabal (great hot waterfalls into a colder little river)

Honduras

Copan Ruinas
Pine forests in the cool hills north of Tegucigalpa. You can avoid the city by coming in from the north.
D&D Brewpub, Lago Yojoa area

Nicaragua

Drive up to the crater´s edge at Volcan Masaya to see the smoke rising from the abysmal depths.

Laguna de Apoyo. Very peaceful little lake and Nicaragua´s cleanest swimming place. Stay at Crater´s Edge Hotel. A bit on the expensive side but very relaxing and nice.

Las Penitas. Very little surf town with wild beach just 20km´s from Leon. Much nicer than San Juan Del Sur in my opinion.

Isla Ometepe. Very rural and quiet. Good road for a small part of it and then horrible dirt roads for the rest.

Costa Rica

You must go to Laguna Arenal, Costa Rica´s version of the swiss countryside. If you´re near the border with Panama I would recommend crossing into the highlands of Panama which are right at the border with Costa Rica. Nice twisty roads and beautifully cool temperatures.

[bmason31]

Thanks, guys, this is all great! Sjoerd, you're right about the people suggesting toll roads. None of them ride, and they are all worried about the dangerous foreigners. I really appreciate the suggestions for routes; it gives me a nice outline to work from. I could use a couple of good maps, but haven't found any road atlases for the region. I even emailed rand mcnally and they said they had nothing of the sort. Where did you guys get your maps?

BTW, Scrabble, you're a total badass. Canada to Mexico sounds like a sick journey.

[Lisa Thomas]

if you go online to Amazon you can buy maps of Mexico and guide books...
if you are based in the USA most of the large bookshops have maps of Mexico too.

[Booysen]

As a Canadian and having lived in Mexico for a few years. Firstly choose carefully where you will cross over the border. I do not like crossing over at Nuevo Laredo or Reynosa as the customs and immigration where you must go to register and get a permit for your bike and your tourist visa in area's which are difficult to navigate and risky. rather use the smaller border crossings of which are a few on both sides of these Cities which will have less people and the officials are very efficient, please do not ride through and think that was easy as you will be stopped at a check point when you are about a hour into Mexico and will have to go back. I would also use the toll till Monterrey, then use the libre or toll till Saltillo. From there you can choose what you want to use, Mexico is a facinating country with great people in the smaller towns and plenty of inexpensive place to stay. make your way up to San Miguel de Allena in the state of Guanajuato. Then take the back(Libre) roads to Morelia and from there you can also take the libre rds to Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, great scenary on route mountains, lakes. Get the map book for Mexico Guia Rojo, it shows all the roads including the toll with distance planning. Remember in Mexico if you see a car and the driver has his hand out the window it only means that his window is open, and if you wave at someone use all your fingers!! enjoy.

[Scrabblebiker]

Originally Posted by bmason31

Thanks, guys, this is all great! Sjoerd, you're right about the people suggesting toll roads. None of them ride, and they are all worried about the dangerous foreigners. I really appreciate the suggestions for routes; it gives me a nice outline to work from. I could use a couple of good maps, but haven't found any road atlases for the region. I even emailed rand mcnally and they said they had nothing of the sort. Where did you guys get your maps?

BTW, Scrabble, you're a total badass. Canada to Mexico sounds like a sick journey.

Ahemmm!! that's Canada to PANAMA and back ;-)

Map for Mexico:
There's nothing better than Guia Roji. Much better than ITMB IMHO. You can get them online or just buy them as soon as you cross the border. They're usually available at the convenience stores beside the Pemex stations, such as OXXO. They usually have the one for the state they're in, or you can buy the 200peso ($16) map book for the entire country.

For other countries:
Get the ITMB maps, available online Maps for travel, City Maps, Road Maps, Guides, Globes, Topographic Maps. They're not always accurate but there's not much else available and I've found that pretty much all maps for Central America can be somewhat inaccurate.

Have fun!!