Time to travel from Mexico to Costa Rica?
 

My family is planning to spend a month in Costa Rica this January. I would like to drive there on my bike. Anyone with experience have an opinion how long that would take starting from northern Mexico? I’m not worried about borders at this point. I think these days you have to be willing to go if possible and be prepared to cancel at the last minute. Right now I’d have difficulty getting out of Canada on the bike anyway.

Update: I've been working on plan to get bike into US if border doesn't open in time.
Option 1: Found a local trucking company who probably has a truck going to Texas during the right time est $900 to transport.
Option 2: Air Canada from Toronto to Mexico City $1975 (they dont ship vehicles to USA sounds like it is a paperwork problem)

Assuming I could get to the US or Mexico then currently it looks like all the land borders are open to Costa Rica with vaccination or testing requirements. However on the way back as a Canadian I do not think I could get into the US from Mexico by land.

Setting aside pandemic restrictions you could do this in 7-10 days depending upon how crazy you are, however we would take somewhere between a month (A to B no exploration off the route) to 3 or 4 months at a guess.

Thanks for the reply. It’s in line with another forum I found here. OP was going to Guatemala from southern Texas. I think he was thinking 7 days and was encouraged to take more time. If restrictions allow I might try it with a goal of taking two weeks there and two back but with a backup plan to hop on a plane if it’s too quick a pace for me. Maybe just stick to Mexico, sounds like there is tons to see in Mexico.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Costa Rica ornow Mexico only
 

Obviously your trip planning is very flexible ,which is good . If the Costa Rica goal was only because some family member is going there on a fly-in vacation it puts you in the bind of needing to BE there at a specific time . Schedules and deadlines are the bane of pleasure travel .
The seven day estimate for traversing Mexico ,Guatemala,Honduras and Nicaragua is possible ,but you would need to ride persistently during DAYLIGHT only of course . If you are a rider who likes to actually SEE a country you would want to slow it down .
Also ,that time frame was possible in the pre-covid era. Now there exist the possible and probable added delays at border crossings with the requirements for recent proof of Negative Covid tests.These may require some hunting around for test sites and extra paperwork to be processed- more time wasters . Though the C.A.countries are small they can require more time to cross than you may suspect. If you manage to cross one per day you would be doing well. Certainly for preservation of your happiness you would want to avoid doing TWO border crossings in ONE day.

The crossing of Mexico could be done in five days of steady directed riding and that would preclude any detailed sight seeing excursions or relaxed exploring of odd interesting roads and scenic places ."Northern Mexico " as starting point is also vague - Matamoros is a lot closer to Guatemala than is Mexicali .

Now that you imply that you could limit yourself to Mexico you have released a lot of the stress of needing to be someplace much farther away .Of course if you are starting from Canada in January the Fly-in thing
is understandable . .
Your idea for commercial trucking the bike south is sound .

Thanks Sjoerd. It’s good to know what’s possible if your in a hurry. My experience traveling in foreign countries from A to B is take the best case scenario and double it to get a reasonable idea and then always be prepared for something unexpected beyond that.

If borders open and it becomes possible I would definitely be crossing at Matamoros. Whether I ride or ship my bike south I will probably start from Houston bc there is cheap direct flights from my part of the world.

I’ve been the eternal optimist on when the USA land borders might open again and I am consistently wrong. Shipping from Canada to USA and then flying across seems doable but right now I can’t cross from Mexico to USA and I think that’s a no go for the whole trip.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I just accidentally deleted a long, over-wordy response. This time I'll be brief.

First, you can fly into the US from either Canada or Mexico, subject to political considerations and negative COVID test. You can truck your bike across the border from either Canada or Mexico. This eliminates your "no go for the whole trip."

Second, if you're so short on time, why are you even considering riding from wherever you are in Canada all the way through the US? That doesn't make sense. If you've got enough time to do that, you can opt to take things far more slowly in Mexico and Central America.

Third, whether short on time or not, surely you've noticed that January is not a friendly season for long motorcycle rides in most of the US and all but a tiny sliver of Canada. It can be done, but it sure helps to have an appetite for self-abuse.

Fourth, you might consider leaving your bike behind in C.R. or elsewhere, flying home, then coming back to pick it up at a later date.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

Thanks Mark I guess I should clarify a few things. If the border opens I plan to ride the bike to Houston and then fly home and come back in January. I would consider riding in November, I can be flexible and pick some days with warmer weather. If the border opens in December then trucking would be the way to go.

I guess my no go comment in regards to the Mexican land border is that I’m uncertain how long it would take to arrange the transport. Typing this now it occurs to me that if I could arrange that in advance I wouldn’t feel so uncertain. If the land border is open when I then I felt if I had to deal with it changing while I was on the trip I would deal with it.

The constraint on my time is how my wife feels about things. The most mad she has been at me was when I mis estimated when I would be home for dinner and missed it by 6 hours. I could also have reasonably foreseen that delay, and there may have been a birthday involved…. So I’m learning, and part of the success or failure of this venture will be how well I can communicate the uncertainties involved and that everyone feels like there is a plan better than “we will see what happens”

So thanks very much for your questions and comments Mark they made me think through my hesitations and they are much clearer even in my own mind now.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Actual Results
 

From the Laredo/Brownsville area of Texas to the southern part of Costa Rica: I had more time on the way down and took 14 days. Rode every day, sometimes I was just putting in miles watching the scenery which I enjoy. Some days I stopped early afternoon and explored the city or area on foot. Stuck mostly to the free roads in Mexico and traveled 2500km more than the quickest route.

Took 7 days to return after spending 3.5 weeks in Costa Rica. Used toll roads where it saved a lot of time, Spent 3/4 of a day at Flores in Guatemala and visiting Tikal.

Had a wonderful time and can't wait to go back. If I didn't have a destination I needed to be at I might never have made it out of Mexico, lots to see and endless miles of interesting roads.