Honduras-Guatemala Border Crossing at El Florido

Border town: El Florido
Direction: Northbound
Costs: None – if you already have your vehicle permit.
Copies: None – they make their own copies.
Notes: We already had our 90-day vehicle permit from our southbound trip. We knew we would be returning with plenty of time to exit the country again before the permit expired, so we just got our permit marked on our way out of Guatemala last time.

Procedure

Honduran side:

1. There is a swing-bar roadblock at the entrance of the border. You will be directed to enter and to continue to drive forward until you reach the reddish building that says “aduana” on it. NOTE: For us, there was no one directly at the gate, they had tied it tilted up, so vehicles under 10ft could pass. The agents were chilling in the shade at the booth directly in front of the bar and just waved us forward—no checks or anything.
2. Park at the reddish building on the left that reads “aduana” on the side of it. The first entrance is immigration.
3. Enter, and at the next available counter, tell them you are leaving Honduras and entering Guatemala, since they don’t seem to have separate entrance and exit sections.
4. The immigration officer will stamp your permit, take the yellow copy of your entrance form (from the last border you went through), and return your passport.
5. Next is aduana. They are the next door farther west to the border in the building, once you exit immigration. There is a little reception area where you can fill out the customs form, and then you enter to the office beyond. NOTE: You have to PULL on the door (not push—if you push, it feels locked).
6. The customs officer will take your permit and stamp the driver’s passport, which cancels the permit, and then hand back the passport.
7. You are now free to pass over to the Guatemalan side.

Guatemalan side:

View of Guatemalan Aduana (left side, white building behind orange cone) and Migración (right side, blue and white building) from the parking lot.

1. There is no official line or officers here to check your documents. The only giveaway is the Banrural sign, which is a bank of Guatemala.
2. There is a large parking lot off to the left (across from the Banrural and the blue and white building) where you can park.
3. The blue and white building on the north (right) side of the street is the Guatemalan immigration. Go to the window that says “Entrada.” They will ask for your passports and want to know how long you plan to be in Guatemala. After they stamp it, they will return your passport.
4. Aduana is the white building on the right side of the street that is directly before the next swing-bar roadblock.
5. Hand over your Guatemalan permit (if you have one, if not this is where they will issue one). They will stamp it and make a copy of it himself, then hand both back to you. The copy (not the original) is for the customs guy at the swing-bar roadblock.
6. Return to your vehicle and drive to the Guatemala swing-bar roadblock. A customs official will take the copy of the permit, verify the information is correct on the vehicle, and then let you pass.
7. There is a police officer just down the road monitoring traffic. He may stop you to inspect the vehicle. Then you are free to go.