Itinerary 2 months in Central America + Colombia
Here is the itinerary that we plan to do, from Colombia, through Central America, to Mexico, as digital nomads for 5.5 months.
If you are on a trip around the world or on vacation, this trip can be done in less than 2 months.
Note: we made a 5 month itinerary for South America + Cuba (excluding Colombia) here
Comments on the itinerary
Here are the countries that we did not include in our trip this time:
- Costa Rica : too expensive, we’ll prefer to go there when we’re on vacation
- Honduras: no time, Internet too slow
- Belize : too expensive
- Guatemala : not for this year (finally we made a return trip in express mode to Antigua)
Basically, we kept in Central America :
- Panama Only 3 days (too expensive otherwise) to realize one of my dreams : to cross the Panama canal by boat. That’s it!
- Nicaragua : apparently it’s safe for the tourists, there are no more events
- El Salvador nice little country
- San Andres Island (which belongs to Colombia) is the only island where we plan to go to the Caribbean. The plane is cheap (45€ one way from Medellin) vs. the other islands of Nicaragua, or Panama.
There are quite a few airplane trips:
- in Colombia, the distances are enormous, the roads aren’t necessarily tarred. Internal flights aren’t expensive, it saves time (9h to 10h drive), spending only 10€ to 20€ more
- Colombia – Panama can only be done by plane, there is no road to cross the border. The plane is unavoidable. The ferry does not exist anymore, but you can take an expensive ferry (we are talking about 500$US/person)
- As we zap Costa Rica on the way, it doesn’t make sense for us to cross Panama => Nicaragua by bus
- As we zap Guatemala on the way, it doesn’t make sense for us to cross El Salvador => Mexico by bus. We took the plane from San Salvador to Merida. But it will be even cheaper if you can do San Salvador – Mexico City.
Estimated transport cost: 1 375€ (2019-2020 rates)
These estimated costs do not take into account the cost of visits, accommodation, food etc. but only long distances (i.e. excluding cab between the city and the airport).
Because of our time constraint, we had to skip a lot of places of interest on the way, but travelers on vacation or around the world will be able to linger a little longer in the countries we crossed.
I will update this table with actual expenditures as we go along (by January 2020)
There are cities where we spend 1 or 2 days as a Digital Nomad. It’s not because they aren’t suitable for Digital Nomadism, but because we go there on weekends or do a tour and don’t want to bring our computer with us.
For more itineraries, don’t hesitate to download the free Kindle extract from Lonely Planet’s Central America guide. The image on the left comes from this guide
Here are the complementary guides you can consult :
- 3 weeks in Colombia
- Stay in the Colombian Amazon
- Border Crossing in Central America – Entry Fee, Exit Ticket
- Nicaragua
- 8 days in El Salvador
- 17 days of Roadtrip in Mexico (by bus)
- 15 days road trip in Mexico (by bus)
- For each trip, we have detailed the rates here
Detailed itinerary: from Colombia to Mexico in 2 months
| City | Duration Digital Nomad (days) | Duration Round the World Tour (days) | Travel | Travel time | Transport cost (EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medellín, Colombia | 41 | 2 | |||
| San Andrés, Colombia | 4 | 4 | Plane (round trip) | 45mn | 90 € |
| Guatapé, Colombia | 1 | 1 | Bus | 2h | 3 € |
| Medellin, Colombia | 1 | 1 | Bus | 2h | 3 € |
| Jardín, Antioquia, Colombia | 1 | 1 | Bus | 3h | 5 € |
| Salento, Quindío, Colombia | 2,5 | 2,5 | Bus | 10h | 10 € |
| Pereira, Colombia | 0,5 | 0,5 | Bus | 1h | 1 € |
| Bogotá, Colombia | 1 | 1 | Plane | 45mn | 20 € |
| Leticia, Colombia | 5 | 5 | Plane | 1h | 50 € |
| Bogotá, Colombia | 5 | 1 | Plane | 1h | 50 € |
| Panama City, Panama | 2,5 | 1 | Plane | 1h42 | 333 € |
| Managua, Nicaragua | 3,5 | 1 | Plane | 1h42 | 253 € |
| Granada, Nicaragua | 13 | 3 | Bus | 2h | 5 € |
| Ometepe, Nicaragua | 4 | 2 | Bus | 2h | 5 € |
| León, Nicaragua | 12 | 2 | Bus | 5h | 10 € |
| San Salvador, El Salvador | 4 | 2 | Bus | 3-4h ? | 15 € |
| Santa Ana | 1 | 1 | Bus | 1h | 1 € |
| Coatepeque, Juayua, Concepcion of Ataco, Santa Teresa | 3 | 3 | Bus | 5 € | |
| Merida, Mexico | 1 | 1 | Plane | 1h50 | 230 € |
| Uxmal, Yucatán, Mexico City | 1 | 1 | Bus | ||
| Merida, Mexico | 1 | 1 | Bus | ||
| Chichen Itza and Valladolid, Mexico City | 1 | 1 | Bus | 2h + 1h | 11 € |
| Coba and Tulum, Mexico City | 3 | 3 | Bus | 1h + 1h30 | 11 € |
| Bacalar, Quintana Roo, Mexico City | 3 | 3 | Bus | 2h50 | 23,20 € |
| Chetumal (correspondence), Xpujil, then Calakmul, Mexico City | 3 | 3 | Bus | 40mn + 1h45 + 1h | 32 € |
| Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico City | 3 | 3 | Bus | 5h50 | 15 € |
| Campeche, Mexico City | 2 | 2 | Bus | 5h | 15 € |
| Merida, Mexico | 1 | 1 | Bus | 2h | 7 € |
| Oaxaca, Mexico | 30 | 5 | Plane | 2h | 100 € |
| Mexico City, Mexico | 15 | 5 | Bus | 6h | 70 € |
| TOTAL | 169 days | 63 days | 1 375 € |
To access our 5 monthitinerary in South America (+ Cuba), click here
