Driving through Mexico
Anthony Blair, Dec 2025
in December, we drove from Detroit, MI to Hopkins, Belize, 3000 miles.
there’s a lot of fear mongering about driving through Mexico, both in the US and Belize. let me be clear - i am not guaranteeing anyone a no-risk experience. but i can share ours, which was that the people were friendly, the roadside scenery was often lush and beautiful, and that we encountered no significant obstacles. our biggest frustrations were the potholes and speed bumps on the highways, and that you can’t get a burrito or chimichanga anywhere.
we’ve met several folks here that have made a similar drive, or longer, some even annually. one Canadian we spoke with indicated that he felt more unsafe about the US part of the drive than the Mexico part, which gave us some perspective. in the US, we hear horror stories about Mexico, but maybe we don’t listen as keenly for the horror stories about us. one thing about the US, though - we have hardly any fucking speedbumps, and never on a highway.
a few notes about driving in Mexico. the potholes, and especially the random – sometimes unsigned – speedbumps (topes), even on the major highways and tollroads, are a significant hazard. they will take out your exhaust system – they definitely damaged ours. you’ll be driving along at 60 mph, and WHAM! avoid driving at night as much as possible – unless you’re familiar with the roads, you’ll fuck up your shit. even during the day, go slow, be alert, or if possible, follow someone who looks like they know the road.
in both Belize and Mexico, police don’t regularly patrol the roads. instead, they set up checkpoints, and stop every car at road junctures. police checkpoints in Mexico—known as retenes—are common, routine, and usually operated by the military, National Guard, or police to monitor for weapons, drugs, and illegal goods. in Mexico, the natinal police often wear intimidating black outfits and masks.
make copies of all your key documents – title, registration, mexico insurance, passports, have them in a package, and hand them when requested. they’ll want to know your destination (we always said Chetumal to be safe). don’t sweat not speaking spanish – for us, they either spoke a little english, or gave up in disgust and waved us through.
so, here’s the big thing about getting across the Mexico border with a vehicle. you can go through as either a tourist, or a transmigrante (central americans buying cars & goods in the US, and driving them through Mexico to deliver to Central/South America). transmigrantes need to pay a US $500 fee for a mexican import agent, who arranges the paperwork and etc, and that process may add a day to your trip, if not arranged in advance. if you have a big uhaul style truck, or a truck with a big trailer, you’re a transmigrante.
if you’re driving through with a car, even if it’s packed to the brim with stuff, you may get by as a tourist. we did, although we did get the hairy eye for a moment. if you want to avoid the whole transmigrante delay, you’ll need to do your advance homework.
Our Journey Summary
6 hours Detroit to Louisville, 363 miles, half day
20 hrs Louisville to Brownsville, 1305 miles, 2 days
we crossed at Brownsville/Matamoros Veteran’s Bridge
25 hrs Brownsville to Chetumal (1267 mi), 3 days:
> Brownsville to Tuxlpan, including 1 hr at border, 450 miles, 9 hrs
> Tuxlpan to Emiliano Zapata, 570 miles, 11 hrs
> Emiliano Zapata to Chetumal/Santa Elena, 280 miles, 7 hrs
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Ce5iwxDofLH1HEQT6
we crossed at Chetumal/Corazol (the only option)
5 hrs Chetumal to Hopkins (165 mil) half day
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Jx5b9jkPVmB6bF6A8
The Hairy Details - skip this unless you’re plotting your own adventure
What you’ll need before travelling:
In order to legally cross from the US into Mexico, you’ll need to prepare several important documents:
Passport (interestingly, NO ONE asked to see our passports at the border, but we did need them when validating our FMM— which, also, no one asked to see at the border)
Proof of Mexican Auto Insurance we got ours in advance here https://www.bajabound.com. $107 for 1 week.
I bought 3 weeks, so I could make the pitch at customs that I was planning to spend 3 weeks driving around Mexico, to avoid being labelled as a transmigrante. the desk agent gave me the hairy eye, but let us through as tourists. I requested a refund on unused weeks after I got through, which Bajabound was great about returning. I suspect you can get it a lot cheaper at the Mexican customs, but it would be pretty minimal coverage insurance.
we did damage the undercarriage/exhaust going through Mexico, mostly on the speedbumps, but auto work is so cheap in Belize, we didn’t bother to make a claim.
Vehicle Registration (original & copy) must have your name, or see below
Vehicle Title (copy) - must have your name, or you’ll need a cover letter from a rental company
FMM Tourist Card (need for TIP) https://www.inm.gob.mx/fmme/publico/en/solicitud.html I tried to get this online in advance, but kept getting an error message. I ended up getting it at customs, it took an extra 5 minutes-ish.
Here’s lists of port of entries, which might be useful if you can get an online FMM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mexico%E2%80%93United_States_border_crossings
https://crossbordercoverage.com/guide-to-every-usa-mexico-vehicle-border-crossing/
https://bwt.cbp.gov/
TIP Import Permit https://www.banjercito.com.mx/registroVehiculos/ I couldn’t get the FMM in advance, so I also had to get this at customs. maybe an extra 10-15 minutes.
with or without advance FMM/TIP, you’ll still need to visit the INM (Instituto Nacional de Migración) office directly at the border. Be warned that it is NOT easy to spot the INM Office as you cross the border.
Crossing early in the morning gives the shortest waits at most borders (with the exception of ultra popular crossing points). Aside from early mornings, late evenings and weekdays tend to offer shorter crossing times than weekends
to get through Mexico, you’ll want to have a route laid out in advance, which sticks to the major tollroads as much as possible. there are also some rough and tumble cities along the way it’s best to skirt around. my mentor on this journey was Solrac Kerr, who makes this trip several times a year. he’s also available if you would feel more comfortable with a companion on the trip, or if you’re looking for someone to move your stuff for you – I can’t say enough good things about Solrac! he’s reliable, he’s trustworthy, and he cares; if you’re interested in hiring him, PM him on facebook. Solrac shared this route with me, which I’ve modified for our entry point (Brownsville):
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Ce5iwxDofLH1HEQT6
you’ll want to bring with you a few copies of all your important documents – passport, title, registration, drivers’ licenses, proof of insurance with you, so you can always retain the originals, just to be safe.
you’ll need at least 9K pesos, or about $500US worth of pesos, to cover gas, tolls, food, and lodging on the way – US dollars are not generally accepted, and credit cards only sometimes. we brought 17K pesos to be safe ($1000 US). if your local bank doesn’t offer pesos, you can get them delivered online – we used Currency Exchange International, we had the money in a few days, at a good exchange rate, and confirmed an accurate count. they shipped a good variety of small and large bills, important for tips and tolls.
gas stations in Mexico and Belize are full-service, an attendant will always pump your gas for you. many will accept credit cards, you can show them yours, or say credit card. some helpful spanish:
magna for standard gas
lleno, por favor, full tank
it’s customary to tip the attendants 10 or 20 pesos.
Allie & i drove our trusty 2008 Honda Accord. 170K on the OD, packed to the gills with bumblebee boxes and 2 bikes on a bumper rack, from Detroit to Louisville. in Louisville, we swapped out my pop for Allie – she flew down to Belize City, then took a shuttle to Hopkins, and pop & i drove the six days down through Mexico to Belize.
we drove two days to get from Louisville to Brownsville.
in Brownsville, we stopped at a Home Depot to get some chains to secure the bikes to the car frame, as an extra security measure from burglary in Mexico. we asked a staff guy for the best Mexican food in town, he suggested Dona Carmen’s, which was excellent, but different than we expected. my pop loves mexican (or rather, what we think of as mexican in the US), but my step-mom does not, so he was keen to enjoy burritos, chimichangas, and more. but even at this Texas restaurant, with spanish menus and spanish speaking staff, they had no idea what he was talking about when he asked for a burrito or chimichanga. we found this sad truth to be universal throughout our trip in Mexico – we would get only puzzled looks when we asked for his favorite Tex-mex dishes.
we crossed into Mexico Monday, Dec 1, 2025; sunrise that day was 7am, sunset 6pm.
we crossed at Veterans Bridge, Brownsville (called Matamoros bridge III in Mexico), at the end of US highway 69E.
keep going past aduana (round building)
look for the customs/vehicle signs by the square building, veer to the left entrance, and park in lot
the office opens at 8am, there was no line at 8:05 am Monday morning.
we had insurance, we got our FMM & TIP forms there. for the FMM, we indicated we would be 3 weeks in Mexico (mostly Mexico city) a couple months in Belize, then back to US (we indicated all this to avoid being considered transmigrantes). he looked a little iffy about the 3 weeks, but gave it to us. to be safe, it might be better to push for a month, instead. they accepted all costs on my US credit card. the charges that morning were:
Dec 1 2025 MODULO ITV LOS TOMATES $467.60 (includes a deposit)
Dec 1 2025 INM RECAUDACIONMU $47.11
and also, later:
Dec 5 2025 MODULO ITV LOS TOMATES -$413.07 (return of deposit 1 day after we crossed the border out of Mexico)
there was no inspection of our vehicle, we left the lot at 9am, about an hour.
we needed our original passports, drivers license, title & registration, and Mexico insurance. we didn’t need to have any copies prepared, just the originals.
in Mexico on the first day, we experienced 3 checkpoints, all legit. we had no inspections, 2 we were just waved through, we were stopped for papers once (1 copy each passport, drivers license, title, registration, insurance, originals FMM TIP).
we drove 9 am to 6pm, set the trip odometer to 0 after crossing the border, and put in 450 miles. we stopped in Tuxlpan just as the light was fading.
each day, as we got to about 4pm, we started looking at what city/town we’d likely end up at around sunset (shooting for a larger city where possible, for better hotel options). we’d pick a town, which would give us our location, then look at travelocity/google reviews to pick a hotel we’d stop at.
day 1, it was clear we’d end at Tuxlpan, which had many hotel options. we had identified a hotel we thought we’d like, but when we got to the location, we couldn’t find it. so we settled on a Holiday Inn Express we’d passed on the way, it was $100 for a double. it was pretty US generic, and $100 was expensive for a hotel on our route, but it had a big, gated, lit, mostly empty parking lot. it was our first night, and we didn’t know how safe we’d be from burglaries, so we decided to play it safe. breakfast was included, but pretty sad quality, 6/10. we did stay in smaller, more out of the way hotels on other nights, without the secure parking lot, but never had a problem with burglaries, so that may have been overkill.
Tues 7:20 am, 455 mi odometer start, 1020 finish at 6:45pm (45 min after sunset). no checkpoints this day. steady, busy traffic all day, all routes. mostly drove in caravan after dark. we had several stops for construction.
we did see exhaust/thin smoke coming out by the passenger front wheel, and a steady drip of some fluid (not oil or coolant, felt & smelled like water), so we probably damaged the exhaust system on a pothole or speed bump. [at the end of the journey in Belize, we later ended up having pretty much the entire exhaust system replaced – it had suffered a lot of damage, and probably wasn’t in great shape to begin with, after 5 winters of street parking in Detroit. Zack also removed and stripped our catalytic converter (gas in Belize is low quality, and will eventually clog a converter, impacting mileage). total cost - $250US (probably about 10% the cost if we’d done in the states).]
we stayed in the relatively small town of Emiliano Zapata, at the San Fernando hotel. $50 double, very boutique and classy. only street parking, but no harm done.
Wednesday, we started at 8am, 1020 odometer start, 3 pm EST arrived in Chetumal, at 1300 miles.
that day we experienced 6 checkpoints, all legit. no inspections, had to show papers 3 times. most of the roads were good. there were many, many speed bumps. at this point, we started posting the speed bumps on google maps, to warn other drivers. there is no speed bump option (there should be!), instead we indicated an object in the road. we hope this catches on – it could be very helpful to others travelling through.
in Chetumal, we stayed at the Hotel Lagoon, $67 for a double. it was very beautiful & quiet, with a nice little pool, although the morning staff was not very pleasant. we had also booked it on travelocity, which we wouldn’t do again – when we arrived, they had no record of our booking, and said they were full, and threatened to kick us out, despite showing them the travelocity booking and receipt. they did eventually correct the error, and acknowledge they had received the money, but it took a few hours. oddly, there seemed to be plenty of available rooms, too.
so, a quick money summary. we started with 17K pesos (1K). at the end, we exchanged 2K pesos for BZD at the border crossing, then later I found 6K pesos I’d misplaced. so we used about 10Kpesos = $550US. most of that was paid for gas, tolls, food for 2. some for hotels, but generally we used credit cards for lodging. gas is very expensive in Mexico & Belize (about double the US), and the tolls really add up.
Mexico to Belize
Border Hours at Chetumal
Mexico side (Chetumal): Open daily from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Belize side: Open daily from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Belize TIP: opens 8 am
Your first stop is the Instituto Nacional de Migración, located at the border entrance. Here, you’ll need to have your passport stamped to officially exit Mexico.
Non-Resident Tax (DNR): If you’ve been in Mexico as a tourist for more than 7 days, you’ll need to pay a tax of 717 MXN per person. Payment can be made in US dollars, Mexican pesos, or by card. However, it’s highly recommended to carry cash, as the card payment system is occasionally unavailable.
To cancel your vehicle’s Temporary Import Permit (TIP) and recover your deposit, head to the Banjercito office, located about 350 meters from the immigration office.
Canceling the TIP: Make sure to cancel your TIP before leaving Mexico. Failure to do so may result in complications, as the Mexican government could consider your vehicle still temporarily imported, potentially causing issues for future re-entry into Mexico.
Deposit Refund: Refunds are processed based on your original payment method. If you paid in cash, you’ll be refunded in cash. If you paid by card, the refund will be credited to your bank account.
Step 3: Vehicle Fumigation
After leaving the Banjercito office, the next step is to have your vehicle fumigated. The fumigation station, which looks similar to a car wash, is located nearby.
Payment: The fumigation fee is 12 USD, payable in cash in either US dollars or Mexican pesos.
Certificate: You’ll receive a certificate confirming the fumigation.
interestingly, when we crossed, there was a structure which looked like it was for fumigation, but we paid the fee, then they just waved us through. there was no actual fumigation, we have no idea what that was about. also, this was the station where they offered to convert our pesos to BZD, it kinda looks like that’s how the crossing staff make their income.
after completing the fumigation process, head to the immigration building, easily recognizable by its blue and yellow colors.
look for a tourist card to fill out. once the form is completed, proceed to the counters to have your passport stamped.
if you are only passing through short term:
head towards the back, there’s a window designated for motor vehicle imports, in the same building.
required documents: your passport, proof of ownership and registration for your vehicle. once the documents are verified, you’ll get a stamp in your passport, allowing you to drive legally in Belize. be sure to have this permit canceled when you leave the country.
however, if you are planning on a long-term stay, the process is much, much more difficult.
at this point, you go back 2 turnabouts, and follow the signs for cargo. the cargo gate opens at 8am, but the brokers get in around 9ish CST.
show your passports at the cargo gate entrance. after the passport check, take the passage to the right, and park in the row of abandoned cars. be sure to park between the lines. someone will assign you a broker.
we entered the cargo gate at 9, (after waiting about an hour for it to open), and it took until noon to wait for a broker to complete paperwork. we paid 2K BZD, 1500 BZD for car (2008 honda accord, blue book maybe 3-5K US, not in great shape). the rest for bikes, broker fee, etc. we had to unpack everything out of the car, an inspector showed up and checked everything, and then we had to repack everything in car. it was very hot, and there was no shade, i got hit hard with heat exhaustion, and pop had to finish the drive in Belize. our broker offered us the chance to pay a bribe to the customs agent, to reduce our tariff fee (as high as 40% for cars/trucks and many goods), and also the customs agent reviewing the contents of our boxes hinted at it, but we declined. Allie & i had discussed this possibility before we started the trip, and we’d decided we didn’t want to contribute to corruption in our new home if avoidable.
the next stop was at the car insurance building – we stopped at the 2nd insurance building, not the first, at the recommendation of our broker.
we left Chetumal at 7am, and got through insurance payment at 12:30 pm.
Insurance Corporation of Belize (ICB) Office Hours (where we stopped) - the office is open Monday through Friday, from 6:00 AM to 7:00 PM. It’s closed on Saturdays and Sundays.
in the long run, after we got a BZ title & registration, we bought an annual policy for our auto insurance (premium option) for $250 (vs $1400 in Detroit).
then pop drove the entire route through Belize to Hopkins. we arrived pretty close to sunset, 5ish, 165 miles.
we arrived in Hopkins, Belize six pretty full and interesting days after we left Louisville. when we started, we were excited, and more than a little worried about what might happen - a real adventure. we were very grateful for the technology - we can only imagine how much more trial and error, delays, and hijinks would have been involved pre-smart phone, and pre-internet/social media. we’re grateful to Solrac for his guidance and maps, and the many people who shared their experience on social media.
we do agree that it’s important to be prepared, and alert, travelling in any foreign country. we also thought, by the end of the trip, that Mexico gets a bit of an unfair bad rap for travellers.
be prepared, be realistic and enjoy the road less travelled ..
YMMV 😉
(500) days of paradise
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