Blog

Towards the end of 2022 I decided to start my backpacking trip to Central America. At that point I had a hundred things on my mind and could only hope I wouldn’t forget anything important. Thinking back, I wish I would have had someone to tell me how to prepare for backpacking Central America.

To make the planning stage easier for you here are the 11 most important things you need to think about before you leave:

1. Where to go
2. Flights
3. Your first few days
4. Money, money, money
5. Exit tickets
6. Visas
7. Vaccinations
8. Insurance
9. Documents
10. Basic language
11. What to pack

1. Where To Go

First of all, I personally did not have a route layed out at all. When I left for Central America all I had was a ticket to Costa Rica and a volunteering position for the first 3 weeks. At that point I actually thought I would stay in Costa Rica until my tourist visa runs out. I thought I would travel around the country and go from one volunteering to the next to give myself enough time to decide which country I would go to next.

Well if you have been following me for a while you know that my route turned out totally different than I expected. In my opinion, a perfectly planned out route is not really necessary. In fact, I would say that if you are travelling more than a month it might be better to be spontaneous and see where it takes you.

Anyways I would recommend to prepare a list of places you would be interested in and don’t want to miss. In that way you have a general overview of where you could go. But if you do not know which places to visit – trust me when I say you will figure it out once you’re there. I’ve met so many people along the way that just told me about places they have been and so I got to add some places to my list and figure out where to go next at times.

In general, it is best to either go from North to South or the other way round. Not speaking from experience here as my route was a geographical mess. My route lead me back to Costa Rica four times over a time span of eight months. If you need some inspiration on where to go you can check out my other posts.

2. Flights

Obviously one of the most important things to get is your flight! When it was time for me to book, I was scared honestly. I postponed more and more until the price for the same flight was 300 € more expensive than when I first started looking. So, yes, I do understand that this is a huge step, cause I feel like once you book a flight – there is no going back anymore.

Anyways sooner or later you will have to book that flight! And for your own sake – just book it right away when you see a good price and don’t waste precious travel money just for waiting a few more weeks.

Flight Itineraries

A tip I would give you however is to make sure your flight itinerary makes sense and is doable. When I booked my flight from Austria to Costa Rica, I thought it would be just fine. Until I realized none of the flights were “Connected flights”. This means that you have to get your luggage, get out, check it in again, go through security and then to your gate BETWEEN your flights. And depending on how much time you have in between flights, this can be a real challenge or even impossible.

Long story short because of this mistake I had to get a last minute flight to Madrid the night before I was supposed to leave and spent another 300 € more. You can read the whole story here.

To sum it up, just check if 1) Your flights are connected and 2) If not, how much time you have between them. I would say calculate at least 3 hours or even more. Cause you never know if your first flight will be on time or not, or how long the queue at migration/the check-in counter/security is.

3. Plan Your First Few Days

Accomodation

Backpacking can be pretty spontaneous at times. However, before getting to a completely new destination I would definitely make sure to book accomodation at least for the first night. In that way you will be sure to have a bed to sleep in and know exactly where you will have to go from the airport.

Throughout my whole trip in Central America I used booking and hostelworld. Those are two apps to find and book accomodations around the world. You don’t need to book your whole trip in advance. In my experience it is usually enough to check a few days before getting to a new place. Sometimes I even booked on the same day or the night before and that still worked out just fine.

How To Get There

No matter if you have a whole route layed out or not – you should definitely check how you will get to your first destination/accomodation. As you will most likely fly into a big city it is important to know where to go from here. I usually tried to avoid big cities or get out of them as quickly as possible.

As mentioned before I had a volunteering opportunity secured before I got to Costa Rica. I flew into San José in the morning and had to get to Puerto Viejo. Before leaving I reserved a bus ticket and saved the location of the bus terminal. Especially in Costa Rica I found thebusincostarica helpful to know about bus schedules and if you have to buy a ticket in advance. In general you can check out centrocoasting for bus information in Central America.

Sim Card

Another important point to think about is how to stay connected during your travels. Especially on my first day in Costa Rica I did not want to risk getting lost or not being able to use a translator. In general I just knew I would feel safer if I know I can make calls/use the internet if I have to.

For the first few days I purchased an e-SIM from Airalo. I found their e-SIMs especially useful to be sure you are connected as soon as you land. In that way you will have coverage for the first few days and don’t have to worry about buying a SIM-card right away. They are easy to install and worked perfectly for me.

Once you really arrived and have time to buy a physical SIM-card (outisde the airport) I would go for Claro. They have cheap pre-paid options and with Claro sin Fronteras you will be able to use one SIM-card all the way from Mexico to Argentina. In that way you will not have to worry about having to buy a new card in every country you go to.

Cash

Be sure to have cash on you when you land! I found it useful to have US-Dollars as well as the local currency at all times with me. There are many places that do not accept cards, apart from the fact that you might have to pay a fee every time you pay with your card.

Cash is also needed to pay taxi drivers, bus tickets or snacks along the way. To get cash you can either just use a local ATM or exchange money at the airport for example.

4. Money, Money, Money

How much money should you save up?

How much money you need for your trip totally depends on you, your way of travelling and how long you want stay. I did not have a budget calculated before I left. However, I wanted to keep my expenses low in order to be able to travel as long as possible. But even while being on a budget I never said no to cool activities even if they were “out of budget”.

During my trip I kept track of all my expenses and now know how much to calculate for a trip like that. For 5 months in Central America I averaged at about 30 $ per day without flight costs. Flights always vary but if you take them into account as well my average was at 40 $ per day.

Which means that you should calculate about 900 – 1.200 $ per month. Of course this could be more and less as well, depending on the country you’re in, where you are staying or if you lower your costs for example through volunteering.

Other than your “spending money” you should also make sure to have a “safety net” in case there is an emergency. Of course I wouldn’t expect anything to happen but you never know when you need a doctor or a flight ticket back home for example.

Bank Cards and Cash

In general, you should always have some cash on you. Not just because you probably save on banking fees but also because not every place might take cards/some things are just always paid in cash like taxis, boats, busses etc. I would always try to have US-Dollars as well as the local currency on me. The local currency obviously can always be used, but sometimes it might be more convenient to pay in Dollars especially bigger amounts for tours etc.

5. Exit Tickets

Depending on the country you are travelling to you might need an exit ticket to show upon arrival. That means you will need a ticket that shows you are going to leave the country again which you will have to show to an immigration officer.

From my experience I usually needed those tickets when arriving by plane. When I crossed borders on land I mostly wasn’t asked for a ticket, except for one time I think.

Now you might think okay but what if you don’t know when you want to leave or where you want to go next? Yeah, I get that cause I had exactly the same thoughts. I didn’t want to buy a plane ticket that I might not even use in the end. So before I left for Costa Rica I purchased a bus ticket to Nicaragua. I knew I would get 90 days for my tourist visa so I knew I would have to leave Costa Rica at that point at the latest. The ticket cost only 30 $ so it was okay for me if I wouldn’t use it and end up loosing those 30 $ in case I decided to go somewhere else.

6. Visas

Now on this topic I can basically only speak for Austrians but I think most European countries would have the same or similar requirements. You can look up visa requirements on the country’s government website or your home country’s government page.

However, as an Austrian I did not have to worry about applying for any visas in Central America. All of them were granted upon arrival and stamped in my passport (YEY to collecting passport stamps). Usually they should allow you 90 days as a tourist in the country. However, this technically depends on the migration officer so they might give you more or less days too.

Be prepared to answer questions like “Where are you staying?”, “How long are you staying?” or “What is your job?”. Make sure to know answers to those questions, maybe also in Spanish as not every immigration officer speaks English.

Entry / Exit fees

At some border crossings you will have to pay an exit or entry fee. This fee usually has to be paid in cash – and sometimes even specifically in one currency. How much that fee is varies from border to border and country to country. However, I usually got all the information I needed either online or from fellow travellers at my hostels. Oh and if there is a fee to pay there is usually also a little paper you will get in exchange for it – make sure to keep that paper at least until you fully crossed the border.

Border Runs

Another interesting fact about tourist visas in Central America: Everytime you enter a country, you will get a new stamp granting you another up to 90 days. This means if you have been for example in Costa Rica for 90 days already but want to stay longer you can do a “border run” to renew your visa. That means you will have to leave the country (to Panamá or Nicaragua for example) and then return to get another 90 days in Costa Rica.

Keep in mind: Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras all are part of the CA-4 agreement. This means those four countries share the 90-day limit, which means you have 90 days in all of those four countries together, not 90 days in each country. It also means you can not renew your visa within this area. You would need to go to Costa Rica or Belize for example in order to get another 90 days in that region.

7. Vaccinations

Vaccinations are another important thing to consider before starting your trip. Before I left for Central America I started a google search – but there are so many different pages and opinions and depending on where you go there are other recommended vaccines.

That was totally overwhelming for me so I asked my doctor for advice. However, she did not know specifics about required or recommended vaccinations in Central America. I found out that there is a Tropical Institute in Vienna which provides exactly that service.

I got an appointment and got to talk to a doctor who knows all about the vaccinations you might need on such a trip. Because I did not know where exactly I would go and also said I will probably be travelling through South America as well – he actually told me to get a total of five different vaccines.

As I was there literally on the last day possible – he gave me four of them back to back, which knocked me out for a few minutes lol. But after that I was fine and ready to go. However I had to get two rabies vaccinations “on the way” in Portugal as the second dose has to be given after seven days.

Anyways, I am obviously not a doctor and can’t tell you what you should or should not get. If you have an Institution like that in your country, it would probably be best to make an appointment there. However, if you do plan to visit South America, you might need a Yellow Fever vaccination, as this is an entry requirement in some countries.

8. Insurance

As for insurance – I would definitely recommend to get a health insurance. There are specific insurance companies offering coverage for travellers. This again depends on your nationality but for Austrians I can recommend Young Travellers.

You should be looking for an insurance that covers all medical expenses like doctors appointments, medication, hospital bills, ambulances as well as a return flight in case you would need one.

I know that some people might say this is not necessary but speaking from experience: Just get one. Of course one would hope that you never get sick and won’t need a doctor during your trip. But if you do need a doctor, that could cost you anything between 25 $ in Panamá up to 900 $ in Canada (again speaking from experience here).

All in all I had paid more than 1.600 $ for medical bills in five months in Central America and three months in Canada. So yes, I was very happy to have an insurance that paid all of those expenses back.

If you carry camera gear or a laptop, it would be advisable to cover theft or damage of those things too.

9. Documents

Passport

Speaking of documents, your passport is obviously the most important document you will need on your trip. Make sure that it is valid long enough (check country’s entry requirements) and take photocopies of it with you. Those copies should ideally be stored in different pockets of your backpack, in case of theft.

In some cases you might also need a passport picture. However, so far I have not come across that situation.

Driver’s License

Your driver’s license will come in handy whenever you want to rent a scooter or car. In some cases it might also be beneficial to have an international license. This is a document that you can get in your home country before leaving.

Vaccination Card

This is specifically necessary when you are travelling to/from a Yellow Fever risk country. You might need to have proof of a vaccination against Yellow Fever upon entry.

Others

In general I would make sure to have all your documents scanned and saved in a cloud as well. In case something gets stolen or lost this will make it easier for you to get a new document. Personally, I also have scans of other documents such as birth certificate or proof of residency saved, just in case I need them (like in my case: a spontaneous work visa application for Canada).

10. Basic Language

Honestly I didn’t speak any Spanish when I started my trip. However, I did write down a few phrases that I thought could be useful like “Where is the bus stop?” “How much is it?” or “Where can I find …”. You can simply google those phrases and write them on a little cheat sheet until you remember them.

You could also download a translator so you can always have a little support if you need it. Although I survived without speaking Spanish, it definitely would have been easier if I did.

After travelling in Central America for around 2,5 months, I was sick of not being able to talk to locals. So I finally decided to take Spanish lessons. After my first 10 classes I noticed that I learned a lot even in just one week, so I kept going. I am still learning and still taking lessons and can’t wait to be back in Latin America and be able to talk some Spanish this time.

11. What To Pack

And one of the most asked questions: What should you pack for a backpacking trip to Central America?

First of all, I would definitely recommend to take a big and a small backpack with you. Central America is just not a place you would want to roll around your huge suitcase, especially if you want to travel around a lot.

As for packing itself, here is a list of essentials you should definitely take with you:

For a full version of what to pack you can check out this post.

And with all of the above checked off your list – You should be ready to go on your big adventure!

I hope you found this post useful! Check out my other posts for more info and stories from Central America!

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you click on one of them, I may receive a small comission at no additional cost to you. Thank you.