How to get from Copan ruinas to Santa Ana via public buses in 2025!

Bree and I recently completed this trip back on the 27th of January 2025. The journey is pretty straightforward but it requires you to catch 5-6 different buses and will take you approximately 7-9 hours. But when comparing the total cost of this journey to the tourist shuttle price, you will find yourself saving $48.10AUD!! So if you’re excited for this local adventure then let us begin!

A white chathedral, blue sky, cobbled path

Tips before leaving:

If you wanna save some money on purchasing an eSIM card then we’d highly recommend you download the app Maps.me. This is a fantastic app that lets you download maps and pin important locations such as bus stops which is super handy for this trip. But If you prefer having some internet then we’d recommend picking up an eSIM before the journey. We use the app Airalo and you can purchase esims not only for individual countries but also ones that work for multiple which is perfect for this trip!
We’d recommend that you at least $20 usd equivalent for the journey to pay for buses and exchange currencies at the borders.
Leave as early as you can to avoid arriving at night and to avoid long waits at the borders.

Step 1 Copan ruinas to the Guatemala border

NOTE: I have provided links to the location of each bus stop however it is on Maps.me so I would highly recommend you download it as it will definitely come in handy on your trip :)

Alright first things first you will want to wake up and be ready to leave by no later then 9am for the journey ahead. The first transport is a colectivo (shared van) from Copan to the Guatemala border. I have linked the colectivo location here for you :)

As it is a colectivo it means they don’t run at set times and instead they depart once the vehicle is full of passengers. For us we arrived at 8am and waited about 20 minutes. The cost was 25 Lempira pp ($2 AUD) and the journey took about 15mins.

Once you are at the border you will need to pay a $3 usd exit fee for Honduras and then enter Guatemala (no entry fee, yay!). Both desks are conveniently located in the same building and are right next to each other!

A white building with the Guatemala and Honduras flag at the front. There is a parked car out the front of the building — The Honduras and Guatemala border

Step 2 - Border to Vado Hondo

Once you’ve entered Guatemala you will want to jump on a bus heading to Chiquimula. The bus is easy to find if you keep walking from the border but I’ve pinned the location here for you as well.

To ensure you get on the right one, your best bet is to ask the driver by saying “La frontera El Salvador”. This phrase will be your best friend on this journey so say it to every bus you get on even if you already know where its going. It’s always better to be safe then sorry. It’s also super important to say that phrase as they will charge you for about 3/4 of the journey.This means your ticket will include the required transportation to get you close to the border. The cost is 25 Quetzals ($5AUD) and we will talk more about how much you pay for the next 1/4 journey later.

Now, since you’ve told the bus driver where you are going, the driver will most likely drop you off at Vado Hondo so you can connect to a shuttle bus heading to the border. This town is the area before the bus turns right towards Chiquimula. Ive been the rough drop off spot here for you.

If for some reason you don’t get off there, don’t worry, the bus will drop you at the terminal in Chiquimula where you’ll the swap buses for the one heading to the El Salvador border. Again just ask people there and they’ll point you in the right direction :)

Step 3 - Vado Hondo to El Salvador border

The reason we say to get off in Vado Hondo is that it’ll save you an hour or so compared to if you went straight to Chiquimula. So what you’ll want to do as soon as you get off in Vado Hondo is to wait on the other side of the road and flag down any bus that’s going towards the border/ the town of Quezaltepeque.

We unfortunately didn’t take our own advice as once we got off the bus we had a local approach us straight away and ask where we are going. Once we said the border he showed us to the bus and loaded our bags in. However, this bus was first heading to Chiquimula and then turning around to head towards the border. This added on about an hour to our trip which in the end didn’t bite us in the bum to much but if you are doing this journey at a later time of the day, it’s best to ensure you get on the bus that’s already left Chiquimula and heading to the border.

Now it’s worth mentioning that some shuttle buses take you straight to the border while others stop in Quezaltepeque. We fortunately had the direct bus but if you don’t, you will just need to swap to a different one at the terminal in Quezaltepeque. Just remember the phrase “la frontera El Salvador” and some friendly local will point you to the right bus :)

On the journey from Quezaltepeque to the border is where you pay for the last 1/4 of the trip as previously mentioned. The bus attendant will come up and ask you for it and it will cost about 25 Quetzals ($5 AUD).

Once at the border you’ll exit Guatemala and depending on your passport you’ll then pay an entry fee for El Salvador. I as an Australian passport holder had to pay $12usd entry while Bree a New Zealand passport holder had to pay nothing. I’ve attached a photo below of the countries currently needing to pay and entry fee for El Salvador.

A sign with pictures of countries flag and the price of $12.00 — List of countries needed to pay entry fee into El Salvador

Step 4 - El Salvador border to Metapan

Once you’ve entered into El Salvador you’ll walk a short distance to the bus stop. Here there is only one bus and it will go to Metapan but always be sure to ask just to double check. The journey only cost 0.56 usd (90c AUD) and took 30 minutes.

2 paper tickets being held. The price of $0.56 is shown — Bus ticket from the border to Metapan

Fun fact

El Salvador doesn’t have their own currency. They use the US dollar and bitcoin!

Step 5 - Metapan to Santa Ana

Alright last one, we have almost made it! Once you arrive at the Metapan bus terminal it can be quite confusing. It’s not so much a terminal but rather many buses just parked on the street. So your best bet is to ask bus drivers for the one heading to Santa Ana and they’ll point you in the right direction or tell you to wait awhile for it to arrive. The cost for this bus is 80c usd ($1.20 AUD) and takes 1 hour and 15 minutes.

A man with a red backpack walking onto a bus. The his is green with the words “Santa Ana” written on it

Two paper tickets being held. The price of 0.80 is written on them

Breakdown

Alright there you have it, that’s how you can easily go from Copan Ruinas all the way to Santa Ana. For us, the total journey time was 7.5 hours and the total cost of the transportation (excluding border costs) was $14.10 AUD!

When compared to the cheapest tourist shuttle price of $40usd ($63 AUD) you save a whopping $48.10 AUD per person which is a lot especially for us backpackers!

We hope this blog has given you the confidence to take on the journey yourself and if you have any questions or updated information please leave a comment below.

Happy travels

Bree & Aiden