Robbery | Warning

November 12th, 2023 by TwonieProject.com

Road is now paved. Locals report there haven't been any robberies in over a year.

July 17th, 2023 by sonny jadun

Drove thru here today. All good. see photo. Road paved

February 3rd, 2023 by The.Savage.Skoolie~Youtube

Spoke with locals. In the past this was unpacked and you had to drive very slow allowing people to block your car and rob you. However. Now it is paved and cars drive very fast. No robberies since. It is now safe!!

February 4th, 2022 by FelixElGato

Drove it today and asked the local police in San Pedro how the situation was right now and if there were police in the area.
They told me their colleagues are patrolling the road so it should be fine for me to drive (without an escort).
Saw Police patrolling on a civilian pickup, two policemen next the dirt road and another Police car parked at the end of the tricky section in Santiago. The latter pulled me out for a "revision" though and wanted to check my papers etc.

January 26th, 2022 by Adriaan&Isabelle

We got here because I didn't pay enough attention to how the GPS was routing. I 'recognized' where we were once it was too late.

We saw lots of farmers with packed produce waiting for transportation along the road, one police team on a motorcycle. Nobody bothered us this Wednesday around 11:00 am.

September 20th, 2021 by ride2seetheworld

We drove from Santiago to San Pedro. The unpaved section was not easy with our motobikes. Some people around but no one stopped us. No bad experience.

June 17th, 2021 by tanguy.adriaenssen

We went through this section today on 2 ADV motos, we picked up a police escort in Santiago and they followed us through the rough section where the robbers tend to target slow vehicles. The section is very rough, I strongly advise high clearance vehicles only and if it’s wet, 4x4 certainly if doing it uphill (going west). The road is paved and in good condition from San Pedro till about 6kms from Santiago and then it turns to poop! There are a decent amount of people around that section (good or bad, don’t really know!) and we crossed a few vehicles too... I gave the cops (who were super friendly and helped us through the tough sections) Q100 each.
For the police escort we just went to the cop shop in Santiago and asked, 10 minutes later we were on our way with a nice pickup and 2 armed officers in tow. FYI a friend who lives here told us not to go without escort, he was robbed here a while back.
The alternative is the looooong way around!

December 29th, 2019 by tonyflynn

I mistakenly took this route today after Google maps rerouted as i was leaving San Pedro. Just coming onto the rough section two masked men jumped out of the bushes pointing a shotgun and handgun at me. They stole my phone and some other small items before running off.

November 19th, 2019 by AviusVisus

Drove from San Pedro to Chicacao with no problem. Left Tuesday 8am from San Pedro, took about an hour an Half to reach Chicacao. The unpaved part surely needs a 4x4.
Nothing else to say, drive safe.

April 30th, 2019 by t.a.storm

Meet two cops on bikes on the gravel section of this road. It is some km south of the GPS coordinates. They told us it is still dangerous and thus escorted us till the road turned paved again which is secure according to them.

February 21st, 2019 by WunderbareWelt

small update about security: I asked around and several locals in San Pedro told me that the road still is very dangerous because of robberies.
only drive with the police escort.
maybe interesting: driving from Santiago to San Pedro around the whole lake in decent speed takes around 4 hours.

September 21st, 2018 by Damien

We drove 9am on a Friday, no problem.

However leaving San Pedro we were stopped and asked for 5Q to leave town. It shouldn't be an exit fee, but we were warned there are thieves on the road and this pays the police to escort us. However the "police" had no firearms, old uniforms, and no motorcycle. They wanted a ride from us to Santiago. It seemed odd and not Ok, so we drove ourselves to Santiago without an escort.

April 2nd, 2018 by frederickdorandesigns

It was about 4.5 km of unos we road. We drove on a Monday around 2pm with no escorts and we had no problems.

March 7th, 2018 by Blue Van Go

Asked for the escort at San Pedro police station and they arranged for a couple of policemen on a motor bike to meet us where the pavement ended. No issues with the escort. It's quite a bumpy/sandy road.

February 2nd, 2018 by alvise

Tourist police could still escort you. Not a safe road. We decide to take one of the small public transportation boats from atitlan to go an visit San Pedro is quicker and cheaper that the gas we will need to go around the lake. Trying to minimize damage on the vehicle ...

January 25th, 2018 by planr.org

we were escorted by the police on motorbikes after asking in Santiago. they escorted us on the way back from san pedro again. saw truck passing with loads of tourists without police. But the police seemed to like the escort thingy, even took a picture with us. In the end we are better safe than sorry.

January 18th, 2018 by esmeralda.life

We drove this road on a Thursday late morning. Since we came by the Santiago police station anyhow (it is right on the road ),we asked if it is safe to drive to San Pedro. They gave a call to the motorcycle police who was then expecting us shortly after the beginning of the dirt road. They checked our passports, then escorted us to the paved area. As others mentioned too there is police presence on the dirt road but it certainly felt reassuring having the police escort.

December 28th, 2017 by desertfalcon

During working hours the road is safe now. There are 4 policemen along the dirt road section during working hours. If they see a vehicle with foreigners they offer to escort you til the end of the rough section.

According to statements of different locals, one should not use the road (or any other bad road in Guatemala) between Saturday noon til Monday morning as robberies take place mostly in that time frame.

December 6th, 2017 by rnrontheroad.com

Drove this road as route to the north was closed. Had been advised that security is better. Stopped where the dirt section begins to wait for another car. Police motorbike turned up, after checking our papers they escorted us to where paved section begins again. Other vehicles came past most with an armed guard in passenger seat.

July 6th, 2017 by DrivenToWander

Just south of the mark, starts 2km of dirt potholed road. Police on dirt bikes were hanging out under tree with some workers. When we asked if route was safe, one said yes and jumped on his bike and escorted us until just before the paved road began. What was most difficult was passing big trucks coming the other way, but otherwise just a regular white knuckle drive for a bit until the nice pavement started again. Another note, don't trust Google maps for getting through the small towns, they aren't up to date one one way roads!!

June 28th, 2017 by syncrox.de

There is police attendance now, during working hours (Mo-Fr, during the day). We were told not to drive the road during almuerzo time, on weekends and when it's dark, everything else should be fine. Indeed we saw two police men at this position. Maybe keep some coins ready for the pothole workers and kids!

June 26th, 2017 by Wir sind dann mal weg

We checked about the road condition one day in advance. We were told at the moment it's fine to drive (only during daylight). There hasn't been any robbery in the last months and the police drives up and down the road sometimes.
Several Kilometres of the road are nicely paved but there is also unpaved parts with huge potholes. As long you drive slow it should be all right.

April 9th, 2017 by Break-A-Way

We went to the policestation in Santiago Atitlan and ask about the safety. Very dangerous in the moment was the answer and so we get a eskorde by 3 Policeman. They sitting all in our Toyota Landcruiser with weapons in the hands. Also a lokal pickup had to drive in front of us and we were told to stay pretty close in the dust for beeing unvisible for the bandits... the road is very steep and exremly dusty. Also we crossed a car with broken windows on the side. So it seems for us pretty serious at the moment and we are really not easy to scare at all
The police where very friendly and helpful. They said Touris should come to the police, its happend many times a ropery at the last time.

April 6th, 2017 by instagram.com/wanderingfamvan

Police told us that the road is still very dangerous. Lots of robberies!

September 6th, 2016 by fergo

Pedimos a la policía que nos acompañe en el camino, muy amables se nos colgaron 3 agentes de la camioneta y nos escoltaron la parte mala del camino.

February 17th, 2016 by yvonneensuisse

Warning robbery! This 15km stretch between Santiago Atitlan and San Pedro La Laguna has a 3km dirt road where you have to drive very slowely (a good vehicle ia required but a good 2WD should be ok). We drove there on 31.01.16 and got robbed by two armed and masked people on this dirt stretch at 14h on a Sunday afternoon. Heard about another attempted robbery end of Jan 2016 at the same place. If you want to cross, ask the local police to escort you (they did this for us when we went back on the same road).

March 3rd, 2014 by acrosstheamericas.net

We took a police escort along with Vicente(excellent person from Casa Rosario Spanish school), it was much better road than we thought meaning it’s a dirt road but not that bad. May be just few kms. Felt a bit long for us as our brakes were smelling going down.

We reached the scenic part and told good bye to the policemen.

They took picture with us and were very friendly;-)