El Amatillo, El Salvador to El Amatillo, Honduras | Customs and Immigration

Honduras

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Verified:
about 2 months ago
Altitude:
66.0 masl
Contributor:
Song of the Road

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Normal crossing procedures but can be slow. Very friendly and professional officials

Make sure you have originals and COPIES of all your documents.

Park on bridge and walk to yellow hut on right to show vax cert, so you can pass. you can show also a covid negative proof, and they barely look at it.

Complete online pre-check, up to 3 days before crossing. 35usd for vehicle. 3usd for passport. ask for receipts (boleto)

In addition, just for dogs... make sure you declare your dogs here at the SEPA and get the paperwork with the stamp. when we came through and got our tip they did a quick visual inspection and saw we had dogs but didn't seem interested in charging us to enter. but you will absolutely need this paper at the border to leave Honduras. they wanted us to drive all of the way back to the border station we crossed at to get it. but with some pleading they allowed us to fill out the proper papers and get them stamped without the long drive back. we were told we needed that exit paper for the dogs from Honduras to get the paperwork done at the IPSA, but Nicaragua didn't ask to see the old papers.

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Went through by bike with no major issues. I exchanged USD for Honduran lempira on the El Salvador side for what was a fair price, then approached the window to get stamped out. You get a receipt that you then give the guard to cross the bridge into Honduras.

On the Honduran side, only one window was able to process US citizens, so I had a short wait. Paid the $3 USD entry fee and answered a few questions and was on my way. I did the pre check 10 days prior, but was not asked about it nor required to show it, so I don’t know if that’s still in effect.

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Entry Honduras (for exit El Salvador see post on "Immigration and Customs Control Puente La Amistad" pin)
We arrived at about 10am on a Friday morning. A helper was driving on a bicyle in front of us from the El Salvador Immigration office and pointed us to park next to the blue/white building. We did and he showed us the line for the immigration office and told us that they had a power outage. Friends of ours crossed a few weeks earlier and the power was gone then as well, so it might be something to be prepared for. They told us it was because of some heavy rains in the area the days before, but who knows. The power outage meant that they had to go to the El Salvador side to process the TIP application - at least that is what they told us, might be well true since the TIP included a printed paper and with no power they couldn't have done that on side. Long story short - we ended up using the helpers (Rene Torres & Olman Cardenez). We gave them copies of the driver's license, vehicle papers and the cancelled El Salvador TIP. Then they arranged for us to move ahead in the immigration lane and once we got our stamps went with us to a store close by (which had a generator running) to get copies of our entry stamps. Then we waited - we meanwhile had moved our truck to the parking area behind the building (coming from EL Salvador) - next to our truck. Rene went off with the papers for the TIP (all copies) and Olman waited together with us - even got some water for us. It took about 1.5h for the TIP to be completed - Rene first told us it would be $40/vehicle (we carry an ATV) for the TIP. We told him, that we read that it's 787 Lempiras or $35. We then went to the customs counter together - the official there initially also told us the fee would be $40 - again we said that can't be, then he said o.k. $70 for both vehicles.
We paid $20 to Rene and Olman for their services - probably a bit too much. Nobody looked at the vehicle or verified VIN.

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El Salvador --> Honduras

El Salvador:
1) At the gate just before the big roundabout, an agent checks your TIP.
2) At the roundabout turn right to cancel your TIP. Pass the gate, pass the scanner on your right and park next to the white building on your left. The one with numbers and unloading docks. On the far left is a small door with the writing "Concadores vista", this is where you have to stamp your TIP.
3) Return to the roundabout, pass under the "Bienvenidos a El Salvador" portico and turn right. Drive about 700m.
4) On the left is a white Adouana building, park under the portico and go to the last immigration counter. Here he checks the passports, the stamped TIP, and the agent gives you a white exit ticket (all passengers must present themselves).
5) Before the building is a shop, make 2 photocopies of the TIP stamp there for 0.25$US (only one copy was finally necessary for us).
6) Drive to the bridge, a first agent will ask you for the white tickets and keep them. A 2nd will verify your original TIP.
--> about 30 minutes of procedures

Honduras:
1) Go straight to the pretty blue and white "Adouana" building and park on the street. Be careful there are a lot of "helpers" and children, you have to ignore them.
2) Go to the Entrada counter and wait for your turn (1 hour wait for us). Here they check your passport, take your fingerprints and a photo. All passengers must present themselves. You have to pay 3$US or 75L per person. You get a passport receipt. FYI if you pay in US$ they give change in lempiras at the rate of US$1 for 25L.
3) Opposite is the office to carry out the TIP, office with all the traveler stickers. You need a copy of the passport, driver's license, vehicle registration document, stamped El Salvador TIP. They also need the original passport and El Salvador TIP. You have to pay 35$US or 787L (a "mobile money changer" walks around the building, 24L for 1$US, so it's more profitable to pay in lempiras). The agent does not even ask to see the vehicle!
4) It's over, at the exit of the "city", a checkpoint controls your TIP. If you continue north, a second military checkpoint checks your TIP and your passports.
--> about 1h40mn of procedures

NB: no more process for Covid, you don't have to fill up the online form and no vaccination proof requested.

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Leaving Honduras 3PM
- immigration office - exit stamp
- TIP office (aduana) give original document and done.
Entering Salvador
- Police check passport
- Immigration office - check passport - no stamp
- Custom (aduana) office for TIP
- Original passport + vehicle registration : they do the copy they need
- Getting TIP in 5min
- 2 police check point under the arches. Only asked for TIP. 4:15PM

Sortie Honduras 15h
- bureau immigration tampon sortie
- Bureau TIP, redonner le TIP original
Entrée Salvador
- contrôle passeports par la police
- Bureau immigration vérification passeport - pas de tampon pas de frais
- Bureau douane pour TIP. Passeport +titre du véhicule (ils font eux-mêmes les copies nécessaires)
- Émission du TIP en 5min
- Deux contrôles du TIP sous les arches (tampon) 16h15

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What 2marmosets and opusonthemove have written is correct and current as of July 13, 2023.

Immigration didn’t have change for a $10 to pay 2 x $3 entry fees, so we paid in Lmp. The money exchangers gave us 24 Lmp per 1 USD.

For the TIP, Aduana only accepts USD and only $35 exactly. No Lmp, no card.

Have any hotel address ready for immigration if you plan on spending time in Honduras.

Whole process took us 2.5 hours (with a dog), but we got unlucky arriving right after a bus full of people. I imagine in most cases that you will get through faster.

Nobody even looked inside our van. Everyone super friendly. Long lines, but organized. Receipts for everything.

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Just an update:
Customs on the Honduras side tried charging us $40 for the TIP. The actual price for the TIP in Limp is 651.88. Along with that, there’s an additional fee of 135 for something else to which we weren’t given any receipt of.

In total, it adds and converts to about $32 but they do not accept anything below $35. So, when they ask for $40, ask for $5 back.

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EDIT on YELLOW FEVER requirement comment below

After some research, I discovered that there are certain nationalities that require the yellow fever vaccine. Even as I am born in Scotland and I have the british passport, they asked me as I travel with my brazilian passport. There are no comments about this as most people I have met are from EU or north america.
Sorry if I scared you and safe travels!

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Dear overlanders, I'd like to add an information that on this day they asked me for YELLOW FEVER proof right after crossing the bridge to here before the blue building. It was an official and I told him I would show inside because I had to download it first. I was asked inside by the passport checking person then. She just checked my phone's screen very quickly. I asked a third AND A FOURTH Aduana Officer and she said it is required, however 3 friends crossed 3 days ago and did not get asked!

Additional information: get Lempiras in the boue building with the officials or ES side. I got 1USD=24 Lempiras to pay my TIP which saved me some dollars. The 3$ fee described I paid in dollars as it didn't make a difference. YOU CAN PAY IT ALL IN DOLLARS IF U WANT!

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SALVADOR - HONDURAS

ENG (French below)

- First stop under the arch. Exit stamp on TIP
- Pass the long line of trucks.
- Second arch. Check exit stamp.
- Roundabout, turn right to a toll booth for trucks. Copy of TIP. They keep the original.
- Leave the area through same roundabout, back under « welcome to Salvador » head to immigration office. White building.
- Check passport and give an exit receipt.
- Make 2 copies of TIP Salvador with exit stamp.
- Drive to final checkpoint, give one copy of TIP.
- Honduras Side
- First stop, check passport and give a « health receipt » without health/vaccine checkup.
- Park close to immigration building. Head to « entrada » counters.
- Pay 3$ per person to check passport and get our fingerprints. They give a receipt.
- TIP counters are covered with travelers stickers.
- Driver’s passport copy, driving licence, registration of vehicle and Salvador TIP copy.
- Rapid check of the vehicle, asked for our original plate.
- Get Honduras TIP. Pay 35$ cash.
- Dog owners
- Drive about 400m, turn right to El Salvador. Turn around to access SEPA office #4
- Check vet certificate, owner passport copy, vehicle registration, vaccine record.
- Get the SEPA paper, pay 300L (12$ by card) and let them take a picture of the dog.

- tampon de sortie du TIP au premier arrêt sous l’arche.
- Passer la longue file de camions à l’arrêt.
- Deuxième arche : vérification du tampon de sortie.
- Rond-point à droite, péage à camion. Copie du TIP. Ils gardent l’original.
- Sortir du rond-point, reprendre sous le panneau « bienvenue au Salvador » puis se diriger vers l’immigration du Salvador. bâtiment blanc à gauche. Vérification passeports, émission du ticket de sortie.
- Faire 2 copies du TIP de sortie tamponné.
- Rouler jusqu’au dernier point de contrôle : donner une copie du TIP de sortie.
- Côté Honduras
- Premier arrêt : vérification passeports + émission ticket département sanitaire
- Se garer près du bâtiment immigration. Aller aux guichets « entrada »
- Donner tickets sortie Salvador.
- Payer 3$ par personne pour contrôle passeport + empreintes digitales. (Reçu taxe migratoire)
- Bureau des TIP : 2 guichets recouverts de stickers de voyageurs.
- Copies passeport, titre du véhicule, permis conduire + TIP sortie Salvador.
- Contrôle rapide du véhicule + plaque immatriculation originale.
- Émission du TIP Honduras. 35$ cash
- Rouler 400m puis reprendre direction Salvador, faire demi tour jusqu’au bureau SEPA #4 pour contrôle sanitaire.
- Certificat Veterinaire, copie carnet vaccination, passeport propriétaire, titre du véhicule.
- Émission de l’autorisation de transit international du chien. 300L à payer en carte + photo du chien.

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Exactly as @opusonthemove has described it. The guy from customs (who’s name is Darwin) told us is better for us to exchange our dollars instead of paying him straight with dollars because we’ll get a better rate, he even told us the exchange rate we should ask for. Very easy and simple to exchange the dollars outside the blue and white building. Exchange rate for us was: 24. Darwin also kindly did 2 photocopies of our vehicle permit when I asked him.

Very easy and simple border crossing. Took us also 1 hour and a half to get everything done.

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Steps on the Honduras side for entering today:
-Park on the bridge and enter little yellow building at the end of the bridge on the right for covid check.
-We had done the online precheck, we were never asked for a paper copy or to see it on our phone. Not sure if we were in their system or not. They checked our passports, and took one of our temperatures with a gun on our hand. No check of vaccine or covid test records. Gave us a receipt.
-Drive a little further and park to the right of the entry to the blue and white building. Enter building and go to migration window on the right. Agent took the Covid receipts and $6USD for two of us. Did fingerprints and photo of face and we were in.
-Then go to Aduana on other side of building (still inside, lots of overland stickers on window) Aduana agent came out and did a very cursory check of vehicle. Needed one copy each of Title, Drivers license, Passport, Registration, and cancelled El Salvador TIP. Never even looked at originals. We thought we would be able to pay in USD, but she would not accept it, so we changed it for Lempira with one of the money changers. Paid 787 Lempira (needed exact change, had to go back to money changer 2nd time to get it.)
-We did not get any copies of TIP made, final checkpoint further down the road did not ask for it and let us through with a smile.
-Total crossing time El Salvador to Honduras 1 hour 15 minutes.

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I first tried to cross here a week ago, but due to my having a visa extension from Guatemala that was more than a month old, I was refused entry, the rationale being that Honduras only permits extensions of 30 days, so no matter what an extension issued in another country says, if it's more than 30 days old, you're not able to use it to coss the 3 hours to Nicaragua. (I was escorted from the building, my passport taken from me and given to the guy guarding the bridge, with instructions not to return it to me until I was in my van heading back across to El Salvador, and they threatened to call the police - who were stood behind them the whole time - if I continued to argue. Essentially I guess I was deported. Has to be said that these guys are a stark contrast to the Salvadoreño border authorities, who are absolute sweethearts!)

One sweaty round trip to the Mexican border and several tanks of fuel later, I'm now safely on the Honduran side where I wanted to be! I asked again as I crossed, and was told that in fact there is a process for people with expired visas, which is to fine them 265 USD and issue them with a 5-day transit visa. I had asked about this to the jefe in charge when I first tried to cross and was told that no such thing existed. So, take your chances I guess - if I were to have my last few months over I would absolutely have made the trip to Mexico from Antigua to get a new visa rather than extending it in Guatemala City, and saved myself some days and my bank and the ozone layer the effects of buying so much extra fuel!

In terms of practicalities - they wouldn't accept cards at the immigration or aduana; payment in cash lempiras or USD only (38 USD total for passport stamp and TIP).

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As previously described:

Before the river either park on the bridge and go into the little grey building to the right shortly after to do your Covid-Check (other overlanders didn’t have to do that a day before us) or deive through to the blue and white building.

Park in front of it. Go first to the right side, which is the immigration for Honduras. Let them Check the passport- costs 3$, and little Covid-approve-paper (if you‘ve done it) and let them take your finger prints, get the stemp done.

now go to the opposite side (aduena covered in lots of overland-stickers) and get the TIP for the car, still35$. took us a bit longer, bc the lady didn’t understand the canadian titel/insurance paper (which is one paper) and our international drivers license. ask if they can make copies for you. with some patience and smiles we made it under an hour.

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we just crossed from el salvador to honduras, it was easy but slow. as per today they still ask for covid proof (we are not vaccinated so we had pcr that we did at el salvador because we're going to Nicaragua and they ask for it) but the lady barely looked at them, and she gave us a little paper.
then we went to the immigration office, they asked our passport & prechequeo paper, took our fingerprints and 3 dollars (that we payed in cash & dollars). in front of that desk you will ser another one full of traveller's stickers, that is where you wanna go to do your TIP for honduras. was an easy process, maybe took 20min and we payed 35$ in dollars and in cash. then we went to the SEPA office for our dog, we had a bit of a trouble finding out where was the office but basically you need to pass the aduana and then in the roundabout take the right where all the trailers are and find a green modulo- an officer said they were at lunch break (it was 12h30) but when we arrived they were not. they looked briefly at our dog, took a picture, charged us 300 lempiras that we payed with our debit card (you can actually only pay with card) and they did our transit permit. we don't have the official permit with the stamps for the dog and for the moment it was never a problem, just in guatemala but at the end he let us pass, we have a normal health certificate made by our vet.

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Sortie du Honduras
1)Se stationner en avant du grand bâtiment bleu et blanc. À l'intérieur, commencer par l'aduana.
2) À l'aduana, ils reprennent le papier du TIP tout simplement. Pas d'autre démarche.
3) À gauche de la fenêtre de l'aduana, faire la file pour l'immigration du côté SALIDA (sortie). Obtenir les estampes dans le passeport.
Entrée au El Salvador
1) Rouler jusqu'au bâtiment avec 2 voies couvertes. Se stationner en avant du bâtiment.
2) Aller à la fenêtre de l'immigration pour la vérification des passeports (Pas d'estampe pour entrer au El Salvador).
3) On a du aller au bâtiment d'administration environ 1 km plus loin pour réactiver notre TIP qui avait été suspendu 2 mois auparavant. (voir icône d'aduana sur iOverlander)
Super simple. Personnel aidant.
_____
Exit from Honduras
1) Park in front of the large blue and white building. Inside, start with the aduana.
2) At the aduana, they simply take the paper from the TIP. No other step.
3) To the left of the aduana window, line up for immigration on the SALIDA side (exit). Obtain the prints in the passport.
Entry to El Salvador
1) Drive to the building with 2 covered lanes. Park in front of the building.
2) Go to the immigration window for passport verification (No stamp to enter El Salvador).
3) We had to go to the administration building about 1 km further to reactivate our TIP which had been suspended 2 months before. (see aduana icon on iOverlander)
Super simple. Helping staff.

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The Passport checkout El Salvador is before the River! make here at a copy shop 2! copies of the checked out El Salvador TIP! 1 takes a policeman behind and the 2nd is for the "Aduana" in Honduras!
New Honduras TIP costs 35$ cash. Passport Check-in costs 3$ pP Cash.
both in the same building. not necessary to change into Honduras currency.

No more health things necessary!!!
We were Friday noon here, all together (incl. checkout El Salvador) less than 90 minutes! did the online pre check a few days before and gave a print to the passport costumer.
update: 1 day later friends of us were ask about health things...

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Entrée El Salvador --> Honduras
***** Faire le prechequeo jusqu'à 7 jours à l'avance https://prechequeo.inm.gob.hn/Login *******
Arrivée vers 7h30 AM. Ça nous aura pris en tout 2h40.
- Traverser la longue filée de camion. Tourner à droite. Au bout de la route, il y a un gros bâtiment qui a l'air d'un entrepot. C'est là qu'il faut aller suspendre notre TIP pour le véhicule. Ils gardent l'original et nous laisse une copie. Pour le retour, il faudra passer par ici pour réactiver notre TIP. Si jamais vous pensez à leur demander une copie de plus, ça sera fait pour l'entrée au Honduras.
- Pour obtenir l'estampe de sortie du Salvador, on se stationne en dessous de la route couverte pour aller à la fenêtre de la migracion. Ils veulent voir tous les membres de la famille.

Entrée au Honduras:
- Se stationner sur le pont pour aller à casita jaune. C'est la place pour le check COVID. Il faut remplir le formulaire en ligne pour les adultes seulement. Non nécessaire pour les enfants. L'infirmière ne fait que s'assurer que c'est rempli. J'ai l'impression qu'on pourrait écrire n'importe quoi. Elle s'en fout. Elle prend la température, demande ton âge et regarde les preuves vaccinales. Elle remet un papier blanc signé pour «l'attestaition COVID».
- Avancer avec le VR vers la grande batisse blanche et bleue de la migracion du Honduras.
- Faire le fil eud côté Entrada. Ils prennent l'empreinte des 2 mains pour les adultes et la photo pour tout le monde. C'est long. Ça coûte 3$ US par personne.
- Traverser de l'autre côté de la pièce vers l'aduana. Ils ont besoin d'une copie du TIP annulé du Salvador, une copie du passeport du conducteur, du permis de conduire du conducteur et de l'immatriculation du véhicule. C'est long. Ça coûte 35$ US.
- Vous êtes good to go!
_______
Entry El Salvador --> Honduras

Arrival around 7:30 AM. It will have taken us in all 2h40.
- Cross the long line of trucks. Turn right. At the end of the road, there is a big building that looks like a warehouse. This is where we have to hang our TIP for the vehicle. They keep the original and leave us a copy. For the return, you will have to go through here to reactivate our TIP. If you ever think of asking them for one more copy, it will be done for entry into Honduras.
- To get the El Salvador exit stamp, park below the covered road to go to the migracion window. They want to see all the family members.

Entry to Honduras:
- Park on the bridge to go to yellow casita. This is the place for the COVID check. You must complete the online form for adults only. Not necessary for children. The nurse just makes sure it's full. I feel like we could write anything. She does not care. She takes the temperature, asks your age and looks at the vaccine evidence. She hands over a signed white paper for the “COVID certificate”.
- Advance with the RV towards the large white and blue building of the migracion of Honduras.
- Make the eud thread on the Entrada side. They take the imprint of the 2 hands for the adults and the photo for everyone. It's long. It costs US$3 per person.
- Cross to the other side of the room towards the aduana. They need a copy of the canceled TIP from El Salvador, a copy of the driver's passport, driver's license and vehicle registration. It's long. It costs US$35.
- You are good to go!

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El Salvador border. ithe aduana is not where you exit your vehicle from El Salvador. it's about 5 minutes up the road. bypass all the trucks and go on the other lane if you are driving at night.

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Had to drive and stop at 7 different places for different things.
1. controle TIP (copie a lot of documents)
2. cancelling TIP
3. pasport check out
4. covid list, scan QR code, fill in and get a receit
5. give receit
6. pasport check honduras
7. new TIP, took us longer than 1,5 hours and we where the only one. Dont know why but I guess he had to write our documents in the computer for more than 50 times..We now memorise every sticker on the windows

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Stopped at the yellow building on the bridge to show vax proof, prechequo, and they wanted to see a screen shot of the health form completion as well.

Then on to immigration. They only take small US bills ($1, $5, or $10) for the $3/pp entry fee. Aduana ladies were very nice but paying the $35 car fee was rough.

The only bank to pay the Aduana fee now is Banco de Occidente. It had a HUGE line outside of over 50 people when I arrived to pay my TIP a little after 9am. A security guard outside said I had to wait in it, but that's not true. Tell the guard at the door who lets people in that you're there to pay your Aduana paperwork and they'll send you to the special window just for that. You must pay it in Lempira. They will not accept USD. So you'll have to walk all the way back to the exchange guys at the immigration office and their rate is really, really bad. Get $35 USD worth of Lempira for your Honduran TIP anywhere but at Honduras Immigration.

Once the TIP was paid, the rest went quickly. Staff in the immigration building were friendly and helpful.

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addition just for dogs...
make sure you declare your dogs here at the SEPA and get the paperwork with the stamp. when we came through and got our tip they did a quick visual inspection and saw we had dogs but didn't seem interested in charging us to enter. but you will absolutely need this paper at the border to leave Honduras. they wanted us to drive all of the way back to the border station we crossed at to get it. but with some pleading they allowed us to fill out the proper papers and get them stamped without the long drive back. we were told we needed that exit paper for the dogs from Honduras to get the paperwork done at the IPSA, but Nicaragua didn't ask to see the old papers.

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Complete the prechequeo online before arrival and have a QR code to show at the bridge or you may not be allowed to proceed. You can only fill it out up to 3 days before your crossing date. I was held up in filling out the form a few days ago by the short term date options and the fact there is no option to select for a private vehicle entry when you choose land transportation. When I inquired with the staff requiring the precheck, she said to just choose “transportes del sol” as your ground transport! Luckily we were able to get Claro cell service and finish the forms, but added an hour of time to the long day.
Immigration and aduana are in the same building. No passport stamp just a small white slip stamped with date and saying you paid $3. Today TIP was $40 paid directly to aduana staff. Nicely ask for a copy of your new TIP from aduana and you may get one. You will need to hand one over when leaving the border area.

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We crossed before from Honduras to El Salvador and today from El Salvador to Honduras.

You don’t need anyone helping you, it’s an easy border crossing. The one to El Salvador is the easiest and you dont even need ti pay anything. You don’t get a stamp in your passport though which kind of confused us.

To get into Honduras isn’t hard, but it takes a lot of time. When you reach the immigration building, someone will ask for your El Salvadorian original TIP, a copy of your license and passport. They will start the whole proces if making the TIP while you wait in line to enter Honduras with your passport. Follow all the steps and you’ll be fine. Have at least a few copy’s of everything. We paid 785 lempiras for the car (at the aduanas) and 75 lempiras for our entry. Took us about 2 hours total.

Note: when leaving the border town, we were asked to give a copy of our new TIP. We had to go back to get one.

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Quitter El Salvador environ 30 min

1-Passer les camions et rouler sur les gars en bleu.

2-1er checkpoint dans l'auto. Ils prennent le TIP

3- Passer à la guérite 30 mètres plus loin à gauche

4- Faire une photocopie des papiers qu'ils tamponnent (petit bureau directement à côté) et redonner les papiers au gars d'avant.

5- Rouler quelques minutes et passer les camions. Se garer au gros Building des Aduanas et migracion. Aller au bureau (5 dernières fenêtres) = Tampon de sortie du pays.

Entrer au Honduras environ 45 min à 1h 

1-Se stationner sur le pont et aller directement au bureau de la Salud (au bout du pont à droite). Montrer le test PCR, la dame remet un papier, et prend votre température et vous demande votre âge.

2- Reprendre la voiture, se stationner devant le gros building au bout du pont (en plein milieu)

3- Entrer et faire la Migracion (côté droit en entrant) (3$US par pers), ils prennent les empreintes des deux mains et prennent une photo de vous.

4- Dans le même building (côté gauche en entrant) faire le TIP. Présenter le TIP ou Copie du Salvador (ils font un copier coller manuel...)

5- Partir et remonter une dernière fois les doc à l'agent.

Frontière plutôt facile. Si vous allez directement au Nicaragua conserver les documents proches. On s'est fait demander par 3 barrages de flics sur 6

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The helpers will constantly harass you regardless of if you look at them or not. This is an easy border. Just get your passport looked at and temp checked at the bridge and then park at the big building in the middle of the road to go to the aduana. We told our helper 3 times that we don't need him and we won't pay him before he finally left at the end of the bridge.

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Fairly easy process, crossed with two motorcycles. Follow the past comments and you’ll be fine. Don’t even look at the people in the light blue shirts, they will constantly follow and berate you if you ask a question. Just walk bye them and go straight to the window, it’s not too hard if you just talk to the actual immigration officers…

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watch out for the scammer helpers in El Salvador wearing official looking blue polo shirts, they aren't even allowed into the customs building in honduras. when you cross the bridge to honduras you need to park on the bridge then line up at the little yellow shack on the right to show your vax certificate or test result before they let you drive off the bridge. in the customs building - get their at 6am and you can pay them $35usd rather then paying at the bank. $3usd each for passport stamp. receipts (boleto) given for both. insurance not requested but purchased via todo riesgo in Guatemala City via email.

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You need originals and copies of:
Precheqeo (just the pdf emailed to you is fine)
Passports
Covid vax cards (or test results, presumably, we had cards)
Driver's license
Vehicle registration
Vehicle title

We had to pay a bribe to get in without our original title; we only had copies. It started at $150 and ended up being $50 after some verbal sparring

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Pretty much as described, the whole operation took us 2 hours for 2 people and 2 motos.
No cost to exit ES very easy and friendly
Honduras entry:
$3 per passport
$35 per moto for the tip (paid right there at the Aduana. Easy
That’s it…
Honduras side is slow but at least you are inside an A/C building (bonus!) and everyone was very friendly.
We arrived with a tone of copies of everything but really didn’t need many, Honduras made all their own (also bonus, keep em for Nicaragua!)
Definitely no need for tramistas who will definitely make it sound like it is so difficult but… not so.
No checks of the bikes, luggage, VIN numbers… nada, all very easy.

Good luck. And don’t forget your online prechequeo!

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If you have a vaccination card, you do not need PCR in edition to it! 90 minutes in total, no other foreigners at the border at the time, cross before and after lunch breaks, so you don't have to wait for them!

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We are on bikes, crossed from El Salvador into Honduras.

El Salvador’s side:
We got there around 12:30, thought it was going to be closed due lunch but it was not. The officer was super kind. He asked for our passports, stamped them. It took 5 min.
He asked if we had done the pre chequeo for Honduras, we had. He said “good! Because they won’t let you in if you have not done it.”
He gave us a little ticket to each of us, and said bye.

We decided to exchange money right in front of this office. We wanted to avoid how hectic it can be to exchange money on the Honduran side. Rate May/2021 was $1 = 22 lempiras.

Onced we were done on ES side, we biked for about 2 minutes and before we crossed the bridge that connects ES to Honduras an immigration officer (police) stopped us, kindly asked for the tickets we got at the immigration office, and asked to check our front bike bags (those on the handlebars). We opened the bags, the check lasted less than 15 seconds. Then he said goodbye and off we were to the Honduran border.

At the end of the bridge a Honduran officer will greet you and ask for your passport and your **printed** precheo (this is the document you get on your email once you complete the online pre chequeo) Then he will check you got the stamp in ES. After that he sends you to a small office where a Nurse asks for your passport, and for the original Covid tests. Important: HAVE EXTRA COPIES, she will ask for a copy of your test. She will take your temperature and then will give you a paper slip you will bring to the next and last checkpoint.

1 minute of biking down to the next and last checkpoint where they will check your tests again, check your passports, get your fingerprints, take a photo of you, and lastly they will stamp your passport. Here we each paid $1.50 (we paid in US dollars). This is the fee for cyclists. Make sure you have small bills or coins, makes it easier.

Things to have before the border:
- Copies(2) and original Covid test
- Copies (2) of your Pre chequeo
- Copies of passports (this they did not ask us for but they ask the person before us, so, random!)
- $ small bills to pay fee. Cyclists pay $1.50

Good luck !

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Took us about 2 hours total.

They do not accept covid vaccination only PCR test! We got ours back in Guatemala and the nurse accepted them (72 hours). Make sure to print out copies because they will send you back to El Salvador if you don’t have a hard copy.

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Crossed in from El Salvador on March 25, 2021. The entire process from leaving El Salvador to entering honduras took 4 hours. There was a couple in front of us with a Mercedes sprinter van who had something wrong with their paperwork when doing the tip so we had to wait for their paperwork to be resolved for over an hour and a half before the woman at aduana could start our paperwork. She was really nice, she felt bad it was taking so long so she even let me into the back of the glass where she was sitting to let me start filling out my own tip paperwork. I speak Spanish so I think this helped. The guy ahead of us was staring at her through the glass the entire time she was doing his paperwork and she told me it made her feel uncomfortable and under pressure. I totally understood! Had there not been an issue with his paperwork the entire border crossing process from El Salvador into Honduras would probably have taken 2 hours total.

Leaving El Salvador you pass the long line of trucks. Get to the first bridge and have the guy sign your tip paperwork. Then get a photocopy of this in the little yellow house. Then go over to the blue and white building and either close your tip or put a pause on it for when you return. Once you do that if you are pausing you’ll have to get the original signed by the guy at the bridge again, get a photocopy and leave the photocopy with the man or woman at the little blue building. Once this is all set you drive to the next covering they check your paperwork and you exit El Salvador. Cross the little bridge into Honduras and have your PCR test and a copy ready. You can park your car on the bridge in line and go wait outside the little white building where a nurse will check your pcr test one by one. Once your test is cleared you can get in your car and they will raise the barrier between the bridge and Honduras. Drive straight and you will see the white and blue amarillo building. Park outside. Go in. On the right are the immigrations windows. It costs $3 usd to get in. Once you pay go over to the aduana window on the left and start your tip paperwork. It costs $35 usd. The woman let me give her the cash instead of making me go to the Bank which was nice of her. There was no vehicle search. I’m not sure if it was because she was behind or what the reason was. Everyone was very pleasant at the border.

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as described, mainly, in wikioverland. the building is directly in front of you when you drive in from El Salvador And we were able to park right up front. enter, and go to the right for migración entrada. they will stamp your passport, take fingerprints and photo. and ask for $3pp, we paid in USD. we then went to the aduana window (across and a little over from migración, in same building). we handed over 4 copies of each: passport, driver's license and vehicle title, plus 2 copies of vehicle registration, and a copy of cancelled El Salvador TIP. we were instructed to make 2 copies of Honduran TIP (but make at least 1 more, the last check-point guy will want a copy as well) we paid $35USD.

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The process is smooth by a little slow as they have to type the van details in te system as described.
Regarding PAYMENT! They told us We had to pay in Lempiras but we went o the bank instead to pay in dollar and it was $32 total.

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This was the quickest border for us (1.5 hrs) We had copies of everything and only had to make a few extra ones there but other than that, it went very smooth. We arrived at 7 am and there weren't many people.

DOG OWNERS: We have 3 dogs and it took us a little long to find cuarentena (it's in another building, follow directions below) it cost us $13, they looked at their health certificates and took pictures of each dog.

Overall, pretty organized border, they do ask for all originals, no copies. Will return all paperwork at the end.

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I don’t know if this was real or just a dream.
Crossing from Honduras to El Salvador took me about 30 minutes both borders. AND FREE !!!!
Arrived at Honduras border , went to the window to get the stamp in my passport to exit and then next window to cancel my tip. Less than 10 minutes . I was like I’m forgetting something ?
You don’t have to pay nothing for the stamp or for canceling TiP.
Then drive to El Salvador border. They don’t put any stamp in the passport . They even told me “welcome to my country ! Hope you enjoy it ! “ .... I was like what’s going on here ... lol
After the passport window go to Aduana is the window just in the corner of the building. The old guy there was extremely friendly. He checked my van and the vin number , said hi to my dog and left. 20-25 minutes at the border maybe ? And I didn’t pay nothing again !!!
You’ll need at Salvador border a copy of everything. Title , passport , Id , registration and other of the Honduras stamp in your passport. Easy peasy.
Looks like I won the lottery today. Lol

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we just payed everything in US $.....takes 3 hours

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El Salvador -> Honduras : It has been way smoother as expected.

En el Salvador, everything was as described :
1/ En el «  gate « an official asks for the original and one copy of the Salavdorian TIP. You can make the copy at the copy shop just after the gate. He checks that all info are correct. Then he leads you to a blue/white office where they cancel the TIP. Return to the copy shop and do 2 copies of the canceled TIP.
2/Drive to the El Salvador immigration office. Hand out your passeport and the copy of the canceled TIP. They will and over a little white ticket. Keep it for later. You will have to give it to the official when you cross the bridge from El Salvador to Honduras
3/ Drive to the Honduran immigration/aduana office. You can park at the left. Everything is inside. We did it like this :
3.1/ Queue for the immigration. Get your finger prints taken, picture taken and passport stamped. Pay 3$ or 150L (both currencies possible but they may have no change for dollars)
3.2/ Go to the aduana window (facing the immigration window). The guy requires your original passport, 1 copy of : your passport, the car registration paper and the canceled Salvador TIP. He processes everything himself directly. You have to pay 35$ or the equivalent in L. He gives you the Honduran TIP + recipes for the 35$ and a copy of the TIP + a stamp on your passport with the car’s details
4/ you can drive. We were stopped right after the border by an official. He requested the copy of the Honduran TIP and then let us go.

THAT’S IT. The whole process El Salvador + Honduras took us 1 hour max.

Every time we were asked, we said that we were just passing by Honduras to cross to Nicaragua the same day. It might have smoothen out the process...

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Thanks to earlier comments here for directions.
I was not able to pay the immigration fee in USD, it needed to be in Lempiras. The immigration guy was stern about this, even though when I paid in Lempiras I received a receipt for 3 dollars.
Next was the vehicle permit, and I was told that I could pay in USD for this, although the cost was $40, while I received paperwork stating the cost was 135 Lempiras and 652.58 Lempiras. I was told the extra cost was because it was noon and the bank was closed so there was a surcharge to pay at this window instead of the bank.
Still not sure if that's legit.
Didn't see any official fumigation station, although one of the helpers stated that there was one and that we should pay him ahead for this - sounded like baloney to me.

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The worst border crossing of all. I went from El Salvador to Honduras. On the Salvadorean side, it was easy peasy, but on the Honduran it was terrible. It seemed like it was going to be efficient – a guy collecting all the necessary documents from all incoming vehicles at a checkpoint, handing them over to the right official in the building, whilst you go to immigration to have your passport cleared.

Well, wrong. It took forever to get the TIP paperwork done and they just gave away all of my documents to a hawkish helper, who tried to be friendly all this time. I had to snap it all out of his hand before he could do anything. When I asked about the procedure the official could be barely arsed to explain to me what I need to do next.

There was a lot of legwork as you need photocopies of some documents and pay fees in a bank. Turns out, you need 3 copies of the payment order that they'll give you _before_ you go to the bank and two copies of pretty much everything else, including the stamp in your passport. You also need to make two separate payments – I was only given the one for Lps 650 at first. There's another one for Lps 135. Altogether, I had to make three trips to the bank, because of the incompetence of people doing the paperwork. Fortunately, it's not too far, there's a dedicated cashier for customs payments.

It took nearly 4 hours back to back. The most useless people and one of the most expensive crossings. Be prepared for a long wait and don't leave your documents out of sight.

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You can pay everything in US Dollars, no need to change the currency!

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just a note: we could not pay in US$ and had to exchange to Lempiras (L80 for passport stamp & L920 for TIP). TIP can be paid at and bank also, but they only open at 9am (we were there at 6am), cash was ok though.

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DOG OWNERS:
-Go into building with passport and complete your entry.
-Go back to your vehicle and drive to noted location for dog entry.
-Process your dog’s paperwork and pay.
-Drive back to immigration and go through customs.

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We left El Salvador and entered Honduras. Arrived by 16h and left by 18h (2hours total). No tramitadores (we all speak spanish and are in a motorhome). Process was quite easy and straightfoward, officers were nice and helpful. Only delay was taking the copies of the several documents in Honduras border (which by the way was the most organized once since Mexico) and it seems we should have had a copy of the tiny paper that was handled to us at Guatemala exit, however was taken in El Salvador entrance (which didn’t stamp the passport), however the exit office in El Salvador didn’t do a big fuss on it. Next time, im taking pic of all paper given

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You absolutely do not need a helper at this border! We’ve crossed it twice, with dogs and van, no problem! Everything except for pet quarantine paperwork is located in this building. Follow the instructions others have listed below for entering Honduras. You can do your pet paperwork last but yes they do take a lunch break at noon, actually I think all the offices do.

To EXIT HON here:

Go and take care of your pet paperwork first at the other location.

Enter the migration building and look for the windows on your right that says Salida.

Get your passports stamped then move over to the next window for your TIP paperwork.

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Be aware when you arrive, a guy tried to stop us twice with a declaration form and he wanted to inspect our van. He had a pepsi shirt and didn’t look professional at all! We didn’t stop. Then we parked to go to the aduana. He followed us saying he had to inspected our van and stuff.. Really annoying. he smelled like alcohol. We ignored him and went to the aduana desk. He still followed us acting weird. I told him we didn’t need help of any kind. He stuck there trying again. Then I asked to the aduana man in spanish with a clear and loud voice Where is the police at? The man told me then he knew I was asking for help and he told the drunk guy to leave and he walked him away because he was not moving. Anyways, after that all went well! They didn’t care about our cats .. It was a little long but ok.

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thx to elintitour. Everything as described. Honduras borders both were very well organized.

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Follow elintitour’s well written list and you will survive!

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Pretty long-lasting border crossing. Just one lady and it took us over 3h to do the copy of the copy of the copy of the other copy. Insane. Then walk half a mile to the bank and back walking under burning sun for the 4th time to the woman on the desk.
Paperwork is easy, just the time was hard, and barely anybody else doing the paperwork.

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Exit Honduras: inside the building at the right side migration and customs desk - no fees, very easy (max. 10 Min)
Entering El Salvador: On the right side of the building you find the migration desk. At the end of the building is the customs desk. BUT you get the final customs stamp approx. 4 KM further on the left hand side in front of the police checkpoint. No fees; copies: passport fotopage/entry stamp, driving license, registration title.

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be aware, and by any means avoid the tramidores! they support corruption, bribing you. and of course they make the process appear more complicated because that will make you feel like they're worth their money. they're not! using the fixer, we paid easily twice of what we expected after reading about it here. but the fixers here are very good at getting you into their net. after three successful defeats, he finally got me. we crossed the border without breakfast though, and my brain seems to not have worked right...

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Pretty easy crossing. Inside the gate, right side is the imigracion stamp, then left side at the back is Aduana writing in small on the top window. TIP is done there. Didn’t inspect anything. We drove away and further at the police check they asked if we had pets ... we should of said no, but we did stay honest and they made us back up the other side of road for the cuarentena and pay for our cats paper just to cross the country in 1:30 hours... 12$ for 2 cats and another half hours lost there.

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Pretty straightforward just takes a long time.
Needed the most copies yet - 3 of everything!
Cheaper if you pay in Lempiras - 644L is around $26 US

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Super easy border despite all the worry. took us 90 mins but only because we were stuck behind a bus. FYI the copy shops on El Salvador side open at 6am, would recommend the earlier the better. With the helpers just speak in Spanish to then and they realise you're ok :)

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Thanks to elantitour from 1/6 for the accurate procedure.
Just an add on: We enter from El Salvador to Honduras. the Honduras custom asked us for 45USD for the TIP. We asked why not 35USD as everyone else. First the officer explained there are 2 people of us and each needs 5USD extra. Then he explained that because we are Chinese. Then he said it’s for the service fee because it was Sunday and he needs to go to the bank on Monday. During we were there another couple from Argentina were only charged 35USD. Anyway after about an hour he gave up.
Also: we check the iOverlander information of the North boarder from Guatemala to Honduras. The receipt was 636 Lempira (although 950Lempira was charged and then asked back after checking the receipt). So probably 35USD was already overcharged as there is no receipt at this boarder.

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Thanks to elantitour.com, This information is very comprehensive.

Added some of our experience for overlanders:
1, the money exchange here is better than El Salvador side, today the rate for us is 23~24 Lempira for 1USD.

2, After all the paper work in custom, We have been charged more for TIP, 45 USD for our SUV. I argued about the fee, and the custom officer insisted that the fee is 45 USD. I got help from the Red_shirt guy who is working there for helping people with the paperwork of TIP. He told me the fee is 35USD for sure. Then I went back to custom, told the officer if I had to pay 45 USD, I want the receipt of it, But he refused, and he said “Give the passport back to me, I will cancel the paperwork, and you can go back to El Salvador.”
The custom officer told us a new excuse, It was our nationality( we come from China), and today is Saturday, they have to deposit money on Monday, the fee(10USD) is for the labor cost(what the ...) After few minutes, the custom officer just gave up asking more, and took 35 USD from me, I am not sure the reason why he gave up, but it just happened.
For sure, it is kind of corruption, But we still feel good of the country, case by case:)

We checked other border of entry Honduras, it seems to have begun to happen. Because they don't give the receipts of 35USD, and only receive USD, I am sure 35 USD is not the right number as well, because if you pay in Lempira( some friends pay in Lempira on other border), the number is 636.79Lempira( another overlander's experience in this border, corinto, puerto barrios, Guatemala to Honduras).

HOPE it not happen on other friends!

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This wasn’t nearly as bad as we expected!
Friendly officials, got everything done in a bit over an hour!
Easy process:
- after you cross the bridge, hand over your passport, driver’s licence, car title and cancelled tip from El Salvador.
- park and follow the guy. Everything is inside the same building, windows are across from each other.
- leave the paperwork with the TIP guy and get your passport to go to migraciones (entrada) first.
- in migraciones (entrada) answer where you are going, etc, they’ll scan your fingerprints and take a picture of you. You’ll have to pay 3usd. They’ll stamp your passport in the end.
- go back to the TIP guy, he should have checked your car in the meantime and should have your paperwork ready. You’ll need to hand him copies of the Salvador cancelled TIP, passport, driver’s license and car title, as well as the entry stamp to Honduras (go across the street to make copies).
- once you hand over the copies, pay 35usd and get the TIP (you’ll have to cancel it when you leave) and that’s it!
- go to your car and drive away! You’ll have to show the papers before leaving.
Tip: we did this border first thing in the morning (6 am) - no one in line, and everyone was really friendly and helpful!

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We just passed this border with 3 German RVs after approx. 3.5hrs of paperwork with the "help" of Renee (not sure if this is his real name or if he has other names at other times) who already "jumped" at us long before the actual immigration office when we were passing the line of trucks.
To keep this story short: We'd heard from other travelers who passed the border a few days earlier, that we should ask for Renee since he helped a lot and was fair. He asked for $ 5. So we thought that we were lucky that we got him straight away.
The process was a bit confusing and some copies were lost and one person's entrance fee was paid twice but this might have been due to the fact that we were 6 people and 3 cars. We gave Renee $ 10 (as planned the other two couples).
However, once all paperwork was done he drove out with us to the last checkpoint and then suddenly demanded $ 25 tax per car (without a document or ticket). My husband only had $ 50 and told him, this is for two but he collected the money from the other twi cars as well.
Then another guy (in civil clothes - Renee was wearing official looking T-shirts which he switched between the two borders) asked for another USD 20 per car saying it was for the El Salvadorian side where they helped us to avoid fumigation/scanning). When I got a bid mad he suddenly only wanted $ 20 for all three cars. After a few more minutes of discussion (I asked them, what the $ 25 were for and why we didn't get an invoice - at that time I didn't yet know that we paid $ 50), they said it was ok and we could go within an further payment.
Renee said he'd called a friend at the Honduras - Nicaragua border, who would be there in 2 hours to help us again. Ha, ha.

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3 USD for stamp
34 USD for vehicle permit

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You don’t need Lempiras for the import fee (the money changer sais other things), you can pay everything in $ (they prefer). You habe tonpay the 40$/car and 3$/person even when you just pass throu Honduras in a couple of hours

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We arrived at 11AM a wednesday. Took us about 3 hours becausr there is only 1 guy that does the permit (at hand). There is a lot of step but the permit guy explained very well to us all the steps to do. (Photocopy, bank...)

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copy shops were open at the actual Honduras border. we were there new year's day and there were very few people. still took 2 hours.

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VEHICLE PROCESSING HEADS UP: Woman processing vehicle said she had to hurry the process because the bank (only way to pay import permit) closed at noon on Saturdays. Didn't verify with bank, but probably not worth the risk.

PET PROCESSING HEADS UP: SEPA was not running at this location, and we had to drive to a separate "Cuarentena" location, a couple of miles away, to process our two dogs. I added location on map, basically drive away from border, and take the first right "retorno" curve (not intersection) that you get to, about a mile down. Drive for less than a mile, look for small buildings and raised train car offices on the right. It did have a sign for Cuarentena near this pod of buildings.

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Easy crossing. Relax and be friendly.. Took 1,5 hours. Overtake the line with trucks and stop at a little blue/white office. You can't miss it. There are officials and a topez. There you can cancel the vehicle permit. You'll need to take copies of the vehicle permit before and after they cancel it. We took 2 copies before and 5 after the cancellation. You will need the copies of the cancelled permit later in the process. Then drive to immigration El Salvador. After this you drive to Honduras immigration (cost 3usd pp) . In the same building you need to obtain the Honduras vehicle permit (cost 40 usd). All very easy, officials very friendly and professional and if you know a little bit Spanish the helpers leave you alone. Not pushy at all. Despite what the money changers say, you can pay everything in usd. You'll need 5 copies of all your paoers (iD, licence, registration/title, cancelled El Salvador permit). There is a copy shop if needed. They do take lunch break at Honduras side. We arrived at Honduras side around 11.30 AM and passed before lunch

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I think things have changed a bit as there was an entirely different road for trucks. Really easy. All the costs are the same. Avoid the dramatic tales from the helpers. I just fed them a few lines of Spanish and they figured I knew the language and left me alone.
Took about 45mins on a Thursday at 9:30am. Also avoid the drama of the ppl who posted on four boarder crossings about all there problems. Don't have expired papers and don't break the law and you won't have the drama.

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DO NOT ACCEPT THE HELP OF the guy with a very good english! He changes name throught the weeks I supposed. He was Ron in the past that lived in Texas, now he is Anthonio from Texas. He is very kind and get the job done. And fast. But for $100usd.

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We got to this first exit at 5:30 pm today (Sunday). After driving all the way to the crossing point close to Perquin, on the Northern border (our goal was to reach La Esperanza, in Honduras), only to find out that those officers couldn't deal with our foreign car's paperwork (the exit stamp), we drove back and wondered if we should spend another night in El Salvador to cross the border in the morning. We decided to try and it was faster than we expected, considering the reports on iOverlander. We got to the first stop at 5:30 pm, started the process with Honduran authorities at 5:55 pm and by 6:20 pm we were all set driving in Honduras. Pros: we were the only ones in a small car (we could drive around all the big trucks); because it was late, the sun wasn't shining, which made it less hot. Con: it was dark and the road has multiple areas "under construction". But we reached the hotel no problem.

We had to pay US$3/person for a Honduran stamp (didn't really get what it was) + US$35 for the car. We are allowed to drive for 90 days, but plan to stay only 3.

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Like the others. A lot of trucks, try skipping the line of trucks. Copies of the document they gave you in el salvador 1 after stamp 3 more copies. Crossing honduras try arriving before 12 everybody goes to eat and it will take you more time to cross. Copies in Honduras, 5 -2 of the document for the car and 3 for the permit. Paid 35usd for the permit. And 12 lempiras for copies. Lorena is amazing and helpful, in aduana HON. Enjoy the ride!

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It's been 8 months since we've been extorted by border officials in Peru over minor documentation issues. Honduran border police got us today real good because our Canadian title has an expiration date. This has not been an issue at any border crossing on our way up from Argentina. Normally it is possible to meet with an official to explain that the expiration is not for the title but for Canadian insurance. Not today. Be sure to photoshop documents without expiration dates as the cops will demand payment. Also only hand copies and not originals of anything to cops, after I gave copies of our title the pre border cop demanded the original and would not let us pass... 105 USD to get through to El Sal from here. Do not trust Ron (from Houston) who speaks perfect English at this border or his partners at the Nica border named Francisco or Sabado. After an issue at the Nica border we believe Francisco called ahead to give the officers at this border a heads up to pull us over and demand more money. I felt like I was back in India. Extorted for 300 usd by officials today! 2nd most costly situation besides shipping the van. Heed the warnings and do not at any point use helpers here. That said, we made it through on a Friday, six hours in total after waiting for 2 hours to get an inspection in El Salvador. See savvlinvan.wordpress.com for the full unbelievable story.

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Crossed on Sunday around noon. Took about 1 hour. Don't buy into stories about it beeing the worst border. If this was than we are lucky. All chilled out! No helpers needed. Honduran officials very nice. All well organised and civil. The facts are as described by tigger below, but we did not get any of the drama.

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took us about an hour, we used a helper but no real issues. had to pay the entrance fee to Honduras

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UPDATE 6th June 2016 - Crossing from El Salvador to Honduras and then onto Nicaragua at El Espino with a motorcycle. Full details including process, costs, photos and GPS coordinates can all be found at http://www.tiger800rtw.com/?p=1383

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Takes much longer than in any other Country.

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This post is from Logan and Brianna of  PanAm Notes. To read their full experience and see photos, see the detailed article at:  http://panamnotes.com/how-to/honduras_in_one_day/
AMATILLO Border Crossing (El Salvador into Honduras)

Open: 6AM
Remember: No necisita ayuda. Por favor, dejame in paz, no voy a pagar. Vaya!
$US accepted at all points from El Salvador to Nicaragua (despite what the border money changers say)
Cancel El Salvador vehicle permit: $0. Drive past the big rigs, the office is a shack on the right side of the road, right after a speed bump. There should be several police officers nearby. Make 5 copies of the cancelled permit next door.Drive ~2km to a fork. When you reach the fork, take a left. You will be crossing the old bridge and taking what looks like a wrong turn away from a brand new bride on the right.El Salvador Immigration: a blue and white building with a parking lot on the right side. Hand over your passport at the window, $0.Show your passport and move along
Leave El Salvador, enter Honduras, drive over the bridge. At the bridge, an official will take a copy of your cancelled Honduran vehicle permit.At this point a Honduran official requested our original title, registration, and passport. This seemed unusual so B jumped out to follow him around until he made his way to the Aduana building a few yards away.Aduana: on the right, an unmarked, white building with wooden doors. There is a copy shop on the corner and five parking spots out front. Park here and walk across the street to the blue and white immigration building (intersected by a road).Hard to believe this is the right place (Aduana Honduras)

In the center of the building on the right: show your passports, give your destination, and fill our your tourist form. Fee: $3/person. Save the receipt.Get your passport stamps and tourist cards here (Honduras Immigration)

Go to the copy shop near Aduana. Make 3 copies of your tourist form and receipt, as well as 3 copies of the driver’s passport page showing the new Honduras stamp.Back to Aduana. This will look almost like a trap: a single official at a cramped desk with one computer nearby and stacks of paper everywhere. You’re in the right spot. Hand over the following paperwork:3 copies passport main photo page3 copies El Salvador vehicle import cancellation3 copies registration3 copies drivers license3 copies tourist card/receipt3 more copies of passport, with new stampOnce this is done, fill out the vehicle import paperwork (our official did this for us and there was no vehicle inspection: Sunday bonus). Fee: $36US. Make 5 copies of the Honduras vehicle import permit. Aduana official will take two copies and one is taken by another official as you leave the border.Collect your originals and enter Honduras.Half a KM down the road is fumigation and it is pretty straightforward, roll up your windows, $3US.Another half KM away an official will collect a copy of your Honduras vehicle import permit.Special Note: What makes this border so nerve wracking is the lack of consistency. We’ve read the $3 tourist card fee has been paid at a variety of places.  Also, if arriving any day other than Sunday, expect to pay most fees at the bank

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This post is from  Life Remotely. To read their full experience and see photos, see the detailed article at  http://liferemotely.com/trip-shenanigans/el-salvador/169-el-salvador-to-honduras-border-crossing

Border name: El Amatillo 
Closest major cities: Santa Rosa de Lima, El Salvador and San Andres, Honduras
Cost for visas: $3 per person
Cost for vehicle: $40. + ($3.90 for copies)
Total time: 1.5 hours
Date crossed: April 6, 2012

Note: We crossed from San Miguel, El Salvador to Leon, Nicaragua in one day. This is the first of two border crossings we completed on Good Friday.  A huge thank you to  PanAm Notes [LINK: http://panamnotes.com/how-to/honduras_in_one_day]  for their guide on this crossing. Sometimes even people writing the guides need guides. For information on part two see the  Honduras to Nicaragua border crossing article [LINK: http://liferemotely.com/trip-shenanigans/honduras/170-honduras-to-nicaragua-border-crossing] .

The steps:
At least a kilometer before the actual border crossing stop at the white shack on the right, it's just after the speedbump. The official will cancel your El Salvador vehicle permit. Make sure you have a copy that he can stamp, you will need that later because he keeps the original.Drive ahead about a kilometer. Take a left at the fork in the road, away from the pretty new bridge.Park on the right side of the immigration/customs building. Under the awning is fine, but try not to block traffic.Go to the immigration counter and present your passports. The official will look over your passports and give you a small white piece of paper with the number of passports written on it. Keep the paper. Your passport will not be stamped (just as it wasn’t stamped on entry).Make copies of your cancelled vehicle permit. You will need one to exit El Salvador and three on the Honduran side.Get back in your car and drive to the start of the next bridge. An official will likely stop to collect your white slip of paper saying you went through immigration.At the start of the bridge, another El Salvadorian official will collect a copy of your cancelled El Salvadorian permit. Drive over the bridge.Just over the bridge you will be stopped by a Honduran official. He will ask for your title and the passport and license of the person driving. If you have any doubt that this guy is an official (and not a tout) ask to see his ID.He will instruct you where to park, about 150 meters ahead on the right at the aduana (customs) building.The official will return the driver's passport and send you to immigration.Walk over to immigration, pay a $3 entry fee per person, fill out your tourist card. Don’t leave immigration without a passport stamp, a receipt and a tourist card.Go to the copy shop. You will need three copies of: vehicle title, vehicle registration, driver’s passport (photo page), drivers license, driver’s passport page with the new Honduran stamp, driver's tourist card and receipt for the tourist card and the cancelled El Salvador vehicle permitTake your stack of copies back over to the aduana (customs) building. The official will take your pile of copies and spend a good bit of time entering it into a computer.The official will add a vehicle import stamp to the driver's passport and then ask for a fee (around $40) and will present a receipt.If it's Sunday or a holiday fees are paid in person, otherwise you will be directed to pay at a bank nearby.You will need to go back to the copy shop and make three more copies of the receipt. The official will keep two copies. You will need the third copy when you leave the border area.Make sure you have all of your original documents, and the numbers on the permits match the VIN and driver’s IDs. Get back in your car and drive around the immigration building.You may need to stop for fumigation here. We saw the white sign with green letters, but no one was around, and no one ever questioned us. We drove on.In about a kilometer a guard will stop and ask to see a pile of paperwork. He will check the numbers and return everything except the copy of the permit receipt.Drive away slowly, and be prepared for the 14 police checkpoints between El Amatillo and the Nicaraguan border.

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