San Cristobal, Guatemala to Piedras Azules, El Salvador | Customs and Immigration

This border crossing was just as described here (thank you everyone!) with one update. You do need to get a passport entrance stamp for El Salvador. The Guatemala exit stamp is no longer sufficient.

To do this:
Once you have received your TIP from the El Salvador Aduana’s office, you go to the Immigration Office walk-up window. This window is located just to the left of the Aduana’s office door. Here they will stamp your passport and then you can return to your vehicle and continue.

As Canadian’s we had to pay a $12 USD/person fee for a tourist card (cash only). There was a formal sign that stated this, and listed several other countries that this applies to. We paid no other fees exiting or entering.

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Guatemala to El Salvador
Easy crossing everyone very helpful
Temporary import for the motorcycle straight forward
Took in total 1.5 hours including changing money

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If you travel to El Salvador they have new rules now they only allowed 60 day every three months. Art 442 I attached the Picture of the print out they gave us. But is in Spanish. Sorry

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Crossed on Sunday morning Guatemala to El Salvador, 1 1/2 hours total. All generally as described in Lindsay Allison Smith's excellent comment, with the following additions:

-The giant archway with the Guatemala immigration on the left and aduana on the right side is no longer yellow, it is a faded pink color. Park just before it on the right and do your business to exit Guatemala

-All dealings with cancelling the Guatemalan TIP we dealt with in the office on the right side of the arch, we did not have to go back down the road to the other small aduana office on the north side of the road to turn it in.

- We had a bit of a comedy of errors with the El Salvador Aduana. Guatemala keeps your original tip and gives you a stamped copy of the cancelled tip as your receipt when leaving. The El Salvador agent insisted that we needed the original TIP for her to issue us the El Salvador tip. We now believe this may have been an attempt to get us to try to grease the wheels. We ended up going back to Guatemala to ask for the original tip, whereupon the boss of the Guatemala office called his counterpart on the other side and told them to knock it off. Then on The El Salvador side once they agreed to issue the tip they made 3 different errors on the paperwork (license plate#, etc.) Just keep it all smiles and work your way through it, and it works out, just be on the lookout for this behaviour. Everyone was very pleasant during all this.

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Everything fine. Loke described in the previous message. It tooks us barely 1h15 for both sides 👌

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Caution: Antigen test not accepted! PCR or vaccination card only. Otherwise nothing new.

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Cost: $0.00 (including free copies)

1. Drive past ALL the big trucks waiting in line. Try not to hit the tiendas - yes you can probably fit. When you get to the very front of the traffic line, stick to the right of the little boulevard with yellow striping, and park in line with the trucks - you only need to pull forward enough so you're not blocking the road traffic
2. 1 person needs to go to under the big yellow archway and enter the offices. First go across the road to immigration and have them stamp you out of Guatemala. Only requires passports. Then go to the aduana (right side of road) to cancel your TIP. Give him the TIP, passport, title, and driver's license. He will come with you to your car to double check the VIN and plates. Walk with him back to the aduana where he will make copies of everything. He gave us a suspension, not a cancellation, in case anything happened and we needed to go back into Guatemala.
3. Go back to the little blue and yellow building across from the yellow striped boulevard and give them your original Guatemalan entry TIP (a photocopy of the original entry TIP was stamped and signed to become lyour official exit paperwork). Keep the half piece of paper called Boleta Declaraguate, aka your receipt. Total time in Guatemala: 30 minutes.

- - Guatemala exit complete! Now entering El Salvador - -

4. Drive to the LEFT of the fork to enter your vehicle. Do not drive under the white roof - stay to the left of the blue fencing. (Under the white roof is for people leaving El Salvador). Parallel park across from the Aduana office. This is a dirt parking lot.
5. The driver goes into the Aduana building with all the photocopies to get the El Sal TIP. You give the Guatemalan cancelled TIP to the official and an original copy of your title or registration. He will fill out a form and inspect the vehicle. Then return to the office where you wait for them to type it up. When finished you sign one copy. Ask for photocopies of this form. They keep the packet of title copy, passport copy, licence copy, and El Sal TIP. They give you back originals. Finished!
6. The guatmalan passport stamp works for El Salvador too. It does not need a new stamp. Stop and ask anyway.
7. Drive ahead about 100 feet to the officer waiting in the road.The El Salvador TIP will get stamped here. This paper needs to be shown if you are pulled over by cops while in country.

Side note - El Salvador Aduana was eating lunch today at 1:30pm. We had to wait 60 minutes for him to finish.

DOG OWNERS: We didn't intentionally declare our dog, and nobody who noticed him seemed to care. In researching we saw some people had to take their pets to the Ministerio de Agricultura and pay a small fee (noticed the office right beside El Salvador's aduana). We made sure to have a 30-day current health letter just in case.

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i was there late (19.30) at the Guatemala border it was vast only for the copies I had to walk to El Salvador...

At 20.00 I was at the aduana El Salvador.
they were friendly and helped me really good. Maybe it was the time.. they even made the copies for me..
20.35 I was ready to go...

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this is the border to El Salvador from Guatemala. we took a chance to cross late (15:00h) and yes it was long even if it look like their was no one as their is many fixer for the commercial truck going to El Salvador. we clear custom at 18:30h and ask if it was safe to go to Santa Ana and everyone suggested that we stay here in the parking of the custom border. they pointed us out to a hotel with a big car park so we could park our rig but told them we had our house on wheel and they were all intrigues so we show them the inside or the camper and they told us to really stay here as it was safer, not that it is unsafe for us but their is a few gang land dispute and it would be more advisable to temp the devil as I say.

as usual we didn't need services and I am a bit shy to ask when people are already so kind to us but their is light that you could draw power if you have a socket with plug but didn't see water. public toilet 30meters away don't know the cost sorry, we have our own.

all office are open at the moment that I write this at 21:00h immigration, quarantine ( for the dog) and vehicular import office is still open.

security guard was very nice and told us where to park and the police ask us to chance our spot so the could fit their car so lots of security...

my wife says she feel very secure...

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possible to pass the border without stamp if needed over a backdoor. just ask the taxi driver to bring you to the unofficial border crossing. between 5 and 70 quetzal to pass.

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Crossing into El Salvador in about 1.5 hours. Customs at El Salvador is really helpful, and you just wait patiently in a room with AC while they sort thr papers out. Bring lots of copies of everything.

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El Salvador into Guatemala:
easy, but slow customs procedures entering Guatemala. Two hours.
Insurance neither mandatory nor available (without Guatemalan bank account).
Customs papers (windscreen sticker) cost 160 Q, payable during opening hours at bank. No USD accepted, expensive ATM, but changers around (bad rates).
Note: The Panam between Santa Ana (El Salvador) and the junction with CA-08 (east of Cuilapa, Guatemala) is in very bad shape, so if you’re heading to Guatemala City, you're probably better off taking the (currently closed) Chinamas border.

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good but crazy hassle. crossing from mexico to Guatemala at El Ciebo, the immigration officer stated we did not need a passport stamp. we drove back later to double check and again told no stamp.
now, at this border and guatemala wants to charge us for no stamp and only gives us 5 days to cross from guatemala to costa rica.
don't let any country tell you that you don't need a stamp

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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/guatemala/163-guatemala-to-el-salvador-border-crossing

Border name: San Cristóbal 
Closest major cities: El Progreso, Guatemala and Santa Ana, El Salvador
Cost for visas: $0.
Cost for vehicle: $0. ($.60 for copies)
Total time: 1 hour 45 minutes

The steps:Stop at the small booth on the right side of the road and tell the nice officials you need to have your vehicle permit cancelled. They will instruct you where to park.The SAT (permit officials) will remove the sticker from your car and double check the VIN and paperwork you received when entering.The official will walk you to the customs counter and present your paperwork to the officer.Before your paperwork can be cancelled your passport must be stamped. Go to Guatemalan immigration across the street and have your passport stamped.Return to the customs area and have your permit cancelled.Drive through to the El Salvador crossing.Go to the copy shop and make a copy of your Guatemalan cancelled permit. Also, make sure you have copies of your title and the driver’s passport.Park your car on the far right (not in the lane for immigration)Go to the customs windows (the first set), and ask for a temporary permit (permiso). They will need your title, drivers passport, and cancelled Guatemalan permit, and copies of all of these.Fill out a long form for your permit, you will need to know all the details for your car: VIN, CCs, type of car, color, cylinders, etc (in Spanish please).When you have your permit, go back to the copy stand and make two copies. You will surrender one when you leave the border. The other you will need when you leave the country.Drive into the main immigration lane. Wait in your car until your car is first in line.Present your passports. Immigration will stamp and let you drive through.Drive about 100 meters to the road block. Hand over both the original and a copy of your El Salvador permit. The official will keep the copy and return the original.

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