Mexico By Bus Or Train

Greyhound (☎800-231-2222, or for international callers without toll-free access 214-849-8100; www.greyhound.com) serves many US-Mexico border towns, including El Paso (Juárez) and Brownsville (Matamoros) in Texas and San Ysidro (Tijuana) in California. Schedule information is available at any Greyhound terminal, on their website, or by calling their toll-free number. Smaller lines serve other destinations. In the past, buses didn’t cross the border, and travelers had to switch to Mexican bus lines at the border. Many bus tours now cross the border, though you can still pick up Mexican bus lines (among them Estrella de Oro, Estrella Blanca, ADO, and Transportes Del Norte) on the other side. Guatemalan bus lines operate at Guatemala-Mexico border towns, including Talismán and La Mesilla. Buses usually stop just short of the border, and you can walk across to Guatemala and pick up a local bus to the nearest town. For more information on entering Guatemala from Chiapas, Buses also operate between Chetumal and the capital of Belize, Belize City.

If you travel by train, your options stop at the border. You can take Amtrak (☎800-872-7245; www.amtrak.com) to El Paso, walk across the border to Ciudad Juárez, and continue on with other forms of transportation. Amtrak also serves San Ysidro and Laredo, where you can catch a bus to the border towns of Tijuana and Nuevo Laredo. Train travel is rare in Mexico. Since the system’s partial privatization in 1997 Ferromex (☎800-367-3900;www.ferromex.com.mx) and Ferrosur (☎55 53 876 600;www.ferrosur.com.mx) have become two of the largest companies, but passenger trains are relatively inefficient and have limited reach. Train tickets are either first- or second-class, the latter coming with less services.