Here Are Which Central American Countries Are Actually Backpacker Budget Friendly (And Which Are Not)

Cecilia Markley
3 hours ago
8 min read

Updated: 2 hours ago

Central and South America are typically ranked right above Southeast and South Asia on lists of most affordable regions of the world to travel. But not all countries in a region are the same. I backpacked through Central America – although I skipped Honduras — this past September through December and noticed drastic price variation between the six Central American countries I visited.

Backpacking through a country is going to give a different experience from traveling on a vacation, and of course it is not the same as living there. This means that how you spend your money will differ. My partner and I did a mix of cooking and eating out, took public transport and tourist shuttles, paid for tours sometimes and visited sites independently other times, stayed some of the time in a private room together and sometimes in a dorm room. All of these factor in to my total spending, and it is definitely possible to have spent less money than we did if you are willing to be a bit less comfortable or spend some extra time planning or traveling.

All that being said, here is the list of the cheapest to most expensive countries to backpack in Central America, based on my personal experience.

El Salvador

El Salvador’s national dish, pupusas, are thick griddle cakes typically made from cornmeal, stuffed with beans, cheese, meat, and other savory foods, and topped with tomato sauce and cabbage slaw. They can be found absolutely everywhere in the country at pupuserías, with one pupusa costing between 50 cents and $1. Three will fill you up, making for a delicious lunch or dinner for $3 or less.

Pupusas made up the majority of our meals in El Salvador, as we found that buying groceries was more expensive than just getting six or seven pupusas to split between the two of us, often even having leftovers. This made El Salvador by far the cheapest country I visited in terms of food.

We visited Santa Ana, San Salvador and El Zonte, staying in a private room in Santa Ana for $6 per person per night and San Salvador for $10 per person per night. The beach town of El Zonte was pricier and we stayed in a dorm room, each paying $15 per night.

We took exclusively public transportation in El Salvador, and this came in the form of chicken buses. Chicken buses are the local buses, which are typically decommissioned American or Canadian school buses that are sent to countries such as El Salvador and Nicaragua, often painted in fun designs and patterns, and repurposed to be used as public transportation. We spent sometimes less than $1 on trips lasting several hours.

The excursions in El Salvador also cost very little. We only spent a week here, so we only had to pay for admission to the Santa Ana Volcano and El Boquerón Volcano, but the entrance fees were a few dollars each.

The cheap food, transportation, hostel stays and excursions all combine to make El Salvador the most budget-friendly country on this list for backpackers.

Nicaragua

Nicaragua was a bit more expensive than El Salvador, but a lot of this had to do with choices we made to spend more money than necessary, primarily on tours and excursions. We were in the city of Granada for my birthday, so we spent nearly $100 per person on a full-day private tour of the sites.

On Ometepe Island, we rented a scooter, which is recommended to get around the island, but watch out for scammers, as we ended up paying twice what we should have. We paid $20 each for a guide to hike Maderas Volcano on Ometepe Island and $35 each for a full day of volcano boarding in León.

We ate out probably half our meals and cooked the other half. A traditional Nicaraguan breakfast of gallo pinto (rice and beans), eggs, cheese, plantains, tortillas and coffee cost typically just $3, with lunch and dinner being less than $5.

We also took exclusively public transportation in Nicaragua, and it was as cheap as in El Salvador. We chose to stay in only private rooms, but they were still very cheap, especially the one we stayed in on Ometepe Island, coming in at just $4 per person per night for a private room.

All of the excursions and tours I chose to do made my time in Nicaragua unforgettable, and I don’t regret paying for them, but they significantly added to the price of a country that can be done much cheaper if you choose.

Guatemala

Guatemala is more touristy than El Salvador and Nicaragua, with the exception of Quetzaltenango, so prices start to go up a bit here. We ate out more in Guatemala than any other country in Central America, largely because the food was so good and largely because we were feeling a bit lazy. We ate at restaurants more than street food, spending on average $7 on a lunch or dinner. The times we did cook for ourselves we saved money over eating out.

We mostly we stayed in private rooms in Guatemala, typically costing $8 a night per person. Antigua is Guatemala’s most touristy city, and the food and hostels are the most expensive there.

We inflated our cost by taking mostly tourist shuttles around Guatemala, which we chose to do because public transportation took a long time to get from place to place due to the country’s mountainous terrain, less built-up road system and the frequent stops made by the buses. If you have extra time and want to save some money – we did Guatemala in under two weeks – chicken buses are a great option, as when we did take them, they were cheap and reliable.

We did a combination of paid tours and independent excursions in Guatemala. In Flores, we paid for a tour of the Tikal Mayan ruins. A two-day hike of Acatenango and Fuego volcanoes ran me a bill of nearly $100, including initial tour cost, park entry, tips, and renting supplies. In addition to Semuc Champey’s entrance fee, I paid for a caving tour there.

Panama

Panama is definitely pricier than Guatemala, but as it was the final country on our trip, we tried to spend as little as possible. We did not eat out even one time, which drastically lowered our total spending. However, I did see street food prices when walking around, and it appeared to be comparable to Guatemalan and Nicaraguan street food prices.

We also stayed only in dorms in Panama, which averaged us $10 a night, bringing the cost of dorms in Panama to more than private rooms in Guatemala. Public transportation also jumped in price in Panama. The country doesn’t have chicken buses, but rather more comfortable, often air-conditioned buses with cushioned seats. Public transportation from the western city of Boquete to the small town of El Valle de Anton cost $20 and required a bus change in David. We took a tourist shuttle from Bocas del Toro to Boquete because it was the same price as a public bus. Although, from El Valle de Anton to Panama City, we paid just $5 each.

We saved a lot of money by doing just one tour in all of Panama, which cost $35 per person for an island-hopping tour in Bocas del Toro. The rest of our time in Panama, we hiked and explored on our own, merely paying the cost of entry or a few dollars for local transportation.

While Panama is pricier than the other three countries that I classify as affordable, it can absolutely still be considered affordable for a backpacker if done smartly.

Costa Rica

Costa Rica is the first country I would officially classify as unaffordable for myself as a backpacker. We stayed in dorm rooms everywhere, save for Monteverde and Cahuita, where we were able to find private rooms for less than dorm rooms. Our room cost in Costa Rica over our two weeks there averaged around $12 per night each.

We took only public transportation, which, like in Panama, was more comfortable, with cushioned seats. Public transportation was extremely frustrating in Costa Rica, often requiring three or more bus changes to get from one destination to the next. It was also expensive, costing more for public transport than for tourist shuttles in Guatemala. To get from La Fortuna in northwestern Costa Rica to Tortuguero on the Caribbean coast, for example, took 12 hours, four bus changes and cost over $20.

We cooked nearly every meal, but grocery prices were comparable to the United States and Europe. The few times we ate out, the meal price more than doubled from $4 for lunch in Nicaragua to $9 in Costa Rica for a similar meal.

The biggest difference I noticed between Costa Rica and the previous countries on this list is that nearly every destination in Costa Rica charges steep fees. We paid $18 for the cheapest of Monteverde’s three cloud forests, plus transportation there and back. The La Fortuna Waterfall entry was $20, plus Uber there and back.

Tortuguero and Cahuita were cheaper, with a night tour and morning canoe tour in Tortuguero costing $20 each and Cahuita National Park being free, although we each donated $5. But what we noticed in Costa Rica is that, as opposed to the surrounding countries, to make a place worth it to visit, you will almost always have to spend money on at least one excursion. We skipped out on so much, like ziplining, hanging bridges, and sloth tours, because these activities often cost $100 or more.

Belize

I spent only five days in Belize for a reason: it is by far the most expensive country in Central America for backpacking. When we arrived in Belize City, we went first to Ambergris Caye where we stayed in San Pedro for three days. We made the mistake of staying in a private room, paying $25 each per night.

We arrived with the intention of cooking, but our first location did not have a kitchen for us to use. We got lucky that there was a pupusería across the street where we were able to get cheap dinners.

After three days on Ambergris Caye, we went to Caye Caulker, where we stayed in a bit of a cheaper location, but it still came out to $15 each per night. We bought groceries and cooked at this hostel, although the groceries, like those in Costa Rica, were comparable to prices in the United States and Europe. The biggest expense, however, was transportation to and from the islands. A one-way boat ticket costs $34, and that cost is inflated if you choose to go to two islands like we did.

I did just one paid excursion: snorkeling for $70. It was amazing, as the Belize Barrier Reef is the second largest barrier reef in the world after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. I saw sharks, turtles, jellyfish, eels, and so many fish. I filled the rest of my time on the islands with free activities like visiting the nonprofit iguana sanctuary on San Pedro, that asks for a donation, and wading in the waters at Stingray Beach on Caye Caulker at sunset.

My three months in Central America were incredible, and I’m so glad with everywhere I went and everything I did. But had I known about the prices in certain countries, I could have been more prepared. Hopefully these tips help you if you plan to backpack any of these countries in the future.

Cecilia Markley