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Clausont's avatar
Clausont
Explorer
May 22, 2014

Driving from Belize to Texas - Shortest Route?

We are planning on driving our old Chevy van from Belize to Texas in the next couple of months. We will be crossing at Chetumal into Mexico and from there, I would like to know the best, shortest route to Texas. Doesn't really matter which crossing we use in Texas. Our Chevy is a USA vehicle that we imported into Belize so it now has a Belize title and Belize plates.
Does anyone have any experience with this? What can we expect driving through Mexico and what can we expect at the US border with our Belize plated vehicle?
We made this trip down to Belize last year going down the West coast all the way after crossing into Mexico at Nogales, Arizona. Beautiful drive with no problems of any kind (except rough roads). We took almost a month going down and camping at various places along the way. Same van going back, but will be crossing into Texas instead of Nogales and will not have a tent trailer with us. The van looks it's age pretty much (more than 10 years old).
Any info would be great.
Thanks.

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  • almalibre's avatar
    almalibre
    Explorer
    May 23, 2014
    We have gone both routes. The central 57 route has much better quality roads.
  • Clausont's avatar
    Clausont
    Explorer
    May 23, 2014
    Sounds good Keelhauler. I will have to go back to Google maps and look again. So far, it sounds like we are going to skirt around Tamaulipas area to err on the side of caution. We will have our five kids with us.
  • keelhauler1's avatar
    keelhauler1
    Explorer
    May 22, 2014
    I mention taking the new route toward Ciudad Victoria instead of going through Soto La Marina to avoid construction on MX180. Is that what you mean. That route is well signed and good freeway type roads but a little longer. The signs say Matamoras right after Tampico.
    Many people say that this route is not safe, but it is loaded with first class buses and traffic and I just stay with the traffic.
  • Clausont's avatar
    Clausont
    Explorer
    May 22, 2014
    tepetapan wrote:
    keelhauler1 wrote:
    I always go through Villahermosa, then take MX-180 through Vera Cruz, Tampico, and cross at Los Indios. No mountains, but road is bad in a few places, See my last trip in March from this link.
    Coastal Route


    The coastal route, also known as the Gulf Coast Highway 180 is the shortest and fastest way to Texas every time. I once made it from Catemaco to Brownsville, by SUV, in a little more than 14 hours.


    Just got done reading your post Keelhauler. It seems that unless there is some compelling reason to go a different route, this is the way we are looking to go. To your knowledge, has there been any real problems along this route in the last few months (especially Tamaulipas). You mention going around one city in the post, I will have to look at that more closely. Is this route pretty well signed? I'm not sure we still have a functioning GPS after a year in Belize.

    Thanks,

    Tim
  • tepetapan's avatar
    tepetapan
    Explorer
    May 22, 2014
    keelhauler1 wrote:
    I always go through Villahermosa, then take MX-180 through Vera Cruz, Tampico, and cross at Los Indios. No mountains, but road is bad in a few places, See my last trip in March from this link.
    Coastal Route


    The coastal route, also known as the Gulf Coast Highway 180 is the shortest and fastest way to Texas every time. I once made it from Catemaco to Brownsville, by SUV, in a little more than 14 hours.
  • keelhauler1's avatar
    keelhauler1
    Explorer
    May 22, 2014
    I always go through Villahermosa, then take MX-180 through Vera Cruz, Tampico, and cross at Los Indios. No mountains, but road is bad in a few places, See my last trip in March from this link.
    Coastal Route
  • Clausont's avatar
    Clausont
    Explorer
    May 22, 2014
    Ishmel wrote:
    How was Belize? I'm headed to Benque Viejo for a week on the 3rd of July. If you haven't spent any time on the Yucatan, Merida is a great destination for art, theater, and hispanic culture. They have great Ruins at Uxmal as well.
    I've never driven accross the border however, so no help there.


    Haven't been to Benque Viejo so can't comment on it. We have spent time in QRoo. Love Xcalak. Chetumal is too big for us. The ruins at Chacchoben are nice to visit also.
    Thanks
  • Ishmel's avatar
    Ishmel
    Explorer
    May 22, 2014
    How was Belize? I'm headed to Benque Viejo for a week on the 3rd of July. If you haven't spent any time on the Yucatan, Merida is a great destination for art, theater, and hispanic culture. They have great Ruins at Uxmal as well.
    I've never driven accross the border however, so no help there.

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