La Mesilla is the Pan-American Highway crossing between Guatemala’s Huehuetenango department and Ciudad Cuauhtémoc in Chiapas, Mexico: the road border for San Cristóbal de las Casas and Comitán. Guatemala charges nothing to leave, Mexico charges nothing for a land stay of seven days or less, and three sellers run weekday tourist shuttles that change bus at the line. Everything below was read from the authorities’ and operators’ own pages on 24 September 2026.

Quick summary

  • Where: Guatemalan customs sits at Km 336 of the CA-1, Aldea La Mesilla, in the municipality of La Democracia. The Mexican side is Ciudad Cuauhtémoc, municipality of Frontera Comalapa, Chiapas.
  • Hours posted: Guatemala customs 06:00-21:00 daily; Mexico’s garita at the line 06:00-22:00 daily. Nobody publishes 24-hour migration service.
  • Fees: no Guatemalan exit fee; Mexico $0 for land stays of 7 days or less.
  • Shuttles (Mon-Fri): Antigua to San Cristóbal USD$70-80, Panajachel USD$55-60, Xela USD$60, with a bus change at the border.
  • Warning: the UK Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel near this border on both sides.

Hours, side by side

PostWho runs itPublished hours
Aduana La Mesilla, Km 336 CA-1 (Guatemala)SATOperative area Mon-Sun 06:00-21:00; administration Mon-Fri 08:00-16:00
Guatemalan migration postIGMNo hours published
Garita El Gariton, Km 1360 Fed. Hwy 190, at the international line (Mexico)ANAMMon-Sun 06:00-22:00
Sección Aduanera Ciudad Cuauhtémoc, Fed. Hwy 190 km 325.5ANAMImport/export Mon-Fri 08:00-20:00, Sundays 08:00-15:00
INM Representación Local Ciudad Cuauhtémoc, Carretera Panamericana Km 253.5INMPublic office Mon-Fri 09:00-15:00
CAIT La Trinitaria, Fed. Hwy 190 km 195 (Comitán road)ANAM24 hours, every day

How to read this. The only hours that cover every day are the Guatemalan customs window (06:00-21:00) and the Mexican garita (06:00-22:00). INM’s published office hours are weekday business hours; the migration filter itself publishes none. Cross on a weekday, in daylight. The CAIT at La Trinitaria is an inland checkpoint on the road to Comitán, so keep your passport and entry paperwork where you can reach them after the border too.

Documents and fees

  • Fees: Guatemala charges no exit fee: none of the border-control lines in the migration tariff in force (Acuerdo IGM-029-2023, Art. 4.2) is one, and the only legitimate charge on the way out is the overstay fine. Mexico does not charge its visitor fee for land stays of seven days or less, according to an INM land-entry sheet that sits under a 2015 path on INM’s site; INM’s 2026 fee sheet for the southern border (published 31 December 2025) lists only the regional-card replacement and border-worker fees and does not restate the seven-day rule. Amounts and caveats: border-run costs page.
  • Tarjeta de Visitante Regional (TVR): free, valid 5 years, for nationals of Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras and for foreigners who are permanent residents of those countries. It allows visits of up to seven days to Campeche, Chiapas, Tabasco, Quintana Roo and Yucatán, and is issued at the southern entry points on a passport, personal identity document or identity-and-travel document (original and copy), with biometrics and an interview. It does not allow paid work.
  • FMM online: INM’s portal lets foreigners entering by land fill in the FMM before the trip, but the form is released only after the fee is paid on INM’s services portal. If your stay is seven days or less and therefore fee-free, the online route is built for people who pay; deal with the form at the INM post instead, and ask there.

What one shuttle seller tells its customers, and how it contradicts itself. Adrenalina Tours’ notes for its San Cristóbal shuttle say, in one line, that there is a Mexican exit fee of “about 600 pesos , independently of the days you stayed in Mexico”, and in another that the exit fee “if you stayed longer than 7 days will be about 450 pesos”. They also say that at the Guatemalan border “you will have to pay as well about 50 quetzals”. The two peso figures contradict each other, and none of the three matches the official texts above. If you are asked for money, ask for the official receipt.

Getting to La Mesilla

FromDepartsSellerTo the borderThrough to San CristóbalThrough to Comitán
Antigua03:30, Mon-FriGuatemala TransportationUSD$65USD$70USD$70
Antigua03:30, Mon-FriAtitlanTourUSD$60USD$70USD$70
Antigua03:30, Mon-FriAdrenalina Tours—USD 80, 13 hours, drop-off at the central square—
Panajachel05:00, Mon-FriGuatemala TransportationUSD$45USD$60USD$60
Panajachel05:00, Mon-FriAtitlanTourUSD$50USD$55USD$55
Xela06:00, Mon-FriGuatemala TransportationUSD$45USD$60USD$60
Huehuetenango08:40, Mon-FriGuatemala Transportation—USD$60USD$55

Guatemala Transportation marks its San Cristóbal and Comitán products “bus change at the border”. AtitlanTour gives Xela to San Cristóbal as 9 hours.

What the San Cristóbal shuttle is really like, in the seller’s own words. Adrenalina Tours publishes an unusually frank list: the service is subcontracted; the buses are mostly old, with little legroom; punctuality is not guaranteed; all seats are used; from Antigua you change bus at La Cuchilla (joining the bus from Panajachel) and again at La Mesilla (the bus from Mexico), with stops at Cuatro Caminos and Huehuetenango; and the driver is not a guide. It tells you to budget 13 hours from Antigua, 12 from Panajachel and 10 from Xela, and warns that roadblocks between San Cristóbal and the border are frequent, with any extra cost on you. Its notes mention a 5:30 am start from Antigua while its timetable says 03:30, so be ready for the earlier time.

By public bus. Take Los Halcones from Guatemala City to Huehuetenango (six hours as published). No operator we read publishes a Huehuetenango to La Mesilla timetable or fare, so ask at the Huehuetenango terminal.

Coming back from Mexico

Guatemala Transportation lists San Cristóbal de las Casas departures Monday to Friday: to Panajachel USD$60 (06:00, 11 hours) and Xela USD$60 (06:00, 13 hours), and to Antigua USD$75 and Guatemala City USD$100 (14.5 hours, minimum 2 passengers) with no time given. AtitlanTour lists the same 06:00 departures to Panajachel (USD$60, 11 hours), Xela (USD$60, 9-10 hours) and Antigua (USD$75, 13 hours).

Driving across

SAT’s directory lists only goods clearance (import, export and transit) among La Mesilla’s services. Its entries for Tecún Umán II and Melchor de Mencos, by contrast, list Permisos de Turista (tourist permits) without saying whether that means vehicles; only El Ceibo’s entry says Vehículos de Turista. If you are driving a foreign-plated car into Guatemala, confirm with SAT that a vehicle permit is issued at La Mesilla before you plan on it; our foreign-plated vehicle guide covers the Guatemalan permit.

Safety

  • UK Foreign Office (Guatemala): it advises against all but essential travel within 5 km of the Mexican border from the Pacific coast up to and including the Gracias a Dios crossing, citing gang-related violence along the border. La Mesilla is inside that band. It also names the town of La Democracia, together with Santa Ana Huista and San Antonio Huista; SAT’s address places La Mesilla, a village (aldea), in La Democracia municipality.
  • UK Foreign Office (Mexico): it advises against all but essential travel within 40 km of the Guatemalan border in southern Chiapas, up to the Gracias a Dios crossing, and against Federal Highway 199 between Rancho Nuevo (outside San Cristóbal) and the Chancalá junction near Palenque, where illegal roadblocks are frequent.

What is not published

  • Guatemalan migration hours at La Mesilla.
  • Hours for INM’s migration filter as opposed to its weekday public office.
  • A Huehuetenango to La Mesilla bus timetable or fare.
  • A walking distance between the two countries’ offices from any official source.

Sources