Can you get from Bacalar or Chetumal to Palenque during the day?
Yes – but you’ll need to be up for a bit of an adventure.
If you’re looking for how to go from Palenque – Bacalar it’s actually quite easy. Use the table of contents below to jump to the end of this blog post.
There are many reasons why you may not want to take the night bus between Bacalar and Palenque. For us, it was to avoid the cost. We were up for an adventure and we wanted to see if we could do it cheaper.
Bacalar – Palenque Journey Options:
| Time………………………………….. | Price (MXN) | |
| ADO Night Bus | 10.55 pm – 7.35 am | 910 |
| AU Night Bus | 2 am – 10.40 am | 822 |
| Acosta Night Bus | Multiple departures | 700 |
| Day travel (local collectivo, taxi, bus) | 6.45 am – 6 pm (11 hours ) | 794 |
Option 1: Taking the night bus
- 8 hours 40 minutes
- $700-910 MXN
Taking the night bus is the easiest way to get between Bacalar and Palenque. It’s one bus the whole way. You can either take the ADO (more premium bus) AU (also ADO owned but slightly less nice and less favourable departure time) or the Acosta (we’ve heard this bus can be quite unreliable and dodgy but it is the cheapest).
Travelling overnight is safe in Mexico, just keep your valuables on you or locked in your bag. People can try to take them while you sleep, however, we took multiple ADO night buses and never had any issue.
You can buy tickets in advance on the ADO website for the AU and ADO buses. For Acosta you’ll have to go in person.
Option 2 – Day Time travel
Collectivo + Collectivo + Shared Taxi + SUR or ADO bus + Collectivo
- 12 hours
- $794 MXN
This is the method we took after asking our hostel in Bacalar for advice. Unfortunately we missed the last collectivo (by 15 minutes!!) so we had no choice but to pay $600 MXN for a taxi. However, this was our own fault as we left WAY too late in the morning. If you follow the below schedule you’ll manage to do the route for $794 MXN and in less than 12 hours.
Journey overview
| Bacalar to Chetumal (Collectivo) | 6.45 am – 7.30 am |
| Chetumal to Xpujil (Collectivo) | 8 am – 10.30 am |
| Xpujil to Escárcega (Shared taxi) | 10.30 am – 11.45am (gain 1 hour due to timezone change) |
| Escárcega to Emiliana Zapata (ADO or SUR bus) | 12 pm – 2.30 (SUR) or 1.30-4 pm (ADO) |
| Emiliana Zapata to Palenque (Collectivo) | Leaves every 30 mins till 8.30 pm |
| Palenque | Arrive roughly 4-6 pm |
Bacalar to Chetumal
Leave Bacalar 6.45 am
Journey 30-45 minutes
Cost: 50 MXN
First, grab a collectivo from the highway in Bacalar to go to Chetumal. We were out on the highway for about 1 hour trying to hail one down. If you’re not having luck you can also head to the shared taxi stop here and take a taxi (usually shared with others) for a little more than the collectivo. Waiting so long ultimately led to issues later in our trip so try and be leaving Bacalar in a Collectivo or taxi no later than 8 am but ideally around 6.45 – 7 am to give yourself a buffer (we left at 9 by the time we got in a collectivo annnd it impacted us big time at the end of the day)
Our collectivo took about 45 minutes to get to Chetumal due to traffic. It dropped us about a 20 minute walk from the Xpujil taxis so we walked there but you could also get a taxi if you’re short on time.
Chetumal – Xpujil
Leave here 8am
Journey time 2.5 hours
$170 MXN
You can catch a collectivo to Xpujil here. They start at 6am and run until 5pm.
To make this route work you want to be getting a collectivo here at around 8 am. At worst, you can make it work if you get one at 9am the latest. There is a bathroom here and I believe they leave on the hour.
Xpujil – Escarcega
Leave here 10.30 – 11 am
Journey time: 2 hour (but you gain 1 hour with the time change)
Cost: 180 MXN
We arrived in Xpujil after about 2.5 hours and got straight into a shared taxi to Escarcega. This time it was an actual taxi not a collectivo and there were 2 others in the car.
Escarcega – E. Zapata
SUR bus: 12 pm
ADO bus: 1.30 pm
Cost: Sur – unsure ADO – $314 MXN
Time 2.5 – 4 hours depending how many road blocks
Your shared taxi will take just over an hour and will drop you infront of the SUR Bus station. If you’ve made it here before midday you can jump straight on the SUR bus to E. Zapata. Unfortunately you can’t buy tickets for this online, only at the station.
If it’s after midday you’ll need to walk to the ADO bus station (20-30 mins walk). There is a bus that leaves at 1.30 pm from here. You can book tickets for it online or at the station.
E. Zapata – Palenque
As long as you’ve arrived to Emiliano Zapata before 8 pm now is the part of the trip when you can relax. It took our ADO bus about 3 hours to get from Escarcega to E. Zapata (we had multiple police road blocks) From here, there is a small counter in the bus station that sells tickets to Palenque in a collectivo. The collectivo leaves every 30 minutes until 8 pm.
If like us, you arrived after 8 pm there are taxis in front of the bus station that will take you to Palenque for 600MXN. Not ideal, but better than being stranded. If you don’t have a booking to get to in Palenque there is a hotel across the road – you could stay here and then get the collectivo to Palenque in the morning.
Option 3 – Collective + SUR bus + SUR bus + Collectivo
- 8-13 hours
- $? not sure but we’d assume it would be between 800-1000 MXN
We wish we’d tried this option but at the time we could find no information confirming the existence of a SUR bus between Chetumal and Escárcega since 2013. However, when we arrived in Escárcega we saw the timetable confirming it does exist in the direction of Escarcega – Chetumal. We have to preface – we are assuming this means it exists the other way but we are not 100% sure so try this method at your own risk! You’ll also need to leave early. Probably 6am from Bacalar to give a buffer in case there is no bus and you have to revert to the above option.
- Bacalar to Chetumal – Collectivo
- Chetumal to Escárcega – SUR Bus
- Escárcega to Emiliana Zapata – SUR Bus or ADO Bus
- Emiliana Zapata to Palenque – Collectivo
Bacalar – Chetumal
To get this route you’ll start by taking a collectivo from the highway in Bacalar to Chetumal. If you’re having no luck you can walk to the shared taxis here which aren’t too much more than a collectivo.
Chetumal – Escarcega
Once you arrive in Chetumal you’ll need to make your way to the SUR bus station which is we believe is the old ADO central bus station or Caribe Station – but we recommend you check with your collectivo driver as info on this is limited. From here you can take the bus to Escárcega. We don’t have the timetable for this as we only were able to see the time table going in the opposite direction (Escarcega – Chetumal departs 8.30, 11.15, 14.00, 16.40 and 23.00) but we’d assume there are multiple departures given there are multiple coming the other way.
You’ll want to arrive in Escárcega no later than 11.50am to get the midday SUR bus to E. Zapata (so you can make the last bus to Palenque) or no later than 1 pm to get the ADO bus to E. Zapata. This makes this itinerary a little tricky as it’s 4 hours direct from Chetumal to Escarcega so assuming the bus is slower you’d need to be leaving from Chetumal around 7 am (and is there even a bus at this time? We don’t know.) The other option is to take the ADO bus at 1.30 pm. You’d need to leave at Chetumal at around 8/8.30am am to guarantee you’d make this bus. You do gain 1 hour with the time difference though so that helps.
Escarcega – E. Zapata
Option 1: transfer bus in the SUR terminal to Emiliano Zapata. This bus leaves at 12pm or 5.40pm. The 5.40pm bus won’t get you to E. Zapata in time to make the bus to Palenque.
Option 2: Walk or taxi to the ADO bus station. Take the 1.30pm bus to Emiliano zapata arriving at 4pm. There is also an ADO bus at 4.55pm but it likely won’t get you there in time for the last bus to Palenque (we took this and arrived 15 mins late)
E.Zapata – Palenque
Once in Emiliano Zapata in the same bus station you will arrive at there is a small counter for combis to Palenque. They leave every 30 minutes until 8.30 pm. If in the worst case scenario you miss the last bus you can take a taxi to Palenque for 600 MXN. The taxi’s will be waiting in front of the bus station.
Palenque to Bacalar
Going from Palenque to Bacalar should be pretty straight forward and doesn’t require too many change.
| Palenque – Emiliano Zapata | Collectivo | 60 MXN |
| E. Zapata – Escarcega | ADO bus 9.40 am – 12.10 pm * | 314 MXN |
| Escarcega – Chetumal | SUR bus 2 pm, 4.40 pm** or ADO bus at 4.40 pm** | 300 – 448 MXN |
| Chetumal – Bacalar | Collectivo | 50 MXN |
* there is likely also a cheaper SUR bus but we just don’t have the timetable! Worth checking at the station.
** the 4.40 pm buses will get you to Chetumal quite late, around 8.30. We’re not sure the collectivos run this late so it’s best to aim for the 2 pm bus.
Palenque to E. Zapata
Collectivos leave around every 20 minutes starting from 4 am. It’s about a 1 hour drive to Emiliano Zapata so you’ll want to leave with enough time to get the 9.40 am bus. The bus will leave from the same station the collectivo drops you off at.
E. Zapata to Escarcega
The ADO bus leaves at 9.40 am from E. Zapata. You can book this in advance online. There is likely also a SUR bus but we don’t have the timetable. If you wan’t you could get to the bus station early and book in person to get the best price.
Escarcega – Chetumal
From Escarcega you can either take a SUR bus or ADO bus to Chetumal. Noting that depending which bus you took from E.Zapata you’ll be dropped at a different terminal (ADO or SUR) and they are about 20 mins walk apart.
SUR buses leave at 11.15 am, 2pm or 4.40 pm.
The ADO bus leaves at 4.40 pm and is likely more expensive than the SUR ($488 MXN)
Escarcega – Chetumal
From Escarcega you can either take a SUR bus or ADO bus to Chetumal. Noting that depending which bus you took from E.Zapata you’ll be dropped at a different terminal (ADO or SUR) and they are about 20 mins walk apart.
SUR buses leave at 11.15 am, 2pm or 4.40 pm.
The ADO bus leaves at 4.40 pm and is likely more expensive than the SUR ($488 MXN)
Note that the 4.40pm buses will get you to Chetumal quite late and there may not be anymore Collectivos to Bacalar so you may be stuck getting a taxi or ADO bus.
Chetumal – Bacalar
The easy part! You’ll just need to grab a collectivo to Bacalar here. They leave regularly and are only 50 MXN.
There you have it. If you take this route and find any other information let us know in the comments so we can share with other travellers!
