Before crossing into Honduras we filled out a precheck online. This is available three days before entering, after completing print it out with at least one other copy. There is also a customs form to fill out and print. Doing this made our crossing much easier!

If you are planning on spending more than three days in Honduras during COVID you need an antigen test to enter. Nicaragua however needs a RT PCR.

We thought we would only spend three days in Honduras so we got the RT PCR test from El Salvador to use one test for both Honduras and Nicaragua borders. We spent more time in Honduras after finding out how much we loved it. We would have saved some money just getting an antigen in El Salvador and would suggest this to other travelers. The RT PCR was easy to find in Tegucigalpa and we found plenty of safe places to stay overnight.

We went through at the El Amatillo border, at 3pm.

We drove past 30 commercial trucks, they took up the entire lane so we drove by in the opposite lane. This is completely normal, we are not supposed to wait in their line.
We came upon a shack and gave TIP and copy to official, make sure to check for the official embroidery on their clothes. Ignore the fixers.
He walks into the shack, types in info, stamps and gives back the copy to have us get more copies (we got 3).
Drive down the road (pass trucks again).
An official will ask to see the canceled TIP, give him a copy. Go straight through the round about through a little town to immigration.
Time to officially leave El Salvador! El Salvadoran immigration official will ask for passports and COVID test (we gave them a copy not the original).
We got a visa extension in El Salvador which made it take longer. The official explained we had to be in Nicaragua on the day our original visa expired, it took a half hour for the officials to figure this out. Sounds good though, we’ll have a week in Honduras.
For an easier crossing don’t leave El Salvador until you’re original visa expires after you get your visa extension.
She asked for the precheck paper for Honduras (probably to see how long we’d be there).
She called us back, and asked for the van plate number.
Gave us lil papers to the to police on El Salvador side of bridge. Goodbye El Salvador!
We crossed the bridge onto the Honduras side, showed an official our COVID tests and precheck.
This is the health shack, makeshift during COVID times, I’m assuming. The official inside needs passports, a copy of our COVID tests, a phone number, and checks our temperatures.
Gives us piece of paper with a stamp.
We read it’s easiest if you get the pet paperwork first in Honduras so we’re heading to check our fur babies into Honduras.
We needed a little help from officials to find the short term animal import office.
These officials needs proof of rabies shots, 1 copy of my passport. They typed a bunch of stuff into their computer, took a picture of our pets, gave us a paper for the next border, it cost 300L.
Next immigration! We headed to immigration close to the bridge.
We gave the official our passports with the paper from health shack.
Both of us were finger printed and gave a phone number. They asked about our visas, we have extension.
They told us we could only be in Honduras for 37 days, no idea where that number came from but okay!
After paying $3USD we got our passports back with stamps and a stamped paper (receipt) along with the health shack paper.
We headed to the aduana (windows across from immigration), gave her the customs form we filled out and printed before. She handed us a small paper with a stamp and Danny’s name. Didn’t ask for anything? We tried asking for more papers but she refused and said thats all we need.
We asked other officials, they all said nope, go ahead into Honduras. We drove down the road and an official stopped us. He looked at the small aduana paper, little stamped receipt that we paid $3 at immigration and the pet paperwork. He tried to take the small aduana paper but we told him that’s all we have for the car. What do we do. He hopped on his motorcycle and took us back to the aduana.
He talked to the girl and now we can get some work done. We gave her a copy of registration title Danny’s passport and license. We tell her how many seat belts we have and how big the van is. we paid her 771L or $30USD. Danny got another stamp on his passport for the TIP.
At this point the aduana closes in 20 minutes so we understand but we won’t be able to travel without paperwork for the van.
She gave us one multicolored paper and another says aduana. Thank goodness we can leave!
We went back down the road where the official once again checks our papers and this time we’re good to go!
At 6:30pm, three and a half hours after starting we left Honduras border, hungry, a little stressed but thankful to be in a new country.
Immediately we found some fried street food and some mangitos to cheer us up and made our way to Tegucigalpa.
Excited for the days to come in a new place.

We also made a YouTube about our experience! Check it out 🙂