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naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

Those of you who know my situation know that I have to leave. Where's the closest border to Peru?

Also , how do I get there?

and how long do I have to stay?

What about Chile?

MELEE · Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 2:34 pm Post subject:

I don't have a map handy to see how far you are from either side. There is a boarder with Chile at Tacna. I was there in 1993!!!, maybe someone in the Chile board can give you more info. There were special taxis that did the boarder run taking you from the Tacna bus station to downtown Arica. I'm sure things have changed, but that there is still easy transport. Back then you only had to be in either country a couple of hours if that's all you wanted, you could go back into the other with a new tourist visa in hand.
In 1995, I was near the Ecuador/Peru boarder but there weren't any sizable cities and Ecuador still desputed that boarder at that time so depending on distance, Chile might be a better bet.

lozwich · Joined: 25 May 2003 Posts: 1536

How are you going to travel? Just guessing here, but it might be easy and cheap to just grab a flight with TACA or LAN to wherever is cheapest and do it that way?

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

Bus. Short on cash.

lozwich · Joined: 25 May 2003 Posts: 1536

Check out the Lonely Planet Thorntree. http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/categories.cfm?catid=22

They're always good for budget travel information.

nineisone · Joined: 23 Jun 2006 Posts: 187

naturegirl,

If you go north, the crossing at Macara, Ecuador is supposedly easier and safer than the one at Tumbes(at least according to all the guidebooks).

You can re-enter the same day, although if you decide to spend the night in Ecuador, it is best to take a bus an hour north to Machala. Safer and better hotel selection.

From Lima, it is roughly 8 hours by Bus to Trujillo, 6 hours from Trujillo to Sullana, and then a short taxi taxi or combi to the border.

tomteacher · Joined: 30 Jul 2006 Posts: 34 Location: Changwon Korea

I can second that the border crossing at Tumbes is pretty dangerous. I nearly got robbed and the border guard tried to scam we. They were b@stards to me.

Don't cross the border at Tumbes.

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 5:52 pm Post subject:

I didn't mind the border at Tumbes- being scammed by border guards is standard on all Ecuadorian borders, though.

Agree that if you're staying the night, you'll want to go further past the border- border towns tend to be seedy and ugly...

Justin

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

nineisone · Joined: 23 Jun 2006 Posts: 187

My information is all second hand(message boards and guidebooks).

I had the same question as I expect to be making the border hop myself and would prefer to come back to the Peru side and stay. Can't remember the message board(possibly LP thorntree) but someone had posted you could walk through and walk right back within the hour!

This could be faulty information, but also the stories you are hearing could be some of that Peru/Ecuador border corruption that appears to be rampant. Sounds like the guard may have given a little disinformation to persuade a little kickback from the important Gringo with the letter from the consulate.

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

for those of you who want to go to Ecuador via Piura, there are buses that leave at 930 am and 1pm, 4pm from Transportes Loja. The tickets are 12 soles and they take you through migrations. Much better than goign to Sullana and then taking a collectivo and safer too.

jooooooey · Joined: 16 Dec 2009 Posts: 65

This is an older topic, but I don`t think anyone really answered it well. Is there any advantage or disadvantage of crossing at Chile versus Ecuador to renew a visa (from Lima)? It seems like most people do it at Ecuador, but a change of scenery would be nice.

I am looking for the cheapest and quickest way to do it, by bus. I crossed at Tumbes before, it wasn`t a big deal.

They don`t charge Americans an entry fee at the Chile border, do they (unless it`s via plane)?

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

Andrew Jordan · Joined: 25 Sep 2011 Posts: 26

Their is no charge at the Arica/Tacna corssing for either country. Its a very easy border hop. From Arequipa I did it in less than 1 day just a month ago. Ask around for prices, from Peru to Chile busses were less than half the price as a taxi. But from Chile to Peru busses and Taxis were the same price. I have done this crossing a lot, so if anyone needs more advice ask.

AJ

jooooooey · Joined: 16 Dec 2009 Posts: 65

You know, I was just thinking about this. The cost for not leaving Peru in time is 1 dollar a day.

The cost to take the bus from Peru to Ecuador and back, if you include the price of food, a hotel, taxis, and the 15 dollars I had to give the border guard to come back the same day, comes close to $100.

You might get lucky and they give you 6 months, they gave me three. Three months=$90 if you don`t have a tourist visa. It would have saved me 10 bucks to stay in Lima and then I wouldn`t have had to ride a bus for 3 days.

And even if they give you 6 months, that`s just $90 you save. I mean, unless you live close the the border or else are heading that way anyway, is there any reason to make these stupid border runs?

Like, would it make it more difficult to get a working visa if you have overstayed your tourist visa? All the border police knew what I was doing, apparently it`s a pretty common occurrance.