El Naranjo

El Naranjo is a town in the Petén department of the Northern Lowlands of Guatemala about 20km from the border with Mexico at El Ceibo.

Understand
It's a quintessential Latin American border town, with cheap shoes and places to buy roasted chicken. The entire town is basically a single strip running down to the river crossing, with shops and restaurants on both sides.

Get in
You can get to El Naranjo by taking a bus from El Libertad (3 hours). These buses are usually marked "El Naranjo/La Frontera". As of March 2015, the official price was Q40. The route is quite scenic as you travel through the hills and valleys, it's no highway, but the road is in decent condition.

You can reach most of destinations in Guatemala by continuing on towards Santa Elena/Flores which as road/air connections to the rest of the country.

You do not have to stop in El Naranjo if you only want to cross the border to Mexico, and instead can get off the bus about 20 minutes before El Naranjo at a large T junction in the road with a very large sign saying "Mexico". From there you can switch to a bus going to El Ceibo, the border crossing.

If you are heading to Coban, you can change in La Libertad and head to Sayaxche, where you probably need to change again before reaching Coban.

Get around
The entire town is essentially on a single road, about 500m in length, and as such is very walkable. However, there are "Moto's" available if you don't quite feel like walking.

Eat
There are a few chain restaurants in town, however there is also a stand selling tacos 2 for Q10. Possibly the most delicious tacos in Guatemala!

Drink
There a couple of Cantinas along the strip.

Sleep
There are about four hotels available in El Naranjo.



Connect
There are a couple of internet cafes along the strip.

Go next
If you are trying to get to the border crossing at El Ceibo, local buses can be found passing in the Main Street marked "ceibo" for Q15. From the Mexican side of the border you can find the following buses: