How to Tackle the Pan-American Highway

There are road trips, and then there’s the one that quietly may ruin all other road trips for you. The Pan-American Highway is more of an epic expedition, and you could even say a bit of a dare, rather than a simple road trip.

Stretching from the northern reaches of Alaska all the way down to the wind-whipped edge of South America, this journey takes you through deserts, jungles, mountain passes and countless border towns. On a map, it deceivingly looks rather simple, a neat red line threading two continents, but on the ground, it’s messy, unpredictable, bureaucratic, breathtaking, exhausting, and completely addictive.

What is the Pan-American Highway

The Pan-American Highway isn’t a single road, rather it’s a network of highways that stretches something like 30,000 kilometres from Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay all the way down to Ushuaia in Argentina. It pretty much runs through every country in the Americas and is considered one of the longest overland routes on Earth. The only break in the road is found at the Darién Gap between Panama and Colombia, a dense jungle with no road connection, where you’ll need to figure out a solution to continue on south.

Tackling the Pan-American Highway requires time, flexibility, and paperwork. Border crossings mean visas, temporary vehicle import permits, and insurance for each country. You’ll need a reliable vehicle, know how to do basic car maintenance, and have a non-rigid itinerary that allows for delays due to weather or wanting to take spontaneous detours. Most travellers take several months if not a full year to take it all in. 

While it definitely is for the faint of heart, it’s a very unique way to travel between countries, allowing you to experience the gradual shift in cultures and landscapes. The idea of waking up in the shadow of the Rockies and then months later stare up at the Andes rising above you is quite spectacular.

What draws travelers to tackle such a trip isn’t just the scale of the journey, rather the chance to almost move between different worlds without interruption. It’s not really about ticking countries off your list, but committing to a trip that you can truly say is an extraordinary achievement once you complete it. 

Picking the Right Wheels

While you don’t necessarily need a monster overlanding rig with rooftop tents, choosing the right vehicle for such a journey as the Pan-American Highway is quite important to say the least. You need something that is reliable, rather easily fixable, and common enough that a mechanic in rural areas of smaller countries can recognise it and know how to fix more serious mechanical issues you can’t tackle yourself.

As stated before, the Pan-American Highway isn’t one continuous road. Large sections are paved and perfectly manageable, but other stretches include rough and potholed backroads, steep climbs through the Andes, unexpected gravel segments, and other challenges. All of this equates to factors like clearance and durability being more important than luxury.

We’ve met travellers making the trip in everything from kitted-out 4x4s to older vans, motorbikes, bicycles, and even the occasional questionable sedan that really shouldn’t have made it but somehow did. 

While any vehicle theoretically can work, certain aspects make some options much better choices. Having fewer electronics means fewer things that can fail in the middle of nowhere, and a vehicle with globally available parts can save you weeks of waiting and a small fortune in shipping fees.

Then there’s comfort. Don’t forget that this isn’t a two-week holiday. You’ll be living in or around this vehicle for months. Storage, sleeping setup, fuel range, and ventilation matter more than how it looks in photos. You want to be able to access your gear easily, and if you’ll be sleeping in the vehicle, you want a bed that is actually comfortable after long days of driving. 

A bigger question to probably ask yourself is how do you want to experience the journey? A motorbike gives you more raw immersion, while a van will feel more like home. And then you have a 4×4 which opens up the option of taking remote detours. There’s no real “right” answer, simply one that fits your pace, your budget, and your tolerance for discomfort.

Knowing the Route and the Terrain

The Pan-American Highway is made up of a patchwork of highways, backroads, mountain passes and border crossings that demand at least a little knowledge about well before you start your trip.

The route takes you through an impressive variety of landscapes and climates. You’ll take smooth North American freeways to Central American jungle corridors, up into the spine of the Andes, across high-altitude plains and desert stretches that feel almost lunar. 

Elevation becomes a real factor in places like Peru and Bolivia, where you’ll climb well above 4,000 metres. Weather can shift fast, you may face landslides, and road quality can change due to natural causes or simply within a few kilometres of crossing a border due to how much a country budgets for its road maintenance.

Planning is about understanding what’s ahead so you’re not surprised when the “highway” turns into gravel or dirt tracks running alongside goats or cows looking at you funny.

And then, of course, there’s the legendary Darién Gap. This dense stretch of jungle between Panama and Colombia is the only break in the Pan-American Highway. There literally is no road and no sneaky shortcut. Just thick rainforest, rivers, and terrain that has defeated decades of construction attempts. Attempting to drive it overland is quite literally impossible.

Your options include shipping your vehicle from Colón in Panama to Cartagena in Colombia via container or roll-on/roll-off cargo. It requires paperwork, patience, and a few days on either side to clear customs. You will most likely fly across the border yourself and then reunite with your vehicle at the port. There is the potential to also take a boat that transports both passengers and occasionally motorcycles via the San Blas Islands.

The key is to treat the Darién not as an obstacle, but as a transition point. It’s the intermission between continents. While it can feel like a logistical puzzle while you’re dealing with it, it ends up almost serving as a rite of passage so to speak for the second half of your journey through South America.

Sometimes Renting is the Smarter Move

While it may sound romantic to drive your own vehicle, for which you’ve likely given a name to, from one end of the Americas to the other, the reality is that sometimes car rental is the smarter play for this journey.

Bringing your own vehicle across multiple international borders means dealing with temporary import permits, mandatory local insurance in each country, and the constant low-level anxiety of paperwork being stamped correctly. 

While in some places bureaucracy is quite efficient albeit still time-consuming, other countries seem to move at glacial speed. Renting often decreases the complexity quite a bit, and when you’re done, you just hand back the keys and walk away without worrying about the wear and tear on the vehicle that was inflicted during your travels. 

Remember too that travelling the entirety of the Pan-Am can take months, which means months of wear, unpredictable road conditions, altitude strain, fuel quality differences, and the occasional pothole that appears out of nowhere like it’s personal. When you rent, long-term maintenance isn’t your problem. No sourcing parts in a small town. No waiting a week for a replacement suspension component to clear customs. If something major fails, it’s usually the rental company’s responsibility to get it back up and running.

Then there’s flexibility. For example, if you don’t have six months or more to commit to the journey in its entirety, renting will allow you to tackle the Pan-Am in smaller sections over a few years. You can do Alaska to Vancouver one year, Mexico and Guatemala another, and the Andes on yet another separate trip. 

Renting also allows you to tailor the vehicle to the terrain you’ll be travelling through. A compact car will be sufficient for paved stretches in North America, then a 4×4 for Bolivia’s high plains, and maybe a motorbike for Colombia’s mountain roads.

Financially, it can make sense too. Shipping a vehicle across the Darién Gap isn’t cheap, nor is international vehicle insurance. Renting converts a long list of variable, unpredictable costs into a clear daily rate.

And finally, there’s mental freedom. When it’s not your lifelong pride and joy absorbing the punishment of rough roads, you drive differently. You’ll be more focused on the experience, driving more loosely and less stressed. 

Always Expect the Unexpected

The Pan-American Highway often laughs at all those carefully made plans of yours. Whatever you think will happen often times sadly won’t.

Borders close for holidays you didn’t know existed or protests block highways. Landslides and flooded roadways turn a six-hour drive into an overnight wait behind a line of trucks. You should definitely plan carefully, but the real skill on this road is adaptability.

Start with the unglamorous stuff such as copies of important documents like visas or bookings (both digital and physical), multiple bank cards, and small denominations of local currency for fuel stations that may not take cards. Have offline maps for when the signal disappears somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and pack a basic first aid kit. 

Learn at least the basics of your vehicle so you can possibly do minor repairs yourself. You should know how to change a tyre, check and refill fluids, and be able to spot something that doesn’t sound right. Carrying a few critical spares of important parts is a wise idea as well. Obviously this applies to bringing your own vehicle. Renting should remove the need to maintain your vehicle as much as driving your own would. 

Then there’s the packing philosophy. Overpack and you’ll resent every item you have to shift around to find the one thing you actually need. Underpack and you’ll end up searching frantically in small towns for items you desperately need. The sweet spot is sticking to intentional minimalism, packing clothing in layers for temperature swings, durable shoes, a headlamp, a decent set of tools, and always having bottled water in case you break down in the middle of nowhere. 

Going Green on the Road

Let us try to not forget that the Pan-American Highway passes through fragile ecosystems, Indigenous territories, small mountain villages, and coastlines already feeling the strain of tourism. If you’re going to drive it, try your best to drive it thoughtfully.

Start with the obvious when it comes to fuel and emissions. You might not be able to avoid burning fuel entirely, but you can reduce your footprint. Keep your vehicle well-serviced for efficiency. Drive steady instead of aggressively. Avoid unnecessary detours. If you’re renting in certain sections, consider smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles where terrain allows. 

Waste is the next big one. Carry reusable water bottles, plates, cutlery, shopping bags, etc. Many parts of the Americas still struggle with waste management infrastructure, and what you bring in, you should be prepared to carry out whenever you can. Leave campsites cleaner than you found them and resist the temptation to treat wide open landscapes as consequence-free spaces.

In high-altitude deserts and rural communities, water is a precious resource. Be mindful of taking long showers, soap runoff near rivers, and where you empty grey water if you’re travelling in a van setup.

And then there’s the human side. Respect for local communities goes beyond learning how to say a few basic phrases that end up just making things easier for you anyway. Try to support locally owned businesses instead of international chains where possible. Eat at family-run restaurants, hire local guides, and ask before photographing people. Understand that you’re passing through someone else’s home, even if it feels like the middle of nowhere to you.

Cultural awareness is part of travelling green. Research customs, dress appropriately in more traditional areas, and above all be patient with slower systems and different ways of doing things. The Pan-Am isn’t just a scenic route for your amusement, rather it’s a corridor of cultures that many different people have called home and will continue to call home for generations.