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Travel to Central America
Honduran beaches are some of the most beautiful in the region and enjoying a relaxing time on one of them is no doubt, one of the best tourist things to do in Honduras. The nicest beaches in Honduras are found in the Bay Islands and include West Bay beach, Tabyana beach, Mahogany beach, Sandy Bay beach in Roatan, as well as Guanaja beach and Chepes Beach in Utila.
Fortunately, laying on the beach isn't the only activity on offer in Honduras. There’s plenty more fun stuff you can do in Honduras besides getting a nice and crispy tan! They include:
Enjoy a pleasant walk in the tropics
Honduras botanic gardens are excellent places to enjoy nice day walks and experience the sight of tropical rainforest plants and birds without having to venture too far of the tourist trail.
Blue Harbor Tropical Arboretum in Roatan and Carambola Botanical Gardens in Sandy Bay are very popular botanic gardens in Honduras, but if you have to visit one it'll have to be Lancetilla Botanical Garden in Tela. Lancetilla is not only the world's second largest tropical botanic garden but the garden also offers the opportunity for fun guided tours and river swimming.
Learn to dive
Honduras is a fantastic place for scuba diving and one of the best places in Central America to get dive certified without burning a hole in your pocket. The island of Utila is overall the cheapest place to get certified, though you’ll find many more affordable options in Roatan, West End and West Bay.
There are around a dozen of dive centers to choose from with prices ranging from $108 to $160 per 4-5 dives. Some of the most popular dive operators in Honduras are West Bay Divers, Barefoot Divers, Enomis Divers and Captain Morgan's Dive Centre.
See wildlife and enjoy jungle tours
Honduras is a fantastic place for ecotourism and wildlife photography is, hands down, one of the top tourist things to do in Honduras. Best of all, there are hundreds of places in the country you can go to view and photograph all kinds of animals.
The island of Roatan is a popular tourist destination for families with kids to see and pet wildlife. You can pet dolphins at Anthony’s Key resort (Sandy Bay), see bird and butterflies at the Butterfly Gardens in West End and feed iguanas at Arch’s Iguana park in French Harbour.
However, if you want to watch birds and other wildlife in a more natural setting you'll need to get slightly off-the-beaten-track to mainland Honduras. Macaw Mountain Bird Park in Copan is one of the best spots in the country for bird spotting, while La Moskitia, Pico Bonito and “Cuero y Salado” national parks (near La Ceiba) offer nice opportunities for eco-lodge stays, as well as guided boat and jungle tours.
Visit the ancient ruins sites
Visiting the Mayan ruins is without question, one of the most popular tourist things to do in Honduras. The Maya site of Copan is where you'll find the old Maya ruins sites and landmarks, which include step pyramids, sculpted monuments, plazas, tunnels, an amphitheatre, temples and tomb sites (Sepulturas).
The most interesting structures at the Copan site are the Ballcourt and the Hieroglyphic Stairway which is the oldest surviving Maya hieroglyphs script in the world. Visiting the Copan site costs around $17 (including entry to Copan museum) and you can explore the site at your leisure. However, if you want to learn about the Mayans it’s well worth hiring a local guide from the nearby town of Copan Ruinas (10 minutes walk from the Copan ruins site).
Swim and dive with marine life
As mentioned earlier, relaxing on a beach and enjoying water-based activities are some of the top tourist things to do in Honduras, though fun on the water doesn’t get any more exciting than under it! Diving and swimming with dolphins and sharks is really a must, especially if you’ve never experienced swimming with these beautiful creatures before.
Honduras’ Bay Islands are the prime destination for snorkeling with dolphins and diving among reef sharks. Utopia dive village in Utila and the Waihuka dive center in the island of Roatan are two of the most popular.
Take a zip line canopy tour
A visit to Honduras would not be complete without doing a zip lining tour. Just like the rest of Central America, zip lining is big in Honduras so there are many options for tourists to choose the right zip line tour in Honduras. Give or take, you can expect to pay around $50 per person.
The most popular destinations for zip line tours in Honduras are the Bay Islands (Islas de la Bahia) and national park Pico Bonito where you get to zip line through the canopy of the jungle. Popular operators include Gumbalimba Park, Jungle Top Zipline Adventure, Christopher Tours, Pirates of Caribbean zip line, and South Shore zip line.
Enjoy a horseback ride
Just like scuba diving, horseback riding is a fairly inexpensive thing to do in Honduras and while in the country it's a good idea to do a horseback tour of some kind.
You can enjoy horseback riding on the beach in Roatan’s West End with El Rancho Barrio Dorcas and Christopher Tours, or a countryside tour on horseback around Copan and La Ceiba with Finca el Cisne, Omega Tours (Jungle Lodge) and Hacienda San Lucas. You can expect to pay roughly $65 for a typical 2 hour ride.
Ways to save money while on vacation
Most Beautiful Beaches in the Caribbean
Central America may be one of the smallest regions in the world but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in charm and character! Central America is for the most part pretty laid back and offers ample opportunities for fun activities such as zip lining, surfing, water sports, jungle hikes and archaeological tours.
As far as places to visit, Granada, Volcan Baru (highest peak in Panama), Tikal, Arenal Volcano and Roatan are probably Central America's most popular tourist destinations. Having said this, there are a few more travel destinations in Central America worthy of inclusion. They are as follows:
Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Costa Rica
Costa Rica is home to many gems but the beach town of Puerto Viejo is, by far, one of the most beautiful spots in Costa Rica. Puerto Viejo is nestled within the beautiful Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge (right by the border with Panama) and it’s only 30 miles away from the bustling city of Limon.
A few other reasons that make Puerto Viejo de Talamanca one of the best 5 travel destinations in Central America are the spectacular beaches, lively atmosphere, blend of indigenous and Afro-Caribbean cultures, inexpensive accommodation and great surfing waves such as the famous “Salsa Brava” waves.
San Blas Islands, Panama
Central America boasts a fair number of stunning cast away islands, though none are more enchanting and charming than the San Blas archipelago (home to the Kuna people).
The San Blas Islands of Panama offer a nice opportunity for relaxing under the sun and enjoy fun water sports such as boat rides, sailing and snorkeling. Getting to the San Blas Islands is also fairly easy since the islands can be reached by plane or road, although you'll need to either rent a 4x4 or hire a shuttle van service from Panama City to reach San Blas.
Another great thing about San Blas Islands is that accomodation options mostly consist of Kuna-run eco lodges and huts with pretty basic amenities like outdoor shower buckets and sleeping hammocks.
Esteli, Northern Nicaragua
The Nicaraguan town of Esteli is a popular place to retire in Central America and a fantastic destination for a family vacation. Esteli is one of the least commercialized towns in Nicaragua and it's one of the best 5 travel destinations in Central America to find an authentic Amerindian atmosphere with all the modern amenities.
Esteli is home to banks, shops, nightclubs, restaurants, museums and even a cigar factory where you can enjoy a guided tour.
Besides taking in the local sites, sampling Esteli's local culinary cuisine and enjoying the nightlife, Esteli also offers the opportunity to wander off in nature not far from the town. Within the town's vicinity you'll find the natural reserves of Miraflor and Tisey Estanzuela where you can enjoy hiking, horseback riding and ranger-led hikes.
Puerto La Libertad, El Salvador
La Libertad is another beautiful Central American coastal town where you can enjoy a fun and inexpensive beach vacation. Puerto La Libertad boasts a nice range of accommodation options like hostels and beach resorts that cater to both families and the younger crowd.
A couple of other reasons to include La Libertad on the list of best 5 travel destinations in Central America are the town's bohemian lifestyle and regular surfing competitions held at nearby Punta Roca and Playa El Tunco. The most popular surf contest is the “El Salvador ISA World Masters Surfing Championship” in the month of October (16-23).
Mosquito Coast (La Moskitia)
The Mosquito region of central America spans eastern Honduras and northern Nicaragua and it's home to one of the most pristine rainforest areas outside of South America’s Amazon Basin (see. 7 Things to Expect on a Trip to the Amazon Rainforest).
Mosquito Coast is home to a huge variety of plants and wildlife and it is a fantastic destination for adventurous ecotourism. Flying is the most convenient way to get to the La Moskitia, though you can also do it with an organized tour and by cargo ship.
Traveling by cargo ship is slow but it's cheap and offers one the most amazing boating experiences you'll have for sure! You can negotiate prices with cargo captains in La Ceiba, though most charge no less than $60 (~1180 lempiras) per person. Mind you, the entire journey to Puerto lempira takes roughly 3 days but it’s totally worth it!
Caye Caulker, Belize
Caye Caulker is another Central American island that you can escape to without having to burn a hole in your pocket. Compared to the Caribbean, Caye Caulker is relatively cheap and boasts some of the best waters in the world for diving and fishing. Best of all, Caye Caulker is relatively untouched by mass tourism (unlike most of the Caribbean).
If you’re a fan of water activities, you’ll definitely enjoy taking full day snorkeling trips, fishing excursions and relaxing under the sun!
By the way, if you’re planning a trip to Caye Caulker, be sure to visit during the annual Lobsterfest (last week of June). Not only you’ll get to sample all kinds of lobster dishes but also enjoy one of the best live events of Belize's calendar year.
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