Things to do in Honduras
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Parque Nacional Cusuco
Just 45km from San Pedro Sula, but remarkably difficult to access, Parque Nacional Cusuco is a cloud forest nestled in the impressive Merendón mountain range. The park has abundant wildlife, including parrots, toucans and a large population of quetzals, best spotted from April to June. Its highest peak is Cerro Jilinco (2242m). The park’s visitors center is the starting point for five different hiking trails. Two trails – Quetzal and Las Minas – pass waterfalls and swimming holes. Guides can be hired at the visitors center for around L$100 per trip.
reviewed
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Munchies
Located on the 1st floor of an island home built in 1864, this restaurant has a great Caribbean vibe, with pleasant outdoor seating on the front porch and at the back. The menu is a bit limited, but includes good vegetarian options and big breakfasts, which keeps it busy with travelers.
reviewed
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Alton’s Dive Center
Longtime local shop – ‘Alton’ is Alton Cooper, Utila’s mayor until 2010 – with good equipment and a laid-back atmosphere. Courses include four night’s accommodation – in little, basic, cold-water rooms right at the shop – and two fun dives. The service can be a bit hit and miss. It also offers NAUI courses.
reviewed
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RJ’s BBQ
Huge, cheap, well-prepared dishes attract a crowd here – it’s lucky for the other restaurants in town that RJ’s is only open three days a week. Choose from barbecued chicken, wahoo, kingfish, pork or beef, all of which are served with mashed potato and salad. The selections are written on a chalk board near the cash register, and erased one by one as the night wears on and the food runs out. Needless to say, come early. It’s across from Alton’s Dive Shop.
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Canopy Tours
Canopy Tours provides a canopy tour with a 20-cable system about 500m past Sambo Creek, east of La Ceiba. The 20-cable tour (two to three hours) starts with a 35-minute horseback ride up a steep road to the first station and includes a stop at a natural hot springs where you can smear yourself with the possibly therapeutic, definitely sulfur-smelling mud there. Any east-bound bus from La Ceiba can drop you at the entrance; a cab there will cost around US$30.
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Jim’s Pizza Copán
This thatch-roof restaurant serves some of the best pizza around. Choose from a variety of ingredients – pepperoni, ham, sausage, bell peppers, onion, mushrooms, olives – and it’s baked before your eyes in the open-air kitchen. A steady stream of clients keeps the place going late.
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Honduras Caribbean Tours
Has tours similar to Garífuna Tours, but also sportfishing (per boat L$5491), trips to Lancetilla (L$550), Pico Bonito (L$1045) & Cayos Cochinos (L$1121) and rafting on the Río Cangrejal (L$1121). Enquire at Casa Azul Caribbean Café.
reviewed
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Driftwood Café
A way’s west of the ferry dock, this ‘yachtie’ hangout has decent pub grub. Try the ‘Monkeyball, ’ made with home-crafted Kahlua and a few other secret ingredients.
reviewed
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La Moskitia Ecoaventuras
Run by Jorge Salverri, an expert birder and one of the most knowledgeable guides to La Moskitia. Call ahead.
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Café Welchez
Although it looks like money, the Café Welchez is a relatively affordable place.
reviewed
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Ten Napel Café
This cozy coffee shop is perfect if you need a caffeine or sugar fix (or both).
reviewed
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Diving Sites
Roatán has dozens of dive sites and most shops do a good job of making sure divers who buy multi-dive packages don't end up going to the same place again and again. If there's a site you are keen to try, don't be afraid to ask. At the same time, weather and water conditions dictate most site selection, and some dives aren't practical or diveable for days at a time.
Some favorites - among many, many others - include: Mary's Place: fissures in the coral form a deep, sheer-faced maze at this one-of-a-kind site. Winding through, you'll likely see jacks, lobsters and crabs, and huge schools of silversides; near the mooring, keep an eye out for seahorses. Mary's Place is near…
reviewed
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Roatán Institute for Deepsea Exploration
The Roatán Institute for Deepsea Exploration is the fancy name for an American kid with a homemade submarine, which he uses to take tourists into the deep-sea trenches just off Roatán’s north shore. This is one of only two operations in the world that take Joe Public deeper than 91m. And the Idabel, as the sub is called, goes much deeper than that – more than 610m down, for as long as seven hours. There is no vegetation after 91m (and no light after 520m) and only the strangest of life forms: bioluminescent sponges, swimming sea cucumbers, six-gilled sharks, all amid huge limestone boulders and fossilized coral formations. The sub’s creator, Karl Stanley, got into…
reviewed
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Finca el Cisne
Finca El Cisne is the well-run tourism arm of a century-old family farm, located 25km north of Copán Ruinas; trips combine beautiful scenery with an inside-look at a working finca and include horseback riding through coffee and cardamom fields, swimming in the Río Blanco, soaking at Agua Caliente hot springs and a stop at the coffee-processing plants (February to October). Lodging is in a homey solar-powered cabin. Per person costs (minimum two people) are: day trips L$1000; overnight L$1300; and two-night stays L$2100; they include transportation to/from Copán Ruinas and meals. The finca shares an office with Basecamp tours, opposite ViaVia Café in Copán Ruinas.
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Hacienda El Jaral
The large, rather cheesy Hacienda El Jaral resort-hotel-waterpark-museum-foodcourt-minimall-movie theater (did we miss anything?)is a budget version of Disneyland. The water park has several high tubular slides that wind down to a somewhat dated pool, while the movie theater has one screen showing Hollywood flicks. Both are the only ones of their kind near Copán Ruínas, and the best reason to make the trip (and then only if you are really jonesing for some soft-serve diversion).
The much-hyped Museo de la Vaca, Museum of the Cow, is a glorified gift shop, while the hotel is way overpriced.
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Hiking
A loop starting in West End heading to Flowers Bay, then continuing south almost to the tip of the island, over the ridge to West Bay and back up the beach to West End, makes a good five- to six-hour hike. Tack on a couple of hours enjoying the beach at West Bay, and it's a whole day's excursion. For a shorter trek, simply do the West End-Flowers Bay leg - when you reach the ridge, look out over both sides of the island.
In either case, bring plenty of water to stay hydrated and adequate repellent to ward off the numerous ticks and sand flies.
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Macaw Mountain Bird Reserve & Nature Park
Set on 4 hectares of tropical forest, Macaw Mountain Bird Reserve & Nature Park has large enclosures with birds ranging from brilliant Buffon’s macaws to manic keel-billed toucans. The ticket price (a bit steep, but good for three days) includes a one-hour guided tour (English and French spoken). There’s also a 20-minute nature loop through an adjacent coffee plantation, a small swimming hole and a cafe. It’s 2.5km north of Copan Ruinas, mostly uphill; a taxi is L$20 per person.
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Chiminike
Chiminike is Tegucigalpa’s excellent children’s museum. Situated about 7km south of downtown, it caters to kids of all ages, from a peaceful infant/nursing area to adolescent-level displays on Maya history. It’s refreshingly frank: the area about the human body has exhibits on the hows and whys of farting, vomiting, sneezing and body odor, while a crawl-through digestive tract starts at the mouth and ends with a slide through an oversized rectum.
reviewed
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Copán Archaeological Site
Honduras has only one major Mayan ruin, but it's a true gem. A Unesco World Heritage Site since 1980, Copán archaeological site is known for its remarkable stone sculptures, especially the enormous and intricately carved stelae depicting former leaders. The site is not as lofty or grandiose as, say, Tikal or Chichén Itzá, but the artisanship is impressive. The museum is also top-notch.
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Captain Morgan’s Dive Centre
Small operation with an office at the intersection, but its dive shop and lodging are on Jewel Cay (Upper Cay), a 20-minute boat ride from Utila. Three to four nights of lodging are included with your Open Water course in the clean and comfy lodge – a good bet if you want to get away from the Utila scene.
reviewed
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Cross Creek
Owned by the Utila Diver Center, Cross Creek is a bit more expensive, but has friendly multilingual staff and professional instruction. Breakfast and accommodation are included with an Open Water course, and the rooms are some of our favorites on the island. All guests can use the big, shared kitchen and lounge.
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Argentinean Grill
The hottest restaurant in town, this is the place to splurge if your lemps are burning a hole in your wallet. As the name suggests, steaks are the specialty – the filet mignon is spectacular – but if red meat isn’t your thing, the seafood and chicken dishes are just as good.
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Yaragua Tours
Just east of Parque Central, the reliable Yaragua Tours offers various excursions, including tubing and horseback trips along the Copán River, bird-watching, waterfall hikes and coffee plantation tours. Ask for Samuel Miranda.
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La Llama del Bosque
From the outside, this place looks forgettable. But eat one meal here and you’re likely to remember it for a long time. The menu is extensive and varied with dishes that are delicious, beautifully presented, abundant and cheap.
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Pizzería Bella Italia
Pizza here is terrific – from personal to 16-piece gigantes (extra large) – but the specialty is the panzerotti, a variation of calzone stuffed with salami, ham, mushrooms and more.
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