San Pedro Sula’s new central bus terminal is called the “Terminal Metropolitana”, also called the mall bus terminal, because there’s a mall in it (note: there are many other malls in San Pedro Sula).
The following is based on the Summer 2008 Edition of “Honduras Tips” guidebook (available at hotels, tour companies, etc), and on my experience when I connected through there last week (Feb 2009), while traveling from Copan Ruinas to Tela.
The guidebook indicates that the following lines are located at the terminal now (supplemented by my updated info). I do not vouch for the accuracy or completeness of this information. The numbers below are from the chart in the guide, and indicate destinations that can be reached through the San Pedro Sula metropolitana terminal. (I’ll try to post images of the very useful color-coded transport-info charts in the guide, so please check back.)
List of buses departing San Pedro Sula “Terminal Metropolitana” bus station:
“Luxury” Direct Non-stop Service buses:
1. Hedman Alas – SPS Airport, Guatemala City, Antigua Guatemala, Copan Ruinas, Tegucigalpa, Tela, La Ceiba. http://www.hedmanalas.com/
2. Viana – Tegucigalpa, La Ceiba
3. Saenz 1st class - Tegucigalpa
4. King Quality – San Salvador
5. Tica Bus – Managua Nicaragua, San Jose Costa Rica
6. San Cristobal - Tegucigalpa
“Direct Service” buses – they are not school buses, they seem to be mostly older-model coaches
10. El Rey Express - Tegucigalpa
11. Gracianos / Lempira –La Entrada, Santa Rosa de Copan, Gracias (one bus, at 2 PM)
12. Rivera - Comayagua
14. Catisa Tupsa City – Tela, La Ceiba (hourly from 5:30 AM to 5:30 PM)
15. Casasola Express – Copan Ruinas
17. Paisano - Tegucigalpa
18. Carolina – La Esperanza
“Multiple Stops En Route” buses
16. Casasola – Copan Ruinas
30. El Rey – Tegucigalpa, La Guama, Yojoa Lake, Siguatepeque, Comayagua
32. Citul – Puerto Cortes
33. Congolon – Santa Rosa de Copan, Ocotepeque at Guatemalan Border
34. Toritos y Copanecos– Santa Rosa de Copan, Ocotepeque at Guatemalan Border
35. Emtraoil - Olancho
36. Contraibal - Trujillo
37. Cotuc – Trujillo
38. Fuente del Norte – Guatemala via Frontera Corinto,
My travel connections during my 2-week stay in Honduras, Feb 2009:
- Antigua Guatemala to Copan Ruinas
Via a shuttle arranged by GVI (Global Vision International). It left Antigua at 4:00 AM, and arrived about 6 hours later in Honduras. There was a stop for breakfast.
NOTE: There are money changers hanging out at the border crossing, changing both lempira and quetzales. The lempira to dollar rate they gave me was 18L per $1 (at the bank it was 18.85L per $1.) It was easy, and not too much of a rip-off, so I did it.
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Copan Ruinas to Gracias via La Entrada and Santa Rosa de Copan
I took a collective van, 45L, to La Entrada. They really pack them in – if you sit in the back seat it’s a much bumpier ride, but you are less likely to have someone sitting on half your lap.The collective van drops you at the bus “depot” in La Entrada. The buses to Santa Rosa de Copan are clearly marked. Note: the road between La Entrada and Santa Rosa de Copan has some very pot-holey patches, slowing the trip down a bit. The trip from Copan Ruinas to Santa Rosa de Copan takes about 2 ½ hours.
At Santa Rosa walk about ½ block to the bus to Gracias. It’s easy – just say Gracias Lempira and they’ll point you in the right direction. That ride takes another 1-1/2 to 2 hours, but the road is in very good condition.
The entire trip was about $8. It took us nearly 5 hours.
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Gracias to Copan Ruinas
There’s one “direct” bus from Gracias to San Pedro Sula, via Santa Rosa de Copan and La Entrada. It may be called the Gracianos bus line (an old coach), or the Lempira bus line, they seem to be the same company. It leaves at 8:30 AM. It left Gracias around 8:35 AM, relatively on schedule, even though it was not yet full! (Note: one traveler told me he was on a coach that left early, because it was full – so get there early!) The ride to La Entrada is about 2-1/2 hours and cost 70L.At La Entrada the bus drops you at the “depot”, and there may be a Copan Ruinas “direct” bus waiting there. Check when it is departing, it may be a while. We would have had to wait 1 hour until it left. The driver tried hard to convince us to take that "express" bus. We declined and opted to walk 2 blocks to where the collective-van stop is, and caugth the Copan Ruinas collective, (which departs when it is full, and then continues to add more as it rolls out of town!) (We never saw that bus pass us, so I think we made the faster choice.)
How to find the collective-van stop in La Entrada (from the “Santa Rosa” bus depot): continue walking eastward, in the San Pedro Sula direction along the main road for about 1 block. You’ll notice that there’s a green highway sign indicating a main road that curves around to the left towards Copan Ruinas. Just follow that sign and walk that curve to the left, and you’ll see the vans lined up. They go to different destinations, so make sure you get in the correct van. 45L to Copan Ruinas, it takes about 1-1/2 hours from La Entrada.
NOTE: The buses we took for the route described above were old “coach” buses, not the yellow school buses. They have overhead racks over the seats - maybe your luggage will fit there, if it’s not too big. We were only carrying large day-packs for the Gracias excursion.
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Copan Ruinas to Tela
We opted for Hedman Alas, since we were traveling with our larger rolling bags. We took the 5:15 AM bus from Copan Ruinas to the San Pedro Sula Terminal Metropolitana. We arrived in SPS at about 8:15. The Hedman bus to Tela / La Ceiba (via the SPS airport) leaves at 10:20 AM. I think I paid about $24 US for that trip. The Hedman bus drops you at the Telamar resort at the edge of Tela. We took a cab from there to our hotel.We had booked the Hedman connection through to Tela in advance only because we didn’t know that the “Catisa Tupsa City” line now departs from that terminal, hourly, towards La Ceiba (the Tela bus stop is in the center of Tela). So we passed the 2-hour lay-over time in the mall. They have an Expresso Americano coffee shop there, where you can get a good cup of coffee, as well as many stalls selling the typical Honduran to-go food you see venders selling at all bus depots. The mall also has stores selling clothing, shoes and appliances, and medical offices. There’s also a BAMER ATM machine with a guard. I don’t know how secure it is.
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Tela to SPS Airport
There doesn’t seem to be service to the SPS airport except via Hedman Alas or by taxi or tour shuttle. Hedman Alas has a very early bus, and a bus around 12:30 pm, to the airport. Their website: http://www.hedmanalas.com/We took a taxi for $50, arranged by our hotel (Maya Vista). We paid in US dollars, cash, since we were out of lempiras.
Good luck!
Edited by: viajamos2