Honduras Travel

Frommer’s has just debuted a new travel guide to Honduras.

Nicholas Gill, author of the first edition of “Frommer’s Honduras”, says the Central American country has “a little bit of everything: beaches, active adventures, historical sites, indigenous cultures, wildlife and laidback getaways.”

His recommendations for best travel experiences include:

—Semana Santa in Comayagua, the week between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday when “vivacious daily processions and hordes of pilgrims” show their devotion.

—Diving the barrier reef in the Bay Islands, which the author says is not only spectacular but cheap when compared to diving rates in other parts of the world.

As the U.S. Dollar takes a pounding in some countries, Central Americans are still loving the greenbacks. Promoting these “third-world” destinations is daunting – but do-able. The advertising slogans concocted by many tourism boards sound forced and downright silly, but one that Honduras espouses in some of its materials is simple and rings true: “One small country, three big worlds.”

While the price of traveling through it may be a steal, in this small country you can do it all – from diving great reefs to exploring ancient history – in a nation that has roughly the same land area as Tennessee.

Exploring Mayan ruins. Day-long hikes through ancient rainforests. If you love activity-based, cultural travel, the country of Honduras is for you.

Even with the current state of the economy, Honduras is a quick and affordable get-away– one that feeds your soul and eases your mind…

Budget Traveler (4-6 Days)

You fly into San Pedro Sula and transfer to the town of Copán Ruinas by bus (Hedman Alas, approximately 2.5 hours of beautiful rolling hills and lush tropical landscape – and check into the Luna Jaguar Resort for two nights. Rooms start at $60 per night. Eat dinner in town. Try Momo’s for a delicious dinner of “pinchos” (meat and veggie kabobs) served with beans, fresh pico de gallo and tortillas. Dinner should run you no more than $12 per person.

Sitting down at a local restaurant on the Island of Roatan, I shift my gaze past the waiter over the railing to the seashore. I see the moonlight reflecting over water leading my eye past the horizon up into the starry cosmos as it looks so relaxing. I sip my monkey la-la (a delicious island concoction named after a local lizard) and think, “That is my ‘to do’ list for the next few weeks: relax.”

Roatan, along with Utila and Guanaja, form the Bay Islands of Honduras. Roatan lies 65 kilometres off the northern coast of mainland Honduras.

I was a little worried as the young man lifted me up and hooked my harness to the cable. He smiled and warned me not to crash in to any trees.

He then let me go and all at once I was flying through the treetops at Gumba Limba Park in Roatan, Honduras. I really enjoyed this great adventure, even though, after my canopy tour, a very impolite monkey stole my water bottle out of my back pack.

There’s nothing better than learning something new while traveling, learning about ancient and unknown worlds, lose myself in nature and exercise, and be pampered in total relaxation. Honduras offers all of this and a lot more.

Roatan Island in Honduras is more than just a geographic location. It’s a state of mind.

On your worst days when you fantasize about escaping to a movie-set-perfect tropical island, Roatan would do nicely. Still largely undeveloped for tourism, it’s a laid-back, pristine, breathtaking speck of Earth that attracts backpackers, divers and, increasingly, mainstream Americans as it begins to make it onto the vacation radar.

So, undoubtedly, it will change. But for now, it’s still an amalgamation of privately owned small beachfront inns with mosquito netting suspended over the beds, ceiling fans languidly distributing the balmy air and the transparent aquamarine Caribbean Sea just feet away.