San Pedro Sula, Honduras’ Financial and Manufacturing Hub
Honduras’ second largest city is the financial and manufacturing center of Honduras. Located in the department of Cortes, and boasting the busiest airport in the country (SAP) San Pedro Sula is the ideal gateway into Honduras. Its geographical location makes it the perfect jumping point to visit sites such as Copan Ruinas to the west, Lake Yojoa to the south, Atlantida to the east and Omoa and Puerto Cortes to the north.
Over the years, San Pedro Sula has earned a terrible reputation as the murder capital of the world. This of course, sounds absolutely intimidating! But the truth is that the San Pedro Sula you will see as a tourist is actually a modern city with good infrastructure. American style malls, World Class international franchise hotels, and a great selection of restaurants to choose from. The San Pedro Sula you will experience and get to know is far from the areas dominated by gangs and danger. I truly suggest store your fears and enjoy your visit to the city. I personally lived here for over 7 years, and must say that I never felt threatened any way or form!
San Pedro Sula boasts the best bus terminal in Central America! All of the intercity buses in and out of the city meet. This makes it easy and safe to travel by bus. From San Pedro Sula you can get bus transportation to almost every city in Honduras, as well as service to Guatemala City, San Salvador, Managua and San Jose Costa Rica.
The city has several different consular offices. This makes it easy for travelers to get assistance from their governments if they need to.
The city offers a variety of cultural services. This includes several different museums, so there is something here for everyone. There are many different things to do in San Pedro Sula! The city quickly grew from a small town in 1950’s to a large city today. This coincides with the time when the Tela Railroad Company first set its headquarters in La Lima, just outside San Pedro Sula and next to the airport. Today, the metropolitan Sula Valley area boasts a population of over 1 ½ million people! The city also has two different golf courses you can play in. Both are in La Lima, next to the airport.
For the purposes of our travel blog, we will consider the all of the metropolitan Sula Valley cities as part of San Pedro Sula. This includes Puerto Cortes and the beach town of Omoa, which are very close to the city. We will also include the department of Santa Barbara. This is just to the West of San Pedro Sula as part of the same region.
