Spilling the beans on Honduras

I, perhaps like most people, fell into the “don’t visit Honduras” trap.

Since well before I arrived in Central America, the consensus was to stay away, as it’s a dangerous place.

This information shaped my decision to take an expensive ($78) tourist shuttle transport to get from Leon, Nicaragua, to El Salvador because the route would pass only through southern Honduras.

When we crossed the border between Nicaragua and Honduras, I was on high alert. But the very friendly immigration officials raised questions in my stereotype-filled mind.

The country that rolled past our group outside the van window didn’t look like the zombie apocalypse either. Farmers were at their game and there were cute little countryside houses. The roadside was littered with trash.

We stopped for a toilet break an hour later, at a shiny bus terminal with one of the cleanest bathrooms I’ve had the pleasure of using in a while. Plenty of people were going about their breakfast quietly, and I thought to myself that my fellow backpacker brethren’s advice had scammed me: Honduras seemed exactly as safe, if not safer, than any other Central American nation we had visited until now.

This was supported by an older Canadian traveller I met at an El Salvadorian guesthouse, who had travelled Honduras’ main spots and told me that he especially loved the capital, Tegucigalpa. There, he walked around alone at all times of the day and never felt unsafe.

And now, having just visited most of the country for a Lonely Planet guidebook update, the truth is that Honduras is largely misunderstood, even though smartraveller.gov.au tells you to “exercise a high degree of caution”.

But, since the nation’s first female president, Xiomara Castro, took office in 2021, the country’s security and economy have improved greatly. And even though visiting Honduras obviously requires some precautions, like anywhere else, I suggest that travellers really don’t have to fear.

And, on another note, I have to tell you that baleada is the best food I’ve had across Central America. Composed of a flour tortilla filled with a little refried red beans, cream and salty hard cheese (and perhaps avocado, scrambled eggs or meat), this traditional dish is believed to have originated on the northern coast of Honduras.

MOOCHING THE MARKETS

In 2012, the city of San Pedro Sula earned the creepy title of “murder capital” because it recorded the highest homicide rate in the world, totally hampering tourism and giving Honduras, together with El Salvador, the fame of one of the least desirable countries to visit in the world.

But while gang-organised extortion and drug trafficking remain a thorn in the side of the Honduran government and common people, the city’s infamous murder rates have halved between 2022 and 2024.

The sketchiest areas of town are the south-eastern suburbs around the city and towards the airport, where tourists generally only pass through via a moving bus going or returning from the Bay Islands. Today, San Pedro Sula’s Parque Central has a police presence throughout the day — you can walk in and out of the markets around it freely. I felt more unsafe in many parts of Costa Rica, where everyone says you should go.

HEADING TO THE ISLANDS

The well-trodden Bay Islands of Roatan and Utila in the north are well known and considered safest, and have kept attracting divers and cruise ships to their azure waters and the world’s second-longest coral reef for years.

But, of all the places I visited while in Honduras, the one you have to beware of is Roatan. The island’s main city, Coxen Hole, is ugly yet it’s a good place to pick up cheaper groceries during the day and it’s where the safest, most reliable ATMs are. But beware of the ATMs in the tourist-centric West End. They are infamous for card skimming and the area is best avoided after dark, when its streets fill up with sex workers and drug addicts. The risk of being assaulted is high.

MAYA RUINS OF COPAN

Other very safe spots are the stunning Maya ruins of Copan, on the western border with Guatemala.

This is an attraction in Honduras that most people visit.

From the annexed cobbled town of Copan Ruinas, possibly the most tourist-friendly town in the whole nation, travellers can cross the Lenca Highlands and stop at Gracias, La Esperanza and Siguatepeque before making it to the beautiful Lake Yojoa.

This is a birdwatching heaven and where American Robert Durrette established the brewery and boutique hostel, D&D Brewery, in the village of Los Naranjos. It is not just beautiful, but safe for travellers.

FINAL WORD ON LA CEIBA

Finally, I don’t think that La Ceiba is as bad as people say. I got lost on my way home during the night, and the delivery driver who stopped for me wasn’t going to attack me. He was, instead, a kind, most affable fellow willing to help me find my way back.

Beyond La Ceiba, the beautiful whitewater river valley of Rio Cangrejal is a gem, and another of the safest spots in the country.

MY FIRSTHAND PLAN

Leave those touristy Bay Islands behind and get to beautiful mountain-draped capital Tegucigalpa after a couple of days in colonial Comayagua, where Honduras’ main airport now is. Then explore the Lenca Highlands and end in Copan.

You’ll see that the only real danger will be choking on some delicious baleadas.