Things to Do in Honduras

One of the cleanest and best-maintained beaches on the island of Roatan, Sandy Bay Beach is just another beautiful escape waiting for discovery. Less busy than West End but still boasting a nice sampling of restaurants and houses, this beach is perfect for an escape with easy access to the rest of the island. A long strip of coastline punctuated by storefronts, Sandy Bay Beach not only offers the usual sleepy beach feel with dips in the aquamarine ocean, but also holds some secret hideaways, local taco shacks, and even the odd massage parlor. Great snorkeling is found 200 yards offshore.

The wilds of Roatan are as diverse as they are romantic. From beautiful beach vistas to dense jungles teaming with macaws and monkeys, Roatan is indeed a special place. And while the time seems to just slip away on the white sand beaches, there's little more intoxicating than seeing the natural jungles that make Roatan the beautiful nature preserve it is.

The Roatan Butterfly Garden is this serene escape. Full of wildlife, the Roatan Butterfly Garden is home to boa constrictors, parrots, lush tropical plants and, of course, the beautiful butterfly. Let the tame deer lick your hand, feed some toucans, and have your guide show you around the grounds as you'll get an experience here like no other.

Palm-fringed, white-sand beaches stretch for 40 miles (64 kilometers) along the coast of Roatan, the largest of the Bay Islands. Roatan is located 30 miles (48 kilometers) off the coast of Honduras and is surrounded by the turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea. The island’s economy is based primarily on tourism and Roatan is dotted with small towns, resorts and gated communities. The Bay Islands are located along part of the world’s second-largest barrier reef system and Roatan is one of the top scuba diving destinations in the Caribbean.

How to Get to Roatan

Roatan’s cruise port is located on the south side of the island just outside Coxen Hole, the capital and largest city on the Bay Islands. You’ll find a variety of shopping and dining options within the cruise port complex, although there aren’t many attractions for visitors in Coxen Hole. Taxis and minibuses wait just outside the cruise port to shuttle visitors into town and around the island.

One Day in Roatan

Many of the best beaches and attractions in Roatan are located on the west end of the island and arguably the best way to visit these attractions is on shore excursions. West Bay Beach and Half Moon Bay are two of the most popular destinations for visitors to Roatan and offer excellent diving and snorkeling, as well as sport fishing and a variety of watersports including sea kayaking and sailing.
Experienced divers can visit some of the more secluded dive spots along the island’s central coast including the Valley of the Kings, French Cay Bank and Mary’s Place. Families will enjoy visits to the island’s iguana farm, the botanical gardens in Sandy Bay and the Roatan Institute for Marine Sciences.

Port Information

Spanish is the official language in Honduras, although you’ll find that many people in Roatan speak English. The official currency is the lempira and it’s fixed to the U.S. dollar. U.S. dollars are widely accepted all over the island but you’ll often receive change in the local currency. It’s a good idea to carry small bills and change for things like taxi rides and tips.

Head to West Bay Beach and join the fun bustling center of life on Roatan. Here you’ll find luxurious and comfortable vacation rentals, intricate and fine restaurants, while the beach itself remains white-sanded and dotted with sleepy palm trees. Enjoy the clear water, play in the lolling surf, and experience the best of vacation in paradise.

With a live coral reef not 50 meters from the shore, West Bay Beach is a popular beach, but nothing in Roatan is crowded. Things move at a slower pace here, and expect your time at West Bay Beach to be a dreamy, serene one playing in the sand and surf. The West Bay Beach Mall lies behind you, and here you can find a variety of gift shop items and some of the best restaurants in all the island.

Guides like to say that Tikal was the New York City of its time, while Copan was its Paris. Full of artists and intellectuals for hundreds of years, Copan was a city where what was on the pyramids was more important than how high they rose. So you don’t come here to be wowed by the scale, rather to take in the beauty and skill of the Mayan people.

This site offers the best chance in the Maya world to go back in time to an age when the buildings were covered with stucco and painted with lively scenes: you can still see the original pigments.

Also unusual for Mayan sites, this one has an attractive colonial town near enough for walking, Copan Ruinas, full of good-value hotels and restaurants.

The Main Site
Several grassy plazas and a ball court are surrounded by pyramids and other temples, many decorated with lively carved stone symbolic figures and former kings. Nearly every surface is covered by some relief or carving. Stone stelae illustrate the various rulers over the centuries and tell stories spanning more than 600 years.

The Tunnels
Two tunnels under one pyramid provide a view into how one pyramid was built on top another, as well as how the civilization evolved over time and became more sophisticated. The tunnels are only open to a few people at a time.

Sculpture Museum
To understand what the temples looked like in their heyday, enter here to so a reconstructed pyramid that is brightly colored and covered with painted figures. Original sculptures and painted sections are on display showing what is often missing from visits to ruins now.

Las Sepulturas
This site a little more than a kilometer from the main archeological park, included in the admission, is where the elite lived and buried their dead. It contains tombs—some elaborate, some simple depending on rank—for the city’s royalty and spiritual leaders.