Safe to travel Honduras?

Hey Erin, while I cant vouch for the weather at that time of year I can tell you there is good diving and cheap accomodation on Utila. It is a perfect place to do your certification, one of the cheapest in the world and there are plenty of options. I did all my diving with Captain Morgan's (you cant miss it, right there when you get off the ferry). I chose them because they had a private hotel on one of the cays (so you can dive some more remote areas) and it seemed like a fun organization. You can walk down the main road and shop around there are many packages available, compare the prices and attitudes of the owners. Also a fun town to hang out in, plenty of eating/drinking/coffee options. Roatan is more upscale, from what I hear there are better beaches there. The smaller cays have the best beaches around Utila, that private hotel I mentioned has kayaks you can use for free to paddle over to them if you want some time on the sand.

I dont know about that park near the coast, but the rest of the cities I passed through in Honduras were not so pretty. Guatemala is my favorite country in CA (been to all but Panama) and it is the cheapest place to fly into - maybe you could consider flying into there, checking out Tikal, volcan Pacaya (where you can touch the lava), the garifuna town of Livingston, the beautiful cobblestone streets and volcanic landscape around the mountain village of Quetzaltenango or the area around Lago Atitlan and then take a bus over to San Pedro Sula for the jumping off point to the Bay Islands. Obviously you cant do all these in three weeks but you can hit a couple of sights in Guatemala and get some diving in as well. Reply to this

Erin,

I just travelled across Honduras and found it to be a safe place to travel in, despite the bad press it gets. We mostly hitch-hiked around, and never had a dodgy experience ever. We felt perfectly safe there, and I think the crime you read about centers more on drug-related issues. I hope this puts you at ease a little,

Ben Reply to this

I am in the same boat. My boyfriend and I are heading there in March. Its his first time out of the country. Last night we were at a photography course and a couple there basically told us it was super violent, cabbies were hitting tourists over the head with guns and robbing them and that we were ballsy to be traveling on the mainland. Everything I have read says that as long as you are using common sense you will be fine. We are going to go anyways, but my boyfriend is a but nervous 😊 Reply to this

I loved Honduras. I traveled by myself and actually really loved Tegucigalpa. While Honduras has a higher murder rate than other countries (so does Guatemala and El Salvador) it's mainly confined gang violence that tourists rarely witness. Just be smart, have common sense and you'll be fine. I hitch-hiked in smaller towns and felt safe but also sized up the situation carefully. I would check out the wet and dry season schedule as you won't want to dive off the coasts if it's just going to be windy/pouring rain. Reply to this