Guidebooks
If there's 1 guidebook I want to recommend, then it's the "Honduras & Bay Islands guide" published in August 1999 by Open Road publishers. OK, they're not so famous as LP and Moon, but for Honduras they're definitely the best with very up to date info on both practical things like hotels and transportation, and nature reserves. You'll find good info on rafting, and extensive reviews of most of the hotels. It's written by an American living in Copan. What could be improved is the number of maps. Most common places like Tela, San Pedro don't have a map. Also, the book has been updated a bit since Mitch (11/98), but not completely. Visiting banana plantations for instance is much more difficult now.
Order the Honduras & Bay Islands guide for only 13.56 US$!
Once you get to Honduras, don't forget to ask a free copy of "Hondurastips" at your hotel. The have plenty of practical info on hotels, restaurants, transportation, and they do have maps on most cities.
The best book on the Honduras nature reserves is the "Honduras: adventures in nature" book. It is not so practical on accomodation and transportation as the Open Road book, but it is indeed much better on the nature reserves. Their info on rafting f.i. gives detailed descriptions of the different rivers.
Order the Honduras: adventures in nature guide for only 14.36 US$!
Another book which I considered buying was the Honduras Handbook by Moon Publishers. It is OK, but nothing like the Open Road book, and the info on nature reserves is not very detailed. Also the info on rafting is very short. However, the info on hotels etc... is good.
Order the Honduras Handbook for only 12.76 US$!
If you only want to visit the Bay Islands, you might consider buying a book dedicated to this area only, and then the Diving & snorkeling guide to Roatan & Honduras' Bay Islands might be a good option, although the 2nd edition already dates from 1/97.
Order the Diving & snorkeling guide to Roatan & Honduras' Bay Islands for only 11.96 US$!
If you are visiting Honduras as part of a trip through Central America, you will probably stick to a book covering the whole area. My personnal favourite is the Footprint's Central America Handbook published each year in december, but the LP is equally popular although not updated as frequently. I think the footprint is worth the extra money.
Order the Footprint Central American Handbook for 19.57 US$!
Order the Lonely Planet Central America on a shoestring for 15.96 US$!
The Rough Guide series now have a competitor of LP's Ruta Maya (June 1999), called "Maya World". They have here info on Guatemala, Belize, and Yucatan, but also El Salvador and Honduras. I read parts of this book and it's excellent value for money, better than LP in my point of view. The Honduras part is not as detailed as the other countries and only has info on the most visited parts like Copan, San Pedro, La Ceiba and the Bay islands (Tela is not included).
Order the Rough Guide Maya World now for only 15.96 US$!
Money matters
Which money to take
The US dollar is accepted everywhere, and if you don't have Lempiras with you, people will simply exchange it, although the rate will not always be the right one (it won't differ a lot though). When we were there, the rate was 14,7 L for 1 US$ (5/2000). Check this currency converter to check the current rate
Travellers cheques are readily accepted, also in hotels, shops, dive shops etc... So, I advise to take a big part of your money in TC's (currency US dollar), since it gives you extra security.
Credit cards are now accepted in most tourist places, however most of these places will add an additional handling charge of 6 to 8 %. Exceptions to this rule where the more expensive resorts in Roatan, some travel agents and Garifuna tours in Tela (no handling charge there).
Local taxes
You'll have to pay local taxes on most items. These taxes seem to increase all the time and are now at 16%. This will be added to most of your bills like in restaurants, hotels etc... Most of the times this is mentionned on the menu, sometimes it's not (f.i. Papagayos tropical café in West End Roatan).
Hotels
Hotels are available in every class in most places of Honduras. Cheaper places can be had for about 150 to 200 L. More expensive places can charge 80 US$ and up. These prices never include breakfast, and usually taxes have to be added as well.
The more expensive hotels usually have special rates for residents. It's definitely worth asking for a discount during low season, and you'll probably get a 30 % discount.
Sightseeing
The sightseeing is not so cheap as you might expect. A visit to Copan ruins including museum will cost 15 US$, visiting the tunnels will set you back another 12 US$. This is in fact more then Tikal for instance.
Also visiting the nature reserves can be expensive, since most of them are not so easily accessible, so getting there involves more expensive means of transportation. In this regard, visiting the parks around Tela is much cheaper then visiting the parks around La Ceiba.
Safety
When reading about Honduras, you will always read that some places are dangerous and should be avoided. Fortunately we didn't have problems, nothing got stolen, and we didn't feel unsafe or anything, so I'll merely repeat here what we've read and what we've heard from locals. Because that's indeed remarkable, that more then once locals told us to be careful here or there:
- Be careful with your luggage around busstations in San Pedro and El Progreso
- Avoid walking outside of the center in San Pedro at night.
- Avoid walking on the beach in Tela, especially at night: robberies and rapings have been reported here.
- Be careful in La Ceiba at night, also someone told us you cannot always trust the taxidrivers here.
Medical Matters
Malaria
Where to take what
Honduras is considered by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to be in an A-zone, meaning Chloroquine is the first choice prophylactic drug here, take 300 mg once a week.
However, risk for malaria is not everywhere the same in Honduras: Risk is highest in rural areas of Choluteca, Cortes, Colon, Valle and Yoro.
Risk is lower in departments of Atlantida, El Paraiso, Gracias a Dios, Islas de la Bahia and Orlancho.
Other departments have minimal risks.
What malaria strain
You might be aware that there are different strains of malaria, with 1 potentially lethal (plasmodium falciparum). Untill recently, the falciparum strain was considered to be very rare (about 2% of cases), thus the WHO says you could also take precautions without drugs.
However, a recent report reported a much higher incidence of this falciparum strain, namely 21% of 200 malaria infected patients. none of these patients came from cities. In short, in urban areas risk is very low, but in rural areas, be more careful.
Hepatitis A
If you travel with a backpack and don't mind eating in cheap restaurants, it's easy to catch Hepatitis A. Chances of getting infected range from 1/300 to 1/50 per month depending on your standard of travelling. It's not dangerous, but you will be sick for some weeks.
There is a good vaccination for Hepatitis A nowadays, so ask your doctor. You need 2 shots (used to be 3 shots) at 0 and 6 months, although if you can it's even better to postpone the second shot till after 12 months. They are expensive, but they protect you for 10 years.
Hepatitis B
You can only get this through sex and blood transfusion. Since prevalence of Hepatitis B is much higher in SE Asia then in the Western world, it might be wise to get vaccinated. Get your shots at 0, 1 and 6 months. They are equally expensive as hepatitis A.
Typhoid fever
There is also a good vaccination consisting of 3 pills to be taken every 2 days. Take them early enough before you leave since it's better not to combine them with malaria pills, although these guidelines have recently changed (meaning you can combine them). The vaccination works for 3 years.
Travellers diarrhea
We always have antibiotics at hand in case of diarrhea. We take Ciproxine 250 mg two tablets at once and then another 3 tablets, one tablet every 12 hours
Weather
The rainy season is not everywhere the same in Honduras: Tegucigalpa and the Pacific coast have a rainy season from May to October. The rest of the year is pretty dry. The Caribbean coast and the Bay islands can get rain throughout the year, but most of it is from October till November. This is what the books say, but when we were there, we had the first rain in 8 months on the Bay Islands (according to the locals). Temperatures are of course pretty high year round.
Outdoor sports
Diving
The Bay Islands are of course a diver's paradise. Roughly, you could divide the 3 islands into 3 categories: Utila: the budget traveller's paradise, no beach, but plenty of places to party. Roatan: much bigger, a bit more expensive and also great beaches, though sandflies are a real nuisance. Guanaja: caters for the more affluent traveller Although Utila is probably the cheapest place of them all, you can also find 4-day PADI courses for 250 US$ in Roatan. 5 dives including gear will cost about 125 US$. See "Bay Islands" section for more details.
Rafting
La Ceiba has become pretty famous for rafting. For the moment, you can raft almost al year long, though in dry season it'll be of course a bit less rough. Another option is to go Kayaking in an inflattable kayak with the guide behind you. Price is the same, but especially in dry season, this will be more exciting.
Go to San Pedro Sula
