25 Best Things to Do in Honduras

Hon­duras is locat­ed in the heart of Amer­i­ca, has a trop­i­cal cli­mate and is great for a beach hol­i­day. How­ev­er, there are many inter­est­ing sights that are def­i­nite­ly worth see­ing.

Who and why should come to Honduras

First of all, Hon­duras is famous for its beau­ti­ful nature. There are many nation­al parks and reserves where you can walk through shady forests, lis­ten to bird­song and see var­i­ous ani­mals, many of which are on the verge of extinc­tion.

Also in this coun­try there are his­tor­i­cal archi­tec­tur­al mon­u­ments. Many will be inter­est­ed to see the ruins of the Mayan city and vis­it sev­er­al muse­ums to learn more about the his­to­ry of the coun­try. Ancient church­es and cathe­drals are also worth see­ing.

Cultural attractions and museums

Marine Science Institute of Roatan

The date of foun­da­tion of this insti­tute is 1989. It was cre­at­ed with the aim of study­ing and pro­tect­ing marine fau­na, and school­child­ren and stu­dents often come here to gain new knowl­edge.

The insti­tute is also open to tourists: here you can swim with dol­phins and play sim­ple games with them, and the staff helps vis­i­tors to com­mu­ni­cate with these amaz­ing ani­mals.

Museum of National Identity

It is locat­ed in Tegu­ci­gal­pa, the cap­i­tal of Hon­duras, and is one of the most pop­u­lar and vis­it­ed muse­ums in the city. The pre­sent­ed expo­si­tions are con­nect­ed with the his­to­ry of the coun­try and its cul­ture. Also here you can see the ruins of the ancient Mayan city of Copan, hav­ing been on a vir­tu­al tour.

Museum of the History of the Republic of Honduras

This muse­um will acquaint you with the his­to­ry of the state and its peo­ple, start­ing from 1821, when Hon­duras gained inde­pen­dence from Spain. The expo­si­tion is rep­re­sent­ed by archae­o­log­i­cal finds dat­ing from the peri­od before the arrival of the Spaniards and exhibits of the colo­nial era.

There is also a car­to­graph­ic room and the hall of Lozano Diaz, a local politi­cian who owned the muse­um build­ing until 1979.

National Gallery of Art

The build­ing that hous­es the muse­um today was built in 1654. For more than 100 years, the first uni­ver­si­ty in Hon­duras worked here, and in 1994 it was decid­ed to estab­lish the Nation­al Gallery of Art.

Its col­lec­tion is housed in 12 rooms and pre­sent­ed in chrono­log­i­cal order, from pot­tery and Mayan carv­ings to colo­nial paint­ings and con­tem­po­rary mas­ter­pieces. It also hosts tem­po­rary exhi­bi­tions of con­tem­po­rary art.

Military History Museum

The inhab­i­tants of Hon­duras fought for free­dom for a long time, so the coun­try has a rich his­to­ry, which is reflect­ed in the mil­i­tary his­to­ry muse­um. Here you can see doc­u­ments and arti­facts from the 17th and 18th cen­turies.

Also in the muse­um is a col­lec­tion of weapons, where there is a Degt­yarev machine gun, a Beretta shot­gun, RPGs and rifles from the Anglo-Boer War peri­od. Dur­ing the tour, tourists are offered to go down to the under­ground cham­ber where the sol­diers kept the cap­tives.

Historical landmarks

The ancient city of Copan

The archae­o­log­i­cal city in Hon­duras is locat­ed near the bor­der with Guatemala. Pre­sum­ably Copan was found­ed in the 5th-4th cen­turies. BC. Today it is known through­out the world for its ancient struc­tures and build­ings. The city has the sta­tus of a reserve and is list­ed as a UNESCO World Her­itage Site.

Fort San Fernando de Omoa

The fort is locat­ed in the city of Omoa on the coast. The con­struc­tion of the fortress was car­ried out from 1756 to 1775, and it was designed to pro­tect the city from pirates. For many years, the build­ing was aban­doned, until in 1959 the coun­try’s author­i­ties decid­ed to restore it in order to attract tourists.

The fortress of Fortaleza de Santa Barbara

Tru­jil­lo is locat­ed in the north of the coun­try. It was here, around 1550, that For­t­aleza de San­ta Bar­bara was built at the entrance to the bay. The pur­pose of its con­struc­tion was to pro­tect the city from pirate attacks. Today it is a tourist site where you can go on an excit­ing excur­sion.

Architecture of the city of Comayagua

The city of Comayagua has pre­served unique ancient archi­tec­ture. There is the Cathe­dral of the Immac­u­late Con­cep­tion, in the tow­er of which one of the old­est clocks in Amer­i­ca is installed, Merced Church, the Bish­op’s Palace, the ruins of the Roy­al Cas­tle and Trent Col­lege.

religious buildings

Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel

The tem­ple is locat­ed in Tegu­ci­gal­pa and is ded­i­cat­ed to the patron saint of the city — St. Michael the Archangel. This build­ing has a sig­nif­i­cant place in the his­to­ry of the city. Out­stand­ing per­son­al­i­ties are buried with­in its walls: the pres­i­dents of Hon­duras, the builder of the cathe­dral Simon José Zelaya and Bish­op José Maria Mar­tinez. In 1967 the church was declared a nation­al mon­u­ment.

Church of Iglesia de San Francisco

This is the first church built by the Spaniards in Tegu­ci­gal­pa at the end of the 16th cen­tu­ry. Through­out the exis­tence of the tem­ple, its build­ing served as the city hall, an edu­ca­tion­al insti­tu­tion, and a rebel point. Today, the church has been com­plete­ly restored, attract­ing atten­tion with beau­ti­ful tow­ers, side altars and bel­fries with bells.

Cathedral of San Pedro Sula

The Cathe­dral in the city of San Pedro Sula was built in hon­or of the Apos­tle Peter in 1904. The build­ing has a clas­si­cal form and vaults that hold the cen­tral dome. On the facade with columns there are two tow­ers — a clock tow­er and a bell tow­er.

The incred­i­ble atmos­phere inside the cathe­dral is cre­at­ed by mosa­ic win­dows and a stained-glass dome depict­ing the life sto­ries of Catholic saints. On the walls of the tem­ple you can see fres­coes of the same theme.

Church of Santa Maria de los Dolores

This is one of the old­est church­es in the coun­try. In the 16th cen­tu­ry, a small skete stood on the site of the cur­rent tem­ple, and in 1732 the con­struc­tion of the church began on the ini­tia­tive of the priest Juan Mar­quez Nota. The tem­ple was built in the Amer­i­can Baroque style, has a dome and two bell tow­ers. Inside it you can see paint­ings and fres­coes, as well as lux­u­ri­ous dec­o­ra­tion of gold and sil­ver, tra­di­tion­al for the Baroque.

natural attractions

Roatan Island

Roatan Island belongs to Hon­duras and is locat­ed in the Caribbean Sea. Eco­tourism is very devel­oped here, and this place is also great for div­ing — divers are attract­ed by clear water and reefs close to the shore.

The main tourist area is locat­ed on the West End beach — it is also the cen­ter of scu­ba div­ing. Vis­i­tors to the island can also go sport fish­ing, yacht­ing, vis­it an igua­na farm or the ancient set­tle­ment of Pun­ta Gor­da.

Pulhapanzak waterfall

The water­fall in the province of Cortes is the largest in the coun­try — its height is 140 m. The stream of water flows out of the rain­forests with such a roar that noth­ing is heard around — not even the voice of a per­son who is stand­ing near­by.

Locals say that the name of the water­fall was giv­en by the Maya Indi­ans, and it means “white riv­er over­flow­ing its banks.” If you go to see this attrac­tion as part of an excur­sion group, the guide will also take you inside the water­fall.

Lake Yohoa

The depth of the largest lake in Hon­duras reach­es 15 m, and the area is 285 m². Iohoa is a lake of vol­canic ori­gin and is locat­ed at an alti­tude of 700 m. It bor­ders on two nation­al parks and is a kind of recre­ation area for tourists trav­el­ing through them.

Here you can take a breath between excur­sions, have a bite to eat in a coastal cafe and admire the beau­ti­ful views. The lake has a rich flo­ra and fau­na — about 800 plant species and about 400 bird species.

Mesoamerican barrier reef

The length of the reef is almost 1000 km. It orig­i­nates a lit­tle north of the Mex­i­can Yucatan Penin­su­la, runs along Guatemala and Belize, and ends near the coast of Hon­duras.

The under­wa­ter world of the reef is rep­re­sent­ed by 500 thou­sand species of fish, sea tur­tles and man­a­tees, dol­phins and sea sharks. There are also under­wa­ter grot­toes and caves, the deep­est of which has a diam­e­ter of 300 m.

Taulabe caves

If you are inter­est­ed in explor­ing under­ground caves and grot­toes, head to the city of Comayagua, where the huge Taula­be cave com­plex is locat­ed. Now 12 km of its ter­ri­to­ry have been explored, but only 400 m are avail­able for tourists.

Inside the com­plex there are paths and lights in all nooks and cran­nies, which makes the under­ground walk even more excit­ing. Inside the caves there is no damp­ness — the air is very dry there.

Cayos Cochinos Islands

This arch­i­pel­ago is a Nation­al Park, and tourists call it “heav­en on earth.” The nature of the islands is pro­tect­ed by the state, so there are no indus­tri­al enter­pris­es near­by. There are beau­ti­ful clean beach­es with white sand, the water tem­per­a­ture does not drop below 25 degrees.

You can rent a boat to sail around the island or go scu­ba div­ing. Thanks to the clear water, vis­i­bil­i­ty is sim­ply excel­lent.

Parks and reserves

Rio Platano

The Bios­phere Reserve is locat­ed on the Rio Pla­tana Riv­er on the Caribbean coast of Hon­duras. Most of its ter­ri­to­ry is occu­pied by low­land and moun­tain rain­forests. The reserve also includes coastal lagoons, moss-cov­ered forests and palm marsh­es, man­go groves and clear streams gush­ing from under­ground.

In the park, next to rep­re­sen­ta­tives of wild fau­na and flo­ra, Indi­an tribes live, adher­ing to a tra­di­tion­al way of life. Mon­keys, jaguars, cougars, ocelots, tou­cans, macaws and oth­er ani­mals and birds live in the reserve.

La Tigra

The old­est nation­al park in Hon­duras was cre­at­ed to pre­serve the soil and pre­vent it from being washed away in this region. La Tigra is divid­ed into two eco­log­i­cal zones, and there is also a muse­um of the his­to­ry of the park.

The cen­ter of local tourism is locat­ed in El Rosario — this is a small vil­lage where you can get the nec­es­sary infor­ma­tion about the park and its inhab­i­tants, choose a tourist route. The park is home to about 200 species of birds, as well as var­i­ous ani­mal species, many of which are rare or endan­gered.

Lansetilla

The sec­ond largest botan­i­cal gar­den in the world with trop­i­cal plants is the pride of Hon­duras. The rail­way com­pa­ny was involved in the foun­da­tion of the park. Dur­ing its exis­tence (since 1926) the gar­den has col­lect­ed an impres­sive col­lec­tion of var­i­ous plants.

In addi­tion, more than 350 species of birds and ani­mals live on its ter­ri­to­ry. On the tour you can walk through the largest orchard and bam­boo for­est, as well as swim in the local riv­er Lansetil­la.

Pico Bonito National Park

One of the largest reserves in Hon­duras, the area of ​​​​which is divid­ed into two parts — Yoro and Atlantis. The park has two moun­tain peaks (Mon­tein Corozal and Boni­to), as well as many rivers. The reserve is home to var­i­ous species of birds, ani­mals, rep­tiles, many of which are endan­gered.

La Leona Park

Back in 1840, it was planned to set up a park on this site, but con­struc­tion began only 70 years lat­er. Today, La Leona looks like a mod­ern French-style park. Its main attrac­tion is the mon­u­ment to the Pres­i­dent of Hon­duras, Manuel Bonil­la, installed in the cen­ter.

Walk­ing along the alleys of La Leon is loved not only by tourists, but also by locals. For young peo­ple there is a bas­ket­ball court, and along the paths you can ride on roller skates or skate­board.

Jeanette Cavas

The nation­al park bears the name of the envi­ron­men­tal activist Jeanette Cavas, who threw all his strength into the fight for the preser­va­tion of the nature of Hon­duras. His efforts were not in vain: man­go thick­ets, trop­i­cal forests, coral reefs and lagoons, clean beach­es have been pre­served in this park.

Wild fau­na is also diverse: on the ter­ri­to­ry and in the water area of ​​the reserve you can meet dol­phins, white and roar­ing mon­keys, sea tur­tles and man­a­tees, quet­zals and tou­cans.