Caribbean Coast of Honduras Overview

Honduras’s long, hot Caribbean coastline is lined with beaches, national parks, wildlife reserves, old Spanish forts, and tiny Garífuna villages. La Ceiba, the region’s urban center, is the country’s main party town. Other cities include backpacker favorite Tela, Caribbean hub Puerto Cortés, and Trujillo, the gateway to La Mosquitia. The region has a gregarious Caribbean atmosphere where English and Creole are as common as Spanish.

The 17th century saw this region marred by the African slave trade. As slaves escaped or were emancipated, they intermarried with South American indigenous people. Their descendants built fishing communities along the northern shores as well as a distinctive culture and language. Today, the Garífuna (as they came to be called) are one of the fastest-growing ethnic groups in Central America. Their thatched-roof villages, dugout canoes, and colorful punta music are among the most captivating highlights of the Caribbean coast.

• La Ceiba

Honduras’s third largest city, La Ceiba is known especially for its nightlife—particularly appropriate because a stay in northern Honduras’s transportation hub probably shouldn’t last longer ...more