Punta Gorda

Most journeys south begin in the region's administrative center, Punta Gorda. PG (as it's affectionately known) isn't your typical tourist destination. Though it has a wonderful setting on the Gulf of Honduras, it has no real beaches. There are few shops of interest to visitors, only one tiny museum, a few simple restaurants, and little nightlife. Don't expect many tourist services.

So why, you ask, come to PG? First, simply because it isn't on the main tourist track. The accoutrements of mass tourism are still, refreshingly, missing here. Schoolchildren may wave at you, and residents will strike up a conversation with you. Toledo has stunning natural attractions too, such as clean rivers for swimming and cave systems with Mayan artifacts that rival those in the Cayo district. Also, with several new hotels to choose from, it's a comfortable base from which to visit surrounding Mayan villages, offshore cayes, and the high bush of the Deep South.

Founded in 1867 by Confederate immigrants from the United States and later settled by missionaries, Punta Gorda once had 12 sugar estates, each with its own mill. After World War II, Great Britain built an important military base here, but when that closed in 1994, the linchpin of the local economy was yanked out. With some increase in tourist dollars and foreigners' growing interest in real estate here, PG is starting to pick up again but hasn't lost its frontier atmosphere.