5 Best Shopping in Honduras' Caribbean Coast, Honduras

The name means "our strength" in Garífuna. A hodgepodge of the coastal culture's woodcarvings, seashell and cocao earrings, maracas, drums, and oil paintings fill the small shop next to the Fortaleza de Santa Barbara visitor's office.

The lively Barrios Cristales neighborhood hosts the native Garífuna communities well known for their dances, food, and traditions. A broad selection of Garífuna artisan items and fun souvenirs is available at Artesma. While you’re in the area, stop by the beach to learn dances and maybe get your hair braided.

A group of local artisans sell their wares in the pink-and-purple building next to the Cocopando Hotel y Restaurante. The shop offers Lenca pottery, woven-bark purses, and bowls from the Pech, plus Garífuna instruments. Plastic bottles stuffed with plants and herbs are for sale; add rum or cold water, and you've got the Garífuna drink gifiti.

This easy-to-spot purple and turquoise wooden house across from the airport means no one has to go home without gifts and souvenirs. Forget carved coconuts and low-budget T-shirts—this place stocks items created by some 80 local craftspeople who have tourists, but also beauty and quality, in mind. Tasteful coffee bean necklaces, beaded bags, handmade dolls, and sewn holiday cards are among the vast inventory. And if time gets away from you before your vacation ends, an online store allows ordering back home.

Just what you’d expect from a city market, with throngs of vendors hawking produce, various home goods, and other inventory. There’s plenty of lively conversation and examination to determine which is the ripest fruit or the best-priced meats, providing many photo opportunities of true local culture.