Safety in Roatan
 

My husband and I have just booked a trip for the two of us and our 3-year old to go to Roatan in early March 2008. After deciding on Roatan after doing a lot of internet research and booking our non-refundable flights, we found some fairly dire warnings about Honduras and Roatan on the State Department website and some tourist reports that make us concerned about safety. One report talks about hoax roadblocks where tourists are robbed and worse.

Can anyone who has been to Roatan recently (in the last year) report on how safe they felt (or didn't)? Any suggestions for staying safe? Is it OK to rent a car and drive yourself around during the day? Or would it be better to take taxis? Or should we cancel?

Any information would be helpful, as we're now questioning our decision to go off the beaten track, instead of to one of the more developed islands in the Caribbean.

Thanks!

Actually, in my opinion, Roatán IS on the beaten path. I spent 2 weeks in Copán in 2005 (solo), my husband and I spent nearly a month between Utila, Roatán, and La Ceiba in 2006, and I'm heading back to Copán with a group of teachers for 2 weeks next summer followed by a week each on Roatán and Utila with my family - we LOVE Honduras!

Traveling alone or with my husband I've always felt safe. We aren't partiers and tend not to go out at night at all and if we do we tend to take taxis instead of walking. We keep our documents and cash under our clothes on transition days, keep our wits about us, and take nice, safe Hedman Alas buses instead of chicken buses which we commonly use in Belize and Guatemala. We have never felt threatened or had anything stolen.

Most of the violence in Honduras is in the big cities like San Pedro Sula and Tegus which we avoid. Most of the crime against tourists is petty, opportunistic crime: leave your wallet or your camera on a table while you check out the gift shop and it might not be there when you get back.

We have never rented a car in Central America. We don't want the added expense, stress of navigating, or figuring out where to park it safely. Most of the locals don't own cars so the public transportation systems work well for us with the occasional taxi as needed.

Where else are you going besides Roatán? Let me know and I might have more specific advice. I hope you go and enjoy Honduras as much as we do. Here's a link to our photos and travelogues in case you're interested:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/staceyholeman/collections/

Happy trails!

Thanks very much for your helpful information. We're just going to Roatan, for 8 nights. It's a winter escape from New England.

Ann excellent choice - I think you'll feel very safe and happy there. Have you decided where to stay? IMO you won't need a car - taxis are easy and cheaper. It's possible to rent a car for a day to do some site seeing on your own, though, if you're interested.

Happy trails!

Roatan is well on the beaten path.

I spent several days on Roatan last March. At no time did anything happen that made me feel unsafe. At no time did I read anything about Roatan that made me think I needed to do anything beyond use my common sense there.

My Honduran friends were perfectly OK with us wandering freely about and letting the kids I was with (14 - 17) wander around. San Pedro Sula and Tegu are a different story.

We didn't bother with a rental car - too much trouble in my opinion and there's just not that many places to drive. We took cabs and water taxis when we wanted to change locations.

We loved Roatan and are plotting how to gete back this year.

We have visited Roatan in 2002, 2003 and March 2007 each time staying at Anthony's Key Resort. But we did go out for 4-5 hours in a rental car on the last 2 visits and walked around but chose to return to the resort by 5-6 PM. Absolutely not a problem for us. But, I live in NY and I am concerned walking around certain areas but never had an incident so maybe it's good I cannot read the local Spanish newspaper, but really I would not sweat it. Have a good time. By the way in March we had 85-87 high's and 74-76 lows so for us the A/C came in handy.

We spent a week in Roatan several years ago -- in West Bay Beach area. In my opinion, you wouldn't need a car. We had a house and didn't venture very far from it at any time. I'm sure its different now, but there really wasn't much to see around the island at that time. You should be cautious however -- a friend stayed in the same house a few years later and was robbed there. If I went back now -- and I would because it is spectacular -- I would just take extra care. Stay in your resort and take a guided tour of the island rather than venturing off alone. You'll be fine. The beaches are spectacular!