dwsjr11

Hello Everyone! After starting several topics and looking for advice on where we should go on our honeymoon we finally made a decision, HONDURAS!!! And let me tell ya, we are so excited. I know several of you have given me advice in the past and now I am seeking more specific advice on where to stay and some things you think we would enjoy or experience. We are going to be there 2 weeks, from 6/12/11 - 6/24/11. We are looking to fly in San Pedro Sula on Sunday June 12th. We haven't booked flights yet, but we are hoping to arrive in the afternoon. If we did we would then take a car to Copan where we are planning on staying until Wednesday morning. If we didn't arrive in SPS till the evening then we would just find a nice place there to stay for the evening. In Copan we are obviously looking to see the ruins, do you think there are any other sights we should see in Copan? Do you think 2 days would be a sufficient amount of time to spend in Copan? Then on Wednesday we will be flying to Roatan to spend the rest of our honeymoon. In Roatan what are some recommendations on places to stay? Things to do? We would like to snorkel/dive, spend time on the beach, do some hiking, canopy tours,atv tours, and anything else adventurous you think we would enjoy. We also would like to possibly do some white water rafting. I am a white water kayaker and when I found out there is killer white water in honduras we just had to try to include that in our itinerary. Is it too long of a trip to take a ferry to La Ceiba and from there go rafting for a day? Do you think we should also try to spend some time in the jungles on the mainland or just explore the ones on Roatan? As far as diving, we are probably going to do the course work and closed water dives before we come, and do the open water dives there. Are there any dive shops on Roatan you would recommend to go to?

Thanks in advance for all your help and any advice you can provide!

Dave

Jeff_Costa_Rica

Congratulations on your marriage and honeymoon.

There's a ton of stuff to do in Copan besides the ruins to fill your time. For most people, two days is the standard visit: one for the ruins, one for a couple of the other activities. Most would agree the must-see is the Macaw Mountain Bird Park, a couple of miles outside of town. It's a reserve that cares for rescued birds, and I think everybody who visits enjoys it. If you like coffee, there's also the Copan Coffee Tour, a half-day tour that lets you see the whole coffee growing, harvesting, processing process.

I think you'd be sorry trying to do rafting as a day trip from Roatan to La Ceiba and back. The boat ride is notorious for causing motion sickness. Making that trip to and from in one day and doing whitewater rafting in between ... Not my idea of fun. That's even assuming the rafting trip would work into that schedule. If I'm counting right, you have 12 full days in Honduras (although I see you want to work a dive course in Roatan in there). That should be enough time to spend two or three days on the coast, and do the rafting trip and explore the rainforest.

I was in Honduras last summer and actually ran into several couples on their honeymoon. Without fail, they all said, you know, they had never originally considered Honduras for a honeymoon, but it turned out to be a wonderful choice.

qwovadis

www.anthonyskey.com my fav for HM

Yat Balam for Copan

Might try to go up to Atitlan www.lacasadelmundo.com

for something special check travel.state.gov insuremytrip.com

not the safest choice though very pretty honestly find Belize

www.robertsgrove.com

www.cavesbranch.com

Xanadu resort

all more romantic and HM worthy.

Happy Hunting,

Michael_Cox

There are a great many palces if you want to be alone and remote with a rental car Turquoise Bay or upper end Infinity Bay or Mayan Princess on the West Bay Anthony's Key is for the avid diver budget Banana Rama Half Moon Bay West End is generaly noisy all night long..Congratulations I live at Turtling Bay.

Jeff_Costa_Rica

I like Yat Balam in Copan, but it doesn't strike me as a real honeymooney type of place. One place you might like there is the newish La Casa Rosada:

www.lacasarosada.com

New, in that it's fairly new as a small inn, but in a converted colonial-era building. I know they do put together honeymoon packages.

hopefulist

I'd spend at least 2 full days in Copán. In addition to the ruins there are 3 very different, great museums, lots of great hiking to smaller Maya sites, caves, and waterfalls, local villages, great hotsprings (an hour or so into the mountains), and a nice butterfly place among others. You can check out my 2008 blog in that collection here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/staceyholeman/collections

Here are 2 suggestions for lodging; the 1st is a nice B&B with links to nice houses you can rent from then at the bottom of the page:
http://casadecafecopan.com/

This one is a working Hacienda and one of the most romantic and beautiful places anywhere:
http://haciendasanlucas.com/

Great jungly options including rafting, kayaking, hiking, waterfalls, horse trips, etc. at Omega Lodge near La Ceiba:
www.omegatours.info

They have really funky, cool jungle suites in addition to great tours, good food, lovely surrounds. (In our Honduras 2006 set at the link above.)

Lots of rental possibilities on Roatán:
http://www.vrbo.com/

Congratulations and happy trails!

roatanvortex

Welcome to Roatan! From what you describe as to what you like to do I suggest you check out http://www.payabay.com/resort-roatan/the-resort/ it is on the east end of Roatan, far enough away from the hustle and bustle, and offers everything you are looking for. You will want to have rent a vehicle to do a little exploring of the west end of the Island though. Another one to check is http://marblehillfarms.com/ also toward the east end.

If you want to be closer to the touristy areas: in West End check out http://www.cocolobo.com/ and in West Bay I'm thinking http://www.westbaylodge.com/

You can do a day trip back to the mainland to go rafting. Personally I'd take one of the commuter flights--numerous options every day from early AM until 5:30 PM. The cost isn't much more than the ferry and it is a 15-20 min flight. The ferry makes me very ill.

dwsjr11

Paya bay looks amazing! Trying to figure out what part of the island we want to stay on. We aren't interested in the night life, clubs or the bars. I know the west end is more that atmosphere and the east end is more relaxed. As far as the activities we want to enjoy in my initial post, do you think there will be any troubles enjoying those staying on the east end? Any experience with the snorkeling/diving on the east end? We will most likely have a rental car, because we do like to explore.

Side note - what is the job situation like on Roatan as far as job availability?

Thanks again!

dwsjr11

Hello Again!

We finally made more concrete details for our honeymoon. We will be coming into SPS on June 12th around 4:30. *Hopefulist* I have seen you mention several times you know of a driver that you would recommend to take people from the airport to Copan. We are looking the have a driver take us to our hotel that night. Would I be able to get that information from you? We will Be staying at Hotel Terraymaya, http://www.terramayacopan.com/. We decided to stay in Copan till thursday morning. We fly out thursday morning to head to Roatan from the 16th - 24th. We will be staying at the Tranquilseas, http://www.tranquilseas.com/

Anymore activities at either locations that you think we might enjoy?

Thanks again!

Jeff_Costa_Rica

Terramaya is a good choice. It's brand new, just opened this past fall. It's the in-town "outlet" of La Casa de Cafe with all the same attention to detail and service.

Jeff_Costa_Rica

The drive from SPS to Copan is about three hours. I'm not sure how long your flight itinerary is, but is a three-hour drive that evening after you land what you wanted? The alternative question is: Is San Pedro Sula what you want for the first night of your honeymoon? Maybe not.

hopefulist

Sounds wonderful - what a great way to start your marriage! We didn't get much of a honeymoon in the 1st place so we combined a delayed one with our 25th anniversary - a month in Honduras.

Here's the information you asked for:
Miguel Martel (504-962-00372, dial 011 first from the US)

I've recommended him many times and everyone has been pleased, even when he's busy and sends a different driver. Happy trails!

dwsjr11

@ Jeff - As long as we aren't driving we can live with the drive. Also I have read from several different people from several different places that if you can avoid staying the night in SPS that would be recommended, if not then make sure you find a nice safe secure place to stay. I may be wrong in my information but that is what I have heard. Also, we would rather get to Copan sunday night so we can have 3 full days in Copan to explore the town, the ruins and all the other wonderful things we have heard about around the town.

Thanks again Hopefulist, we will be sure to give him a call and get something set up. A month in honduras, that sounds magical!