7 Best Sights in Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Overshadowing the smaller church is the mammoth white-and-gray gothic Basílica de Suyapa. The beautiful sky-blue stained-glass windows are inspirational, but the basilica's haughty air makes it far less intimate than the church. It was built in 1954 to house the Virgen de Suyapa and to accommodate the crowds who pay homage, but she is not fond of it. On many occasions she has left it at night, found back at her original perch the following morning. She consents to be displayed here on her feast day, February 3, when pilgrims descend on the town to honor her.

The capital's gleaming cathedral presides over the eastern edge of Plaza Morazán and is named for the city's patron saint, the archangel Michael. The domed structure, flanked by towering palms, has stood on this site since 1765. Earth tremors and rain took their toll on the edifice through the centuries, but after a five-year, $500,000 restoration, completed in 2009, the cathedral is fabulous once again. For decades, the building's exterior was painstakingly whitewashed each year; the restoration project returned the cathedral to its original salmon color. Sunlight streams into the apse, where you'll find the glittering gold-and-silver altar sculpted by Guatemalan artist Vicente Galvéz. Mass is held regularly in the cathedral, as are occasional chamber-music concerts. The Plaza Morazán was recently renovated and rebuilt with attractive open-air seating.

Two retablos, or small religious paintings, flank the attractive altarpiece housed inside this 17th-century church. It's adjacent to the Galería Nacional de Arte.

Three blocks east of Plaza Morazán lies the first church built in Tegucigalpa. Construction on the building, which sits on a leafy little square called Parque Valle, began in 1592. Inside this Franciscan church are a guilded altar and colonial religious paintings.

The pretty whitewashed Iglesia de Santa Lucía dates from the town's founding in the mid-16th century. It is most notable for the wooden crucifix called Christ of Las Mercedes, a gift from King Felipe of Spain and brought here by the Spanish in 1574. Church doors are always open on Sunday; other days of the week, you may need to ask at the parish offices next door if someone can let you inside.

The statue of the Virgen de Suyapa can be found in the 16th-century Iglesia de Suyapa, an intimate church where the flickering of candles lit by the faithful can be quite humbling. The figure, so tiny you'll need to squint to see it, is housed above the altar. Religious items, such as decorative prayer cards featuring the image of the Virgin, are for sale in the stalls down the steps from the church. Each February there is a pilgrimage to celebrate the day of the Virgin of Suyapa, and many vendors and food stalls are set up.

This towered church dating from 1732 is dedicated to human sorrow, earning it a special place in the hearts of poverty-stricken Hondureños. On the facade—it's the most ornate of any church in the city—you'll see carvings representing the last days of Christ, including the cock that crowed three times to signal that Christ had been betrayed. Although the building keeps official opening hours, unofficially it is frequently closed during the week. If you can get inside, the interior, dominated by a colorful dome, features paintings of the Crucifixion. The church is known to be the nexus of a system of colonial-era tunnels, none of which are open to the public any longer. One leads to the cathedral, six blocks away; others were secret routes to private homes. Local lore holds that the tunnels: a) contain colonial gold worth millions of lempiras; b) served as secret escape routes used by scallywag government officials; c) are haunted; or d) are any combination of the above. The church faces a lively square filled with stalls selling inexpensive goods.