14 Best Places to Shop in Honduras

Local residents send travelers straight to Don Ángel's workshop for masterfully carved woodwork. He makes custom pieces with advance notice, and he sells bowls, canoes, and centerpieces at the central market. Ask your hotel to put you in touch.

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.

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.

The Marriott hotel's gift shop, Bahía, keeps a terrific selection of Lencan pottery and leather handbags.

Intricate weavings, handmade leather goods, knickknacks, gourmet coffee, cigars, and even machetes make this well-stocked souvenir shop the best place for gifts. The large selection of artwork, jewelry, and trinkets is ample but not tacky.

Casa de Oro sells a nice selection of silver jewelry with Mayan designs.

Souvenir vendors set up shop every day in the small plaza that fronts the Iglesia Los Dolores. Much of what's for sale here is standard kitschy tourist fare, but you'll find a few nice pieces of Lencan pottery and other artisan work for lower prices than in a store with four walls.

Spruce up your dining room table with placemats, table runners, and glassware from In Vitro.The works here come from cooperatives near Valle de Ángeles and in the Mosquitía.

Rosario Lobo started the women's sewing cooperative after Hurricane Mitch devastated her community in 1998. Today, the group sells colorful quilts and crafts all around La Ceiba. Lobo transports visitors to the workshop by pumping a basket down a cable cutting through the forest.

An offbeat little shop is Lorendiana You'll find a selection of Lenca handicrafts, as well as shelves of homemade preserves and hot sauces.

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.

Two blocks east of Parque Central is the covered mercado, an enticing market that sells everything from shawls to saddles. There's not much to buy of tourist interest—the average resident shops here for day-to-day goods—but it makes for some interesting people-watching. It is also the place to go for a great breakfast; ask for atol chuco, a delicious mush of fermented corn served with a few beans, lime, and roasted squash seeds.

The museum gift shop at the Museo para la Identidad Nacional may be small, but it has some distinctive candles and leather purses in stock.

A local arts and crafts gallery, the shop offers an array of Lenca pottery, Garífuna folk art, silk paintings, handmade candles, and woodcarvings. The singsong name comes from the Bay Islands phrase for pre-Columbian artifacts or recovered objects.