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Cangrejal River Valley

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There are many hotels in La Ceiba, and finding the right one for you might be difficult. Here are a couple of tips as to how to find the best hotels in La Ceiba and the one is that is perfect for you:

Best place where to stay in La Ceiba

There are two different web sites that offer a comprehensive list of hotels in La Ceiba. One of them is a local publication that is called Honduras tips www.hondurastips.com. Here you can find a comprehensive list of of hotels in La Ceiba and surrounding areas. One important fact to keep in mind is that the list of hotels in La Ceiba actually includes hotels from different areas, and these can be difficult to understand for the first time traveler to La Ceiba. For example, the above mentioned web page has a list of 58 hotels in La Ceiba, however some of these are in the city of La Ceiba itself, others are in the Cangrejal River Valley, others are in Sambo Creek and Corozal, which are two beachside Garifuna communities that are within the municipality of La Ceiba, etc.

The best tip I can give you is ask yourself what you want to do in La Ceiba, and then you can start to create your own list of hotels in La Ceiba to help you decide which is the best for you.

For example, it you are coming to La Ceiba because of the Beach, then you should screen your list of hotels in La Ceiba and preselect those that are in the Sambo Creek and Roma village areas. You will also find that there are several hotels in La Ceiba that are within La Ceiba but are located on the beach.

If you are looking to come to La Ceiba to take advantage of the large variety of National Parks, then you should look for a list of hotels in La Ceiba that are located in the Cangrejal River Valley. There is a complete list of hotels in la Ceiba that are located in this area on www.cangrejalriver.com. Other hotels in La Ceiba that would fit into this category would be those in the community of El Pino, just West of La Ceiba. Here you will find one of the more emblematic of hotels in La Ceiba, the Lodge at Pico Bonito.

Personally, I recommend that you seriously consider the Cangrejal River Valley. Here you will find the largest concentration of small eco jungle accommodations and hotels in La Ceiba, and you will find something for any need and whim.

Tripadvisor is also a great source of information. They have several categories for hotels in La Ceiba. Make sure you check out the bed and breakfast and inns category and the specialty accommodations lists. You will notice that in both categories, to top selections of hotels in La Ceiba feature properties that are located within the Cangrejal River Valley. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g292023-La_Ceiba_Atlantida_Department-Hotels.html

Good luck with your selection of hotels in La Ceiba! I certainly hope that these tips have been useful and provided some insight as to which the best hotels in La Ceiba are!

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The Cangrejal River Valley offers many different options for Pico Bonito Trails. It is also one of the two areas that are earmarked for tourism in the park. One area is around the community of El Pino, in the neighborhood of the Lodge at Pico Bonito, the second is in the Cangrejal River Valley. This second area is actually shared by two national parks, Pico Bonito National Park on the western bank of the River and Nombre de Dios National Park on the eastern bank of the Cangrejal River.

The area around El Pino offers two distinct trails: the Zacate River trail, which offers a relatively tough hike up to a lovely waterfall. To get there, you will need to climb a steep slope that has many makeshift steps to get you up to a more level area. The highlight of this trail is the magnificent Rio Zacate Waterfall. After the waterfall, on your way back to the beginning of the trail, you can enjoy a refreshing swim in the cool waters of the Zacate River once you get to the end of the loop. This is probably the most famous of Pico Bonito Trails.

The second set of trails in this area is within the Lodge at Pico Bonito. They are not public trails, and therefore to use them you will have to either be a guest at the hotel or purchase a tour through the hotel. These trails are the best kept of all Pico Bonito Trails, and have a unique, bird watching tower that will get you up to the forest canopy, where you will have a better chance to see the birds that live in this area. The Lodge also has fantastic bilingual guides that have been trained to spot and identify birds and will make your trip absolutely unique!

Best Tours in Pico Bonito National Park

As for the Cangrejal River Valley, you can choose from several different Pico Bonito Trails: Located just across the river, with access via a magnificent “Indiana Jones” type bridge over the river, you can access the El Mapache, La Roca and La Cascada Trails. This set of trails has become the most popular of all Pico Bonito Trails due mainly to its easy access, plus the fact that there are several different lodges and inns in the area where you can choose to spend the night and have walking access to them. For information on all of them, visit www.cangrejalriver.com. Keep in mind that the closest guest house in the area is La Villa de Soledad, a lovely boutique bed and breakfast that is only 600 feet from the bridge!

Another great option is the Guaruma trail. This trail offers a simple, easy hike that is great for both kids and senior citizens, and does not require a big effort. It also uses a small “hanging bridge” over a “La Muralla Creek” and part of the trail is actually used by members of a nearby community called La Muralla. For more complete information on this trail you can visit www.guaruma.org . The trail is kept up by members of the community under the leadership of Guaruma, and this Pico Bonito Trail is probably the best for an introduction of young kids to the rain forests of Central America.

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Location, location location… Studies show that most travelers choose the hotel they will stay in taking the location of the inn as the most determining factor for their choice. This has to be one of the biggest overlooked truths when building resorts. So which is the best hotel location in La Ceiba?

Twenty something years ago, I started a little business called Honduras tips, it was about a small bilingual travel guide that looked at helping promote the many tourism assets that Honduras has. Although Honduras does have many truly unique and beautiful sites, I have always believed that the most outstanding asset that Honduras has to offer is the friendliness of its people. Hondurans are friendly, humble hosts, that will look to make their guests feel like distinguished visitors and go out of their way to be useful and helpful. This is the first big lesson that I learned while traveling around the country, off the beaten path, in search for those unique places with cozy, welcoming hotels and inns located in truly unique locations.

After many years of traveling, I would still be hard pressed to point out the best hotel locations in Honduras, because there are many outstanding locations. I did however, know, as soon as I visited the Cangrejal River Valley, that this is the best hotel location in La Ceiba.

The best hotel location in La Ceiba, right on the Cangrejal River.

After several visits, I was able to find a lovely property that sits on a small hilltop overlooking the Cangrejal River, with a direct view to Pico Bonito National Park and best of all in a location that despite the felling of remoteness, is only 5 miles from downtown La Ceiba.  Once we had secured the property, we set out to look for an architect that we felt comfortable with to create a truly unique boutique bed and breakfast. We found Mauricio Castaneda, a friendly Honduran architect that has worked in travel related projects in Copan, Roatan and even the Moskito Coast.  For more information about Mauricio Castañeda visit: http://macastaneda.com/ .  The result was a magnificent building with a lot of charm and character. Best of all is the magnificent location; we can truly boast that we have the best hotel location in La Ceiba.

Come to the Cangrejal River Valley and discover why more and more guests are raving about our beautiful boutique bed and breakfast in La Ceiba! There is no doubt that having the best hotel location in La Ceiba has something to do with it!

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There are more and more travelers that are going places looking for unique beautiful birds to see, enjoy and add to their have seen list. Honduras has become ever so popular for those that are looking to spot unique species. Little by little, the word has gotten out that Honduras not only has many birds to be seen, they are also easy to see, there is a lovely countryside to enjoy and there are great facilities that provide great comfort while you set out on your quest of seeing that unique species you have no yet added to your list. Bird watching in Atlantida, which is on the Caribbean Coast of Honduras, is truly spectacular.

Atlantida is the name of a department which is becoming one of the most upbeat eco destinations in Central America, and it’s easy to see why: With 8 protected areas within a relatively small territory; bird watching in Atlantida offers a variety of habitats that you can combine into one single trip. The marine estuaries at the Cuero y Salado wildlife Refuge offer a magnificent opportunity to see both native and migratory species that are comfortable in a marine habitat.

In addition, you can enjoy a completely different scenario in the tropical rain forests of Pico Bonito National Park, where species that are native to the rain forests of Central America. One of the prized regular sightings in Pico Bonito National Park is the lovely cotinga, an absolutely beautiful blue bird that is easily seen the trails of Pico Bonito National Park, especially around the Lodge at Pico Bonito. Bird watching in Atlantida can be a magnificent experience, with many exotic birds easily seen from comfortable settings. The Lodge at Pico Bonito has some tall observation towers that are absolutely fantastic to see the birds that abound in the canopy of the tropical rain forest.

Bird watching in Atlantida

Bird watching in Atlantida is also fantastic along the Cangrejal River Valley, where you can enjoy your stay in one of the eco lodges along the Cangrejal River (www.cangrejalriver.com) Here, from the comfort of your hammock at places such as La Villa de Soledad B&B, you can spot several different species flying around the grounds and in the tree branches around our property.

Another fantastic place for bird watching in Atlantida is to be enjoyed at the Lancetilla Botanical Gardens, just outside the city of Tela. The gardens, that were originally part of an ongoing scientific research station by the Tela Railroad Company (Chiquita Banana), resulted in the second largest tropical botanical garden in the world. The huge variety of fruit trees in the area have attracted a massive number of birds who now use the grounds as their personal feeding station, allowing you to have a feast while bird watching in Atlantida.

Come to Atlantida and have a wonderful vacation while enjoying one of the most diverse bird watching destinations in the world! Bird watching in Atlantida will be a dream come true!

 

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The general travel route that many travelers visiting Central America take brings them down the coast of Belize to Livingston in Guatemala, and then continues on to Puerto Barrios with the intentional of getting to the Bay Islands of Honduras. Some take a few days to visit and explore the Rio Dulce area before continuing towards the Bay Islands, others just go straight from Puerto Barrios. Whichever the case, if the goal is to get to the Bay Islands, they must first find the way to get from Rio Dulce to La Ceiba, since transportation from the Honduras mainland to the Bay Islands operates from the port city of La Ceiba.

The easiest, fastest way to get from Rio Dulce to La Ceiba is to take the Tornabe Tours shuttle. www.tornabe.com . They have a shuttle that departs from Puerto Barrios and Rio Dulce every Tuesday morning. The cost of the shuttle is only $50 USA dollars, and their service will take you directly the ferry terminal at La Ceiba port facility, where you can purchase your ticket in time to continue your route towards the Bay Islands of Utila or Roatan. Afternoon ferry departures are at 4:00 p.m. to Utila and 4:30 p.m. to Roatan.  The shuttle usually departs from the Municipal dock in Puerto Barrios and then stops at the Rio Dulce area at the Sundog Café, where it picks up the guests that are looking to travel to La Ceiba and the Bay Islands of Honduras.

The best way to travel from Rio Dulce to La Ceiba is using the shuttle bus that departs on tuesday from the Sundog Cafe in Rio Dulce

One word of advice: do not let the rush to get to or from the Bay Islands make you miss out on the lovely Cangrejal River Valley. The Cangrejal River Valley is easily one of the highlights and crown jewels in all of Central America, and there are way too many travelers that miss out on this magnificent mini destination. You MUST plan for some time in this magnificent area with some of the best and most accessible tropical rain forest scenarios in all of Central America when you make your arrangements to get from Rio Dulce to La Ceiba. It does not matter if you plan on it before you go to the Islands or when you come from the islands, but do yourself a favor and and plan on spending at least a couple of days in the Cangrejal River Valley! So when in Puerto Barrios and the Rio Dulce, and are looking for a way to travel from Rio Dulce to La Ceiba, stop by at the Sundog Café and arrange for your shuttle transportation to La Ceiba!

A couple of expert travel bloggers recently came by our neck of the woods and this is what they had to say about the Cangrejal River Valley and surrounding facilities: http://onestep4ward.com/la-ceiba-and-pico-bonito-national-park-honduras and  http://dontstopliving.net/relax-in-nature-staying-at-la-villa-de-soledad-in-rio-cangrejal-honduras

 

Best home stays in La Ceiba

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If you are looking for eco tourism, chances are that you want to be as close as possible to one of the four national parks or protected areas that are around or nearby the city. There is no doubt that the most famous of the protected areas around La Ceiba is Pico Bonito National Park, a magnificent rugged area which is home to some of the most bio diverse ecosystems in Central America. It also happens to be one of the areas with more options for the traveler to spend the night within the Park itself or in its area of influence.

Best place where to stay in La Ceiba

Most of the options available are actually within the Cangrejal River Valley, where you can find a variety of small lodges, inns, hostels and eco jungle lodges where you can spend the night. In my humble opinion, this area is your best option if you are looking for a place where to stay in La Ceiba.  The Cangrejal River Valley is only 6 miles outside of La Ceiba, and offers direct access to both Pico Bonito and Nombre de Dios National Parks, which are separated naturally by the Cangrejal River itself. With over 10 different options where to stay in, you will find one that is perfect for you. A complete list of options can be found in www.cangrejalriver.com .

If you check out different travel related web pages, such as tripadvisor, you will note that the top three rated bed and breakfasts and inns in La Ceiba, and the top two specialty lodging options in La Ceiba are located within the Cangrejal River Valley. This can only confirm the fact that the best place where to stay in La Ceiba is at the Cangrejal River. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g292023-La_Ceiba_Atlantida_Department-Hotels.html

Come and Relax in Nature with us at La Villa de Soledad, let yourself be pampered and enjoy a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere, great dining, friendly service and fantastic access to many different nature related activities! You will find that this is the best place where to stay in La Ceiba!

Cangrejal River Valley, home to the Best Hotels in La Ceiba

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According the tripadvisor, the leading travel web site, five of the top 9 best hotels in La Ceiba are in the Cangrejal River Valley! Trip Advisor separates the lodging facilities in 3 large groups: hotels, bed and breakfast and inns, and specialty lodging. The top 3 of 29 bed and breakfasts and inns in La Ceiba are all three in the Cangrejal River Valley, (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g292023-La_Ceiba_Atlantida_Department-Hotels.html) and the top 2 of 12 specialty lodging alternatives are also on the Cangejal River!

One of the Best Hotels in La Ceiba, according to Tripadvisor

This is a rather large percentage; however it is no surprise that travelers prefer to stay in these hotels! The truth is that they are all mostly small, personally run and operated by the owners and in one of the best locations in Central America: The Cangrejal River Valley!  This seems to be the perfect formula for the best hotels in La Ceiba!

Best of all is the fact that tripadvisor bases its evaluation not on its staff, but on the travelers themselves, who share their travel experiences with the traveling community and are therefore as objective as you can expect them to be.

The Cangrejal River Valley is not only beautiful, it offers outstanding outdoor activities, such as the best white water rafting in Central America and the Caribbean, outstanding hiking, out of this world bird watching, and a lovely river which usually has crystal clear waters, with a pleasant temperature around the year. Guests staying in the Cangrejal River Valley have such a fantastic experience, that they consistently rave about the accommodations where they are staying, and consistently rate the properties here as the best hotels in La Ceiba.

In the end, there is no doubt that when you are traveling on vacation, the location of your accommodations is most important. Staying in a lovely, luxurious hotel in the middle of a dump will make for a lousy experience; staying in a nice hotel in outstanding surroundings and with many activities to choose from will make for the best hotel in the world! Thus it is really no surprise that the best hotels in La Ceiba are right in one of the crown jewels of Central American nature: The Cangrejal River Valley.

For a complete list of hotels in the Cangrejal River Valley, visit www.cangrejalriver.com. Remember, out of the 10 hotels you will find in the Cangrejal River Valley, 5 are in the top 10 best hotels in La Ceiba according to tripadvisor and the travel community! Come and relax in nature with us, and have a great, outstanding vacation that you will cherish for years!

Nombre de Dios National Park as seen from Cayos Cochinos

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There are several different options for Lodging in Nombre de Dios National Park. Nombre de Dios National Park is one of the newest national parks in Honduras. It is located on the North Coast of Honduras, and roughly is contained within the Cangrejal River on the West and the Papaloteca River on the East, with the Caribbean Sea being the northern boundary and south side of the Nombre de Dios Mountains being the southern boundary.

Lodging in Nombre de Dios National Park

The main options to find lodging in Nombre de Dios National Park is the Cangrejal River Valley, where you will find over ten different lodging options. A complete list of hotels can be found at www.cangrejalriver.com. The Cangrejal River Valley offers access to both trails in Nombre de Dios National Park as well as to trails into Pico Bonito National Park. In addition, there are outstanding options for adventure activities, such as white water rafting and zip line canopy tours.  Community tourism activities are also available here, and you can enjoy interacting with members of the communities of Las Mangas and El Pital. A local tour operator that is owned and managed by young members or the community offers a great opportunity for community tourism. The company’s name is Cangrejal Tours, and you can get more information about their services in www.cangrejaltours.com. An interesting thing to mention is the fact that the options for lodging in Nombre de Dios National Park are rated as the top options by tripadvisor, and you will find that the top three options for bed and breakfasts in La Ceiba, as well as the top two specialty lodging are all in the Cangrejal River Valley! La Villa de Soledad was awarded both, the 2014 Travelers Choice award as well as the 2014 Certificate of Excellence.

The other area that offers lodging in Nombre de Dios National Park is the coastal area that includes the communities of Corozal, Sambo Creek and Nueva Armenia. The largest cluster of options in the area is around Sambo Creek. Here you can choose between Bed and Breakfasts, cabins, and large beachside resorts. The area also offers many tour options, such as a day tour to the Hog Cays, also known as Cayos Cochinos, a tour of the mangrove canals in the Cacao Lagoon and some magnificent hot springs very near the community of Sambo Creek.  The possibility of interacting with the Garifuna Communities is also an option.

The good news is that you can stay in one area and still visit the attractions in the other. Many guests that stay at La Villa de Soledad visit both, Cayos Cochinos as well as the Sambo Creek Hot Springs and Canopy Tour, as well as the activities available around the Cangrejal River Valley. Whatever your decision, you are now more knowledgeable about your options for lodging in Nombre de Dios National Park.

The quality of your options for lodging in Nombre de Dios National Parks is quite wide, and there are many different activities that you can enjoy in the park, so I recommend that you plan on spending several days in the area!

 

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Searching for the perfect weekend getaway is always a chore… You want some place nearby, but affordable, and that offers both, the option to relax and get rid of your stress or to have an action packed getaway and experience a new adventure! (Perhaps you want a bit of both!)

There is a little known, absolutely beautiful valley tucked away in the rugged Nombre de Dios Mountains, where the tropical rain forest co exists with a relatively large city nearby… a place where you will relax with the sound of running water and singing birds, where you will experience the thrill of white water or hiking in the rain forest… This little known secret place is called the Cangrejal River Valley, and it is located near the city of La Ceiba on the Caribbean coast of Honduras. Truly the perfect weekend getaway!  It is easy to get to from the main cities of Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, as well as from the main tourism hubs of the Bay Islands of Honduras: Utila and Roatan. It is also just a short one hour flight from Grand Cayman, allowing you to arrange a perfect weekend getaway using the Cayman Airways flights from Georgetown, Grand Cayman Island to La Ceiba operating scheduled flights on Friday and Monday. For updated information regarding the Cayman Airways flight schedule to La Ceiba, Honduras, check out https://www.caymanairways.com/flight-schedule

Best of all is the fact that the Cangrejal River Valley offers a variety of hostels, inns and jungle eco lodges that will fit into any budget, with everything from a true luxury eco lodge accommodation to a back packer’s hostel, with everything in between. For a complete list on hotels in the Cangrejal River Valley, check out www.cangrejalriver.com

If you are In the Bay Island of Roatan, and want to take advantage of the perfect weekend getaway, make use of the Galaxy Wave Ferry, they have a twice daily schedule that allows you to travel between Roatan and La Ceiba in the morning or afternoon in both directions, for detailed, up to day info on the schedules, check out www.roatanferry.com.

The perfect weekend getaway is also available from the Bay Island of Utila, with daily service aboard the Utila Princess Ferry. www.utilaprincess.com

Last but not least, easy access to La Ceiba from both San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa, make it easy to get to the perfect weekend getaway using either your own vehicle, taking the excellent public bus service provided by www.hedmanalas.com.  As well as using the local airline, www.aerolineassosahn.com, who services both the Tegucigalpa to La Ceiba and the San Pedro Sula to La Ceiba routes.

Take advantage and come to the Cangrejal River Valley, the perfect weekend getaway in Honduras!

getting from the USA to Honduras is easy via Roatan and using the Roatan Ferry

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Roatan Ferry, gateway to Honduras serving the Roatan to La Ceiba RouteHonduras is located in the heart of Central America, with its face towards the Caribbean. Its main tourist destination is the island of Roatan, gateway to Honduras, which has steadily developed into the fastest growing port of call for cruise ships in the Caribbean. Roatan also has an international airport, and although a few years ago there were virtually no scheduled international flights into the island, today several international airlines offer regular scheduled nonstop service from major gateways in the USA, including Dallas / Fort Worth, Miami, Atlanta, New York City and Houston. Additionally, there is regular charter air service operating out of Toronto and Montreal, as well as from Milan in Northern Italy!

Many travelers visiting Roatan for a vacation prefer flying directly into Roatan, despite the fact that the airfare is a bit more expensive than that to the airports in San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa, because they avoid the hassle of the larger airports as well as having to find transportation towards their main destination in Honduras: Roatan. In addition, with the bad reputation that San Pedro Sula has, which in my own mind is completely overdone, travelers simply prefer to feel safe and not risk themselves unnecessarily. Because of the above todays travelers use Roatan as a gateway to Honduras, and visit the country from there. Although Roatan is somewhat detached from much of mainland Honduras, there is regular, easy communication between Roatan and the port city of La Ceiba on the mainland. The Galaxy Wave water jet catamaran offers twice daily service between both ports, with the passage being under two hours and the cost of a ticket, one way is just over $25 US dollars.  For updated info on schedules and costs, check out www.roatanferry.com. Roatan’s International Airport also has regularly scheduled flights to La Ceiba, San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa, so traveling around Honduras is easy from Roatan. This is why we consider that Roatan is a great gateway to Honduras!

This being said, the easiest, fastest, safest gateway to Honduras, especially the Caribbean Coast is Roatan, “the” gateway to Honduras! Many travelers are unaware of this fact and therefore do not travel to Honduras or Roatan. Although Roatan is a lovely truly beautiful island in the Caribbean with lots to offer, there is so much more to see just a few miles away in the mainland. Visiting Roatan and not taking the time to venture into the mainland for a few days is truly a mistake. National Parks, wildlife reserves, Garifuna culture, and some of the best adventure and nature destinations in Central America are just a short jump away from the Bay Islands of Honduras. Because of the above, I fully recommend using Roatan as your personal gateway to Honduras and consider flying into Roatan on your next trip to stay in the Caribbean mainland of Honduras. Come and discover the magnificent Cangrejal River Valley and spend some days in this magical tropical world! For more information on hotels and options in the Cangrejal River Valley, visit www.cangrejalriver.com. There is no doubt in my mind that the perfect combination for a vacation package in Honduras is to visit the Bay Islands of Honduras and the Cangrejal River Valley, just outside the City of La Ceiba.