La Ceiba has been named the eco tourism capital of Honduras. Many actually consider it the Eco tourism capital of Central America! So if you are planning a trip to La Ceiba, to enjoy the abundant nature and eco tourism options within this great destination, it is only logical that you will be looking for an eco hotel in La Ceiba.
There are several different alternatives if you are searching for an eco hotel in La Ceiba. Most of the eco hotel in La Ceiba lodges are located within two of the national parks in Honduras, Pico Bonito and Nombre de Dios National Parks. Together, these two parks offer a unique setting where the tropical rain forest covered mountains offer a great view of the Caribbean to the North or towards the inner valleys to the south. Perhaps the most beautiful area within Atlantida, and the most ideal spot to find an eco hotel in La Ceiba is the Cangrejal River Valley. This valley, located right between Pico Bonito National Park and Nombre de Dios National Park is only 6 miles from La Ceiba! Here the pristine rainforests of both national parks, together with the spectacular scenery created by the natural landscaping of the Cangrejal River provide the perfect setting for an eco hotel in La Ceiba!
La Villa de Soledad is one of the best options for an eco hotel in La Ceiba. Recently awarded the tripadvisor Travelers Choice Award for the second year in a row. Outstanding service and a great location no doubt have a lot to do with it!
With an architectural design reminiscent of an old Spanish Hacienda, La Villa de Soledad offers 5 cozy rooms with direct access to our grounds, spacious verandah’s and astonishing views. Eco activities include direct access to trails into, Pico Bonito and Nombre de Dios National Parks, as well as adventure activities such as white water rafting, waterfall rappelling and zip line canopy tours. Bird watching is spectacular, with many different species seen from the comfort of your lounge chair or hammock! There is no doubt that La Villa de Soledad B&B is the perfect eco hotel in La Ceiba. Come and experience it for yourself, and relax in nature with us!
Are you planning a trip to Atlantida and wondering which are the things to do in Pico Bonito National Park?
Pico Bonito is one of the main icons of Atlantida, where the Caribbean meets the Central America. There are many things to do in Pico Bonito National Park, and all of them are easily accessible from both main tourist hubs in Atlantida, Tela and La Ceiba.
Although there are several official entrances to Pico Bonito National Park, there is no doubt that the area with most options and things to do in Pico Bonito National Park is the Cangrejal River Valley, the crown jewel of Atlantida and one of the most unique areas in Central America.
The Cangrejal River Valley, which is the eastern border of Pico Bonito National Park offers easy access from La Ceiba, since it is only 10 km. or 6 miles from downtown La Ceiba. The Pico Bonito visitor’s center located at km 8.5 of the La Ceiba to Yaruca road has a magnificent, Indiana Jones style hanging bridge that spans over 400 feet high above the Cangrejal River, providing access to a network of trails into the park. The most popular trail here is El Mapache trail, that leads to El Bejuco Waterfall, a stunning 300 foot waterfall that plunges down towards the Cangrejal River. The trail takes between 3 and 5 hours round trip, depending on how fast you are hiking. Access to the park is only $8.00 US dollars per person, and nature guides can be hired for about $25. US, although you can also purchase a tour through one of the local tour operators in the Cangrejal River Valley. http://cangrejalriver.com/honduras/activities
One of the most popular things to in Pico Bonito National Park is white water rafting. The Cangrejal River offers some of the best white water rafting in Central America, and there are three different outfitters that proved services. All of them have certified guides and the experience of rafting down the Cangrejal River, with the lush Pico Bonito National Park on the left and the equally lush Nombre de Dios National Park on the right side of the river! If you are a white water kayaker, you can arrange for a kayaking tour down the Cangrejal River. Although the regular commercial run begins at the Village of El Naranjo, and provides a category II & III white water experience, the section between the Village of El Pital and Las Mangas provides a more technical category III and IV run and can be arranged if you have proven yourself in the first run!
Another one of the popular things to do in Pico Bonito National Park is the zip line canopy tour. The tour is available through Jungle River Tours and is located at Km. 8 of the La Ceiba to Yaruca road. This activity zips you across the Cangrejal River to a trail, where you will briefly hike up the hillside to the starting point of the tour. Here a total of 9 cables will bring you flying over the treetops back to your starting point, once again crossing over the Cangrejal River. The tour takes about 1 ½ hours and is a lot of fun.
With so many things to do in Pico Bonito National Park within the Cangrejal River area, you are probably wondering if you should try to find a spot where to spend the night within the area. The answer is of course you should!
There are several different options, but without doubt, the nicest of all is La Villa de Soledad B&B, an award winning boutique bed and breakfast that is located within walking distance of all of the above activities. Featuring 4 lovely rooms, each with a private bath and hot water, as well as direct access to the lovely outdoors, La Villa de Soledad offers the comfort of a home stay with the best of Honduran Hospitality, as well as great home cooking. The fully bilingual staff offers assistance that includes arranging tour activities, providing transfers and even giving you tips about other destinations within Honduras and Central America. Hosts John and Soledad will help arrange all the top things to do in Pico Bonito National Park!
There are several different Pico Bonito Hotels. All of them of course are located around Pico Bonito National Park. A magnificent National Park that is the second largest in Honduras and offers a huge biodiversity because of the different altitudes that this protected area spans, that goes from a very wet tropical rain forest at sea level facing the Caribbean Sea, eventually transitioning to a very humid Tropical Cloud Forest in the higher altitudes and then to a tropical very dry forest in the south side of the Park.
Most Pico Bonito Hotels are located in the Cangrejal River Area or in the area around the community of El Pino, which is located about 15 km. west of the city of La Ceiba. This is precisely the area where you will find the famous Lodge at Pico Bonito, as well as a couple of other properties.
This highest concentration of Pico Bonito Hotels is in the Cangrejal River Valley, which is very close to the City of La Ceiba, within 7 miles of downtown La Ceiba you will find 9 small lodges and inns. For a list of all hotels in the Cangrejal River Valley, check www.cangrejalriver.com.
Although each and every one of the Pico Bonito Hotels located along the Cangrejal River is unique, there is no doubt that La Villa de Soledad Boutique Bed and Breakfast and Eco Jungle Lodge has a special charm. 5 comfortable rooms, each with a private bath with hot water, high speed internet and some of the most magnificent views of the mountains and the Cangrejal River will certainly enchant you!
Huge open areas, all facing outdoors and generously spaced areas with hammocks provide the perfect environment to relax in nature. In addition, innkeepers, Soledad and John will go out of their way to make you feel at home and help you arrange all of the different activities that are within close reach of the different Pico Bonito Hotels: white water rafting, hiking in the jungle, zip line canopy tours, visits to hot springs, a tour to Cayos Cochinos are just a few of the many different options available. They will also help you arrange your local transportation to and from La Villa de Soledad.
A word of caution: Pico Bonito, a towering mountain that rises behind the city has become an icon for La Ceiba, and there are some properties that use the name of this icon to promote themselves. Some of these are located within the city, so make sure you double check where the hotel is really located, so that you can be sure that you have really booked one of the Pico Bonito Hotels!
La Ceiba, being a city of about two hundred thousand inhabitants, has a lot to offer. Generally travelers visit La Ceiba either for its night life or for its magnificent natural environment. If you are planning to visit La Ceiba for its night life, then you should certainly look for La Ceiba Inns that are downtown, close to the “Zona Viva” which is where you will find the night clubs and restaurants that are visited by locals and tourists alike.
However, if you are planning a trip to La Ceiba to explore its magnificent nature, then you should certainly consider looking for La Ceiba Inns that are closer to the National Parks and protected areas that are close to the city.
La Ceiba offers 4 protected areas that are easily accessible from the city. Pico Bonito National Park is the most renown National Park and is actually a city icon. Pico Bonito National Park is the second largest National Park in Honduras, and is located in a truly rugged area of Honduras, with elevations starting at sea level and climbing up to over eight thousand feet! A second National Park is Nombre de Dios National Park, which is adjacent to Pico Bonito and separated be the lovely, extremely scenic Cangrejal River. It is here, in the Cangrejal River Valley that you will find the largest selection of La Ceiba Inns!
There are a total of 10 small La Ceiba Inns within this area, which is located only 6 miles from downtown La Ceiba, providing easy access to an area that will give you a true sensation of being in a remote location!
La Villa de Soledad is one of La Ceiba Inns, and we work hard to make you feel at home and give all the assistance possible in arranging your tours and activities, both, within the Cangrejal River Valley as well as in other protected areas, such as Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge and Cayos Cochinos Marine Reserve.
So you are on your way to the lovely city of La Ceiba, capital of Atlantida on the Caribbean coast of Honduras! Looking for the best options to spend the perfect week in La Ceiba? Here is our suggestion, which of course can be modified according to the number of days you will actually be in La Ceiba and the order of the activities, depending on your priorities.
The perfect week in La Ceiba starts with selecting the proper place to stay in. Perhaps you can even consider dividing your week long stay in two different hotels, to make the best of your vacation. Personally, I would start with 4 nights at the Cangrejal River Valley. Staying in a lovely guest house. The Cangrejal River Valley is ideal, and there is no better place than La Villa de Soledad B&B, rated number one by tripadvisor in 2014 to stay in! The first four nights of your vacation in search of the perfect week in La Ceiba should no doubt be spent at La Villa de Soledad B&B.
Day 1. During your stay at La Villa de Soledad, you should definitely take advantage and do white water rafting. The Cangrejal River is the only river in Honduras where rafting can be done any day of the year, and is the ideal way to start the perfect week in La Ceiba! Experts consider this one of the best rivers to do white water rafting in Central America and the Caribbean!
Day 2. After your rafting experience, you will want to relax and remember the fun moments of this adventure and get ready for the next adventure, which I would suggest should be a hike up to the El Bejuco Waterfall, a unique view of the Cangrejal River Valley can be enjoyed from this vantage point. You will enjoy a magnificent second day of your perfect week in La Ceiba. The trail to El Bejuco waterfall begins only 200 meters away from La Villa de Soledad B&B. Nothing like easy access to your activities!
Day 3. For the third day, you should plan on a unique adventure that will be hard to equal elsewhere, A water fall descent. The jungles of Pico Bonito and Nombre de Dios Mountains hide many secrets, and you will find hundreds of unique waterfalls, some are actually quite accessible if you know where they are… Come and enjoy canyoning at its finest with Honduras Waterfall Descents! https://www.facebook.com/HondurasCanyoning/info
You can continue spending all week at La Villa de Soledad, however you might want a change of scenes, and going from the lovely jungle mountains to the Caribbean Sea just might be just what you need at this point. If this is the case, pack your bags! And take a short 30 minute trip to Sambo Creek, where you can choose from several small beachfront hotels. Check out the options on tripadvisor! May I suggest Paradise Found or Hotel Villa Helen?
Day 4. Once on the beach, the perfect start for the last half of your perfect week in La Ceiba should be a trip to Cayos Cochinos. The Hog Cays are a unique unspoiled piece of paradise in the Western Caribbean. You will be hard pressed to find a site as beautiful and pristine as this anywhere else in the Caribbean. The trip includes time for snorkeling, a visit to the Garifuna Village at Chachahuate Cay and a walk into the forests of Cayos Cochinos to find one of the endemic pink boas that live on the island!
Day 5. After a week of much activity, enjoy a zip line canopy tour in the morning, and then a relaxing bath in the amazing hot springs in the mountains above Sambo Creek, just a few minutes from your hotel. While you are here, enjoying a much needed massage, you can reflect on the many adventures of this, the perfect week in La Ceiba. You have had so many experiences, met so many people, and been in the tropical rain forests of Central America and in a pristine island in the Caribbean. You have even interacted with the Garifuna Culture, which is an intangible World Heritage! Truly the perfect week in La Ceiba!
Day 6. Today is time to enjoy some of the intricate canals within the mangrove forests. These unique habitats are along the coast, and usually surround small lagoons, estuaries and canals, providing a perfect setting for wildlife, such as monkeys, crocodiles and even manatees. As you paddle through the canals at the Cacao Lagoon, you will hear the ferocious howler monkeys in the treetops, warning you to stay away from them! You of course will paddle towards them and get a closer look at them, while they menacingly howl at you from a safe distance up in the treetops. The friendlier white faced monkeys will curiously look at you, but they will do so only from the safety of the treetops. The crocodiles will simply look at you with those big eyes and will warn you not to jump in the lagoon to swim around them. What a perfect way to close the perfect week in La Ceiba! Tonight as a farewell, you should plan on having dinner within the Garifuna community of Sambo Creek. A seafood meal, a couple of shots of guifity, the local alcoholic beverage and the beating of drums will make a perfect farewell to fantastic week that you will never, ever forget.
The perfect week in La Ceiba… So much to do, so much so close and easily accessible. What a dream vacation!
There are many things to do in La Ceiba, and it is a good idea that you are aware of them, so that you can plan your trip in La Ceiba accordingly, and make sure you take full advantage of the top things to do in La Ceiba. Here is a short list of what I consider the bare minimum things to do in La Ceiba that you should plan on!
White Water Rafting. The Cangrejal River is the only river in Honduras where you can do this activity. The river offers magnificent quality of water plus a unique experience based on both the abundant nature and the white water rapids that range from class II to IV. White water rafting is certainly one of the things to do in La Ceiba that you should not miss! For more information on white water rafting in the Cangrejal River, you may visit www.cangrejalriver.com where you will find a list of white water rafting outfitters.
Zip line canopy tours. Although there are many different options to do this activity in other destinations, such as Copan, Roatan and Lake Yojoa to mention a few in Honduras, the truth is that the dense tropical rain forests of Pico Bonito and Nombre de Dios National Parks are second to none. In addition, the zip line canopy tour at Sambo Creek, one of the two options in La Ceiba, offers the unique opportunity to relax in natural hot springs and get a relaxing massage in the jungle. You will not find this combination anywhere else Central America. Because of this, a visit to the Sambo Creek zip line canopy tour and hot springs in La Ceiba is number two on our list of things to do in La Ceiba!
Hiking in the Pico Bonito Trails is our number three item in the list of things to do in La Ceiba. Just the knowledge that the same trail you are hiking in during the day is used by the majestic king of the Central American jungles, the jaguar during the nights makes the experience unreal! Pico Bonito is home to a huge list of bird species, many of which are truly hard to see elsewhere, and many of them are easily seen from the trails in Pico Bonito National Park. For more information regarding Pico Bonito National Park and its hiking options, visit www.lamoskitia.hn
The Garifuna culture was declared an intangible World Heritage by the UNESCO a few years ago. These unique people, who have survived against all odds due to their tenacity and beliefs, live along the Caribbean coast of Honduras. The most picturesque and unique of all of their villages in located in the Hog Cays, better known as Cayos Cochinos. Here on a small white sand cay called Chachahuate, you can find the most authentic Garifuna Village in the World. Best of all, it is located in a small archipelago that is part of the Mesoamerican reef system, the most bio diverse barrier reef system in the World. Cayos Cochinos is only 14 miles from the coast of La Ceiba, and there are regular tours departing daily from Sambo Creek, one of the two Garifuna Villages on the mainland that are withing the municipality of La Ceiba. A visit to Cayos Cochinos is a must in your list of things to do in La Ceiba. Make sure you leave enough time to visit them! This is truly a unique activity that you will not be able to experience anywhere else in Central America!
Mangrove forests and estuary lagoons are probably the least appreciated habitats in the tropics. Developers are always looking for ways to tear down the mangroves, fill in the swamps and turn them into beautiful ocean front vacation developments. These habitats are actually very important, though unappreciated. They act as a filter to keep the silt from making out to the reefs and beaches; they provide the perfect setting for an extremely diverse ecosystem, which includes manatees, caimans and crocodiles, several species of monkeys, white tail deer and even the majestic jaguar. La Ceiba has two different areas that offer the opportunity of see and interact with nature in this environment. The Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge is one of them. This protected area is located about 20 miles outside of La Ceiba, towards the west, and the access to the site is via an old, quite funky banana train that is reminiscent of the old banana republic days. Once in the refuge, a boat trip down the estuaries will allow you to see howler and white faced monkeys, crocodiles, a huge list of birds and if you are really, really lucky, you might catch a glimpse of a Manatee. The other area that offers a similar experience, but without the banana train and the manatee is the Cacao Lagoon which is within the Nombre de Dios National Park. A visit to either one of these two mangrove swamp areas is a must if you want to see wildlife and certainly must be in your list of things to do in La Ceiba.
There are many other things to do in La Ceiba, such as horseback riding, trekking into the National Parks, climbing to Pico Bonito National Park, and visiting communities within the park. La Ceiba is also famous for its night life, and is becoming a popular destination to come and experience concerts by famous international singers. If you are interested in any of the above things to do in La Ceiba, don’t hesitate to write to me, and I will be happy to help you out with any special requirements or information you might need.
Although Honduras has many National Parks, few actually have lodging facilities within them. This makes for a relatively small list of national park lodges in Honduras.
Without any doubt, the largest selection of national park lodges in Honduras can be found on the Caribbean Coast of Honduras, within the area of both Pico Bonito National Park and Nombre de Dios National Park. The highest concentration of national park lodges in Honduras is located along the Cangrejal River Valley, www.cangrejalriver.com an area often overlooked that offers unsurpassed access to two different National Parks, plus the largest selection of activities to be found within national parks in all of Central America!
There are over 10 national park lodges in Honduras within the Cangrejal River Valley alone! Most of these national park lodges in Honduras are located within the Nombre de Dios National Park, however many of them are within walking distance of the magnificent hanging bridge over the Cangrejal River that gives access to a network of trails into Pico Bonito National Park. The El Mapache trail from this bridge that leads to the spectacular El Bejuco Waterfall is only 200 meters away from La Villa de Soledad, an award winning property that gets raving reviews from guests staying here. For a quick view of guests comments, feel free to check out http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g292023-d1603386-Reviews-La_Villa_de_Soledad_B_B-La_Ceiba_Atlantida_Department.html
Also within the Pico Bonito National Park area, you will find the most emblematic and famous of national park lodges in Honduras: the Lodge at Pico Bonito. This lovely property is a member of the small luxury hotels of the World and is truly an award winning property. www.picobonito.com
Another park where you can find national park lodges in Honduras is the Cerro Azul Meambar National Park, known locally as PANACAM. Here, high within the Parks limits is the Panacam Lodge, a property run by a local NGO Aldeas Globales that uses the proceeds from the lodge towards social programs in the area around Lake Yojoa and Siguatepeque.
Last, but not least, within the Jeanette Kawas National Park (known locally as Punta Sal National Park) you can find a brand new luxury resort, Indura, which features a magnificent 18 hole designer golf course by Pete Dye. Indura’s has magnificent, spacious rooms and a lovely pool, plus beaches in one of the loveliest bays in Central Americas Caribbean Coast, The Bay of Tela.
As you can see, many of the top options for national park lodges in Honduras can be found in the department of Atlantida, which is rapidly becoming one of the top nature destinations in Central America!
Enjoy your stay in by spending time in one of the national park lodges in Honduras!
There are two options for zip line canopy tours in La Ceiba. For those of you who do not know what a zip line canopy tour is, they are a set of steel cables set up from treetop to treetop that allow you to “fly” from tree to tree. Originally conceived as an observation tool to study life in the canopy of tropical rain forests in the tropics, zip line tours became popular after the 1992 movie Medicine Man, where Actor Sean Connery acted as a scientist in a remote location in the Amazon jungles that was looking for a cure for cancer. Sean Connery, the “Medicine Man” travels from tree top to tree top analyzing the unique organisms that live in the forest canopies.
Zip lines of course are also used by firefighters, to be able to access, or escape from skyscrapers that are too high to use a ladder to use their fire extinguishing tools and expertise.
Costa Rica is one of the pioneers in developing a tourism product to include zip lines, and although the original idea was to be able to see the canopy and life on the treetops, the reality is that they have had great success as an adventure and adrenalin producing activity.
The two options for zip line canopy tours in La Ceiba are both actually quite unique. The first option for canopy tours in La Ceiba is just outside the community of Sambo Creek. Here, in the forested mountains of Pico Bonito National Park is a true gem and a must if you are interested in zip line canopy tours in La Ceiba. Views of the Caribbean Sea include lovely sights of Cayos Cochinos Marine Monument, as well as some thermal hot springs that mix naturally with a cold water creek and flow down the mountains creating small waterfalls and pools that are perfect to relax and enjoy the surroundings. High above, in the treetops of the jungle, you can occasionally get a glimpse of an adventurer as he flies from tree to tree in the zip line canopy tours in La Ceiba!
Located only 8 km outside of La Ceiba, the Jungle River facilities are easily accessible from downtown and from most of the small hotels in the Cangrejal River Valley. It is only 800 meters (1/2 a mile) from La Villa de Soledad B&B, making it truly easy to enjoy zip line canopy tours in La Ceiba from the comfort of our boutique bed and breakfast and jungle eco lodge. For more information on hotels in the Cangrejal River Valley, visit: www.cangrejalriver.com
This zip line canopy tours in La Ceiba takes you across the Cangrejal River for a small hike up the forest to the starting point up in the mountain. From here, you will enjoy this zip line canopy tours in La Ceiba as you fly from treetop to treetop, with a last cable bringing you back over the Cangrejal River to the Jungle River tours facilities.
If you like adventure and would like to experience the tropical jungles of Pico Bonito and Nombre de Dios National Parks, the zip line canopy tours in La Ceiba are just for you!
More and more travelers are looking for home stay alternatives over regular hotels. The reason is simple to understand, the first offers the opportunity to share time with a local family, in the second you are simple another guest in the hotel. Home stays in La Ceiba are not abundant, but there are several options that you can choose from. For starters, I would recommend that you look into staying at the Cangrejal River Valley. There are several different home stays in La Ceiba available in this lovely valley, where you will be able to interact with the local community who is friendly and loves tourists.
For a list of different home stays in La Ceiba available in the Cangrejal River Valley, check out www.cangrejalriver.com. One of the top options is La Villa de Soledad, a family run guest house that offers bed and breakfast service, as well as direct access to many different activities in the area, such as white water rafting, hiking in Pico Bonito and Nombre de Dios National Parks, zip line canopy tours as well as outstanding birding opportunities.
Although La Villa de Soledad does not offer restaurant service, they do serve food to their guests when requested. Breakfast is included in the room price, and lunch and dinner is served upon request, usually offering the guests the same food that the innkeepers and their families will be eating. Certainly, this is one of the top assets of home stays in La Ceiba, having the opportunity to eat what the local family has for lunch and dinner! If you have any questions about whether or not the food is good, take a peek at the tripadvisor reviews about La Villa de Soledad at http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g292023-d1603386-Reviews-La_Villa_de_Soledad_B_B-La_Ceiba_Atlantida_Department.html . You will find that many guests have raving reviews of the food they had here!
So, now you know! If you are looking for home stays in La Ceiba, look no more, and come to La Villa de Soledad B&B.
More and more travelers are looking for a more authentic travel experience through homestays. Although the number of places to stay in has grown in the recent years, there are still not many options for homestays in La Ceiba.
Furthermore, in many cases, homestays in La Ceiba can be very varied, and certainly hard to contact those that offer them. Mostly, you will find that homestays in La Ceiba are offered by Spanish Language Schools that service people interested in learning language through and immersion course, where living with a family that does not speak their language will force them to learn the language faster.
If however, you are not focused on learning a language, and furthermore, what you are looking for is the opportunity to share a home with a local family, without losing your privacy and at the same time having a chance to interact with nature, then you will find that La Villa de Soledad is the perfect homestay in La Ceiba for you!
La Villa de Soledad offers private rooms with a private bath, hot water, high ceiling rooms with cross ventilation that are pleasant year round. Their location is perfect to interact with nature, relax in a hammock or go after some high adrenalin pumping adventure, such as white water rafting or zip line canopy tours.
Another great benefit from homestays in La Ceiba is the fact that you can get to enjoy some great home cooked meals. Guests staying at La Villa de Soledad usually rave about the food they taste at La Villa de Soledad, which is always fresh, prepared with tender loving care and served in a lovely porch overlooking the tropical rain forests of Pico Bonito National Park.
Are you looking for an Eco Hotel in La Ceiba?
