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Most travelers that come through La Ceiba do so on the way to the Bay Islands of Roatan or Utila. Because of this, very few of them actually overnight in La Ceiba. They are in such a hurry to get to the Honduras’ famous Caribbean Islands that they never figure out what they are missing out by not staying overnight in La Ceiba and explore the surroundings.

Without doubt, the nicest and most versatile area within La Ceiba is the Cangrejal River Valley. This area is only 10 km. (6 Miles) from town and offers great lodging, outstanding eco and adventure activities and friendly bars and restaurants where you will meet other travelers who will gladly share their travel experiences with you.

You see, the first thing you will learn if you do decide to overnight in La Ceiba in the Cangrejal River Valley, is that you will need at  least two, probably three nights to take full advantage of all there is to do there.  Most of all, you will be happy that you did decide to overnight in La Ceiba, because a stay at the Cangrejal River Valley will easily turn into one of the highlights of your visit to Central America.

I have yet to meet a traveler who was disappointed by the beauty, charm and diversity available within the area. I have, however met many a traveler who was sorry they did not plan on a longer stay in the Cangrejal River Valley, so make sure you leave some time to enjoy the area!

from the UK to Honduras

Amongst the different activities available are white water rafting, zipline canopy tours, hiking in the tropical jungles, horseback riding, mountain biking, and some truly spectacular bird watching.  You will find the crystal clear and temperate waters of the Cangrejal River too tempting to resist and have the time of your life swimming in the natural water pools within the river.

Hotels in Pico Bonito National Park

Best of all are the variety of lodges available. La Villa de Soledad B&B is one of the most popular and truly beautiful lodges in the area. Come and stay with us and find out why we get raving reviews from our clients!

reasons to visit the Cangrejal River Valley

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Few destinations offer so many different options for activities while you are visiting. The different options for La Ceiba day tours are such that you will certainly have a tough time deciding which ones you should take, unless of course, you have planned to spend several days in the neighborhood of La Ceiba.

Hotels in Pico Bonito National Park

As a general rule, there are three hubs in La Ceiba where you can plan on staying to have the best access the top La Ceiba day tours available: One is within the Cangrejal River Valley; a second one  is in the vicinity of Sambo Creek and the last one in the area known as “El Pino” located just west of La Ceiba.

The Cangrejal River Valley offers a variety of great lodges to stay in, including the award winning La Villa de Soledad. In this area, you will find that the top La Ceiba day tours include world class white water rafting in the Cangrejal River, zip lining through the forest canopy, hiking in the rain forests of Pico Bonito National Park, horseback riding in Nombre de Dios National Park and rappelling down tropical waterfalls hidden within the jungle.

about rafting in Honduras

The area around Sambo Creek offers some great options nearby, such as the Cayos Cochinos Marine Reserve, the Sambo Creek hot springs and zip line canopy tour and a tour of the Cacao Lagoon which is part of Nombre de Dios National Park.

Why stay in La Ceiba?

Last, but not least, near the community of El Pino you can access trails into Pico Bonito National Park, visit the Cuero y Salado Wildlife Reserve and touring local organic farms that welcome tourists.

Keep in mind that these three areas are actually fairly close to each other, so you can easily stay in the Cangrejal River Valley and visit Cayos Cochinos or Cuero y Salado as options for your La Ceiba day tours.

La Ceiba Honduras Tours

We at La Villa de Soledad invite you to book with us, and we will be more than happy to help you arrange the different available La Ceiba day tours that are more interesting to you. We will do it helping you get the best deals and using your vacation time wisely. Come and enjoy the different La Ceiba day tours with us!

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Looking for the best small nature hotels in Honduras?

Honduras is one of the great nature destinations in Latin America. The fact that is located right in the heart of Central America, that narrow isthmus of land that connects both major American continents, and right on the Caribbean coast provides for a rich biodiversity and lush tropical vegetation.

Considering the above, it is no surprise that the Caribbean Coast offers the perfect setting for some of the best small nature hotels in Honduras. An area where you will find a variety of protected areas and national parks as well as some of the most beautiful and pristine jungle mountains in the Americas, including the famous Pico Bonito National Park. It is here, in this area known as Atlantida, where you can find the best small nature hotels in Honduras! Best of all, they are all easy to get to via the port city of La Ceiba, which is the gateway to the Bay Islands of Honduras.

Without doubt, the most famous of these small nature hotels is the Lodge at Pico Bonito, located just west of La Ceiba. The Lodge, a member of the small luxury hotels of the World, is truly a unique property where you will enjoy great bird watching, outstanding food, and great service. However, there are many other properties that easily qualify as some of the best small nature hotels in Honduras nearby.Best Hotel in La Ceiba

Take for example, the Cangrejal River Valley. In a small area you will find different alternatives that include community owned lodges, charming and award winning boutique hotels and lodges and even a set of villas within a beautifully manicured tropical setting.

accommodation in La Ceiba

La Villa de Soledad B&B is one of the award winning properties in this area, and certainly qualifies as one of the best small nature hotels in Honduras. With a total of 5 unique, and distinctly appointed rooms, each with its own original artwork, private bathroom, terrace porch with hammock and direct access to the great outdoors of Nombre de Dios National Park, it is the perfect spot to relax in nature and enjoy the many diverse activities available at your doorstep.

 

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Today is the 159th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Comayagua!

The most important tourist destination in Honduras, the Bay Islands became part of Honduras almost by accident. You see the United States was in the full expansion mode of the Monroe Doctrine, and needed to build a canal across the Central American Isthmus in order to achieve two goals: have a faster access to the West Coast of the USA, which was not yet interconnected with the eastern part of the country via railroads, and secure its influence in Central America. They already had a president who was a US citizen running Nicaragua (William Walker). “The Transit Route” across the isthmus had been established using the San Juan River from the town of Graytown, located in the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, right on the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica up the San Juan River all the way to Lake Nicaragua, which left only the narrow isthmus of Rivas, only about 19 miles wide standing in the way of an trans-oceanic route.  The problem was that Brits controlled a large piece of land from the coastline of Honduras all the way to the border with Costa Rica. This territory was called the Moskito Coast Protectorate, and the Brits had a strong political alliance and commitment to support the Moskito natives who lived in this territory.

In addition, maritime routes were to pass close by to the Bay Islands of Roatan, and could be a problem with the control of the canal system. As such, the Americans struck a deal with the Brits, convincing them to turn the Bay Islands over to Honduras and the Moskito Coast Protectorate to Nicaragua, while at the same time acknowledging their rights over British Honduras, which is known today as Belize. In the case of Honduras, the turnover was consumed by signing the treaty of Comayagua, which was signed precisely in Comayagua, then the Capital of Honduras. The treaty was signed on the 28th of November, 1859, exactly 156 days ago today!

In the end, the French, who were competing with the United States to build the transoceanic canal, floundered miserably in their efforts in Panama, and convinced the US to buy the project from them, arguing that Panama made a lot more sense because its territory was not full of active volcanoes. Thus the Americans dropped their plans to build a canal in Nicaragua, but Honduras, thanks to the Treaty of Comayagua, got to keep the Bay Islands and Nicaragua, due to the Treaty of Managua, kept the Moskito Coast protectorate.

Cayos Cochinos Islands

It is interesting to note that despite that to this day, and despite that a century and a half have past, the Bay Islanders remain proud to their British heritage, and still use English to communicate between themselves. Because of this, many expats looking to relocate to Honduras and Central America choose the Bay Islands as the site of the choice. They do not need to learn a new language, they are living in a beautiful Caribbean Island with a cost of living that is a fraction of what it is back home, and they are close to mainland Honduras, where they can visit the city of La Ceiba, the magnificent Cangrejal River Valley and enjoy staying at lovely eco lodges at very affordable prices.

Things to do in Pico Bonito National Park

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Looking for special boutique hotels in Honduras to stay in?

Honduras might be a small country many people have never heard about. It might also have a bad reputation that it does not stand up to, but it certainly has many beautiful, unique destinations and some truly special boutique hotels to stay in.

flashpacking in Central America

Perhaps the most famous of all boutique hotels in Honduras is located in La Ceiba, capital of Atlantida, the new upcoming destination that you should not miss. The Lodge at Pico Bonito is located just a few kilometers outside of La Ceiba, and offers a beautiful setting within Pico Bonito National Park. But there are several other boutique hotels in Honduras that you can find in La Ceiba and surroundings. Take for example, the Cangrejal River Valley, an absolutely gorgeous area located only 5 miles from downtown La Ceiba! The Cangrejal River, which gives its name to the area, is a beautiful river with crystal clear waters, with a steep slope dropping towards the Caribbean and offering a spectacular white water arena, where you will need to paddle hard around huge boulders and hold tight as your rafting guide helps you negotiate 5 and 6 foot drops into calm natural pools.

Here you will find that the Cangrejal River is actually a natural boundary between two national parks: Pico Bonito and Nombre de Dios National Parks. This means you get to visit two national parks in one tour! Best of all, there are several boutique hotels within the Cangrejal River Valley. One of them is the award winning La Villa de Soledad B&B a unique, family run hotel that offers some of the best service in town! La Villa de Soledad is located within easy walking distance to different attractions, including white water rafting, zip line canopy tours and hiking in Pico Bonito National Park.

Things to do in Pico Bonito National Park

But of course there is a lot more to Honduras than Atlantida! You can find a selection of outstanding boutique hotels in Honduras in places such as Copan Ruinas, San Pedro Sula, Roatan, Tegucigalpa and many other cities. If you are interested in checking these out, check out a new Honduras travel blog that offers up to date information regarding all the above destinations and much more!

getting to Cayos Cochinos

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Community Tourism in La Ceiba, great alternatives at a magnificent value!

Few Central American destinations offer such a great variety of options for community tourism as does La Ceiba! You see, La Ceiba is right on the Caribbean Coast of Central America, and is the gateway to the Bay Islands of Honduras. La Ceiba is the capital of Atlantida, the new up and coming destination that offers the most extensive alternatives for Honduras Travel!

The Garifuna culture is one of the brightest highlights in Atlantida, and for that matter, all of Honduras. This unique, Afro Antillean culture has been given the status of Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the UNESCO. There are several places within the destination where you can experience the Garifuna community tourism in La Ceiba: The Garifuna villages of Corozal, and Sambo Creek are located only a few miles east of La Ceiba. You can easily drive to these communities and experience first hand the highlights of Community tourism in La Ceiba. For a more complete experience, consider traveling to the Cayos Cochinos Marine Reserve, a unique National Park that offers a pristine Caribbean setting with the added benefit of boasting the most authentic Garifuna community in the World: Chachahuate.

This small community lives on a tiny cay, with the same name: Cayo Chachahuate of Chachahuate Cay, a sand bar where you will find rustic cabins made of wood, thatched palms and a lively Garifuna community all set in a white sand beach completely surrounded by the turquoise blue Caribbean Sea!

Cayos Cochinos Islands

For those looking for a full immersion in the Garifuna culture, you can even plan on staying on the very primitive and Spartan  accommodations in Chachahuate, or you can also plan on staying at the Cabanas Laru Beja in East End, another small Garifuna community in the Cayos Cochinos, which offers much better facilities.

Cayos Cochinos is located a few miles off the coast of Sambo Creek, and can easily be seen from the mainland. Travel time to Cayos Cochinos is a mere 40 minutes is a motor boat, making a trip to the Hog Cays very easy!

Other options for community tourism in La Ceiba can be enjoyed in the Cangrejal River Valley, in the vicinity of the community of Las Mangas. Here you can visit a small rural community, sleep in their community owned cabins, and enjoy a series of hiking tours around Pico Bonito and Nombre de Dios National Parks. Visit a grass roots community organization, Guaruma that offers computing and environmental education to local kids, who will personally give you a tour through some of the trails they maintain!

Community Tourism in La Ceiba

Community Tourism in La Ceiba truly offers many different alternatives! Come and stay with us at La Villa de Soledad B&B and have a memorable experience interacting with the local communities!

 

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Don’t get me wrong with this title! This is not about an actual, physical war, and instead of driving you away from the area, you should take immediate advantage of this “war” and travel to La Ceiba and Utila!

You see, it turns out that a new ferry has begun service between La Ceiba and Utila: The Utila Dream. This new ferry is providing much more comfortable service and a much more pleasant setting. But this new Utila ferry service has brought about a fare war, and getting to Utila has never, I mean, never been cheaper! Take advantage of this great opportunity to visit the island of Utila, a true gem in the Caribbean that will easily be a highlight of your visit to Honduras and Central America!

As I am writing this post, and as a result of the Utila ferry wars, the cost of a passage between the ports of La Ceiba and Utila has dropped to only 99 lempiras, this, in US dollars, is under $4.50 US dollars!

The Utila Princess boat is offering the lowest fare, and although the new Utila Dream is a much bigger and nicer boat, the rock bottom fares have kept much of the local population and domestic tourists using the service of the Utila Princess. Furthermore, the new service provided by the Utila Dream is not yet known by all international tourists, who would gladly pay a much reduced fare of $9.00 US one way to travel between these two ports.

Before the new service came into operation, the cost of the passage between La Ceiba and Utila is approximately $25 US, making it a true bargain to travel in these days while the Utila ferry wars are raging!

My advice is drop what you are doing and hurry to visit Utila and La Ceiba, It will never be more affordable to visit these two destinations! Despite the fact that the Utila Dream is twice as expensive as the Utila Princess, it is still a bargain, so go ahead and travel in the new ferry and treat yourself like a VIP! When in La Ceiba, don’t be silly by staying in town, and stay at the truly unique Cangrejal River Valley, where you will find lovely boutique hotels, such as La Villa de Soledad B&B that offer the perfect spot to relax in nature and also gives you access to a variety of adventure and nature activities to choose from.

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Are you dreaming about the perfect vacation?

A perfect vacation… We all work hard throughout the year to be able to take a much needed vacation. In addition more and more psychologists are saying that true happiness and well being is best provided by the pleasant experiences achieved during out times of travel. All this being said, it seems really important to be able to plan and enjoy the perfect vacation!

But where can we go to have the perfect vacation? Being able to visit different sites that complement each other is usually one of the top factors to take into consideration when planning the perfect vacation. But then you do not want to spend half of your vacation time traveling from one site to the other …

Nestled just off the coast of Central America, in the northwestern Caribbean Sea, you will find a beautiful small archipelago of islands known as the Bay Islands of Honduras. The largest and most developed of these islands is called Roatan. With a population of 60,000 souls, it has an international airport that is serviced by the most important US airlines, who offer flights from Miami, Atlanta, Dallas – Fort Worth and Houston.  Flying time from these gateways is less than 2 ½ hours, making it a short, easy, and most of all affordable trip.

The Perfect Vacation
Paya Bay in Roatan’s East End.

Roatan offers everything an idyllic Caribbean island is supposed to have: white sand beaches fringed with palm trees, friendly people, outstanding coral reefs that are truly healthy and unique, friendly people, beach bars and lovely island resorts. The one island drawback, the fact that it is an island and therefore somewhat isolated from other places does not apply to Roatan. You see there is a state of the art water jet catamaran ferry that runs twice daily between Roatan and mainland Central America, with a travel time of approximately 90 minutes!

Pico Bonito National Park: how to get there & What to expecto
Roatan Ferry arriving in La Ceiba

This means that getting to from Roatan to the coast of Central America is a “piece of cake” Within less than 20 minutes from the port in La Ceiba, you can find yourself in a true tropical paradise, where the rain forests of Central America are within majestic, green clad mountains, with cristal clear rivers and creeks rushing towards the nearby Caribbean. Truly the setting for the perfect vacation: Tropical paradise and Caribbean beaches… What more can you ask for? The Cangrejal River Valley offers outstanding lodging facilities, such as La Villa de Soledad Bed and Breakfast, a lovely, unique boutique hotel in the forests of Nombre de Dios National Park.

The Perfect Vacation
Aerial View of the Cangrejal River Valley

The setting in the mainland is ideal for white water rafting, zip line canopy tours, hiking in the rain forests and bird watching, amongst many other activities. Go ahead and plan the perfect vacations, come to Honduras, and have the vacation of a lifetime!

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Now it is even easier to travel between La Ceiba and Utila!

Over the years, travel between La Ceiba and Utila has gotten easier and easier. Twenty plus years ago, on my first trip to Utila, the only option was to travel by air or take a cargo boat.  Air travel in Honduras back in those days was simple and affordable, and the flying time was a rather short 7 minutes! The old Utila runway was located within the area called “The Point” were Bongo Beach is located these days. Over the years, the first ferry service between the mainland and the islands came into service.

The ferry was a modified crew boat, operating under the name of “Tropical” which was running the route of Roatan to La Ceiba, La Ceiba to Utila and back, and then again back to Roatan.  This was indeed a game changer, it made it much easier and affordable to get to the islands, and there is no doubt that this service created a boom in visitors traveling between La Ceiba and Utila.

In time, the folks from Utila decided that they were ready to have their own ferry boat to service their island, this with the idea of having two daily departures. An early morning departure from Utila would mean that the islanders could travel to the mainland to get their groceries, visit the doctor, do whatever they needed and still be back on the island by taking the late afternoon departure from La Ceiba to Utila. The original Utila Princess was also a modified crew boat, extremely sea worthy however rather uncomfortable for passengers when the going got rough. Different boats were brought in to replace the original Utila Princess, with the Utila Princess IV being the longest lasting ferry to operate, a catamaran boat that was functional and relatively fast.

Travel between La Ceiba and Utila

Originally, the Utila Princess had a canvas top, and while it was great for traveling in smooth seas and with nice weather, it could get rather wet in rough weather passages. Eventually, the boat was modified and a hard shell rough was put up to replace the old canvas top.

Last week, a new alternative was put in service and will make travel between La Ceiba and Utila even easier!  The brand new Utila Dream, a beautiful, modern and comfortable waterjet catamaran that makes the passage between these two ports in only 45 minutes. Truly, it has never been easier and more comfortable to travel between La Ceiba and Utila.

Travel between La Ceiba and Utila

This is truly good news, because both, La Ceiba and Utila offer many different activities that complement each other. This means that travelers will be able to combine the experience of diving in the most bio diverse barrier coral reef in the World and then alternate to some of the most pristine tropical rain forests in Central America with one quick, easy ferry ride.

If you are planning on traveling between La Ceiba and Utila, make sure you check out the Cangrejal River Valley, the most beautiful tropical rain forests in Central America, which offers many different activities and at the same time, has some truly unique lodges, such as the boutique bed and breakfast known as La Villa de Soledad, a pleasant, comfortable, and unique lodge that has been awarded the distinction as the number one bed and breakfast in Honduras by tripadvisor.

Enjoy your travels between La Ceiba and Utila and take full advantage of the new Utila Dream ferry boat!

Remembering Hurricane Mitch, 17 years ago…

17 years ago today, on October 25, 1998, I was in the Port of Omoa, visiting clients and looking to collect money from adds in the Honduras tips magazine, which I owned and managed back then. The weather was unsettled, with torrential rains coming down on a regular basis. My first stop was at the Acantilados del Caribe Hotel, where I stopped briefly and had a chance to chat with Gustavo Enrique Ustariz (Tavoquike) the son of the owner, who had just returned to Honduras after studying tourism in the USA. His dream:  to take on and grow the family business. He expressed concerns about  Hurricane Mitch, which by then was already a major hurricane churning well off the coast of Nicaragua and heading North. The National Hurricane Center predicted that the storm would follow the coast of Honduras, about 100 miles North of the Bay Islands and would impact the Yucatan Peninsula, somewhere south of Cozumel Island. I was on a much more confident note, considering the forecast that the NHC, the “hurricane experts” where issuing!

Hurricane Mitch

Personally I considered myself an expert with hurricanes, as I had ridden out Hurricane Gilbert 10 years earlier in Cancun, when it struck the Yucatan Peninsula just south of Cancun on September 13, 1988. After my chat with Tavoquike, I continued my tour to the town of Omoa. There, Is stopped by to visit an old Swiss, who was an institution in town, and had a famous restaurant there called “El Botin del Suizo”  which would translate into something like “The Swiss’ Bounty”. Ulrich, who has since passed away,  was also concerned with the storm. After a short chat, and it being evident that with no clients in the beach side restaurant due to the heavy downpours, I was not going to make any collections, I went ahead and took advantage of a short break in the rain to get our baby, Juan Diego back in the car and continue our journey. I decided to make a last stop at the “Rio Coto” in Omoa restaurant. As I walked in, I was hurriedly welcome by Carlos Arita, the owner, who was extremely busy due to the fact that he had a full restaurant. You see, the MV Fantome, a lovely four masted cruise ship owned by barefoot cruises was in port, and their operating base was the Rio Coto restaurant right on the bay. There were 80 somewhat cruise ship passengers waiting under the thatched palm roof of the restaurant for a break in the weather to be transferred out to the luxury yacht that was anchored in the Bay of Omoa.  While Carlos was indeed doing business, selling beer and drinks to all the cruise ship passengers who were getting antsy to board the vessel, it was clear that Carlos’ priority was to take care of business, not settle bills, and considering that the rain was not letting go, I decided to get in my car and drive back home to San Pedro Sula, some 50 miles away, before it got dark and I would get stuck driving in the rain at night. Despite the heavy downpour, I had absolutely no idea of what Hurricane Mitch had in store for Honduras…

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