Where to stay in Honduras

The Bay Islands

• Roatan - West End for bars and dive shops, West Bay for the beach and the resorts, Sandy Bay in between. This is where most visitors to Honduras actually stay.
• Utila - smaller, cheaper, a serious backpacker and dive-training island, whale sharks offshore.
• Guanaja - the quiet one, few visitors, and reached with more effort.
• Petty theft is the realistic risk on all three - lock the room, do not leave a bag on the beach.

The mainland

• Copan Ruinas - the town beside the Maya site, small, pleasant and walkable, close to the Guatemalan border. The other place visitors genuinely go.
• La Ceiba - the ferry port, with Pico Bonito national park behind it. A night here is usually a transit night.
• Tela and Trujillo - north coast beaches, and the roads to both carry the FCDO's warning about attacks on vehicles.

The cities

• The FCDO advises against walking around Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula. Stay somewhere with parking and use taxis or Uber door to door.
• Most itineraries treat both as a night before a flight, and there is little reason to do otherwise.

Practical

• Book the island dive package and accommodation together - most shops do it and it is cheaper.
• Air conditioning on the islands is worth paying for from March to September.