How safe is Honduras for travelers?

The honest framing

• Honduras has one of the highest violent crime rates in Latin America. It is also true that serious crime does not usually target tourists, and that the great majority of visitors - most of whom go to Roatan and Copan - have no trouble.
• The gap between the statistic and the visitor experience is wide here, wider than in Guatemala or El Salvador, because the violence is concentrated in city neighbourhoods that no itinerary passes through.

What actually affects visitors

• Petty theft in cities and on the Bay Islands. Rooms, beaches, bags.
• Do not walk around Tegucigalpa or San Pedro Sula. Taxi or Uber, door to door.
• The roads. Poor driving, unlit vehicles, animals on the carriageway, and unrepaired hurricane damage from 2020. Never drive at night.
• Public buses are the FCDO's other named risk: poorly maintained, overcrowded, recklessly driven, with frequent and sometimes fatal accidents. Take the luxury coaches.
• Violent attacks on vehicles have happened on the roads to and from Tela, La Ceiba and Trujillo. Travel those in daylight and preferably not in a conspicuous rental.

Drugs

• Trafficking carries 15 to 20 years. Use carries 3 to 9 months of compulsory rehabilitation. There is no visitor exception.

Diving

• Utila and Roatan are among the cheapest places in the world to certify, which means the volume of very new divers is high. Choose the shop on its safety record, not its price.
• Check your insurance covers diving to the depth you will actually go.

Weather

• Hurricane season is June to November. Hurricanes Eta and Iota in 2020 did damage the country has still not finished repairing, which tells you what the risk looks like when it lands.