Skip to main content

Roatan - the best hidden Gem in Central America

We had the most wonderful trip in Roatan. In the last few years, we had spent Thanksgiving in Hawaii and we enjoyed the quick getaway to warmer weather and beach. However, this year, we decided to try something new after researching the best beaches to be in Central America. The reviews were correct and we were not disappointed.
We had the best time there: great beach, warm water, amazing snorkeling, jungle access. Flight there was convenient and affordable (red eye through El Salvador). You leave home one evening on a cold rainy night and by mid-morning the next day, you are in paradise. So convenient!

We stayed at the Grand Roatan Resort, which was very convenient for snorkeling. We went to a natural park closeby for a day, where we hung out with parrots, monkeys and enjoyed a nice and beautiful ziplining tour. For another afternoon, we went to a rescue center on the other side of the island where we hung out with sloths. It was a good opportunity to see the rest of the island and we found out that the locals put a big deal of emphasis on Black Friday, which was going to take place a few days later.

For most of the time though, we stayed close to the hotel and we went snorkeling or enjoyed the pool. There was so much to see right at our fingertips and the water was sooooo warm (big contrast to Hawaii). The snorkeling just in front of the hotel was amazing; the 4-year old didn't even have to swim a bit! The bigger kids got their bubblemaker certificates  right off the shore from our hotel. (first step for diving, when you are too young to get your official diving license). 

Hotel pool

Ocean in front of the hotel

Who doesn't like hanging out with sloths?

Zip Lining in the jungle

On the way back, we had a long layover in San Salvador and we did a day tour to see some old settlements and enjoy the local specialty (pupusas). It was also a lot of fun. Now we just have to go to Panama and Nicaragua and we will have visited all countries in South America. I am sure we will come back soon. We love it here!


Old settlements by San Salvador

Pupusas!



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Central America top picks

I was recently talking to a friend about places to go in Central America, one of our favorite regions to visit. She was primarily interested in Costa Rica, which is a wonderful place, no doubt. But as I was about to write to her, I decided to do a round up of our trips in Central America. You can't go wrong with any of these destinations. They are all wonderful in their own ways, but below are our favorites to date. 1.  Roatan I think the big gem of Latin America is Roatan (island in Honduras). We had the best time there: great beach, warm water, amazing snorkeling, jungle access. Flight there was convenient and affordable (red eye through El Salvador). I can’t think of any Con at this point. We are hoping to go back to Roatan later this year (which is very unusual for us to go to the same place twice, so this says something!) 2. Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica Even during the rainy season, this was a highlight for us. Tortuguero is   Wow! Amazing! Great jungle; turtles (at the right

Turkey travel with toddler - a good idea after all

After 10 days traveling in Turkey with our 16-month old son, we found that going to far-away countries with a toddler is not as difficult as many people believe. Yes, we also had our own concerns, and we had set our expectations that we might have a rough time. Yet, we had decided that it would be worth the effort since we were very eager to visit Turkey. As it turns out, most of our concerns weren’t justified, and we found that Daniel had a great time in Turkey. Below are a few things we have learned in our trip. • Jetlag : Interestingly enough, it was easier for Daniel to adjust after this complex trip than after a “simple” journey to Germany. After a 26-hour journey (2 flights and one 2.5 hour car drive) and a jump of 10 time zones, internal rhythm is typically quite upset for everyone, big and small. We flew with the night flight from San Francisco to Frankfurt, so Daniel had a good night of sleep behind him when we landed in Germany. From then, we paced his naps until the follo

Yosemite trip

Last week, we had another big milestone in our family life. After last year's first quick camping trip at Pinnacles , we went camping for 2 nights for the first time. And it was a great success. We were lucky to get a reservation at a campground in Yosemite, on a weekend where the weather was perfect, if not a little too hot. We spent a weekend exploring the valley, hiking, looking for wildlife (not very successfully though) and enjoying the outdoors. It was fun! Even though Daniel had a short phase of accidents after a long hike to the top of Bernal Fall (bitten by a squirrel - or so he thinks, and a fall leading to a cut gum), he quickly recovered and enjoyed the rest of the trip. A few minutes later, he was again climbing on boulders, running around, and enjoying being outdoors to use his endless energy. The hardest part was leaving. Everyone was heart-broken, but Daniel had the hardest time. It seems to be a pattern for him lately, and I think this had to do with the age (a