Roatán and Copán

Copán was never the largest Maya city, but it was the most artistic. Between the fifth and ninth centuries a dynasty of sixteen rulers filled its plazas with stelae and altars carved in such deep relief that the figures seem to step out of the stone. The Great Plaza holds the finest of them, many raised by the ruler known as 18 Rabbit; Altar Q shows all sixteen kings seated in a row, handing power down the line. The masterpiece is the Hieroglyphic Stairway, more than sixty steps whose risers carry around two thousand glyphs, the longest known Maya inscription, telling the city's dynastic history. It is protected from the rain by a canvas canopy. UNESCO listed the site in 1980.

Beyond the main precinct, the Las Sepulturas residential group shows how the city's nobles lived, and the excellent Museum of Sculpture houses original carvings brought indoors for protection, alongside a full-size replica of Rosalila, a brightly painted temple found intact buried inside a later pyramid. Archaeologists' tunnels into the Acropolis can also be visited for a separate fee.

TipArrive at opening time, when it's cool and scarlet macaws squawk around the visitor centre. The museum and tunnels are charged separately from the main site; a licensed guide at the gate brings the glyphs to life.

The little town a kilometre from the ruins is the most relaxed base on the mainland: cobbled streets climbing from a central park, red-tiled roofs, coffee houses and a good spread of guesthouses. The small regional museum on the square is worth an hour, and horse rides, coffee-farm tours and visits to the hot springs in the hills are easy to arrange. It's the sort of place where people plan to stay one night and stay three.

In a forested ravine just outside town, this non-profit rescue centre cares for macaws, toucans, parrots and owls, many of them former pets or confiscated from traffickers. Paths lead through shady coffee plantation and over a river to big walk-through aviaries, and the centre's breeding programme has returned scarlet macaws, Honduras's national bird, to the skies over the Copán ruins.

TipIt's a short tuk-tuk ride from town; combine it with lunch at the riverside café.

Founded by the Spanish in 1536, Gracias was briefly the seat of the Audiencia de los Confines, the colonial court that governed much of Central America in the 1540s. Today it's a sleepy town of whitewashed churches and adobe houses, with a small hilltop fort, the Fuerte de San Cristóbal, overlooking the streets. Its real draw is the mountain behind it: Celaque National Park protects cloud forest around Cerro Las Minas, the highest peak in Honduras at about 2,850 metres. Day walks lead to waterfalls among moss-hung trees; the summit is a tough overnight trek. Natural hot springs a few kilometres outside town make a good reward.

TipReach Gracias via Santa Rosa de Copán on the main road. The FCDO has reported attacks on the remote road between La Esperanza and Gracias, so avoid it and don't travel after dark.

Honduras's largest natural lake lies between forested mountains, halfway between San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa. More than four hundred bird species have been recorded around its shores and the two national parks that frame it, Cerro Azul Meámbar and Santa Bárbara, making it one of the best birding areas in Central America. Dawn boat trips on the lake, coffee farms, a small brewery that has become a backpacker institution, and the Los Naranjos eco-archaeological park, with trails through wetland to the remains of an early settlement, fill a couple of days easily.

TipTry the fried tilapia sold at the roadside restaurants along the eastern shore.

A short drive north of the lake, the Río Lindo drops over a cliff more than forty metres high in a broad curtain of spray. Pulhapanzak is run as a community park with swimming spots, picnic areas and a zip line over the gorge, but the experience people remember is the guided scramble behind the falling water, through roaring caves and into the plunge pool.

TipThe behind-the-falls tour is wet and slippery; wear shoes with grip and leave your phone behind. In the rainy season it may be suspended when the water is high.

The wall of mountains behind La Ceiba rises from sea level to more than 2,400 metres in a few kilometres, one of the steepest gradients in Central America. Pico Bonito protects lowland rainforest, cloud forest and dozens of waterfalls, and the eco-lodges along its edge are some of the best places in the country to see toucans, motmots and hummingbirds. On the park's eastern side the Río Cangrejal is a top white-water rafting river, with boulder-strewn rapids and calmer pools for swimming.

TipGo with a lodge or licensed guide; trails are poorly marked and the summit route is a multi-day expedition.

Honduras's third city is mostly a gateway, the place to catch the ferries to Roatán and Utila and flights to the islands, but it has a lively waterfront and a famous carnival in May, when the city fills with parades and street parties. Many travellers base themselves in the lodges along the Cangrejal valley rather than in town.

TipThe FCDO warns of carjackings in and around La Ceiba, Tela and Trujillo. Use hotel or radio taxis, travel in daylight and take care on beaches after dark.

Two small islands and a dozen cays scattered off the coast form a marine protected area managed by a conservation foundation, with no roads, few buildings and coral in good condition. The reef supports a research station, and a Garifuna fishing village on the tiny cay of Chachahuate, its huts crowding a strip of sand, welcomes day visitors with fried fish and coconut bread. Boats leave from the coast near La Ceiba, Sambo Creek and Nueva Armenia, and from Roatán.

TipA protected-area fee is charged on arrival. Bring reef-safe sunscreen and cash in small notes.

The smallest of the three main Bay Islands is one of the cheapest places in the world to learn to dive, with dozens of dive schools competing along a single waterfront street. It also has a rare reputation: whale sharks, the largest fish in the sea, feed in the deep water off the north side, and boats head out to look for them alongside regular dives. Sightings can happen at any time of year, though spring is often cited as the best season. The island is laid-back and young, with a bar scene to match; the nearby cays, reached by small boat, are quieter.

TipSwim with whale sharks only on boats that follow the local code of conduct: no touching, no flash, no chasing. The research centre in town runs talks and a sighting programme.

Roatán, the largest Bay Island, sits on the Mesoamerican Reef, the second-longest barrier reef in the world, and its western tip is where most visitors stay. West End is a sandy road lined with dive shops, guesthouses, bars and restaurants, built along a curve of reef so close that you can snorkel straight from the shore at Half Moon Bay. The Roatan Marine Park, a local non-profit, maintains mooring buoys and patrols the reef; walls, canyons, wrecks and turtle-filled shallows lie within a short boat ride.

TipThe marine park sells reef passes and dive tags that fund patrols; buy one, and check that any operator you use uses the park's moorings.

A short water taxi or a walk along the shore south of West End brings you to West Bay, the island's showpiece: a long arc of pale sand with the reef starting a few metres off the beach. It's busier and more upmarket than West End, with resorts and beach bars, and crowded on cruise-ship days, but the snorkelling at the southern end remains excellent.

TipCome early or late on days when ships are in at the island's cruise terminals; the beach empties after mid-afternoon.

In the hills just behind West Bay, this privately run nature park mixes botanical gardens, rescued animals and adventure activities. Paths lead past heliconias and orchids to freely roaming white-faced capuchin monkeys and macaws, with caves, a hanging bridge and zip lines through the canopy. It's touristy, and popular with cruise groups, but an easy half-day for families.

TipBook directly or through your hotel, and go on a day without a cruise ship in port.