Tourism in Guanaja the Island of Pines
The island of Guanaja in northeastern Honduras is the most remote island in the department of Islas de la Bahía. Guanaja is a wonderful and interesting place. It is the least explored and exploited of that group of Honduran islands; precisely that is perceived on the island.
It is an island that you must know right now before it is «discovered» by mass tourism and large hotel chains.
The type of trade was the first thing that impressed Christopher Columbus on his last and fourth voyages in 1502 . His blog tells that he saw the natives in large canoes. In them he saw the cocoa bean for the first time.
One of the reasons why this island is unknown by a large part of Hondurans is because of the cost of air transport to it. The other option is a ferry that goes twice a week to Trujillo on the coast. The journey is long and can be uncomfortable for people not used to traveling by boat. Once in Guanaja, taking a taxi-boat to anywhere on the island is also expensive due to fuel costs.
Their people
Guanaja was originally populated by the Pesh. The Spanish colony sent some as slaves to other islands in the Caribbean. Many fled to the mainland. The first inhabitants of the 19th century were descendants of the English and Scots from the Great Cayman, an island with which Guanaja still maintains very important family and economic ties.
Guanaja is a multicultural meeting that brings together the cultures of the islands and the Honduran coast. On the island you can see the Miskito, Garífuna, Ladino, Creole and white descendants of the English colonists.
Where to stay in Guanaja?
The hotels that exist in Guanaja are generally small and a little removed from each other. Most of them are small family businesses. And all of them provide the idyllic activities that make being on this wonderful island a pleasure: top-quality diving, snorkeling, kayaking, horseback riding, sailing or windsurfing.
Guanaja Hotels
- Bo Bush’s Island House
- Fly Fish Guanaja Lodge
- Hotel Alexander Guanaja
- Hotel End of the World
- Hotel Miller in Guanaja
- Guanaja Caribbean Cottages
- G & G’s Clearwater Paradise
- Graham’s place
- La Giralda (Resort)
- The Villa on Dunbar Rock
- Roland’s Garden Guesthouse
- West Peak Inn
How to get to Guanaja?
The most recommended and easy way to get to the island is by air; Guanaja has service through Airlines. The airport is located on one side of the man-made canal that runs through the island and divides it in two, allowing rapid rainwater access from the south coast to the north coast. From the airport, you must use the service of a boat to get to the hotel or to the island towns.
The airlines have boats that will take you to Bonacca, or most hotels send a boat to pick up tourists if some of their guests arrive on a certain flight. If you have questions about what to do or how to get to your destination, stop by the Thirst and Last Bar located at the airport.
Guanaja is the farthest from the mainland of the three main islands and precisely for that reason, the most unique of all. The Ideal for those tourists looking for a vacation in a different place and without crowds. It is one of the last natural paradises in the Western Caribbean, with beautiful white sand beaches, crystal clear water, caressed by cool breezes. In the morning when you wake up you can take a walk on the beach without meeting anyone else on the beach.
