We are a senior couple looking to meet up in the next month in Central America (CA) with my GF’s adult daughter who is presently doing a cultural experience in Antigua ,Guatemala. We are trying to plan a trip in another CA country. At least one of us has already been to mainland Belize (with side trip to Tikal), Costa Rica and Panama.
Any thoughts (incl. safety) re Honduras and Nicaragua or Guatemala? and additional thoughts on Belize.
Lately, we’ve been doing Exoticca trips but none down there that matches and probably will do our own booking.
Thanks for any comments.
I’ve been traveling to Latin America for nearly 60 years and am currently traveling in El Salvador. Take a look at state department travel warnings. The one country that I have avoided for safety concerns is Honduras.
There’s a lot to like about Nicaragua. The pretty colonial city of Granada is about 30 miles south of ugly Managua. Ometepe Island and San Juan del Sur in the south are also worth seeing.
We loved Antigua Guatemala and found the rest of Guatemala very manageable; Honduras (Copan area) felt fine too, but we’d skip big cities and stick to known routes. Nicaragua has amazing culture and scenery but check current conditions; for easy and safe, we’d still consider Belize islands as a relaxed meet-up spot.
Thank you - comments appreciated.
Guatamala is probably the most dangerous. Guatemala City is disgusting.
Nicaragua was very poor but relatively safe. The Communists changed that, and it is not as safe as it was.
Belize is fairly safe but not much to do there except sailing and scuba diving.
Costa Rica has minimal violent crime, but lots of theft in the capitol city. An CR assistant told me it is a certainty you will have a car stolen in your lifetime if you live down there.
El Salvador, my wife’s country, used to be very dangerous. Now that the president has put the gangs in jail, it is very safe! Highly recommended, and they use the US dollar for money!