Pan American Highway > Honduras Currency to display:

1 Visiting Honduras
2 Entering Honduras with a Car or Motorbike
3 Driving in Honduras
4 Gas and Diesel price in Honduras
5 Safety and Security Considerations
6 Camping in Honduras
7 Navigation
8 Special Overland Travel interests
9 Vehicle Maintenance
10 Buy or sell a car or motorbike in Honduras
11 References
12 Helpful External links

Visiting Honduras

Give a brief overview of what it's like to visit. How easy is the border, how safe is the country, are there great things to see and do, etc.

Entering Honduras with a Car or Motorbike

Correct as of: September 2013

Required Paperwork

This border is notorious for corrupt officers who will ask for whatever paperwork they feel like on any given day. Your experience will probably differ from what is below, so come prepared with lots of copies of everything.

Passport of registered owner (original and 3 copies).
Vehicle registration (original and 3 copies).
Drivers license of registered owner (original and 3 copies).
3 more copies of the owner's Passport, clearly showing the Honduras immigration stamp and the entry payment receipts.

Process at border

(To check if you need a travel Visa for Honduras, application instructions and fees see: Honduras Visa online application at VisaHQ.com)
Again, this will vary from day to day depending on the mood of the officer on duty.
The process is described very clearly at Through Honduras in one day|PanAm Notes (also available to download in pdf format).

NOTE: You may encounter locals offering to help you with paperwork to get across the border. See Border Crossing Helpers for advice.

Cost of entry

Again, it depends. Expect to pay, roughly:

$3.00 USD per person for entry
Payment of $35.00 USD for vehicle permit

Permitted length of stay

90 days.

Honduras is part of the CA-4 Border control agreement. This agreement grants travel between Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua for a TOTAL of 90-days. The number of days remaining on your CA4 is written in your passport as you travel from country to country. The 90-day limit begins when you enter any country that is part of the CA4 agreement. To avoid penalty and fines, Exit the CA4 countries and enter into Costa Rica or Mexico/Belize before the 90-days limit expires.

Extension of stay

Unknown.
Describe the process to extend the permitted length of entry for the vehicle, if possible.

Storing a vehicle and temporarily leaving the country

(unknown)
Describe if/how a vehicle can be stored, and for how long.
Also mention if the owner / temporary importer can leave the country while the vehicle is in storage.

Exiting with a vehicle

The registered owner presents the temporary import paper to customs.
The registered owner is stamped out of Honduras at immigration.

Driving in Honduras

Insurance requirements

Insurance is not required in Honduras

Cost of insurance

N/A

Where to purchase insurance

N/A

Driving license

Technically an International Driving Permit is required.
In reality, showing a license from anywhere in the world seems to be good enough.

Driving side of road

Right.
Right hand drive vehicles are permitted without problem.

Mandatory items in vehicle

The Police and Military will absolutely try to bribe you if you do not have the following:

2 safety triangles
A fire extinguisher

Roads

General Road quality

Roads in Honduras vary greatly. The Pan American is paved and good quality for the length of the country. Lesser roads are gravel and can be very bumpy and rutted.

Road signs

Road signs are mostly common, but can not be relied upon.

Toll roads

None.

Bribery in Honduras

Honduras is probably the most corrupt country on the Pan American Highway, and you will almost certainly encounter bribery attempts by the Police and military. Many Overlanders have special stories about how common bribery is in Honduras, with most foreigners being stopped 5-10 times on the Pan American Highway alone.
See the bribery tips page for advice.

Checkpoints

Police checkpoints are common in Honduras, especially on the Pan American Highway. You'll primarily be asked to show your Passport, Vehicle registration, drivers license, and the temporary import permit you were issued at the border. Depending on how official the checkpoint actually is, this is a perfect bribery opportunity for the police/military.

Traveling with pets

According to travelers in 2012, you need: ^[1]
Travelers in 2013 wrote this when traveling from El Salvador to Honduras: ^[2]

A Health Certificate for the animal in Spanish (updated at least every four months)
A vaccination record (the European Pet Passport works well)

You might not be asked for either one, but you should have them ready.

Gas and Diesel price in Honduras

Last updated: February 2012 (Diesel September 2013)

Currency and unit to display:

Gasoline Grade	Price
Regular	L86.07 HNL per Liter
Premium (95)	L92.21 HNL per Liter
Normal Diesel	$1.20 USD per Liter

Gas and Diesel Availability / Frequency

Gasoline is common along the Pan American Highway.

Gas and Diesel Quality

Unknown.

Safety and Security Considerations

Driving at night

Driving at night is absolutely not recommended in Honduras, due to safety considerations.

Vehicle parking

Find a secure parking lot to park for any length of time. Price unknown.

Special driving considerations

We were stopped many times by the police. They always wanted to check the papers and sometimes look inside the car, but were always friendly and let us go.

Security advisories and information

Camping in Honduras

Camping is not popular in Honduras and roadside camping is not recommended.

Camping guide books

Unknown.

Drinking water

Tap water in Honduras is not safe to drink.

Navigation

Paper maps

Reise Know-How are amoung the best paper maps. Purchase paper maps before arriving in Honduras

Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador = Nikaragua, Gonduras...
by Reise Know-How Verlag
From $9.49 on Amazon

Nicaragua, Honduras, And El Salvador (national Geograp...
by National Geographic Maps - Adventure
From $7.49 on Amazon

Lonely Planet Guatemala, Belize & Yucatan La Ruta Maya...
by Tom Brosnahan, Nancy Keller
From $40.15 on Amazon

Purchase maps before arriving, good ones are very difficult to find in Honduras.

GPS Maps of Honduras

Open Street Map: Appears to have good coverage.^[3]
Garmin: Apparently no map of Honduras.
TomTom: No map of Honduras. ^[4]

GPS co-ordinates for camping, propane, gas, repairs, etc. in Honduras

A few places in Honduras - Camping Places & Sights in Honduras by Pawsontour
Camping Sites: Honduras - Detailed list of campsites and propane filling with description, directions and GPS co-ordinates. Some at hotels (lists facilities and price), some roadside and free.
Central America Camping Locations - List of campsites, with basic directions and GPS co-ordinates. Mostly free sites.
Camping Log 1: Central America - List of campsites, shopping, fuel, propane and border crossings with excellent descriptions and GPS co-ordinates.
White Acorn camping log page - GPS co-ordinates and excellent description of campsites]