The ferry operates out of a terminal at Dixon Cove. It goes direct to La Ceiba twice a day. From La Ceiba, it goes to either Utila or Roatan.
A direct ferry from Roatan to Utila runs Fri, Sat, Sun (currently) from Dixon Cove, but I was told this schedule is sometimes more frequent in the high season.
The best offline maps I have found of Roatan are available from the link below. Beyond a top-level island map there are detailed maps of Roatan’s West Bay, West End, Sandy Bay, Cohen Hole, French Harbour neighborhoods along with the East End of the island.
If your are planning a trip to Roatan, you might want to download these to your phone or print them out for reference.
If you are staying in one of the larger resorts, some will offer shuttle services to/from the airport. In many cases these are free shuttles and might be something you would consider taking advantage of. It is worth noting these shuttles are often shared rides. Taking one may result in your having to wait for other riders to be dropped off or picked up. If you want any extra services, like a stop at Eldon’s Grocery after arriving on the island, this may not be an option with the free shuttle.
Smaller resorts may not offer this service, but most will have some form of arrangement with a taxi provider they recommend. Fares from the airport to West End or West Bay generally will run about $25 USD.
If you are going to be in Roatan on vacation, you may be considering renting a scooter. If you’re staying on the beach in West Bay or in West End, you probably do not need or want one – unless you plan on doing a lot of travel outside these areas. If you are then you should carefully consider if you really want to rent a scooter or not… after reading the discussion here.
If you think it would be fun to rent a scooter and cruise around the island at 5–10 MPH, then you really need to re-evaluate that thought. There is one main road to get most destinations on the island. If you are going to be on that road, you need to be prepared and capable to drive at traffic speeds (30-40 MPH) or there is a very high probability you with either be in accident or the cause of one.
As I indicated in the section on renting cars, road conditions, especially on the west side of the island where most of the tourist destinations are, are fairly bad. The east side is a lot better and most of my concerns here do not apply there. However on the west side, the main road is literally littered with huge pot holes (think moonscape). This makes driving “interesting” in a couple ways. First, you want to try to avoid the large pot holes unless you want to die. Seriously, you will hit one of the bigger ones at any speed on a scooter and you will probably be going to a Roatan hospital. Second, to avoid these pot holes, you and the other drivers will all be swerving on both sides of the road to try and avoid the holes. Given the main road is about 2 – 2.5 cars wide, this means a whole lot of the time you or the car coming the other way at you are going to be going head on with each other at 30-40 MPH. While this is not high speed, it is still dangerous, much more so for you on a scooter than the car.
I would strongly consider NOT renting a scooter if you are on Roatan as a tourist, but it’s your decision. If you decide to do it, make sure you have good travel insurance that covers riding the scooter.
If you don’t want to head my warning, try reading Amanda Walkins story about her pothole experience.
Driving is even more dangerous after dark. I have said this before in other areas, but when it is dark, it is very dark on Roatan. There are not street lights… but there are still pot holes. They are just harder to see after dark. Several of the cab drivers I met told me they refuse to drive on the west side at night. There is no way I would ever drive a scooter after dark down the roads on the west side of the island. And it is not a great idea on the east side for other reasons…
The above said, many locals use scooters for basic transportation. Scooters are a cheap option for people living on Roatan needing to get around while carrying minimal items. Scooters are more convenient than public transportation. If I were to move to Roatan, I might consider a scooter after getting to know the roads better.
Where / How to Rent & Rental Costs
Scooters can be rented at several places on the island. I saw them at Captain Van’s in West Bay.
If you are going to be in Roatan on vacation, you may be considering renting a car. If you’re staying on the beach in West Bay or in West End, you probably do not need or want one unless you plan on doing a lot of travel outside these areas. If you rent a house outside of these areas, you probably need/want one. Check with your property manager to see if they recommend car rental or not and if it is better if it is a SUV (steep unpaved roads are not uncommon once you leave the “main road”.
To the positive, there is no need for any kind of international driver’s license if you are from the USA. Rental cars are widely available at the airport.
To the negative, the road conditions, especially on the west side of the island where most of the tourist destinations are, are fairly bad. The east side is a lot better and most of my concerns here do not apply there. However on the west side, the main road is literally littered with huge pot holes (think moonscape). This makes driving “interesting” in a couple ways. First, you want to try to avoid the large pot holes unless you want to be changing tires. I have seen a few I would even be concerned about breaking a car’s suspension. Second, to avoid these pot holes, you and the other drivers will all be swerving on both sides of the road to try and avoid the holes. Given the main road is about 2 – 2.5 cars wide, this means a whole lot of the time you or the car coming the other way at you are going to be going head on with each other at 30-40 MPH. While this is not high speed, it is still dangerous. And if a tourist and a local wreck, we all know whose fault it is. Ok, legitimately it probably is the tourist’s fault, but it will be by default.
Driving is even more dangerous after dark. I have said this before in other areas, but when it is dark, it is very dark on Roatan. There are not street lights… but there are still pot holes. They are just harder to see after dark. Several of the cab drivers I met told me they refuse to drive on the west side at night.
While the naïve solution might be to simply drive slower, the locals don’t. You going slower just presents a scenario where you are more likely to get rear-ended or in-directly cause a wreck when someone tries to get around you on the narrow road against the oncoming traffic.
All this said, most expats who live here have vehicles and eventually they acclimate to driving like a local. Most tourists should consider if they really want to drive here. The east side road conditions are a lot better but it is far less travelled. Be warry of travel after dark in these areas… as it may not be safe to travel these areas.
Where / How to Rent & Rental Costs
Cars can be rented at several places on the island. I saw them at Captain Van’s in West Bay.
As an alternative to taxis on Roatan, there are also Collectivo (shared ride) bus/vans that can be used for transport between certain destinations on the island. These bus/vans hold 14 people and generally run out of Coxen Hole – the commercial center of the island. Westbound buses run between Coxen Hole and West End / Sandy Bay every 10 – 20 minutes with ride time being about 30 minutes between the two destinations. Eastbound buses run to French Harbour, Polytilly Bight, Punta Gorda, and Oak Ridge about every 20-30 minutes with ride times being about an hour between the destinations.
Note: Buses do not run on Sundays.
Where / How to Catch a Bus/Van
Buses follow more or less standard routes and do not deviate from them or offer door-to-door service. The biggest challenge is you need to know the route they take through the area you want to be picked up. You will then want to flag down every minivan you see until one of the Collectivo ones stop for you! The vans will usually be dark blue, red, or white with the route name / number on the van. In Coxen Hole the vans stage near the Super Mercado. The other challenge is knowing when/where you want off the bus. You have to tell the bus driver when you want to exit, usually by yelling “baja” (or ba-ha for non-Spanish speakers) which will cause him to stop and you to pay him.
Bus/Van Fares
Fares are quite reasonable and are per person. You pay when you get off the bus. Buses generally expect to be paid in Lempira.
Roatan Turkey Sandcastle
Our first overnight trip to Roatan happened to be over the week of Thanksgiving 2017. My wife and I had made the decision to forgo the usual turkey and dressing and get away for some much needed rest and relaxation at the beach. While neither of us were particularly worried about not having the usual dining fanfare of Thanksgiving, it did raise the question for me as to what people, particularly expats, do for the usual US holidays while living a life filled with SandAndSunscreen. I would not be at all shocked if many of the expats head back to states for the Holidays to visit with family and friends. In some cases I imagine this happens in reverse. But for me it raises the question of what do people do for Thanksgiving if they are on Roatan? This question can/should probably be addressed as both as a tourist and as a local.
Thanksgiving as a Tourist
Roatan Thanksgiving Dinner
During our Thanksgiving 2017 Roatan Trip, we had chosen to stay in West Bay at one of the more high-end resort options – Infinity Bay. Like most of the resorts of West Bay, Infinity Bay is largely targeting foreign tourists and expats, many of which come from the USA. Infinity Bay has definitely not ignored the significance of the Thanksgiving holiday to many people from the USA, and was that evening putting on a full-blown turkey dinner extravaganza for the expats and tourists that were calling Infinity Bay home for the holiday. They had priced this at $26 USD a person, which is not exactly cheap – but is also about in line with their buffet restaurant’s rack rate for any other night. They even had a poster up to advertise their offerings for the evenings and you can see what was on the menu that night in the picture below.
Beyond Infinity Bay, I also saw similar offerings in at least one other West Bay resort, in this case at Bananarama. I had noticed they at least took some level of interest Thanksgiving a few days before as we were walking up the beach and saw the sand sculpture above.
My wife and I ate at Bananarama shortly before Thanksgiving and the wait staff was quick to point out to us as tourists that they would be offering a Thanksgiving dinner of their own. This one would have been even more inviting in my mind than the Infinity Bay one as the Bananarama restaurant is right on the West Bay beach. I unfortunately never ask the price of their offering but I am sure it was in line with, or a little cheaper, than the Infinity Bay version.
My wife is not a huge fan of Thanksgiving food in general, so rather than partake of the Infinity Bay or Bananarama offering, we went into the West End for some Mexican food instead. I was also curious about how much if any Thanksgiving would affect the operations of the main tourist shopping area of the island. Overall, the foot traffic that evening was pretty light but it was busy earlier in the day when the cruise ship crowd was still on the island according to several of the shop owners we talked to.
Thanksgiving as an Expat
When my wife and I went through Eldon’s Grocery Store in Coxen Hole earlier in the week on our shopping trip I had not noticed any Turkeys for sale or the usually Thanksgiving specific end-caps you would see in an US grocery store a few days before Thanksgiving. Granted, I was not specifically looking for these things at the time, but it hit me later that I had not seen them when I started seeing the signs for Thanksgiving Dinners at the West Bay resorts.
Doing some research on the Internet, I did see that turkeys are available at the larger “Americanized” grocery stores on Roatan. They are just not something that people there normally eat so finding one can be hit or miss. When my wife and I were back on Roatan shortly after Christmas there was no shortage of turkeys at Eldon’s in Coxen Hole.
Several people online suggested you had to be very careful where you bought your Turkey, and meat in general, because of the intermittent power outages that impact Roatan. The problem being at many of the smaller island grocery stores they do not have backup generators and the meat may thaw and re-freeze several times given the extended period of time slow moving items like Turkeys might set in one of their freezers.
The bigger “Americanized” grocery stores on the island, have more volume / turnover of the stock, especially non-chicken meat, that their customers eat. They evidently also have installed backup generators to deal with the power issues on the islands and keeping meat preserved. It was suggested however that you try to “time” your purchases of such specialty items, and other things in general, to when new deliveries come in from the mainland. Much like in most small-town grocery stores, stock may set on the shelf well past the best by dates. My wife and I were burned by this on our trip when we bought some frozen food for the condo that had clearly spent a bit too much time on the shelf.
Beyond the “bird”, side items at a usual Thanksgiving table may also be harder to come by. Several of the expats were recommending that if there is something that is specific and special you may want to make alternate plans to ensure you have your “must haves”. Things like Cranberry sauce was once example of such items. Several of the expats said if you are having Thanksgiving visitors, or visitors in general these are some of the care package items you may want to ask your guests to bring in for you from the states.
I personally consider this all part of the adventure of living in a foreign land, but it is still something you may want to give some thought to before spending your first holiday in paradise.
Christmas Bonus Observation
Roatan Christmas
At least at Infinity Bay, they waste no time in moving from Thanksgiving into the Christmas season. There was a Christmas tree up the next morning after Thanksgiving for breakfast. The front of the main building had been decorated as well.
Another way to get around on Roatan, at least between West End and West Bay, is via Water Taxi. These are basically small boats with outboard engines that will shuttle passengers between docks in the West End and West Bay. Ability to use Water Taxis as a means of transport are going to be limited by both time of day and weather conditions.
Water Taxis are generally only available for daytime transport starting around 8AM ending around 6PM. Some of the operators offer later service until around 9PM but think that is when daylight hours are longer. It is very dark at night on Roatan, and even more so on the ocean, so night-time Water Taxis would not in my opinion be terribly safe anyway. Otherwise plan to take a regular taxi.
Water Taxis also are limited by the weather conditions. They generally travel close to the shore inside the reefs which helps make for a smoother ride. However, when the seas are rough, they are not going to be good options. Even if the captains will go out, that does not mean you want to go along for the ride. Use your own judgement in deciding if you want to be out on the water in the current conditions. Heavy waves can affect both the ride and getting on/off the boats.
If you are remotely challenged in either balance or your ability to get down into a boat or out of a boat from a relatively high boat dock you may want to reconsider taking a water taxi as transport even in smooth weather conditions.
More than one tourist has taken “the plunge” getting on/off the boats in rough conditions – often with their expensive cell phone in the pocket. This is a good point to be reminded that water-proof pouches are an essential piece of travel equipment when taking to the water. Even if a cell phone is considered water-proof, they generally don’t do well with salt water or impacts to water from a few feet above the water.
Where / How to Find a Water Taxi
Water Taxis run between West End and West Bay.
From West End – the main dock to get a water taxi is near Splash Inn more or less in the middle of West End. There is another dock near Sueno del Mar that is less crowded depending on the tourist levels. It also looked to be a bit easier to get in and out of. We also had several water taxi offers direct from the beach in Half Moon Bay near SunDowners.
From West Bay – there are a few docks. The one in front of Infinity Bay will drop you off near some of the best short snorkeling on the island. There is also a popular dock on the other far end of the beach.
If there is not a Water Taxi at the dock you are at, the best thing to do is to wave at any passing boat. If it is a Water Taxi it will usually stop…
Water Taxi Fares
Fares per person run L60 or ~$3. However, most of the boats have a minimum fare of around $12 for runs between West End and West Bay. This means you may end up having to wait for more people wanting a ride to show up or you may end up paying more for the ride.
Official Taxis
On Roatan, official taxis are going to be white four door cars with a yellow box and taxi registration number (usually in black) on the side of the vehicle. There seems to be some discretion as to the exact format of the box and numbers as there seems to be considerable variation as to the “style” of the box and number.
Where / How to Find a Taxi
Finding a taxi on Roatan is generally fairly easy. Here are some suggestions for where to look in specific places.
Airport – taxis will be available both inside and outside the airport; Taxi rates inside the terminal area are set by the airport manager; if you exit the terminal and walk across the street (not very far) taxis will also be available there, or driving by, that will be operating on the non-airport rates.
West Bay – most of the major hotels will either have an on-site taxi or can call you one; expect a surcharge from the hotel to be part of the fare ($5 or so); I have also seen taxis waiting near West Bay Mall which will be cheaper than the hotels.
West End – taxis tend to always be hanging out at the end of the street near the “traffic circle” close to Coconut Tree Restaurant / Coconut Tree Divers. I have also had good luck just flagging one down on the street in front of the shops/restaurants.
Elsewhere/Returns – my experience is every time you get in a taxi the driver is going to give you a card and usually offer to pick you up for a return trip. If you have access to a phone, it might be good to save the phone numbers from a few drivers – especially the ones that speak the best English. I find it easier to snap a picture of their card than to keep up with them. You also might want to note, or take a picture of, the taxi number on the side of their car if they are picking your up.
Taxis Fares
Taxis on Roatan and are officially regulated in what they should charge. Taxis can be hired on two different pricing / service schemes. You want to make sure you negotiate the price and service before getting in the taxi. Fairs can generally be paid in either Lempira or USD. You want to make sure when the driver quotes you a price you verify which one it is.
Note: Tips are not expected by the drivers. I tip them if I get good service.
Private – the taxi will take you directly from the departure point to your destination without potential stops to pick up other passengers. The taxi is exclusive for your party’s use until you reach the destination. Private taxi pricing should be by the ride vs by the person but you need to verify this along with the price.
Collectivo – is a shared ride scheme where the taxi will stop to pick up other passengers and may drop them off along the way to the destination. The price for this will be cheaper, but not all taxis are going to offer this type of fare – especially if it is a busy time. Also note that the Collectivo price is per person and that pricing also seems to be variable based on time of day. Particularly after 6PM, prices can double per person.
Most of the time as a tourist, you are going to get the tourist rate/service which is going to be Private. Locals are going to get and likely expect Collectivo pricing. In most cases, I expect Private fair is what most tourists would want. But if the Private fairs are too expensive for your budget, then try to negotiate the Collectivo rate – just understand what that means for the service.
If you want some kind of special service from a Private taxi, like a grocery store stop on the way from the airport to your hotel/condo you can also negotiate that. My experience is this generally costs very little (e.g. $5 – $10) on top of the base fares.
In terms fares, rates are fairly standardized on Roatan through their taxi union / regulation. Fare prices will often be a bit higher if the drivers are having to provide some kind of kick-back for picking you up. You can expect to pay a bit more for taxi pickup at one of the big resorts or inside the airport proper. Often time you can walk just outside these areas and save yourself $5 – $10 on the ride. Sometime you can get the surcharge dropped with the taxi through negotiation but it often depends how busy the taxis are. Inside the airport this is harder as the airport rates are set by the airport manager. In most cases if you are coming to/from the airport then the higher prices may be justified for the luggage you have with you. Airport fares are also typically door-to-door vs “main road” like Collectivo.
According to the official rate sheet, standard fares are for daytime service; fares after 6PM are negotiable. My experience is at least the Private fare is usually the same but it is prudent to check/negotiate. Fares inside the airport are fixed by the airport and have fees that increase after 6PM.
Here are some examples of the typical taxi Private fares:
Airport / West Bay – $25
Airport / West End – $25
West Bay / West End – $15 (Water Taxi may be cheaper)
Collectivo fares are set via the current official rate sheets and is going to be per person with higher prices after 6PM. These prices are also for pick-up / drop-off at the “main road”. Door service is going to be slightly higher (e.g. $1 – $2).
Also worth noting you can hire cabs by the hour for “tours”. The official rate per hour is L230 which is ~$10. My experience is that drivers will generally ask for $80 – $100 for a 6-7 hour day tour. We have hired a driver for the day a few times now and highly recommend this for getting a good feel for Roatan. You can also have your driver take you to some of the off-the-beaten-path hidden gems of Roatan.
