La Ceiba

Getting There

Despite the fact that the name inspires concepts of far away and hard to get to places, Atlantida is easier to get to than you think and getting around the destination is a “piece of cake”. Atlantida can be reached by air, land and sea.

By air: Atlantida has two different airports that are open and functional. The most important of these is the Goloson International Airport in La Ceiba. Unfortunately, there is only one international airline with nonstop flights into La Ceiba: Cayman Airways from Grand Cayman Island. La Ceiba does though have several flights to and from Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula and Roatan International Airports, there are several different airlines with regularly scheduled flights operating these routes on a daily basis. As a general rule, the best airport in Honduras to travel to on your way to Atlantida is San Pedro Sula International Airport. This is the busiest airport in Honduras, and the one with better connections. Although Tegucigalpa’s Toncontin International Airport is also quite busy, you might want to look into the possibility of flying into Roatan’s International Airport as a second option. From this airport there are multiple airlines and flights to La Ceiba, and you always have the option to take the ferry from Roatan to La Ceiba, which is a short 2 hour boat trip aboard a state of the art water jet catamaran.

The other airport in Atlantida is the airfield at Tela. Although this airport does not have regularly scheduled flights operating at this time, and it is not an international airport, you can charter an airplane to fly you there from any other airport in Honduras. If you are flying in on your own aircraft, you can continue on to Tela after clearing immigration at any of the 4 international airports in Honduras: Tegucigalpa, La Ceiba, San Pedro Sula and Roatan.

By land, Atlantida is easily reached using the CA13 highway, which interconnects San Pedro Sula with the city of Trujillo, crossing the entire length of Atlantida. The road is in good shape, and the stretch between El Progreso and Tela is in process of being upgraded, converting the highway from a two lane road to a four lane highway. There are several bus companies that provide scheduled service to Atlantida. Service can originate from Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, Guatemala City, Copan Ruinas, Santa Rosa de Copan as well as other smaller cities. In addition, when flying into San Pedro Sula Airport, you can rent a car and drive on your own towards Atlantida. From San Pedro Sula airport, Tela is approximately one hour drive and La Ceiba about a 2 ½ hour drive. The Atlantida tour operators are also a great option to get around Atlantida, and you can hire them for transfers within the destination.

By Sea, La Ceiba offers excellent ferry transfers from the Bay Islands of Roatan and Utila. Because of this Atlantida is one of the gateways to the Bay Islands of Honduras. There are two daily ferry departures from Roatan to La Ceiba and another two from Utila to La Ceiba and viceversa. As you can see, it is very easy to combine a vacation with visits to both Atlantida and the Bay Islands of Honduras!

Once in Atlantida, it is easy to get around. Within the cities of Tela and La Ceiba, taxis are the easiest form of transportation. Between the cities, you can use the public transportation system or better yet, you can contact a local tour operator who can provide not only a good transfer vehicle, but also a bilingual guide to get the best out of your trip throughout Atlantida.