Corozal

Not one of the more attractive Garífuna settlements on the Honduran coast, Corozal is an unremarkable fishing village on the beach about 20 kilometers east of La Ceiba [1]. In town are a couple of basic comedores, as well as the Ocean View hotel and restaurant (tel. 504/429-1025, www.oceanviewhn.com [2], restaurant 11 a.m.–11 p.m. daily).

The hotel is in an attractive two-story wooden building facing the beach, with four simple but spacious apartments, each with a living/dining area, bedroom, TV, hot water, and fan, renting for around US$65. The adjacent restaurant is in a large open-air champa, serving seafood specials for around US$8. Nearby is Playa de Zambrano, a decent though unspectacular stretch of beach.

A few hundred meters uphill from the highway, near kilometer marker 209 and marked by a sign before arriving at Corozal from La Ceiba, is Los Chorros, another local swimming hole on a small river gushing off the tropical hillside, with many pools, boulders, and falls, similar to Río María.

On the highway just east of the Corozal turnoff is Villa Rhina (tel. 504/443-1222, www.honduras.com/villarhina [3], US$30 s, US$37 d, US$59 for a bungalow, reservations required), a resort hotel set into the hillside with views out over the Caribbean. On the four-hectare grounds are three freshwater pools, a small waterfall, and a trail up into the forest above, where you can catch views of the Cayos Cochinos [4].

The wood-paneled rooms are attractive and the hotel is well run, but the location is above the highway and away from the beach. The owners do their best to make up for that with attentive service, including arrangements for local jungle and beach activities, often with transportation.

Getting to Corozal

It’s possible to reach Corozal by colectivo at the taxi hub in Barrio Potreritos in La Ceiba [1], on 6 Calle between 4 and 5 Avenidas, behind Hondutel. Taxis leave every half hour.