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Harnessing Honduras: The Eco-lodge
Vacation lodging in Honduras is as varied as its landscape. One can splurge at a five star luxury hotel in the city, share bunks at a hostel in Utila or rent a cabana on the beach in Roatan. Each accommodation offers a different angle of Honduras highlighting a different experience. With the jungle close at hand, however, tourists are afforded a unique experience: they can stay in an eco lodge.Halfway between living in luxury and roughing it in the jungle, eco lodges are the perfect way to experience the natural beauty of Honduras. Each green property is tailored around the landscape, immersing the visitor in the ecosystem and bonding them with nature.
Obviously this varies from property to property. Some lodges transplant standard, western rooms into the forest with air conditioning, dry wall and luxe amenities. In this sense, the term eco lodge is applied fairly loosely. Other lodges, however, use the bedroom to channel the energy of the lodge, from using aspects from the surrounding environment and culture to building the entire lodge in traditional Honduran architecture.
The Honduran Champa, like that at the Villas Pico Bonito is an excellent way to experience an eco lodge and immerse yourself in the Honduran jungle. Inside of the massive structure is a mixture of traditional and modern, with two bedrooms, bathrooms and a full outdoor kitchen with bar. Each bedroom is technically exposed to the outdoors, with traditional walls rising partially to the roof and open to the jungle temperature, sounds and bugs. To keep nature out, you sleep under a mosquito net and a ceiling fan.
Gallery: Honduras Eco Lodges
In this sense, the eco lodge can act quite rustic, but unique features of each properties make them interesting. At the Villas Pico Bonito, for example, a giant infinity pool is below the residential champa, where you can wile you day away drinking pina coladas and surfing the wireless internet. Outside of that, you can walk down to the river, explore the grounds or hike on one of the numerous hiking trails in the Pico Bonito park. Could you get that at your local Holiday Inn?
If the eco lodge sounds like it's up your alley, there are several options all over Honduras. In La Ceiba, The Villas Pico Bonito, Jungle Lodge and Las Cascadas Lodge are among the excellent choices, where prices range from 40 – 200USD per night.
Keep in mind, however, that an eco lodge is going to be pretty far off the beaten path, secluded and in the jungle. Be prepared to spend some significant time getting into the lodge and dealing with spiders. Rest assured that the time you invest is worth the wait.
Filed under: Honduras, Central America, Caribbean
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Eco Lodging Jul 4th 2009 11:12PM
Your eco-lodges sound really interesting - except for the spiders!!! We do have to go other places from time to time, though, and we should be particular to patronize "Green" accommodations whether traveling for business or holiday. Until a preponderance of facilities have been either constructed or converted, however, ascertaining which truly are "Green" - or just "greenwashed" - can be problematic!
A dedicated "Green" web site, iStayGreen.org, is helping to make environmentally friendly lodging easy to find and book.
iStayGreen.org is currently the most frequented online booking site for "Green" lodging (http://www.istaygreen.org). Over 3,500 of the properties listed are environmentally friendly and have been awarded the Green Eco-Leaf Rating.
The eco initiatives of the property are clearly listed. Users are encouraged to contribute "Green" Reviews and environmentally rate the hotels they visit.
It's like Tripadvisor - Facebook - Travelocity all together in one site for the environmentally conscious traveler.
Natasha Jul 30th 2009 2:34PM
I stayed at the Jungle River Lodge and when I was there it was not only spiders we had to contend with but also had the people in the room next to us leave due to an infestation of ants in their room. Also, getting there at night is NOT a good idea because it is in the middle of the jungle and there are NO lights, even the headlights on the car seem insufficient as you wind up the mountain (and our driver was very confident in his skills - so slowing down was not an option). Also, even though our reservation said we'd be arriving that evening, when we finally arrived at the lodge - no one was there so we had to head back down to the city, La Ceiba, and our cabbie hooked us up with a great B&B to stay for the night (and there was a great street festival going on so we got to check that out before heading to bed). However, when we finally made our way back to the lodge - its saving grace was the fact that it is right on the river..so close that we preferred not to sleep in our rooms but brought out bedding out to the rock overhang, which you can jump off and into the river, and slept out there our last night at the lodge before heading to the Bay Islands. I would definitely recommend the lodge but as the author of the post said - know that you are going to an eco-lodge and there are likely going to be ups and downs to the experience...in the end, we had an amazing adventure, met some great travel buddies (who went white water rafting with us and also accompanied us to the Islands) and would go back to experience more. (also one thing to note is that up the mountain from the jungle river lodge - about 2-3 miles is an amazing - albeit random as it is in the middle of nowhere - restaurant, if you're going that way I would def say check it out their homemade salsa was ridiculously good!!)