Moon Honduras and the Bay Islands (Moon Handbooks) [Paperback]

Chris Humphrey (Author), Amy E. Robertson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 6, 2009 | Series: Moon Handbooks

In this guide, experienced travelers and authors Chris Humphrey and Amy E. Robertson provide their honest insight into the best Honduras has to offer. Including unique travel itineraries such as Caribbean Sun and Sand, Historic Honduras, and Adventure Hiking, Moon Honduras & the Bay Islands offers expert advice on how to make your trip unique. Explore the Bay Islands, revel in the restaurants of the North Coast, and hike the trails of Sierra de Agalta. Moon Honduras & the Bay Islands gives travelers the tools they need to create a more personal and memorable experience.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Chris Humphrey first became smitten by Honduras in 1990 while backpacking through South America. Sitting on a dock in La Ceiba looking to catch a tramp freighter to Nicaragua, he instead hopped a boat out to Utila, in the Bay Islands. Seduced by the mellow Honduran vibe, he wandered on to the soporific beach town of Trujillo and then headed up into the mountains of Olancho, drinking endless cups of wickedly strong coffee and chatting with the local cowboys.

Chris began traveling at the tender age of five, when he ventured across town to a friend’s grandmother’s house. When he took a year off from college to backpack through Africa and the Middle East, his parents saw the writing on the wall and gave up all efforts to worry about him.

Chris got started as a writer in 1994, after college, when he threw everything into a VW van and moved to Mexico City to work as a journalist. He first wrote for a couple of English-language newspapers, then for a financial wire service, and later as a freelance reporter for whomever deigned to buy his stories, including the San Francisco Chronicle, National Geographic Traveler, Outside, and Latin Finance, among many others. In 1997, he wrote the first edition of Moon Honduras. Chris is also the author of Moon Mexico City.

These days, Chris lives in London, England, working on his PhD and wistfully dreaming about sunny beaches, palm trees, and a cold bottle of Salva Vida.


Amy E. Robertson is a Seattle native who has long been obsessed with travel. She studied in Boston and Madrid for her bachelor’s degree, and upon graduating took a job with an international consulting firm. This position led Amy to a life of globetrotting — she traveled to more than 50 countries in less than three years. She then returned to school, earning a master’s degree in development studies at the London School of Economics, where she also met her husband, who hails from Italy. After working in international aid for five years in New York City, Amy began life as an expat in Ecuador, brought there by her husband’s job with the United Nations. Amy made the career switch from development to travel writing while in Ecuador, a livelihood that was easy to bring along when they made the move to Honduras in 2007. Her writing has been published in National Geographic Traveler, Christian Science Monitor and Travel + Leisure, among others.

Amy currently resides in Tegucigalpa with her husband and two young children, but spends three months a year divided between her family’s hometowns: Seattle, Rome, and Messina, Sicily. Together, Amy and her family enjoy exploring the mountain villages, Mayan ruins, white-sand beaches, and lush forests of Central America. Hiking with her kids in Honduras’s jungles and cloud forests and spotting birds and crocodiles on the Mosquito Coast were among her favorite experiences while researching this guidebook.

Product Details

• Paperback: 568 pages
• Publisher: Avalon Travel Publishing; Fifth Edition edition (October 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1598802224
• ISBN-13: 978-1598802221
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #612,786 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #19 in Books > Travel > Latin America > Central America > Honduras

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thank God for an alternative to Lonely Planet, April 13, 2010

By 

MussSyke - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Moon Honduras and the Bay Islands (Moon Handbooks) (Paperback)

I am very happy that I gave Moon a chance. I actually go through a lot of travel books, and I get so very sick and tired of Lonely Planet and how they always try to sell you on their "green", hippie lifestyle, point you toward shabby hotels and act like people should be afraid to drive anywhere but rural England and the U.S. However, I can't bring myself to go to the more adult - but much less adventurous - brands such as Frommer's, Fodor's, or Eyewitness. Rough Guide didn't have a book strictly on Honduras, so I bought the Moon.

Not bad at all - they seem to have the tone just right. They tell you how it is, not sugar-coating it or trying to scare you away from anything. And they don't try to make something unimpressive seem like it's for everyone: I just read a section where they were talking about some ruins, but pointing out that they're unexcavated, so they're really just mounds in the Earth, and only ruins fanatics would want to go, however the natural scenery is a pleasant walk, etc., etc. This contrasts nicely to the wild goose chase Lonely Planet took me on in Argentina trying to find some ruins in the middle of nowhere that couldn't even be seen. I'm always up for a wild goose chase in a foreign country, but when time is limited, I'd rather know what is most worthwhile.

They have interesting stories and boxed texts like the other brands and a glossy picture section in the front. I like that they seem to have more black and white photographs than the other brands so you can get an idea about some things that were hard to picture in your head.

I just gave it a four because it's still not perfect. Half the book is devoted to the touristy parts of the country and it's not always detailed enough by itself to find everything you want to find. But that's pretty standard amongst travel books.

I'll definitely give Moon another try in the future.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars more information than ever, and fully updated!, November 3, 2009

By 

Avid Reader "new_yorker" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Moon Honduras and the Bay Islands (Moon Handbooks) (Paperback)

The comments so far on Amazon all refer to the previous edition, which certainly IS out of date by now. The new, 5th edition, has more information than ever, including more details on Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, as well as plenty on all the tourist highlights. The maps are excellent, and the book is very complete and extremely helpful, and with recommendations and itineraries to help sort through the options.

4.0 out of 5 stars Suprisingly good, January 26, 2012

By 

Jimji - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Moon Honduras and the Bay Islands (Moon Handbooks) (Paperback)

I got this book after also getting the Lonely Planet guide and hearing that others thought the latter was not too well done. Someone else also suggested the Moon guide would not be a good one either so I was pleasantly suprised at how comprehensive and usefull it is. It gives you suggestions for what to do given different length of trips and also the overview right in the front is great. You can get the big picture right off and then delve into the detail of each place as much as you want to and there is alot of detail if you want it. I also appreciate the budget options listed for lodging and food as well as knowing where the more expesive places are if I want to splurge somewhere. The book seems to be laid out amd organized really well which is so important in a guidebook. With so much good information it will be a ittle bit heavy when traveling in a backpack but I am taking it anyway. Recommended.