For travelers, San Pedro Sula is the starting and/or ending point of a trip to Honduras, but it is not a tourist destination.
This is partly due to the city’s miserable reputation for safety, although not justified in all parts, and partly due to the fact that its old center has few sights to offer in the classical sense.
This center, enclosed by a ring-shaped bypass from which the country’s main traffic arteries branch off, is divided into four quadrants (from northwest to southeast) and follows the basic urban planning model of the Spanish colonial city.
Avenidas run north-south, streets (calles) from west to east, with 1a Calle meeting 1a Avenida at Parque Central, the city’s central square.
The most important shopping street is 3a Avenida, where store follows store. Well worth a visit is the Guamilito Market, where not only the largest selection of handicrafts can be found, but also the whole range of tropical fruits, flowers and vegetables. Adjacent to the market, to the south, is La Plazita, a small gathering of shops and cafes, as well as a tobacco store with first-class Honduran cigars.
Modern shopping worlds following the us model are offered by several shopping malls, among them the new Multiplaza and the several years old Megaplaza on the road to the airport. Works by renowned Honduran artists, including representatives of so-called primitive painting, are exhibited in the MAYMO Gallery, located just one block south of the Parque Central.
Those interested in culture should visit the anthropological museum (Museo de Antropología e Historia de San Pedro Sula). Here, in particular, pre-Columbian finds from the Usula region or the ” Valley of the Birds,” as the area around San Pedro Sula was once called by the indigenous inhabitants, are on display.
Ramon Villeda Morales International Airport is located about 17km southeast of the city center. Flights to Roatán also depart from here.