Central America Motorcycle Adventure

After landing in San Pedro Sula, transfer to the hotel in the city center, and the next morning we continue our journey to La Ceiba. Here we switch to our motorcycles, briefly discuss the tour itinerary, and begin with a test ride: a half-day trip to the Pico Bonito National Park. The motorcycles glide along the track by the Rio Cangrejal from one curve to the next. The return journey also takes us through tropical vegetation back to La Ceiba.

Our enduros carry us on paved roads over the Cordillera Nombre de Dios mountains and into the fertile plain of the Rio Aguan. Plantations of bananas, oranges, and oil palms line up here. On washed-out, hole-ridden tracks, we ride until Trujillo. Here, Columbus first set foot on the American mainland in 1502. Trujillo was the first capital of the country (1525), and traces of the colonial and pirate era are still visible. From Trujillo, we ride many kilometers along the Sierra de Agalta on impeccable tracks through the pine forests of a mountainous and hilly landscape. We will have lunch in San Esteban at a "Comedor", a simple restaurant. The varied stage offers a wonderful panorama of the surrounding mountains. Now the motorcycle journey leads back down through mountainous pine forests into the Olancho Department – the wild west of Honduras. We leave Catacamas heading south and lay into the curves again: tarmac roads and tracks guide our enduros to Danli. We find ourselves in the heart of Honduras’ most important tobacco-growing region. In the best case, we can watch the women in a cigar factory producing "Churchills", cigars.

Paved roads wind through the mountains to the border with Nicaragua. We continue on gravel roads and paved streets into the misty cloud forests of Matagalpa. The "Black Forest House" of a coffee baron of German descent will be our accommodation. The next morning we can get a tour of the coffee finca, and then we head to Granada, a historic city from the colonial era. During the city tour, we will also overlook Lake Nicaragua, the only inland lake in the world where sharks live. We will spend the night at Laguna Apoyo. We ride our motorcycles up to Masaya. This active volcano and its namesake national park are referred to by the Chorotega Indians as Popogatepe, "burning mountain".

The journey with the enduros continues: Santiago de los Caballeros de León is on the agenda. In the colonial period, León was an important center for politics and culture, which is still evident in many buildings. Today, the city mainly lives off the university and is considered an intellectual center of Nicaragua.

The motorcycle tour makes a jump over Honduras today, heading to San Lorenzo at the Gulf of Fonseca. On the legendary Panamericana CA1, we continue until we reach the nearby border of El Salvador. Back in El Salvador, we head south; La Union and Intipuca lie on the way to the beach on the Pacific: Playa el Cuco.

In serpentine and looped roads, we wind through the mountains of El Salvador up to the Honduran border. We ride through San Miguel and San Francisco Gotera and finally reach Perquin, the village of the Lenca Indians, at an altitude of 1250 meters above sea level.

A bit further through the mountains, and Honduras welcomes us again with fantastic scenery. In the Montanas de Celac, at an elevation of 2850 meters above sea level, lies the highest peak of Honduras. From there, water flows downwards and collects in the beautiful Celaque National Park, one of the most impressive nature reserves in the country, creating majestic waterfalls. Impenetrable, constantly fog-covered mountain forests provide protection for numerous endangered animal species. Then a small town in the mountains with cobblestone streets and roofs of red tiles – Gracias could also be in Spain. A winding road that is truly enjoyable snakes through the tropical rainforest to Lago de Yohoa, a deep blue mountain lagoon. The restaurants along the lake offer wonderfully fresh fish. If the schedule allows, we can still incorporate a small off-road adventure in the Cerro Azul Meamber National Park.

Forty meters the Pulhapanzak waterfall plunges down. An impressive sight. A little upstream, the brave can take an ice-cold bath with a jungle feeling. In the immediate vicinity, archaeological finds testify to ceremonial sites from the time of the Mayans. After these experiences, we return to San Pedro Sula, starting and ending point of our motorcycle journey. Once again, we enjoy dinner together before heading back to Europe the next day. – Or to the extension program: diving and snorkeling on the Bay Islands. The team from OVERCROSS travel agency will miss you!