Sights

The travel writer who once declared Puerto Cortés [1] “the foulest blot on Central America’s coastline” was perhaps overly unkind. The tropical seediness can be somewhat appealing, if one appreciates that sort of thing. But there’s no doubt that the port city itself offers little draw for tourists. Most foreigners are either there to take care of some shipping business or stopping off on the way between Guatemala and Honduras [2], either by boat or bus.

The parque, punctuated by several towering Caribbean pines and few other trees and plants, is a shady, tranquil place to sit, but otherwise there’s little to do in town. The bustling dockyards are off-limits without a special pass, though you can check them out from behind a tall fence.