I backpacked Tegucigalpa in Honduras, once known as the Murder Capital of the World.
According to a report on armormax.com – The 39 Most Dangerous Cities in the World (2025) Deadliest & Most Violent – Tegucigalpa, now comes in 39th, and is one of the most dangerous cities in Central America, a city plagued by gang violence, organised crime, and poverty.
As in Mexico, a lot of the reported homicides are victims of gang violence and shootouts between the police and the cartels. Killing tourists is bad for business. But it does happen. And tourists are sometimes victims of violent crime.
Cities in South Africa are way more dangerous because people are robbed, stabbed, shot, and carjacked in the middle of the day as they go about their daily business. But you still need to take precautions.
Avoid travelling at night, don’t advertise your wealth, and don’t go out alone, especially at night. If you do, have your hotel order you a cab and be cautious when using the ATM. Go for one in a shopping mall, or at the bank. And if you do get into a situation, give them whatever they want.
I spent 4 nights at the Palmira Hostel in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, the least-visited country in Central America.
Many backpackers travel from El Salvador to Nicaragua by boat to avoid going through Honduras. Indeed, I had done just that on my way south. But on the way back home to Mexico, I took the leap of faith and decided to take a big step out of my comfort zone.
I travelled from Ocotal in Nicaragua, crossing the border at Las Manos:
I took a series of chicken buses to El Paraiso, Danlí and finally to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras.
The last part was quite a disaster. At the bus station in Danlí, I was faced with trying to get a ticket for the bus along with 500+ migrants from Venezuela.
I joined the queue in the hot sun.
It was total chaos. Everyone was shouting. Tempers flared.
Then suddenly there were separate queues. Locals and everyone else. I managed to get a local ticket and was then refused on the bus. “The ticket is only for locals”.
Currency of Honduras, the Lempira:
Not wanting to be stranded, I paid 7 USD more in cash, and suddenly, I was allowed to get on.
At a point just south of the capital, the road splits.
Buses had been organised to take the migrants directly to the Agua Calientes border (with Guatemala). Let them in, and show them the way out, ASAP.
2000 people are exiting Venezuela en masse every day.
I appreciate their hardships back home, but they put lots of strain on countries already without enough infrastructure. The buses are so packed, locals can almost not travel anywhere.
The Venezuelans are begging on the streets of Honduras. Imagine, Honduras is fucked and people are begging here?
I saw them on the streets of San José. All on their way to the FUCKED UP AMERICAN DREAM.
They are offered help in Mexico. A job, a place to stay, but they all refuse (unlike the Haitians). They only want to go to the USA.
The bus stopped on the main highway into town, at a spot near the Hedman Alas bus terminal.
I got a taxi to the Palmira Hostel, the perfect choice for backpackers visiting the Tegucigalpa.
The first afternoon, I just walked to the supermarket. The next day, I walked to the historic centre with a buddy from the hostel. The streets were eerily quiet. It was a holiday weekend. But we didn’t draw attention to ourselves. No walking with smartphones out in front of us.
Sites worth visiting in the capital of Honduras
Correo Honduras and a typical street in Tegucigalpa:
Teatro Nacional in Tegucigalpa:
Iglesia Santa María de los Dolores in Tegucigalpa, Honduras:
Iglesia de la Merced:
Congreso de La Republica de Honduras:
Museo de la Memoria – Antigua Casa Presidencial in Tegucigalpa:
Typical empty street (you are reminded that it was still the time of the pandemic in many parts of the world), not far from the centre of Tegucigalpa:
Hurricane Julia had ripped through Nicaragua the weekend I was there. It brought massive rains across Central America.
I walked down to the river. The river that splits the city in two. The less dodgy part in the east and the spectacularly dodgy Western part. I had no business there.
The Rio Grande as seen from near the Mercado la Isla:
The centre is a little run-down, but there were many people out and about. I felt much more on edge in South Africa than in Honduras. On the streets of Pretoria, with a friend, we were followed for a bit, in Pietermaritzburg, I was definitely walking down streets where I shouldn’t have been, I was indeed attacked at knife-point in Cape Town.
But for me, walking the streets in Honduras used up a lot of mental energy. Because, as OK as I felt, you can never be 100% sure what might happen.
I did hear gunshots in the night!
But I am glad I came here to see for myself how one of the most dangerous countries in the world is.