Central America overland holidays

Guatemala is known for its magnificent Maya ruins at Tikal, Topoxte and Yaxha, it is also a nirvana for nature lovers. Take a boat ride along the Rio Dulce and its eponymous national park all the way to the Caribbean coast, hike to San Pedro volcano, or perhaps kayak across the stunning Lake Atitlan. The Lake Atitlan region is dotted with Maya communities such as San Juan La Laguna, where you support local artisans by purchasing textiles, paintings and other handmade crafts direct from their small workshops. You can also watch a demonstration of traditional textile weaving here, and learn the significance of indigo dye to the Maya people, or take a stroll around the medicinal herb garden of a local homeowner.

Our Central America overland tours will often stop in several villages, one example being Santa Apolonia on the way to Antigua. Here you can pause at a women’s cooperative to watch artisans make pottery using only their hands, not a wheel. Your visit helps to support an ancient Maya technique that is at risk of dying out.

Just as stunning as neighbouring Costa Rica, but with far fewer tourists, Nicaragua is all about jungles, volcanoes and coast, as well as music, food and laughter. Highlights of our Central America overland holidays that cross Nicaragua include the elegant city of Leon, and traditional Granada, with the Mombacho volcano as its backdrop. The island of Ometepe is another popular spot on routes through Nicaragua. Quiet and undeveloped, much of it still swathed in primary rainforest, the island is home to numerous monkey species as well as parrots. You’ll hear their cacophony from the trees as you take an aromatic tour of a local coffee cooperative here. Any purchases caffeine-lovers make here help to support local growers.

El Salvador is a tiny country, but one with a vast history, and it is still very much a newbie on Central America overland routes. Spending a few days here you might take in the Maya ruins of Cihuatan, mountain towns such as Ataco, or the pretty pre-Colombian town of Suchitoto with its vibrant food and art scene. Full of craft shops, Suchitoto sits on a migration route – on a boat trip over the lake you might see any of over 200 recorded bird species, particularly hawks and falcons.

Our overland holidays in Central America have been created by experts in touch with many independent small businesses, some operating from the owners’ homes. So, in Suchitoto you might visit the kitchen of a local chef to learn how to cook pupusas (cornmeal flatbreads) in the traditional Pipil style. Or visit the workshop of a local designer to see how they use indigo to dye fabrics – a project that helps to financially support single mothers. Staying in town for a few days to take part in organised visits such as these provide a richer, rounded take on Salvadorean culture than you wouldn’t get simply passing through on a minibus.

Central America’s array of indigenous cultures is simply extraordinary, and really worth swotting up on before you leave for holiday. Maya people still thrive in Mexico and Guatemala for example, and in the former are just one of some 60 indigenous groups. Many of our overland trips include visits to small indigenous communities, such as the Bribri of Costa Rica, or the Lenca people of La Campa in Honduras. In Guatemala, Maya people make up half the population and many still wear traditional handwoven clothing that has been the style for centuries. Tours may visit Santiago Atitlan, on the shore of Lake Atitlan, which is home to the Tz’utujil people, and where you’ll see the women wearing blouses that feature colourful embroidery of geometric and bird designs.

Opportunities to learn more about indigenous culture in Central America often comes from market visits, such as the handicraft market in Masaya, Nicaragua, where you can pick up a skilfully made hammock. People come to these markets from all around not only to sell their wares but also to meet up with friends from other communities, and they’re very lively affairs.

The Ruta Maya (Maya Route) was created for tourists in the 1990s to help them navigate the many archaeological wonders that are scattered through the ancient lands that are now Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador. All told, it’s a 2,400km trail around many of the great pyramids, palaces and ancient principalities from Maya civilisation. Our Central America overland holidays are the ideal way to compare and contrast places such as Chichen Itza in Mexico, Tikal in Guatemala, or Copan in Honduras. Entrance fees contribute both to preservation efforts and to research projects that help improve understanding of ancient Maya life. Along the way you’ll connect with enormously knowledgeable local guides who can illuminate the stories behind these sites.

Central America is hot and humid with coastal and mountain influences. The dry season is generally the best time to visit Central America which is Jan-Mar in most countries. Further south, Nov-April is (fairly) dry in Nicaragua, Panama and Honduras, although these are the tropics, so you can expect a shower or two, especially along the Caribbean coast. Costa Rica is driest and sunniest late Dec-April, but clouds lift a little later from Belize and Panama, around Feb. Some overland tours don’t operate during the really heavy rainy seasons, but many go for the long haul all year round.