From Wikitravel

Tegucigalpa is the capital of and largest city in Honduras.

Contents 1 Understand 2 Get in 3 Get around 3.1 By taxi 3.2 By bus 4 See 5 Do 6 Buy 7 Eat 8 Drink 9 Sleep 10 Stay Safe 11 Get out

Understand

Tegucigalpa (locals shorten it to "Teguc") is a great example Central America of urban sprawl gone amok, spread out across very hilly terrain.

Tipping in Honduras is 10%. Tipping is not generally expected at smaller restaurants but always appreciated.

Get in

Get around

The football (soccer) stadium is a great central point for learning your bearings map-wise of the city. Several of the larger roads meet in a round-about that uses the stadium as its hub.

By taxi

As of Summer 2004, taxis cost no more than 40 Lempira ($2.20) point to point. Negotiating for the price--before getting in--is expected. Taxi drivers are a bit wild, so buckle up...

January 2005, taxis run from 30L for a short run(3-4 minutes) to 60L across town.

By bus

Buses were 2.5 Lempira ($0.15) but run set routes that most visitors won't know.

There are common bus stops throughout the town, but are unlabeled. Find a large group of people standing on the sidewalks for the largest selection of bus routes. To know the main destinations of the busses, look on the front of the bus above the windshield. Most busses operate to distinct neighborhoods and link to El Centro or the market in Comayaguela. In the market in Comayaguela you can also find many inter-city busses with various prices and various levels of comfort, ranging from the most common chicken-bus to double decker luxury busses.

See

• Picacho, also called "Cristo el Picacho," is a huge statue of Jesus Christ, overlooks the city of Picacho. Free parking is available at the entrance of the park, and entrance to the park is a nominal fee.
• National Zoo, on the same hill as the Picacho statue, with tropical animals such as monkeys, bright-colored parrots, and others.

Do

• Movies The Mall-Multiplaza has a Cinemark multi-screen movie theater (current movies and times on the web) on the third floor. Movies in Honduras are almost always shown in English with Spanish subtitles.

Buy

• The Mall-Multiplaza is a two-story, top-of-the-line mall, just like you would find in any of the biggest cities in America. Overpriced and somewhat oppulent, but a nice place to feel like you are back in civilization if you have just come back from anywhere else in Honduras.
• San Isidrio Market down by the river. You can walk around the 16-square blocks of true Honduran markets and see where the Hondurans who can't afford to shop at the mall go to buy their things. Women travellers will be more comfortable with a male companion. The market gets "earthier" the nearer the river you get. If a local warns you that you are heading into an unsafe area of the the market, thank them and backtrack. (See Stay Safe).

Eat

Teguc has a healthy variety of American food restaurants: McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Subway, etc. All follow "home office" food preparation procedures and travelers can eat at them without fear of getting sick.

• El Cumbre The nicest restaurant in town ($20 per person (total) or so) is "El Cumbre" on top of the "mountain" of "El Hatillio." The food is awesome and the spectacular view of the city. Get there about 5:00 PM or 5:30 PM to enjoy the daytime, sunset and evening views of Teguc all in one sitting. Bring a camera.

Drink

Friday and Saturday nights after nine may get a tiny bit dangerous as the alcohol content in the patrons goes up. In Honduras, empty beer bottles are left on the tables until the bill is paid, so you can get a very quick visual indication of where cooler heads will prevail and where tempers may rise just by looking.

Sleep

Several cheap hotels can be found 15 minutes east of the center on Avenida Gutenberg.

• Granada 1. About 13 USD per night for a single.

• Hotel Nankin Cost. About 10 USD per night for a single.

• Hospedaje Cosmopolitan. About 4 USD per night for a single.

• Real InterContinental Tegucigalpa, [1]. Located SE of downtown, right across from the Multiplaza Mall, the biggest and most modern shopping center in Honduras, only 4 miles from Toncontin Int’l Airport.
• Clarion Hotel Real Tegucigalpa, [2]. In the heart of the financial district and only four miles from Toncontin International Airport.

Stay Safe

In general, no one in Honduras will intervene during a crime. They do not want to get involved and reap the anger of the perpetrator. They will look the other way and walk right on by. Take special care at night. It is common for a foreigner to be robbed on the streets of Tegucigalpa at night. Thieves will stake out areas in near tourist hotels, especially the Hotel Maya.

Cars are commonly broken into in broad daylight and the thieves don't even bother wearing masks. If you are driving, it is always worth it to pay to park in a guarded lot.

Follow these general guidelines:

• Keep to the main parts of the city and don't be tempted to go to places that you are not sure of.

• Keep to the main roads and avoid short cuts down back alleys etc.

• Never walk at night in the centre of the city even for a short distance - always take a taxi.

• Be particularly wary of people hanging around outside hotels; it is a favourite place to catch tourists and mug them.

• Ignore the street children and people coming up to you in the streets with hard luck tales. Street children can become violent and the latter may be part of an elaborate scam or they might just simply be pick pockets. The best thing to do is just to walk on and ignore them.

• Do not carry large sums of money when shopping and do not wear expensive jewelry etc.

• Do not accept food and drink from strangers; visitors have known to be drugged and then robbed.

• If you must carry large sums of money or valuable possessions, carry two wallets: Keep one hidden with most of your money in it. The other should be in the most common place, your back pocket. Keep 5-10 US$ in the wallet, and a few stray lempiras. The lempiras can go to beggars (they tend to be persistent), and the dollars to appease any possible robbers. Typically 5-10 US$ is viewed as a days salary in Honduras, and just may be enough to appease a robber without sacrificing your larger stash. Use caution, as there is no such thing as a predictable thief in Honduras

Get out

• "Valle de Angeles" (Valley of the Angels) A small tourist town is 25 miles away from Teguc and is a great place to do all of your tourist shopping (a little cheaper than airport prices) and the home of the best restaurant in all of Honduras - "La Casa de mi Abuela" (My Grandmother's House). Generally slow service (nothing new in Honduras) but so very, very worth it. Definitely get an order of the anafres (tortilla chips in bean and and cheese sauce).

This article is an outline and needs more content. It has a template, but there is not enough information present. Please plunge forward and help it grow!