On our first Central America trip, with a budget of £15 / day each for two years, we decided pretty early on that Utila wasn't going to be an option for us. Despite its status as the cheapest place in the world to get your PADI, learning to dive was still beyond our limited budget.

The little Honduran island also didn’t originally feature on our big post-covid two-month trip back to Central America at the beginning of 2022.

Thankfully, we rectfied that mistake and spent two amazing weeks diving in the Caribbean and enjoying the lifestyle and rhythms one has no option but to adapt to here.

So, the purpose of this post is to help you - diver or not, budget backpacker or vacationer - work out whether you should visit Utila and prepare for your visit with practical tips, advice, and context.

Is it actually a good diving experience? What’s the best way to get there from the mainland Honduras or elsewhere in Central America? Is it as crazy a party spot as you've heard? Should you go there if you have no plans to dive or a tight budget? Find out more in this post.

These are 17 things to know before you visit Utila.

OUR UTILA TRAVEL SERIES

+ 13 Wonderful Things To Do in Utila

+ How To Get To Utila

+ Why You Should Go Diving in Utila (And What You Need to Know)

+ Where to Stay in Utila

+ A Directory of Utila Dive Centres

How to Get to Utila

The best and most common way to reach Utila is via the daily ferries from La Ceiba on the mainland or the neighbouring island of Roatan. There are also some direct flights to the island from mainland Honduras and Roatan, but we think it’s unnecessary to take these.

You can find a breakdown of all the routes, timetables, costs, and international flight options in this post: How To Get To Utila.

Sidenote | there’s a daily ferry to/from Roatan, but most travellers don’t split their time between the two most popular Bay Islands. We had planned to, but just enjoyed Utila so much that it didn’t seem sensible to give up another slow week here with people we liked for a faster week of getting to know a much bigger, more expensive, and more tourist-facing island that’s popular with cruise ships. Hopefully we’ll be able to visit it one day though to give a proper comparison!

English is Widely Spoken

The Bay Islands, of which Utila is the smallest, changed hands between warring Spanish and the British pirates, occupiers, and navies from the 17th to 19th centuries. It officially became a colony of the latter in 1852, but was handed over to Honduras eight years later.

A number of locals trace their lineage back to the British settlers, and the British occupation is the reason that English is the main language of the island.

However, with a number of mainland Hondurans arriving on the island to live or work, Spanish is widely spoken too and not everyone who lives on the island can speak English. We speak both, and it’s quite easy to tell by the response to ‘hello’ or ‘hola’ about which one to slip into (many Utilans are actually trilingual once the local Creole is factored in).

With that said, with so many ex-pats and international travellers here, English is absolutely the dominant language.

It Really Is the Best Place to Learn to Dive

We won’t go into details on the amazing diving locations and setting here, as we’ve covered everything you need to know as a learner or experienced diver in our diving Utila guide.

However, some Central America backpackers may ask themselves whether it’s worth going all the way to Utila if you have no plans on learning to dive.

You’ll be able to enjoy a cheaper, uncrowded, relatively untouched Caribbean island which is set up around travellers rather than large resorts, but it’s small and much of the rhythm, focus, and social is based around the diving experience.

We think that, although you would absolutely enjoy what this island offers beyond going underwater, it’s a long, relatively expensive way to go if you’re travelling the region for only a few months or weeks.

Of course, Utila sees a lot of Hondruan weekenders and holidaymakers who aren’t here to dive and no-one would arrive here and not fall for certain aspects or have a good time, but you may prefer to save your week and money for somewhere else.

Tap Water is Not Safe to Drink

You cannot drink the tap water in Utila, which means it’s bottled water and refills.

We try to keep our plastic consumption as low as possible, always on the road with 2 x magical travel filter water bottles and 2 x refillable bottles but, as we explain more in our Utila diving post, dehydration is a real risk for scuba and you cannot skimp on fluids.

Underwater Vision offers purified water refills for 10L / litre and 20L / gallon, and the most sustainable and economical choice is to buy the 1 gallon (4.5 litre) bottles from a shop on your first day here and have that as your main refill vessel.

Sustainabilty in Utila

Speaking of plastic, there’s still a way to go with some of the biggest businesses in town; beach and ocean clean-ups are much easier when less is produced and consumed by all of us. So many travellers also need to step up on this front, with it being a shock how many still don’t bother with tiny efforts like a canvas bag, metal straw, or refillables.

There is recycling in Utila, with some public bins having separated systems and a side-street collection and processing centre; more needs to be done to make the system / process clearer for visitors though so we can help rather than hinder collections.

Find some advice on habits you can change easily to save money and improve the environment in ‘How To Travel With Less Plastic’.

Speaking of sustainability, the core reason Utila has preserved such a special vibe is due to natural limitation on water and power on the island, and a shallow approach preventing larger vessels docking - no cruise ships here! Thank God.

There’s No Real Bad Time to Visit Utila…

It’s a year-round destination, but the peak tourism season is mid-December to the end of February, which coincides with the tail end of rainy season on the Caribbean coast of Central America.

We’ve shared more in-depth advice on the best times to visit Utila and the seasons, in our Utila diving guide.

But You May Want to Avoid the Holidays

The island is also a very popular destination for Hondurans on the weekend and during their early January holidays, which swells crowds considerably.

Based on conversations with locals and our travel experiences in Latin America, we’d recommend not visiting Utila during the Semana Santa / Easter holiday spike (usually around mid-April). More daily ferries are laid on, prices increase, accommodation at capacity, and it will be much more of a crowded holiday island than a chilled-out diver haven than at any other time of year.

On a similar vein, this is why saving your visits to Water Cay and Neptunes is best for during the week!

Read Later | 13 Wonderful Things To Do In Utila

You’ll Likely Be Based in and Around the TOWN

‘East Harbour’ runs just over 2kms along the busy, congested Main Street from Chepes beach to the bridge and is the only urban centre. This is where all the activity is as well as the ferry dock, dive schools, restaurants supermarkets, souvenir shops, tour companies, banks, and the majority of accommodation, so you’ll spend most of your time here.

The town also extends back for about a kilometre, when the lagoon isn’t in the way, so try to explore beyond it and spread your spending.

How to Get Around

In terms of transport, you’ll principally get around on your own two feet or with the little red tuk-tuks which zip up and down Main Street (rides in town about 20-30L depending on the distance).

Otherwise, people rent bicycles, motorbikes, golf carts, or ATVs. These are essential for accessing some of the best things to do in Utila, and for anyone basing themselves elsewhere on the island.

Roneey’s is probably the best place to rent a vehicle, and prices are as follows:

Bicycle Rental | $15/half-day, $15/day, and $50 for the week

Motorbike rental | $35/half-day, $45/day, and $260 for the week

ATV Rental | ATVs were $45/half-day, $60/day, and $350 for the week

Golfcart Rental | 2-person golf carts are $40/half-day, $50/day, and $250, with 4 to 6-person carts available for higher costs.

The ‘day’ is until 6pm, just after sunset and a driving licence or passport deposit is required (we recommend never leaving your passport with rental companies). Roneey’s (Google Maps) is the most convenient and visible place to rent from in the town, but there are a few other companies who advertise with flyers and WhatsApp numbers who may have cheaper rates, especially for long-term arrangements.

Note that the golf carts aren’t the best for lesser-visited roads on Utila, especially if there’s been rain.

Be Aware of Opening Times

As with much of Central America, religion plays an important role in the community. Specifically to Utila, some of the community are Adventists (we believe) who strictly observe the sabbath on Saturdays (Friday sunset to Saturday sunset) rather than Sundays.

This can result in some places being closed when you don’t expect it. Otherwise, Monday or Tuesday was a day that some restaurants would shut up but there’s always plenty still open.

There’s an Abundance of Grocery Stores

There are several supermarkets and little greengrocers around town, and it’s good practice to spread your money around them. Bush’s Supermarket (maps) is the largest and doesn’t charge for card payments. There’s also a decent weights gym above Bush’s supermarket that you use for an hour, a day, or long-term membership.

If you see Mario chopping and selling fresh coconuts, you should always buy one. Same for the guy who does fresh orange juice near the ferry dock.

Cash is King

Most businesses charge 5-6% on card payments, so cash is king on the island.

There are only two ATMs, situated close by each other near the ferry dock in town. We always used the red-and-white BAC Credomatic on the corner with our cards, and there were no fees for us.

The ATMs will sometimes be out of order for a few hours, so don’t let yourself run down to zero, especially if you’ve got a dive school bill to pay and the ferry leaves early the next morning. Withdrawals were only offered in Honduran Lempira, so it’s not a bad idea to bring a cash stash and some emergency USD with you.

Many prices are listed in USD, especially for dive shops, tours, and accommodation. You can pay in USD, Lempira, or a combination of both, whilst a number of the aforementioned businesses also accept Paypal.

Where you learn to Dive can affect your utila experience

The people you’re with and the atmosphere at your dive school at the specific time you visit will make a HUGE difference to your own enjoyment and experience levels. If a big group of dickheads are the dominant set, then it could be miserable, and we were really fortunate to have a good group of people working and learning with us at Underwater Vision.

Of course, there’s no way to know this in advance, but there’s definitely certain dive schools that have more of a reputation than others.

As we explain in 13 Wonderful Things To Do In Utila, the island does have a reputation for boozy backpackers, parties, and big drinking nights. In our experience, this was nowhere near at the toxic levels we had anticipated, but this could again differ according to who’s there, how busy it is, etc etc. The presence of a well-respect 10 pm curfew for most drinking holes helps to concentrate late-nights into just one or two places.

It’s a Budget Friendly Destination

The fact that backpackers can even contemplate visiting a Caribbean island and staying for a while on a budget is exceptional!

Once you’ve factored in your dive school fees and the cost for the Utila ferry, budget travellers can definitely get by here pretty well if they stay in dorms (or share an apartment on longer stays) and don’t drink all the time. You may not be able to eat out everywhere you’d like, skip on vehicle rentals, or go to your first choice dive shop, but it’s definitely feasible.

As we mentioned in our introduction, despite Utila being the cheapest place to learn to dive, paying for the courses would have taken up too much budget on our first Central America trip. On this trip, we weren’t watching every penny and were making the most of our final leg of the nine-week trip, which obviously helps matters.

We can’t be certain that we would have loved Utila as much if we’d been on as tight a budget.

Read more | If you like small Caribbean for travellers, check out The Corn Islands and Providencia.

Getting Your Laundry Done

Walking up and down the Main Street, you’ll soon notice an abundance of colourful hand-painted colourful signs for the laundry ladies.

In other parts of Central America the price may determined by a set of scales, in true Caribbean style it’s a much more relaxed affair on Utila, with the woman simply eyeing up your pile and giving a rough estimate for the load.

You’ll pay more for a machine dry than air dry, so if wanting to keep the cost down, be sure to wait for a nice weather day before turning up.

We paid 140L for an air-dried, large-ish load at Raven’s, and 200L for a similarly large-ish load that was machine dried with Carm (that definitely came back a little cleaner and better folded).

Extending Your Visa

If you’re here and need to do a CA-4 visa extension, then we were told there’s a guy who will go to the mainland and do this on your behalf for a small fee. Otherwise, it’s possible to just go to La Ceiba yourself and do it.

Consider Buying a Honduran SIM

Most restaurants, bars, and accommodations have wi-fi of varying quality. However, the most reliable and speedy connection for digital nomads or those here for a while will be from picking up an inexpensive local network SIM card.

Claro and Tigo are the main providers, and you can do this on the mainland or once you’re on the island.