Imagine a tropical vacation for your family and friends with your own villa or condo just steps from the beach. Now imagine the price tag. If you look carefully for the right beach destination and the right condo deals, you can afford that dream vacation sooner that you anticipated. The island of Roatan, in the Bay Islands of Honduras, offers beautiful beaches and a number of beachfront condo resorts.
Check your flight to establish the days you'll rent the condo. Continental has direct flights to Roatan twice a week from Houston and New York and offers daily flights to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, where you can connect to a local flight to the island. Delta offers a direct flight on Saturdays from Atlanta. American, United and Spirit Airlines fly into San Pedro Sula.
Chose your dates carefully. Many weekly condo rentals run from Saturday to Saturday, particularly during the high season when bookings are continuous. In low season, you can find options for a three or five day rental, or for a longer rental. Late August to December is low season for Roatan, and peak rental weeks are Easter Week, Christmas and New Years.
Decide which part of the island suits your needs. Roatan is 40 miles long and a half mile wide. The Western half of the island is developed, while the East End is rustic with less traffic. Several towns offer good choices for a beachfront condo. West Bay Beach is a picturesque beach, famous for snorkeling and diving, and it has many luxury hotels, condos and villas from which to choose. West End is a bustling beachside town with lots of tourists and backpackers and the bars and dive shops that serve them. The beach is not as pretty, but you can still swim and frolic, and West End nightlife is the best in Roatan. Sandy Bay is a community that stretches nearly 10 miles along the North Shore of Roatan. It is home to all-inclusive and family-oriented dive resorts.
Pick a condo. Cruise through photos at the Roatan Online website as well as websites for individual condominium resorts. Visit the TripAdvisor website to read reviews.
Find the best possible deal on your condo. Check its website for specials or pick up the phone and call for its best offer. Research to see if other owners in the same development are renting their units for less. Sometimes you can book the same development and similar rental units from different managers or owners. As a rule, you can get a beachfront condo on Roatan for less than the price of a comparable hotel in the U.S.
