With my brother’s wife being from Honduras, it was a certainty we would have to visit the country during our Central America trip in the summer of 2016.

Like others, we crossed into Honduras from Guatemala at the El Florido crossing (our driver’s taking of various other border crossings between Guatemala and El Salvador raised some eyebrows elsewhere) and overnighted in Copan Ruinas at the Hotel Magdalena. A five minute drive early in the morning brought us to the wooded trail to the ruins, the colours of the macaws flashing between the trees. 

Our driver arranged a tour guide. When looking back on our travels, my wife will often go straight to remembering a random detail. “What do you remember about Copan?” “The tour guide had a stick with a macaw feather on it. And it was so hot!” Indeed, the various shady areas around the ruins are very welcome in that respect, compared to us almost getting incinerated at Chichen Itza! 

Visiting in the morning, there were very few other people there - my photos are clear of other tourists unlike similar sites in Mexico for example. The guide showed us a 3d model of the complex at the museum / visitor centre first, which gave a good overview of the components we would later see - the Eastern Plaza, the Plaza los Jaguares with it’s dancing jaguars (pictured), the Plaza Principal, the Acropolis, the highly prized Hieroglyphic Stairway and my personal favourite, the Ball Court. It was very useful to have a guide explain the various carvings on the numerous stelae dotting the site. 

I haven’t yet been to Tikal, Palenque or Calakmul, so cannot compare there. It’s not as obviously monumental as Chichen Itza or the non-Mayan site of Teotihuacan. Yet Copan was just as enjoyable as both of those. Having said that, perhaps these things depend on the order in which you visit the sites. Copan was at the point the most important Mayan site we had visited, so perhaps that leads to a higher rating?! But the setting, the “new country” factor, the quality of ruins and their obvious universal value all lead to a memorable experience.