Selecting Central America as the region for your next island vacation is a sound decision.
After all, the tropical nations here are perennially sun-drenched due to proximity to the equator, and the majority have two coastlines (excluding El Salvador and Belize).
Panama alone has more than 1000 islands and islets with massive appeal for divers, dreamers and even history aficionados, while Honduras thoroughly shines underwater – its Bay Islands have some of the lowest diving certification fees in Latin America.
Belize is a snorkeler’s dream with coral reefs and cayes that feel like they belong in a magazine spread.
No matter your flavor – beach bum, off-the-grid explorer, scuba obsessive, or hammock connoisseur – Central America has an island for you. Here’s where to start.
1. Bay Islands (Islas de la Bahía), Honduras
Best for budget-conscious dives and rum-fueled revelry
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Honduras’ Bay Islands – Roatán, Utila and Guanaja – are where reef divers, rum drinkers and drifters collide. Roatán is the big, bold one where divers explore the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef and nightlife pulses in West End’s beach bars.
Partied too hard for diving? Hyde Tours’ semi-submarine lets you see it all without getting wet. Gifiti – a potent herbal rum – flows freely in Punta Gorda where the Garifuna community keeps Afro-Caribbean traditions alive.
Utila is a budget diver’s paradise where backpackers follow whale sharks year-round (the peak period is from February to May).
Expect street food stands selling baleadas (rolled tortillas with refried beans, cheese and sometimes meat), and a community of sprightly travelers who came for a week and never left.
Guanaja is the escape nobody talks about, and is perfect for crowd-free jungle hikes and hidden waterfalls.
Planning tip: Roatán has an international airport (RTB) with direct flights from the US and Canada. There are ferries from La Ceiba on the mainland. If you’re into waterfall rappelling, ziplines, birding and horseback riding, it’s worth spending a few days in La Ceiba.
2. San Blas, Panama
Best for going totally off-grid
If paradise is real, it spreads across the Caribbean in the form of 365 islands known as San Blas (Guna Yala). This isn’t your all-inclusive, cocktail-in-a-coconut kind of place.
There’s no wi-fi and no ATMs or resorts with infinity pools, just turquoise water, white sand and the Guna people who have been running things their way for a very long time.
They were the first Indigenous group in Latin America to secure political autonomy, and they’ve kept their islands mostly untouched, save for bamboo huts, hammocks swaying between palm trees and the occasional solar panel trying its best.
With little to no signal, you can forget about scrolling on your phone. Instead, it’s bonfires on the beach, the sound of the waves and staring up at clear night skies that’s on the menu.
Planning tip: Guna Yala is a four-hour drive from Panama City through winding jungle roads, followed by a motorboat (lancha) bouncing across impossibly blue waters. Bring medication if you are prone to car or sea sickness.
3. Ambergris Caye, Belize
Best for being in the center of it all
Formerly known as British Honduras, Belize has a glittering collection of islands that fit the paradise mold.
Some are only big enough to house one postcard-ready hotel (Cayo Espanto), some are still blissfully undiscovered (Laughing Bird Caye), and others, like Ambergris Caye, need little introduction.
Ambergris Caye is Belize’s biggest island and it is equal parts laid-back beach town and action-packed playground.
In the main town, San Pedro, golf carts whizz by, bars spill onto sandy streets, and you can go from a beachfront shack to a glitzy resort in five minutes.
Some super beautiful places to stay include Matachica Resort & Spa, the Watermark Belize Hotel and Alaia Belize, Autograph Collection.
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Being the only country in Central America where Spanish isn’t the official language, English-speaking retirees have set up shop here, mingling with the melee of bliss-seeking travelers.
4. Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua
Best for big island hikes
Some islands are about beaches, others about nightlife. Ometepe is about volcanoes. Two of them, in fact – Concepción and Maderas.
This is an island for hikers, dirt-road warriors and those who believe a good time involves sweat, sore legs and high-altitude reflection.
If you aren’t quite into hiking, there are other things to do. You can rent a scooter and tear around the island’s dirt roads, dodging pigs, ox-carts and the occasional stray horse.
Or ride a horse to a waterfall where you can dunk your head under a cool cascade and pretend you’re in a travel documentary.
5. Bocas del Toro, Panama
Best for variety
A scattered chain of nine main islands and numerous islets, Bocas del Toro is where the surf breaks are as famous as the beach bars.
Legendary pro surfers have given Playa Bluff and Playa Paunch their seal of approval and in recent years, locals have been perplexed that news of the archipelago’s splendor has traveled all the way to Silicon Valley (Mark Zuckerberg has sailed in).
Isla Colón is the main hub where backpackers, surfers and digital nomads hobnob over cold Balboa beers, reggae beats and ceviche.
Water taxis zip between islands, dropping you at whatever flavor of paradise you’re after. Isla Carenero is quieter and jungle-covered with beaches so empty you’ll wonder if you’re trespassing on private land.
Bocas del Toro offers a bit of everything, including starfish-strewn beaches (Playa Estrella), lively annual events (Feria del Mar), high-octane zipline adventures (Isla Bastimentos), and endemic sloths on far-flung islands (Escudo de Veraguas), making this a dream destination for groups with varied interests.
Planning tip: Isla Colón has the lion’s share of charming waterfront restaurants and tour operators. It’s worth basing yourself there and then booking tours or boat trips to the other islands.
6. Cayos Cochinos, Honduras
Best for idyllic islands that look airbrushed
Cayos Cochinos (Hog Islands) sits inside a protected marine park, which means no overfishing and some of the healthiest reefs in the Caribbean. But getting there isn’t easy.
You fly into La Ceiba or Roatán, then charter a boat and the trip takes about an hour, assuming the waves don’t decide to mess with your plans.
This chain of two islands (Cayo Grande and Cayo Mayor) and over a dozen tiny cays is so untouched that the Spanish version of the TV show Survivor films there.
More than just surviving, you’ll thrive while floating above neon-colored coral and schools of fish that move like synchronized swimmers.
7. Isla del Coco, Costa Rica
Best for shark sightings
Isla del Coco is a volcanic speck in the Pacific, 550km (342 miles) off Costa Rica’s coast. It’s a place of legend, isolation and hammerhead sharks – the largest gatherings on Earth, in fact.
Here, you can glide through the blue with whale sharks, tiger sharks and manta rays. Coco isn’t just famous for what’s in the water. Gold-toting pirates of the 1600s reportedly stashed their loot in yawning sea caves.
Today’s visitors chase golden moments, adrenaline and the cherishable nature that earned it a UNESCO World Heritage inscription in 1997.
Planning tip: To get there from San José, head towards Caldera and Puntarenas, where boats depart for Parque Nacional Isla del Coco. The park is open daily (8am to 5pm).
8. Caye Caulker, Belize
Best for reefs, reggae and relaxation
Caye Caulker sits next to the Belize Barrier Reef, which means the snorkeling and diving here punch way above their weight. The island’s only rule is “go slow”.
It’s painted on signs, muttered by bartenders and deeply embedded in the island’s DNA.
There are no cars and the only things moving at any real speed are the golf carts and bicycles that weave lazily between the sandy streets.
The heart of Caye Caulker is the Split, a narrow channel that divides the island and the epicenter of those day-drinking sessions worth remembering (or forgetting). The Lazy Lizard bar blasts music and sunset here feels like a religious experience.
9. Corn Islands, Nicaragua
Best for languid lobster lunches
Nicaragua’s Corn Islands have wooden cabanas on stilts, beaches where your footprints are the only ones in sight, and lobsters so fresh they crawled on the ocean floor an hour before they hit your plate.
Great Corn Island is bigger and busier (relatively speaking). A 30-minute boat ride from its big brother, Little Corn is where the hardcore escapists go.
The reef here is spectacular and whether you’re diving, snorkeling, or just floating with a Toña beer in hand, the warm water feels like a second home.
10. Isla Coiba, Panama
Best for nature encounters
Isla Coiba is the largest island in Central America and part of Parque Nacional Coiba.
It’s one of the wildest, most untouched ecosystems in the world, with a blood-stained history and enough apex predators to keep you on your toes.
A former penal colony, the criminals are gone, but the ghosts of the past still linger in abandoned prison buildings where political dissidents once vanished under Noriega’s rule.
The island was off-limits for so long and its isolation saved it from the chainsaws – what’s left is a jungle so dense and alive it hums.
Rainbow-hued scarlet macaws are among the residents along with endemic species like the Coiba howler monkey and the Coiba agouti.
Planning tip: Isla Coiba is usually visited by day trippers on snorkeling and diving package tours from Santa Catalina, but it is also possible to stay overnight and sleep at the ANAM ranger station.
