Are you traveling to Honduras soon and want to stay connected? I figured out what is the best prepaid sim card for tourists in Honduras. That way you avoid high roaming costs and you are assured of the best network while exploring this beautiful country.
Recently I was traveling in Honduras for 3 weeks and enjoyed the most beautiful places on an epic road trip across the country. At the end of this blog I will talk about my experience using and buying a Honduras sim card, but first I will give you the best prices and network in Honduras.
Honduras is a developing country and their mobile internet is NOT the best. Don’t have high expectations when it comes to fast 4G internet. 5G in Honduras? May be in 2022!
Related: 24 Best Places to Visit in Honduras!
Traveling in Central America is one big adventure and I can only recommend you going. Also traveling to Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico? Click on the links for a complete sim card review for these countries. The best sim card for Central America? Check my article about the best global sim cards in 2021 for travelers.
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Mobile internet operators in Honduras
Just like in Guatemala there are only 2 mobile internet providers in Honduras: Tigo and Claro.
In my Guatemala sim card article I explained that Claro Guatemala offers a prepaid sim card that is valid from Canada to Argentina, all over the Americas.
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Where to buy Honduras sim card
You can buy a Tigo and Claro sim card in the bigger convenience stores as well as in bigger gas stations. However I would not recommend you doing so as they don’t offer any service.
If you go to one of the official Tigo or Claro stores they will activate your Honduras sim card on the spot and you will be connected as soon as you walk out of the store.
Sim card Tegucigalpa Airport
Unfortunately there is NO Tigo or Claro shop at Tegucigalpa Airport to buy a Honduras sim card on arrival. There is a convenience store that sells sim cards though. They offer a Claro sim card for 150 Lempira ($6). You will have to top up yourself, they don't offer any service and English was not spoken well.
Sim card San Pedro Sula Airport
When flying to San Pedro Sula Airport I have to disappoint you when it comes to buying a Honduras sim card. I went to the airport to check it out for you, but unfortunately there were no resellers, nor a Claro or Tigo kiosk. This could have been caused because of the Corona pandemic.
When buying a Honduras prepaid sim card bring your passport as you need it for the registration.
Prices prepaid Honduras sim cards
Tigo Honduras
A Tigo sim card costs 50 Lempira ($2) and comes with nothing, but you can top up with the following ‘super recarga packages’:
- 25 Lempira ($1) = 1.2 GB for 1 day
- 50 Lempira ($2) = 4.5 GB for 3 day
- 100 Lempira ($4) = 8.5 GB for 7 day
Some Tigo stores would sell the following data packages as well, but those were very rare:
- 150 Lempira ($6) = 13 GB for 7 day
- 220 Lempira ($9) = 20 GB for 7 day
Calling and texting to Tigo numbers in Honduras is included, unlimited WhatsApp.
Also for 30 days you can buy the very expensive package of 6GB + unlimited callas/text to USA/Canada for 650 Lempira ($27). For more info have a look at the Tigo Honduras website.
Claro Honduras
A Claro sim card cost 50 Lempira ($2) and comes with 200 MB data and 75 minutes/sms, valid for 30 days.
You can easily top-up with the following package:
- 100 Lempira ($4) = 10 GB data for 7 days.
- 150 Lempira ($6) = Unlimited data + calling (to Claro) for 5 days.
On the Claro Honduras website they offer a couple more different packages that include unlimited social media. See below.
Best mobile network in Honduras
When you where questioning if there would be 5g in Honduras, I have to disappoint you. Traveling in Honduras and staying connected to the internet is a pain!
In the following two pictures you will see the network coverage of Claro and Tigo Honduras as collected by nperf. com.
Claro Honduras network coverage
Tigo Honduras network coverage
You can clearly see that the Claro Honduras network is very weak, actually so is the Tigo Honduras network! But at least it is much stronger than Claro.
However when visiting the most famous tourist destination in Honduras: the islands of Roatan and Utilla, a Claro Honduras sim card is a better idea. Looking for more cool things to do in Honduras then read my Best Places to Visit in honduras blog with 24 epic tourist attractions.
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Best prepaid sim card for Honduras in 2021
As prices for a prepaid Honduras sim card are more or less the same I would recommend you going for the stronger network, therefore...
The best Honduras sim card for travelers is Tigo!
Buy a sim card for Honduras online
I personally would not recommend the following sim card offered by Simoptions. They are specialized in selling sim cards for travelers, but not really for Honduras:
- 5 GB data
- NO calls/NO text
- Valid for 14 days
It does saves you the hassle buying a sim card in Honduras. The sim card will be shipped to your home address before your trip and is already activated for 14 days from the first day you start using it.
My experience buying a sim card in Honduras
With special permission from the Ministery of Tourism in Honduras I was the first tourist traveling to Honduras after the lockdown. The border were still officially closed but through my contacts I managed to cross the border from Guatemala into Copan Ruins.
In Copan Ruins I bought a Tigo sim card for Honduras, simply because I already did the research and knew that Tigo has by far the best mobile internet network in Honduras.
I paid as stated above 150 Lempira in the official Tigo store: 50 for the sim card and 100 for the 8.5 GB for 7 days. Within 3 minutes I was connected to the internet. Easy!
In total in 3 weeks I drove more than 3.000 kilometers across the country on one epic road trip and the worst thing about Honduras is their mobile network coverage. Unless you are traveling on one of the 2 major highways service is VERY unreliable!
It was often a pain in the ass to find a phone signal. Also often my phone would say I was connected to 4G, but it hardly responded. Honduras is a beautiful country, but mobile internet in Honduras is sadly one of the worst in the world I have experienced!
Enjoy your trip to Honduras!
