Utila vs Roatan

We went to both on backpacker budgets and were surprised to find that you can survive on Roatan for the same price as Utila. Hopefully the below may help as we struggled to find good advice aimed at backpackers before we went. We would have stayed longer at Roatan had we known it was as  cheap.

Accommodation: we stayed at Captain Morgan's in Utila and Chillies in Roatan. Both were the same price - $39 per night for 3 people with hot water, en-suite. CM charged $10 extra for AC, Chillies only had a fan which was fine. I'd recommend both places as really lovely hostels.

Food: there is more choice for cheap eats in Utila, our favourites were Mario's Place, Hotspot Cafe & Foo King Wok (pricey but can share dishes; don't touch the iced tea!). Roatan has more pricey restaurants but there is plenty of street food and a great place called Creole's down past the casino which has good, cheap food. Yahongrey? is a small shack at Chillies which does cheap breakfasts and lunches. On average we paid 100-150L for dinner = £3-4.

Diving: From our experience of 8 dives in Utila vs 4 in Roatan, Roatan wins hands-down for visibility, more fishes, larger fishes and more variety. Best dive was El Aguila wreck in Roatan. Roatan dives start later (9am) versus 7am in Utila. Utila squeeze 2 dives into the morning and 2 in the afternoon making the dives shorter with minimum surface interval. The boats in Utila are small and crammed full. I believe Utila is cheaper for courses and free dorms are the norm - resulted in a lot of inexperienced divers kicking us!

Snorkelling: Roatan has good reefs to snorkel off the beach at Half Moon Bay and West Bay. There is a submarine wreck in HMB with a big moray eel (near the boat with a swing) and we saw hawksbill turtles at both points. Utila has some reef snorkelling off the beach but it's not great; however you can see moray eels and seahorses under some of the docks. Both places let snorkellers on the dive boats for $5 a trip and the snorkelling was decent.

Beaches: Utila was worse for sand flies; you can't lie on the beach without getting bitten, but you can lie on the docks. West Bay didn't have any sand flies.

Beauty: West Bay is a gorgeous white sand, turquoise water beach; Roatan is a much prettier island.

Whale sharks & dolphins: Utila has the possibility of seeing whale sharks but the chances of seeing them seems quite exaggerated - October is supposed to be peak season but when we went they hadn't been spotted for 3 weeks. One of our DMs had been there for 3 years and never seen one. Boats do search for whale sharks and dolphins imbetween dives - if they spot them and you want to go snorkelling, you pay a small fee to the captain.

Nightlife: Utila has a huge party scene with free shots and cheap drink offers every night. Roatan has a lively bar - Sundowner's which had live music, and a lovely setting on the beach with a bonfire.

Trips: In Utila, we didn't go, but you can take a day trip to the Cays for $15 which are supposed to be beautiful beaches with snorkelling and no sand flies. If there is a group of you, you can rent a private island for a couple of nights to at a very reasonable price. In Roatan, it costs $6 return for a water taxi from West End / Half Moon to West Bay.

Shops: Roatan has better shops. Rusty Fish has funky recycled things that make great souvenirs. The chocolate factory sells lovely chocolate & the owner will happily give you a free tour of the factory if you ask.

Conclusion: For us (3 girls in their early thirties who aren't into heavy drinking), I'd rate Roatan way above Utila. I'm glad I went to both but I wish we had spent more time in Roatan. I'd return to Roatan, not to Utila.Read more