Perched above the sparkling waters of the palm-fringed Bahía de Trujillo, with the green backdrop of Cordillera Nombre de Dios rearing up behind, TRUJILLO immediately seduces the small number of tourists who make the 90km trip here from La Ceiba. Though you'd never guess it from the town's sleepy demeanour, this is an important city, capital of the department of Colón. All the elements for a relaxing stay are in place - warm, sheltered waters, clean beaches, and a good range of hotels and restaurants - and having endured the three- to four-hour journey from La Ceiba, few are in a hurry to leave.

The area around Trujillo was settled by a mixture of Pech and Tolupan groups when Columbus first disembarked on the American mainland here, on August 14, 1502. Trujillo itself was founded by Cortés's lieutenant, Juan de Medina, in May 1525, though it was regularly abandoned due to attacks by European pirates. Not until the late eighteenth century did repopulation begin in earnest, aided by the arrival, via Roatán, of several hundred Garífuna from the island of St Vincent. In 1860, a new threat appeared in the shape of the US filibuster William Walker, who in June of that year briefly took control of the town; executed in September 1860 by the Honduran authorities, he is buried in Trujillo's cemetery. The twentieth century has been distinctly less eventful, except for a severe battering at the hands of Hurricane Mitch, though few buildings in town were destroyed. There's often far more activity these days at Puerto Castilla , at the eastern end of the bay, the busy port through which passes the produce of the region's plantations.