Central America to Caribbean

I am planning a trip around South and Central America and would love to go to some of the Carribbean Islands but am strugglying to find any information on boats or flights from Central America to any Island (does not matter from which Central American country i would leave and would love to visit Cuba, Antigua, Puerto Rico and Trinidad).

I know once in the Carribbean i i can use Liat Airways to get around but how can i get to the Carribbean in the first place. Any help would be great and if anyone knows of a budget option that would be even better.

Cheers,

Matt

I know there aren't any boats from Central America to the islands you mentioned.

Still, while there, you can get around by boat to some places. Check the Caribbean Ferries article here on TP.

Now, what I find useful is too check the wiki pages of the airports in the countries you want to go to. So:

• Havana Airport
• Santiago de Cuba Airport
• San Juan Airport
• Antigua Airport
• Trinidad Airport

I am afraid that budget options for this region are rather limited, but you might find some good deals by searching the airlines that fly from Central America to the Caribbean Islands. Getting around is indeed mainly LIAT, though Winair might have some flights in the northern smaller islands as well.

Although you didn't ask, might I suggest a few other islands which definately are beautiful and worthwhile a visit. These are Saba (short hop from Sint Maarten), Montserrat (short hop from Antigua) and Dominica (mostly en route from Antigua to Trinidad, the plane might even make a stop there).

Have fun!
Michael.

[ Edit: Edited on 17-May-2009, at 07:52 by Utrecht ]

Airline connections between Central America and the Caribbean are very poor, and in most cases, non-existent. I've been to Central America twice myself in the last year, and met with a few people from that region who had to travel via Miami. Check COPA Airlines, based in Panama City. I believe they have flights to Port of Spain. For the most part, you're better off going via Miami. Certainly to Puerto Rico. American Airlines, with a base in Miami, has plenty of flights to both Central America and San Juan (and many other Caribbean destinations). The ridiculous thing is that even when you can fly direct between two points in Latin America, sometimes the price is lower via Miami. A year ago I was in Costa Rica. A few friends went to Lima, Peru, after their stay in Costa Rica. It was cheaper for them to buy a ticket via Miami to Lima, then to Lima direct from San Jose!

Of course, if you want to visit Cuba, you can rule out transiting via USA. Unfortunately, Cubana has been terminating a number of their international services recently, and I am not certain of exactly what cities they fly to in the region now. Mexico City would be my number 1 guess.

[ Edit: Edited on 17-May-2009, at 09:28 by bgl ]

The ridiculous thing is that even when you can fly direct between two points in Latin America, sometimes the price is lower via Miami.

It's not at all ridiculous it makes perfect sense.

Many times more people fly from San Jose to Miami than from San Jose to Port o' Spain-thus flights are more frequent and costs for running those flights lower.

That is true, except that in this particular case, the friends that I met up with in Costa Rica had these two choices:

1 - Fly direct from San Jose to Lima, OR

2 - Fly back to Miami, then from Miami via San Jose to Lima.

The ridiculous part is that they would end up on the SAME San Jose-Lima flight in BOTH cases, but it was cheaper to fly via Miami than direct!