Christopher Columbus arrived in this Honduran town on his final voyage to the Americas in 1502, grateful to escape a treacherous tropical storm. You'll be grateful for different reasons: The Banana Coast port city of Trujillo offers a fascinating glimpse into Spanish-Caribbean history. The local mix includes everything from the architectural vestiges of the Spanish colony that inevitably sprang up in Columbus’s wake to the living culture of the Afro-Caribbean Garifuna, whose language, dance, and music have been jointly declared a UNESCO Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Then there's the natural beauty of the area: the wide sweep of the Bay of Trujillo, the carpeted slopes of Mount Capiro and Mount Calentura and the dense cloud forest of the Mahoguay River Valley, to name just a few.