San Pedro Sula is Honduras's second-largest city and its main industrial and commercial hub, sitting in the fertile Sula Valley in the country's north, and a rental car is a practical way to move between the city's business districts and the surrounding valley towns. Most visitors arrive at Ramon Villeda Morales International Airport (SAP), a short drive south of the city center, with rental counters from international and local operators inside the terminal, and pickup is generally efficient given the airport's steady commercial traffic.
From the airport, downtown San Pedro Sula is roughly a twenty-to-thirty-minute drive north, while the CA-5 highway, Honduras's main north-south corridor, runs through the valley connecting the city to Tegucigalpa in the south, a longer drive of around three to four hours through increasingly mountainous terrain, and to the Caribbean port town of Puerto Cortes in the north, a shorter trip of roughly an hour. The Sula Valley itself is intensively farmed, and roads branching off the CA-5 connect to smaller agricultural towns throughout the region.
Driving is on the right throughout Honduras, and the CA-5 is generally paved and well used, though road quality varies on secondary routes and mountain sections toward Tegucigalpa can be genuinely winding, with fog and rain affecting visibility during the wetter months from roughly May through November. Traffic within San Pedro Sula itself can be heavy during weekday rush hours given the city's industrial base, so allow extra time for trips through the urban core. Fuel stations are plentiful along the CA-5 and throughout the city, making refueling straightforward on longer highway legs. A standard sedan handles valley and highway driving comfortably, though those continuing toward Tegucigalpa's mountainous approach may prefer a vehicle with a little more power for the sustained climbs along the way, and it is worth checking current weather before setting off on that longer southbound leg.