About Río Dulce

Rio Dulce means “sweet river” which connects the Izabal Lake with the Caribbean Sea. This river has become a popular cruising sailboat destination. The river begins at the point where it flows out of Lake Izabal.

At the entrance to the river there is a small Spanish colonial fort, the Castillo de San Felipe de Lara, built to stop pirates entering the lake from the Caribbean when this part of Central America was an important shipping staging point. Just after the river flows from Lake Izabal it is spanned by one of the biggest bridges in Central America.

On one side of the bridge is the town of Fronteras, commonly referred to by the name Río Dulce, the local center of commerce for the area. Fronteras has a local vegetable market, attracting locals from the countryside who arrive in canoes.