BootsnAll Travel Community

Hi.

Ill be going to Belize next Spring. I am looking for some tips on things to do in Belize.

Does anyone know of the best things to do there?(Jungle Treks, Waterffalls, Scuba/Snorkel, Rafting, Caving, etc.)

we spent a night in neighboring guatemala to see flores and tikal, definately not something to miss! it is dramatically different from belize though. we skipped over belize city (and when we bussed through, it affirmed our decision to do that). when we came back from across the guatemalan border, we stayed at a jungle lodge ish place called the trek stop, halfway between the border and san ignacio. you MUST stay there! so many things to do there, definately set aside three days. you can do horseback riding, caving, tubing, hiking, everything. i didn't really get a kick out of san ignacio itself though. right now, we're on caye caulker and i am SO glad we came here! the water is beautiful and blue, it's nice and humid, the people are friendly, the drinks are strong.. they have a lot of snorkeling places, and a couple of scuba places. there's also some windsurfing too. oh, and there aren't really any paved roads, so everyone rides around on golf carts! if i think of anything else, i'll post it up on here. hope this helped!

Belize is such a wonderful country- here is my best things list by areas:

San Ignacio-
Caracol- wonderful ruins- huge but very few tourists

Actun Tunichel Muknal- cave with artifacts and skeletons- definitely a must do if you are in that area it is an incredible experience.

Belize Zoo- Between Cayotown and Belmophan

Caye Caulker- swimming/snorkeling Shark/Ray alley

Placencia- Diving and snorkeling with Splash Diving (end of the sidewalk)

Tours- Red Banks Macaw Perserve and the Cockscomb Jacquar Perserve with Doyle from Night Wind( next to Splash diving)

Monkey River - with Evar from Placencia Office Supply
I have found that traveling on my own works well but when I go to see something it helps to take a guide- they are so knowledgable.

Belize is a gorgeous amazing country and the month I spent there just wasn’t enough!

Ditto to all of the recommendations above, particularly San Ignatio, which I loved! I would really recommend staying at the Windy Hills Resort, a bit further out of the town but still walkable and definitely hitchable.

That said I have just looked for the website and see the price! I stayed there as a surprise treat when travelling with my boyfriend, maybe not budget accommodation but gorgeous place to stay and a fabulous bar. http://www.windyhillresort.com

They also sorted us out with transport to Xanuntunich (Great ruins but not sure I spelt it right) and horse riding for a day, which I would really recommend in that area.

Going back to the bar for a second they served the best ‘Panty rippers’ I had anywhere. This is a local speciality cocktail with coconut rum and pineapple juice – so delicious, although you might feel a little silly ordering a panty ripper at first!

Anyway, the other fabulous place I would recommend for beautiful island hopping, aside from Caye Caulker is a small island called Tobacco Caye, just off land from Dangriga. The island is only about 50meters long and has a dozen or so little cabañas, with one bar/restaurant where everyone gets together to eat dinner in the evening. It is heavenly, nothing to do except suns bathe, snorkel or dive (there is a dive school there) and it is really nice to socialise with the other travellers for lunch and dinner together. I’m not sure of the name of the place we stayed but we just called the number in the Rough Guides book and had a room the very day without a reservation. I think it was only around 30-40USD/night with three meals included.

Boats can be organised from the island and leave from outside the harbour side pub I think but ask any local and they will take you to a man with a boat who will said you across for a few dollars. We were barely off the bus and someone offered us a lift.

Whilst Tobacco Caye was amazing, I didn’t rate Dangriga itself much and wouldn’t recommend you stay there longer that transferring to the boat.

Another place I would hesitate to recommend is the Eco Jungle Lodge in the Mayflower national park just outside Dangriga, I think it is Mama Noots. We stayed there and whilst there is one gorgeous airy room as advertised on their website, the rest are cement block rooms with no windows and painted black! Very odd place to stay with a rather arrogant American in charge with plans to build a quad bike track trough the jungle – very eco friendly! However this may have all changed now and I may be doing him a great disservice!

A couple more quick things….. Don’t miss out Belize City, it is a really cool place although I can see whay just driving through to the bus park you might disagree, just explore it a bit more and I’m sure you will enjoy it more.

Also, buses/coaches in Belize are great and I hate busses! Probably worth paying a little bit extra for the express busses tho.

Sorry… going on a bit now, can you tell how much I loved I there? But if you go to Placencia, try the italian ice-cream parlour it is amazing!!

Hope you have fin there, let me know if you have any more questions. And I apologise if some of my spellings are a bit dodgy!

I had a great time in Belize this past Spring.

The ATM cave tour (mentioned above) near San Ignacio was my favorite adventure/tour EVER! You'll feel like Indiana Jones hiking through the stream up into a cave to view sacrifical remains.

My second great adventure was a 300 foot rappel into a sinkhole in the jungle. It was lead by Ian Anderson's Caves Branch Jungle Lodge, which I stayed at for 2 (scary, howling monkey filled) nights. The primary guide on my rappel was also the #1 wilderness rescue guy in Belize, and probably much of Central America. You're in good hands!

Besides the array of expeditions they lead (both day and overnight), staying at the actual lodge itself is quite an experience. There are no electric lights, so at night, you only have kerosene lamps. It's set in the jungle near a river, with minimum development, so I also had an encounter with an jurassic size cockroach flying onto the dinner table. Ironically, a couple who was on the Fear Factor TV show was staying at the lodge as part of a prize from the show.

The homemade salsa they make during happy hour was the best of my trip. It's a little costly, but worth a short stopover. Here's the web link:

http://www.cavesbranch.com/

If you are going in the early spring (around February), I would highly recommend visiting Red Bank village. Red Bank is about 4km west of the Southern Highway, south of Placencia. During January and February flocks of Scarlet Macaws come to the hills surrounding the town. The place doesn't see too many visitors. A local man named Jeronimo Sho is trying to start a private reserve/camping area outside of town called Hummingbird Paradise. That's probably the only official place to stay near the village. We ended up paying a local family to put us up for the night.

One place you might wat to chek our is Xunatunich these are some great Mayan ruins close to the border with Guatamala.

Really try to do the Actun Tunichel Muknal tour and Tikal. Both are great experiences. A couple of years ago, we stayed at DuPlooy's, a jungle lodge located in the Cayo District outside of San Ignacio. It's pretty expensive to stay there but we had a great experience.

If you scuba dive, the Blue Hole was a good but not great experience. I had bad visibility the day I went and the boat ride was pretty tough due to rough seas. What was cool though is that they chummed the water at the end our dive which allowed 5-10 minutes of very close encounters with reef sharks.

One of the most overlooked pearls in Belize in my opinion is the homestays in the Mayan villages in Toledo. Amazing, friendly people with life teachings that get us thinking hard about our world. One opportunity is at Na Luum Ca.

Trek Stop was fun and a good way to meet travelers. We really enjoyed the guide Rosita at Xunantunich. She is a Mayan healer and daughter of a midwife.

We barely scratched the surface and everything we touched was golden. You will have a good time.

I'm biased, but I think the whole Toledo District is one of the most overlooked pearls in Belize!

As well as the Maya Homestay and TEA programmes, Toledo can also provide you with your jungle treks, waterfalls and caving, and diving conservation holidays at Franks Caye in the Sapodilla Range (see ReefCI's website).