I’d been planning a trip to Belize for years, so it was with great excitement that a close friend of mine and I found relatively inexpensive tickets over Thanksgiving 2017. Unfortunately, there are no direct flights from NYC, so we flew via Toronto on the way there with WestJet and Miami with American on the return, with about 10 days on the ground. This was my first time flying WestJet and I was impressed with the ahead-of-time departure and incredibly nice disposition of the airline staff, both at the gate and on the plane.
The Great Blue Hole
I subscribe to Scott’s Cheap Flights (just the regular, unpaid, subscription, though I imagine the paid one also provides lots of value) as well as The Points Guy (especially good for credit card signup points and other alerts). For this trip, I didn’t use either, opting to set price drop alerts in Google Flights. Once the price dropped to about $600, we purchased our tickets (a reasonable price for that time of year when booking less than a month in advance).
This map may be useful to anyone planning a trip to Belize - there’s nice detail on it.
We arrived in Belize City in the early afternoon and made our way to the domestic check-in for a charter flight we booked with Tropic Air that would take us around the Great Blue Hole and then to San Pedro. One thing to note: there is a duty free store before you exit International Arrivals. Staff told me prices were in Belizean Dollars (exchange rate of 2 BZD=1 USD), so we bought some wine here. However, I later saw on my credit card statement that I’d been charged in USD at the displayed prices - so everything was twice as expensive as it should have been. Avoid.
We booked our charter flight with Tropic Air for 1755 BZD total (including taxes). Note that we also tried contacting Maya Air, another local airline, for a quote, but despite several emails, they never got back to us. Once on the domestic side, everything went smoothly, and we were told to check in with Tropic Air at our departure gate. The agent working there said he’d come find us in the terminal once our small Cessna airplane was ready. The terminal features a bar, a few small places for a quick bite, and some souvenir shops - best to purchase food before arriving at the airport if you plan to spend any amount of time there. Unfortunately no lounges/Priority Pass here (hopefully you’ve all got your Chase Sapphire Reserve card, which offers free Priority Pass access as one of its many benefits).
Our airplane was ready for us at the requested time, and after some brief introductions with our friendly pilot, we were off! It was about a 30 minute flight out to the Great Blue Hole, and it was worth every penny we’d spent on the charter flight. Our pilot circled around the hole multiple times, from high above and closer to the ground, and he also swooped by a nearby shipwreck that juts out of the water. We had plenty of photo opportunities and highly recommend the experience. From there, it was another 20 minutes or so to reach San Pedro, where we were met by someone from our guest house, Casa del Rai. Located just north of town and within walking distance, it was a nice place to stay for our four nights on the island, and it has a rooftop pool to boot.
One of the main reasons we had decided on Belize was for the scuba diving, and Belize did not disappoint. My travel companion got PADI Open Water certified with the Belize Pro Dive Center (you can read my Tripadvisor review here), which went very well. Their representative Emeliano was very responsive over email, which we really appreciated. I was previously PADI Rescue Diver certified, and while my friend was doing her certification dives, the dive shop helped connect me to a boat going out on the full-day Blue Hole diving trip (featuring 3 dives and a visit to Half Moon Caye to hang at the beach as well as see the red footed boobies). The people on the boat were very friendly and I quickly made friends, which made the day much more enjoyable. If you are Advanced Open Water certified and have done at least 25 dives, this is a day not to be missed. Note: you should not be considering doing this dive if you are newly Open Water certified. Get some more experience, get comfortable at different depths, learn to descend quickly, and then sign up.
Red footed booby on Half Moon Caye
For my friend’s final certification dives, we requested to go to Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley so that I could join her for the afternoon. The diving conditions at Hol Chan were excellent - a large quantity of fish, and the reefs were in very good shape. We also really enjoyed swimming with the nurse sharks and sting rays in Shark Ray Alley (though I do oppose the practice of constantly feeding them - this should really be stopped).
Our golf cart and the flooded road north
The food on San Pedro surpassed our expectations. Of particular note was El Fogon, to which we went twice because of how great their fish coconut curry was. Also be sure to try the chilmole soup. Elvi’s Kitchen was also pretty good. We loved the Belize Chocolate company - not only do they serve delicious, rich chocolate drinks made with Belizean dark chocolate, they also have great chocolate kitchen and bath products. Not to be missed is the chocolate mint body scrub. The Palapa bar & grill is a nice spot over the water for a drink. Further afield, for which you’ll need to rent a golf cart, the Rojo lounge is a great spot to chill and have drinks right on the water. Just past it is the wonderful and upscale Matachica Resort. We just stopped for lunch, but we really didn’t want to leave. When we rent, the road north became impassable about a 20 min drive after Matachica - it was completely flooded, and we didn’t want to risk getting the golf cart stuck (every rental place will let you know that soon after you leave town, the roads become unpaved, and if you get stuck or run out of gas, a rescue will be quite costly). Note: do not rent from Road Runner rentals. We prepaid and confirmed our one-day booking the night before, but the cart never showed up. We ended up needing to rent elsewhere last-minute and had to submit a claim with my credit card company to get our money back, as they completely stopped responding to us (read my Tripadvisor review here).
On the way back into town, we enjoyed a nice sunset from Rain Rooftop Terrace.
After spending 4 nights on San Pedro, we took a ferry to Caye Caulker (roughly 30 minutes) for another 2 nights. We walked over to Seaside Cabanas (5 min from the ferry) to check in, only to be told our room was not yet ready (though it was after check-in time). We were also told that because the previous guest had had their hotel key stolen, there was just one key that we needed to make sure not to lose. Needless to say, especially as two female travelers, this did not make us feel safe. The ambiance in the hotel was a bit off-putting, and I would not stay there again.
We did a day trip dive with Belize Diving Services to Turneffe Atoll. While the dive shop was professional, the trip was relatively expensive, and the reef was simply in poor condition. The visibility was also bad due to some windy weather in the previous days. We had a better time hanging out at Koko King for a sunset, watersports, swings and drinks. They regularly do free pick-ups and drop-offs from the west side of Caye Caulker. Another enjoyable and free activity was the sunset yoga with RandOM yoga (they also do morning yoga for those so inclined). We also checking out the animal shelter on the island, which is an ad-hoc operation, but can be fun to swing by if you’re missing your furry companion back home.
Sunset swinging at Koko King
Foodwise, one afternoon we walked by La Cubana and noticed a whole roasting pig - it was fresh and delicious, and the skin was crackling. As Caye Caulker is very much an expat island, there was no shortage of restaurants doing Thanksgiving specials. We enjoyed meeting the very friendly and kind owner of Wish Willy whilst spending our Thanksgiving there feasting on turkey and homemade cake.
As far as the never-ending Ambergris Caye vs Caye Caulker debate goes, we were glad to have seen both and felt that our split of 4 nights on Ambergris and 2 nights on Caye Caulker was a good one for us. Ambergris Caye is bigger, and there’s more to do from there. We also thought the diving closer to Ambergris was better. Caye Caulker is cute, but ultimately very small and felt a bit sleepy.
For the inland leg of our trip, we took the water taxi from Caye Caulker to Belize City (45-60 min) and arranged for a driver to meet us via Mayan Heart Shuttle from the water taxi terminal in Belize City. We stopped for a quick photo opp at the Belize sign near the terminal, then made our way to cave tube at the Nohoch Che’en Caves (roughly $30 USD per person), stopping for a quick food stall lunch in Belmopan, and ending the day in Tikal in Guatemala ($125/person, including transfer on the Guatemalan side to Tikal with their sister company). In Tikal we stayed at the Jungle Lodge ($54/night total for a room with 2 beds and shared bathroom). We booked a sunrise tour through the lodge, which was one of the highlights of the trip, and one of the most memorable sunrises I have ever seen. Our guide had grown up in the area but also spent time in the U.S. and was not only incredibly knowledgeable, but also funny and entertaining. Your guide will lead you to Templo IV, which you climb in silence (guides along the way will shush you if you try to disturb the peace) and wait at the top as the sunrise creeps into view. You’ll hear the cries of howler monkeys from around the site, and the colours changing behind the other distant temples (Tikal is a very large site) are unforgettable.
Later that afternoon, we arranged for Mayan Heart Shuttle to transport us back to San Ignacio ($45/person), where we checked into our splurge hotel for the trip: the San Ignacio Resort Hotel (roughly $200/night). San Ignacio is a sleepy town, but it’s the jumping off point for visiting the ATM caves. You’ll need to book a tour to do this (and it’s a must-do); we booked ours with Pacz tours, who picked us up at our hotel in the morning, dropping us off again around 5pm ($95 USD/person). The ATM cave tour is quite an experience - prepare to be completely soaked (you will be swimming multiple times in full clothing). The only dry spot you’ll have is underneath your helmet, at the top of your head. I wore water shoes, which I would highly recommend. You will also squeeze through a couple of small places, and the tour will move slowly, since there are a number of other tour groups in there at any time. Note that due to tourists dropping cell phones and stepping atop precious Mayan artifacts, there are now many rules around what you can bring into the cave. For one, no water is allowed inside the cave, and you must bring socks in order to be able to walk around the deep part of the cave, even if you aren’t wearing them the rest of the time. Despite all the rules, the cave was one of the highlights of our trip.
To relax post-cave, for our final night, we booked 90-minute chocolate massages through our hotel, which were worth every penny. The next morning, we were picked up by Ronald Ron’s Belize shuttle (run by an expat Dutchman, $45/person, cash only) and dropped off at the Belize airport (after a quick and worthwhile detour at Belize Rum Cakes to pick up some of their namesake product). Overall, we really enjoyed our time in Belize, and I would go back in a heartbeat. We didn’t get to explore the diving and area around Glover’s Atoll, which I hope to do next. Belize is definitely a country worth going back to! (As is Guatemala!)
What to bring
Water shoes
Mosquito repellent
Sunscreen
Scuba diving cards & gear
(Disposable) socks (government rule for ATM cave tour)
Where to stay
Casa del Rai, San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize
Matachica Resort, Ambergris Caye, Belize
San Ignacio Resort Hotel, San Ignacio, Belize
Jungle Lodge in Tikal, Guatemala
Where to eat
El Fogon, Ambergris Caye, Belize
Belize Chocolate company, Ambergris Caye, Belize
Rojo lounge, Ambergris Caye, Belize
La Cubana, Caye Caulker, Belize
Wish Willy’s, Caye Caulker, Belize
Belize Rum Cakes, Belize City, Belize