Start in Belize City but head straight to the water taxi terminal and book a ticket to laid-back Caye Caulker or more upbeat San Pedro on Ambergris Caye. Either place makes a good base for exploring the reef. After two or three days on the cays, return to Belize City and catch the bus straight to San Ignacio. If you only have time for one, we recommended Actun Tunichil Muknal cave. Track back down the Hummingbird Hwy to Hopkins for some beach time and Garifuna drumming.

Finish with a tour up to Mayflower Bocawina National Park for a day of hiking to waterfalls and ziplining through the jungle. Alternatively, visit the chocolate factory at Maya Center and make the excellent detour into the 'jaguar reserve' of Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary.

Exploring Belize's Deep South can take just a couple of days, but to truly appreciate the village life, allow five days. Punta Gorda is a chilled-out, slightly ramshackle coastal town and a natural spot to begin your trek.

The true beauty is in exploring the villages, chocolate-making enterprises and cultural tours out of PG. One of the best circuits is from Big Falls , then head off the highway to San Miguel , where you can stay with a local family before moving on to San Pedro Columbia , which you can use as a base to explore nearby Lubaantun.

Belize is small enough that you can easily see the whole country in a month at express pace. In two months you're practically a resident!

This itinerary leads the way, starting in the quaint Mestizo town of Corozal Town , just south of the Mexican border. From Sarteneja, catch the fast ferry to San Pedro. Stay on either Ambergris Caye or Caye Caulker , but allow yourself at least four days to chill out in a hammock, kayak out to the reef, frolic with the fish and feast on fresh seafood.

When you head back to the mainland, don't bypass the animal-lovers' sights outside Belize City in the Belize District, including the Community Baboon Sanctuary and the Belize Zoo.

If you're into birds, spend a night or two around the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary. The first stop is the Hol Chan Marine Reserve which is like swimming in an aquarium, thanks to its incredible visibility, brightly coloured coral and underwater life including turtles, dolphins and more than types of fish.

Shark Ray Alley is up next, which is exactly what it sounds like: the chance to snorkel with schools of nurse sharks. There are also mantarays and plenty of tropical fish, which make for a captivating underwater scene. The last stop of the day is a two-hour visit to Caye Caulker to have lunch and explore the island, before setting sail back to San Pedro with rum punches in hand. Grab a drink at the Lazy Lizard and sip it under a palm-thatched umbrella propped up right in the water, surrounded by sun-seekers tanning on the neighbouring dock.

Globe Guide explored Belize as a guest of some of the aforementioned resorts and tour operators. As always, hosts have no editorial influence on articles. Great post! We did the ATM tour and agree — not for the faint of heart! Nm found it.. Looks so exciting! Hmmm… Belize sounds very similar to the southern part of Mexico. From your list, the ATM tour seems to be the most exciting.

Love how clear and comprehensive this post is. The jungle side of Belize looks great, plus I never realized a day trip to Guatemala and the Tikkal ruins was possible.

Smart to base yourself in a central location to take advantage of this part of the country before settling in at the beach. The birds-eye view over the blue hole is incredible! That water is just too tempting.

The caves and those ruins are calling me! The ruins look so fun to photography. I want to take a catamaran too! Everything here is something I would love to do!

What a fantastic guide you have here! I love all the advice included with the suggested itinerary, like how best to see the Blue Hole and where to stay for specific activities. Anyway, thanks for sharing!

Pinning this! I kept scrolling down and thinking, this picture is awesome, wow, this one is amazing and it just keeps getting better and better! Catamaran cruise in those incredible waters is something I would totally love to experience.

And the Tikal Mayan ruins too. Your photos are gorgeous and make me want to book a trip to Belize right now. My son and his girlfriend visited last year and fell in love with it.

Now I can see why. Those caves look magic, and the hotel looks like a beautiful place to spend the night after a busy day in paradise. It all sounds great but the Lazy Lizard looks perfect for us! Thanks for the Blue Hole tip, I would have done the snorkel trip and been disappointed, it looks amazing from the air. Oh my gosh. That cave tour looks so epic!

Heck nah. Great last name, mine is Elliott too : so my girlfriend and I are headed to Belize Jan This will be our first time. We know we want to spend the first 3 days in San Ignacio and the last 4 in San Pedro. Our concer with air bnbs is transportation. If we wanted to fly to San Pedro from San Ignacio could we book day of, or would you recommend doing that in advance. We also definitely want to do Shark ray alley and probably Caye Caulker.

We have found several nice air bnbs too. We need help and suggestions. We want to go for as inexpensive as possible and spend more money on food and excursions vs. As I said, we feel atm is a must. Also my girlfriend is vegan. Think there will be plenty of food options for her? Yes definitely do ATM! Also, you can actually drive to San Pedro from San Ignacio, which should help you cut down on costs versus flying and will be easier to book.

This is the dry season when you can enjoy the best weather. Some places, like Placencia, can get rain all year long but it gets much worse in autumn. One week passes far too quickly. If you have more time, you can find lots more things to do in Belize. And for more Mayan ruins, rent a car in Belize city and go and check out Altun Ha. Make sure to check them out! Or click here to see all of our Belize content. If you travelled to Belize, did anything we listed on this itinerary or visited a place we have never heard of, we would love to hear from you.

Please leave us a comment and tell us about your experience. Thanks for the article. I love Belize. Have been twice and hope to return next year. One suggestion, listing prices, or a range of prices would be helpful.

Thank you so much for your comment, Ed! Thank you for your suggestion! Planning our first trip to Belize around April.

My question is, how hard will it be to find accommodations without advanced reservations. Many many many resorts airbnb. We will be there next week. May be a bit pricier because of last minute but plenty of options. We stayed at Sapphire Beach Resort 11 miles north of town once. This will be our second time at Tres Cocos resort. Ambergris caye fb pages have lots of good information and helpful hints!!! Best of luck.

Information outdated, Belize and Guatemala land and sea borders have been closed since early April Belize still has not issued when land and sea borders will open. You can not easily now backpack thru Central America. Many hostels are not open in Belize due to Gold Standard restrictions.

Due Diligence when now attempting backpacking thru Central America. Thank you for your comment, Zack. Hopefully, things will get better this year so travel becomes easier again! Without doult the best hidden Gem in San Ignacio is The Belize Raptor Center, daily Raptor shows of their Ambassadors, learn about the ecology of the area and about its abundance of Raptors.

During Covid you have to make an appointment and they follow all government guidelines. Call Thank you for the recommendation! This article made me miss Placencia and San Ignacio. Travel restrictions are lifting! I also miss Belize and would love to go back, so I hope that restrictions will lift soon and travel becomes easier again.

I found Belize very expensive. I was traveling solo and only had one free day. I had booked a trip to Lamanai and a safari river cruise to get there.

I later heard due to the pandemic, it is very common for them to keep cancelling leaving you in the lurch. Now I was left to do nothing or book privately. Guide -Marvin? I had a great time but NOT worth the price. Either I book again with Get Your Guide and chance they again will cancel or pay more to go privately.

Definitely poor business practice. Hi Ethel, We are very sorry to hear you had such a bad and expensive experience with Get Your Guide cancelling the tour! You are right, this is indeed poor business practice and we highly recommend you contact Get Your Guide and also leave a negative review.

Cancelled tours depend on the tour operator, and your review could warn other travellers from experiencing the same. Unfortunately, these things happen and have happened to us before. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

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