COMING SOON Belize Itinerary Jan 2025

 

COMING SOON Belize Itinerary Jan 2025


ITINERARY: FOR HI RESOLUTION ITINERARY AND LINKS TO TOURS WE TOOK CLICK HERE: 


7-day Itinerary of Belize


PHOTOS: See photos here: 

AIRPORTS: We flew through 2 airports: BZE in Belize City & SPR in San Pedro on Ambergris Caye 
  • Belize City (BZE) International Airport: small airport. Customs can take up to an hour. Has free WiFi throughout airport.
  • John Greif II (SPR) San Pedro Airport: Only one baggage claim - be sure to keep your bag tag for any checked in luggage. Tiny airport. 
FLIGHTS:
  • We used Southwest Airlines to/from Belize City 
  • We took Tropic Airlines ($90/pp round trip) from BZE (Belize City) to SPR (San Pedro) 15-20 minute flight & had a great experience! Flights are in 9 - 13 passenger airplanes. On one of the trips, book a flight that has a stopover in Caye Caulker if you are not visiting via Ferry. Beautiful views! 
TRANSPORTATION: 
  • Private transportation: We booked a private transportation through Belize Limpkin Tours from BZE airport to Belize Zoo to San Ignacio ($80 usd/pp) and another driver from San Ignacio to BZE Airport ($50 usd/pp). We also used this company to book Xunantunich Mayan site shared tour and ATM Cave tour.
  • Uber:  No Uber/Lyft available in Belize 
  • Golf Carts: For San Pedro, we booked a golf cart through our hotel which included gas and transportation to/from hotel for $50/usd for 4-7 hours.
HOTEL: 
  • San Ignacio: We stayed at a newer hotel called West House Boutique Hotel. We had a very good experience here with the rooms, private balconies and service, but it is on the 2nd floor via steps and thinner walls. Location was awesome! 
  • San Pedro: We stayed in Sun breeze Hotel (not suites) and enjoyed our stay. Location is right across from the airport. No breakfast included. Beach is very clean. 
WEATHER: We went in January (the dry season). It was very hot during the afternoon, but the mornings and evenings was very tolerable. 

PAYMENT METHODS: 
  • Cash: Recommend bringing at least $100-200 USD per person in $5, $10, $20
    • No need to exchange money beforehand in the USA
    • Make sure USD bills are not torn or crumbled 
    • Everywhere accepts USD as a 2:1 exchange rate ($10 USD = $20 Belizean dollars)
    • If you give USD, you will likely receive back Belizean dollars. Use up the Belizean dollars before coming back to the US as converting money back is very difficult 
    • **NOTE: Most places would not allow credit cards unless you hit a $25 Belizean minimum 
  • Credit Cards: Some tour companies can charge 2-4% additional for using credit card instead of cash
    •  Only use credit cards with 0% foreign transaction fee
SAFETY: Emergency phone number is 911 for Ambulance/fire/police  
  • National language is English
  • In San Ignacio, we did feel a bit uncomfortable especially at night. Be aware of your surroundings.
  • San Pedro is very touristy and felt safe
  • There are very few sidewalks in both San Ignacio & San Pedro while walking on the streets. Wear good footwear and be careful when crossing the street/walking on the side.
WHAT TO PACK: 
  • Passport & print color copies of passport to carry in wallet (just in case)
  • No converter needed coming from the USA
  • Supportive shoes- San Pedro/San Ignacio has uneven, small sidewalks and cobblestones on the streets 
  • Reusable water bottle - bottled water only!!! 
  • Medication: Motrin/Tylenol, anti-diarrhea pills, gas-x, tums etc. 
  • Clothing: shorts, pants, shirts - everything is acceptable. Breathable clothing recommended. 
  • Swimsuits, Full Sleeves UPF 50 shirts, quick dry shorts/pants
  • Waterproof pouch for cell phone 
  • Sunblock, polarized sunglasses, & hat
  • See below what to pack if going on the ATM Cave tour 
COMMUNICATION: 
  • Download WhatsApp App to communicate with tour guide/groups/hotels: This is the main way we communicated with any shuttle/tour/hotels etc. 
  • We activated the international AT&T plan ($10 usd/day) for one smartphone. The other smartphone, we just used for photos. 
RANDOM TIPS:
  • Download Google maps offline for any city you will be visiting
  • If possible, avoid visiting any major tourist attraction on weekends / holidays due to heavy crowds. Morning & weekdays are much better to visit. 
  • BOTTLED WATER only. Make sure if you have any ice that it comes from purified filtered water. 
VEGETARIAN/VEGAN FOOD: 
  • Plenty of vegan/vegetarian options  




OUR RECOMMENDATIONS for San Ignacio & Ambergis Caye: 

San Ignacio: 

(1) ATM Cave Tour: This was an incredible and very adventurous experience!! We would only recommend doing this if in really good shape/strong knees/no kids. Otherwise, we would recommend skipping this and go cave tubing instead. Absolutely no cameras are allowed in the cave.
  • Tour Company: We set this experience up to Belize Limpkin ($150/pp). They pick/drop you off & guide you through the cave. Provide life jackets, helmet with a light & lunch after. Request vegetarian food for lunch if needed!
    • TIP: Request to go as early as possible!! Earlier you go, it's much easier to get     through the cave without all the groups.
  • What to take: 
    • Pack water bottles for you to carry until the cave entrance. You cannot take the water bottles /cameras/food etc. inside the cave. 
    • change of clothes / shoes
    • very thick wool socks!! There is one area of the cave where you can only walk with socks.
    • We wore water shoes with thick soles, but it was recommended by our guide to wear hiking/tennis shoes instead. 
    • Long pants & long sleeve shirt recommended. We had several cuts/bruises after. 
  • Schedule: 
    • 1 hour -- Pick up - Mennonite farm - Parking lot
    • 1 hour -- easy hiking to the entrance of the ATM cave. You will have to cross 3 rivers. There are bathrooms for women & nature potty for men.
    • 2-3 hours -- Walk & swim through the cave
    • 1 hour - Walk back to parking lot
    • Lunch
    • Transport back to hotel
(2) Mayan Ruins:
  • From San Ignacio, you have several options of Mayan sites including: (1) Xunantunich, (2) Cahal Pech &/or crossing the border to Guatemala and seeing (3) Tikal. We did not visit Cahal Pech. We visited Tikal on a previous visit to Guatemala and HIGHLY recommend going there!!! Xunantunich Mayan Site was good, but it's a very small site that you can see and not as extensive as Tikal.
    • - Xunantunich Mayan Site: Beautiful site, small, this area is huge, but only a small amount is displayed. It was super fun to take the pulley bridge across the river to access the site!!! We had fun on this. We booked this half-day shared tour with Belize Limpkin for $85/pp which included transportation, the ferry & tour of the site. You can combine this site with others such as cave tubing or Cahal Pech.
    • Tikal Mayan site in Guatemala : See our adventures to Tikal here. It's a short drive from San Ignacio, Belize with a tour company or could fly there.
  • We probably would have done (1) Tikal - sunrise tour (if we hadn't done this on a previous trip) and/or (2) Xunantunich Mayan Site combined with Cahal Pech to get the full experience.

Ambergris Caye - San Pedro Town:

(1) Snorkeling Hol Chan Marine Reserve & Shark Ray Alley 

(2) Chocolate Making Class 



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