Quote:
Originally Posted by stazzy33
Looking for recommendations for Belize. The wife and I have a trip booked at the end of October for 9 days. We are thinking of splitting our time between San Ignacio, Placencia, and Caye Caulker.
Wondering about renting a car vs. shuttles, hotel recommendations, and other places that may not be on our list to add or replace on our itinerary.
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We have been three times and liked all our trips. First time was many years ago to Placencia and Ambergris Caye, more recently “glamping” out on Glovers Reef, inland staying at Banana Bank resort, and finally, just in February, Caulker.
Recommendations:
I wouldn’t drive. Shuttle vans are everywhere and much easier to deal with as they know where to go. I’d especially do this for places closer to the border. You’d likely be fine, but there is a risk, so why take it? The only caution on the shuttle vans is, if you have arranged through a tour company, hotel, or other third party and have paid them, make sure the driver knows this up front. We had one driver try and have us pay him when we had already paid. The driver was trying to shake us down for gas money and we ended up going back to who arranged it with to get it sorted.
I wouldn’t wander through parts of Belize City at night but we have areas of YYC one should be cautious of too. During the day the main area by the water was fine to walk around. I’ve felt I’ve been in much sketchier places in “first world” countries. In Placencia and for sure Caulker, the most dangerous are drunken tourists in golf carts or on bikes. No idea on San Ig.
Xunantunich - lots of tours to this Mayan site. Should be quite easy to get to from San Ig.
Belize Zoo - If you aren’t against captive animals it is a good small zoo. They have local animals which you’d unlikely see in the wild.
Diving snorkeling- We are scuba divers. Yep, the Meso-American reef is right out there, though the better condition reefs are a long boat ride away. Placencia should have some snorkeling spots. We were on a dive trip to see whale sharks when we were there and went way out to the edge of the reef. Glovers was about an hour+ boat ride from Hopkins and had some reef right there. Caulker really doesn’t have snorkel/dive spots at it but they do day trips out to Ambergris which does have some reef. They also do nurse shark feedings on many of those tours. We’re not big on the shark tours as we like to see our sharks in the wild, but if they help dispel the myth sharks are nothing but man eaters then ok. (Nurse sharks are like puppies, kind of like Darnell, harmless.)
Bug spray - bring some, buy some, use it in the evening.
Caye Caulker stuff
If you are looking for laid back, do nothing but relax, reading or getting some sun, Caulker is pretty awesome. Is you want to party, it has that all over too. It is still fairly laid back and not heavily commercial. If Ambergris is Cancun, Caulker would be more like Isla Mujeres. Caulker is a day trip destination for people coming from Ambergris so it quiets down a bit in the evening.
We stayed at the Rainbow Hotel in Caulker. We really liked this family run place. The people were super nice. We had a ground floor room but might opt for a second floor unit next. Beds were comfortable, the AC worked well, and the water hot. The units have a bar fridge. You’re right along the main road so there is lots of action right outside. They have on site bike rentals, their own reserved beach chairs, and an associated restaurant which was quite popular.
Restaurants we liked on Caulker:
Rainbow Grill - the hotel restaurant. Open air right on the water. The burritos were huge, nachos too.
Fran’s beachside grill - want good BBQ? Fran’s is the place. It is a little hut, a couple coal BBQs, and some folding tables. What more do you need? We ate there twice in the week we were there. Fran is hilarious.
Errolyn’s house of fryjacks - You must have fryjacks on the island for breakfast at least once, and must have one from Errolyn’s.
Jenny’s to go food - she serves out of the side of her house. It’s good, it’s always got locals there, worth the wait. There is a place right beside Jenny - I don’t recall the name - which served good salads. Greens seem tough to find on the island. He has good smoothies too.
Yummy Yummy - another place we went to repeatedly. The name is accurate. Chinese food served my the happiest Chinese people ever. They also made good fried chicken. Huge portions.
Chef Juan - Great curry dishes, another dual visit place.
Dee N D’s waterside grill - grab you bug spray and head on over to the west side of the island for sunsets and good BBQ. It was a bit of a wait but a good family run place. Make sure to head out to the docks nearby and see the eagle and stingrays.
The Magic Cup - coffee, paninis, cakes, and AC.
We didn’t do any of the tours, Rainbow likely has some relatives running one of them! We did take the bikes on the “ferry” across The Split to the north island and road to the end of it and back. We stopped at La Fogata for a drink. They serve fire roast pizzas which could be good. The north island is getting built up with fancy Miami crowd resorts. Hopefully the south side can retain it’s charm.
I’ll stop there. PM if you have questions.
