Belize

[merled]

Any tips on best time of year to go, things to see etc. Plan on seven nights there.

[BK001]

Hi,
I've never been there but I read somewhere that Belize has a very, very high crime rate. Please check with your travel agent or google crime in Belize and figure out what you need to know/do in order to stay safe on your vacation. I'm not an alarmist but I remember the article I read left quite an impression on me.

[billethkid]

It appears you are doing your home work.
Google Belize/safety.....if you haven't already. There will be a lot said.

We do this for every place we travel to when on extended holidays and visits.

Good luck.

[tophcfa]

Scuba dive and snorkel. Beautiful coral and fish. It's on my bucket list.

[MikeV]

Scuba Diving in Cozumel Mexico should be at the top of your Bucket List.


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[new peeps]

We spent a week in San Pedro Belize. It is a island out from Belize city. The food is good. The diving is top notch. San Pedro was safe for us. We walked in the city and on the beaches at night with no issues. If you dive Eagle Ray wall is one of the best wall dives I have done. They also have the blue hole. It is over 400 feet deep. We also went to the Belize zoo. I would put that on the list as it is very different than anything in the states. Lots of room for the animals to roam. They had some beautiful black panthers. We also tubed panther creek, It is a 4mile long cave. If you have fear of dark places this might not be for you. We also went to Honduras for a week while we was there. Tikal Ruins was very impressive. Enjoy your trip.

[JerryLBell]

My wife and I went to Belize several years ago in May. That turned out to be a bit of a disappointment as it's the hottest and driest month of the year, which curtailed some of the bird-watching we'd planned on doing at a bird sanctuary there (Crooked Tree, if I recall). Also, some of the hotels and restaurants on Amerbergris Caye were shut down for the month as it is their slow season. Of course, that probably meant that we got better room rates. Other than that, it really wasn't all that hot. I would go back in a minute but I might choose a different month.

We've snorkeled at both Cozumel, Mexico and off Ambergris Caye, Belize and Belize was far, far more enjoyable. The coral was healthier and more plentiful, the fish more varied and numerous and the water far calmer and with far less current. Highly recommended. And the water is that incredible Caribbean turquoise that we just can't get enough of. Though we didn't go there, I understand that the "Blue Hole" is a great spot for divers and perhaps for snorkelers. And if you go at the right time of year (not sure when that is), you might see whale sharks and you would earn my envy. One lady we met at the bird sanctuary had just spent a night or two at the southern coast specifically to snorkel with whale sharks so maybe they come around May. If that's important to you, you'd have to research it.

We took a boat trip of a river (sorry, can't remember the name) to some Mayan ruins that was really quite enjoyable. We saw a ton of birds and some other wildlife (like howler monkeys) and the ruins were quite fascinating. As in parts of Mexico, many people there are rightfully proud of their Mayan heritage.

Belize IS a third-world country and there is a lot of property-related crime in the cities. But you see that in every third-world country. I would NOT walk around in downtown Belize City at night though. Or maybe even in the day. Out in tourist areas, we felt very safe and secure and never had a problem. But you don't go to Belize to see the cities - you go to see the country and especially the nature areas! And those are the tourist spots. About the closest thing we came to a problem wasn't even a crime, just someone taking advantage of us. At the national airport (which is a 2 1/2 hour-or-so direct flight from Miami on the right airline), somebody offered to help us with our bags to our next flight (you take a small puddle-jumper out to the Cayes). We gave him a couple of bucks, he grabbed the bags and we walked through a door and he gave us our bags back. I mean, the "internal" flights were literally though a door from the "international" flights. Oh well, it was only a couple of bucks.

The drinking water was fine in Belize, so we didn't come back with Montezuma's Revenge or anything. The food was quite enjoyable (and I am NOT an adventurous eater). The snapper was excellent, the "stew chicken" very good and the "Johnny Cakes" a real treat. The beef (mostly from Brahman cattle) tasted a little weird to me but that may have just been the marinade. We mostly ate chicken and fish and lots of beans and rice (or was it rice and beans?).

If I recall, the Belizean dollar is tied to the US dollar at a 2:1 rate. That makes it easy to figure out how much you're paying for things. Just divide the price by two, unless they are specifically quoting it in US dollars.

Being a one-time British colony, the official language is English and everybody is required to learn it in school, with the exception of the Mennonites, who speak Plautdietsch (Low German). However, many people speak a patois of English and Spanish (and maybe a few other languages) called Belize Creole and the accents may be hard to follow. Still, you can usually converse pretty easily with just about anybody.

The whole country is so small that you could do a driving tour of nearly the entire perimeter in a day. But the preserved nature areas are wonderful for nature buffs.

We plan on going back some time, though there are many other places we might want to do for the first time before repeating this. My sister-in-law is going in a couple of weeks and if has a great time and tells us about it, we may have to elevate it in our vacation priorities.

[JerryLBell]

We also went to the Belize zoo. I would put that on the list as it is very different than anything in the states. Lots of room for the animals to roam. They had some beautiful black panthers.
I've heard good things about the zoo. We hadn't heard about it when we were there but would go there when and if we go back. We generally like to go to zoos and/or aquariums that feature local wildlife when visiting a new area. For example, the aquarium on Maui was an excellent way to acquaint ourselves with the fish we were going to be seeing in all the snorkel trips we took.