Guide to Belize
This post is a summary of our trip (Eli and I) to Belize. I hope you find this post inspiring or use it as a guide when you do visit Belize!
When planning our trip, our goal was to explore all that Belize could offer. We wanted to immerse ourselves in the genuine culture, endless beauty, and adventure of such a special country. We decided that we would spend half the time in the jungle and half the time by the water.
SLEEPING GIANT RAINFOREST LODGE:
We spent the first half of our trip staying at the Sleeping Giant Rainforest Lodge in Belmopan, Belize. The resort was a 1.5 hour drive inland from the International airport in Belize City and there were many options offered for traveling back and forth (see travel tip below for suggestions).
Everything about our stay was perfect. We were lucky to have 4 days at the resort where most rooms were not booked (travel tip below about best time to visit Belize). The resort offers an immense list of activities, including their sustainable agriculture and animal farming on site.
On site, the resort has a family of peacocks, bunnies, ducks, chickens, and bountiful amounts of fresh herbs, plants, and fruits including acres of citrus trees. Guests are allowed to play with the animals and explore the agriculture in and around the resort. On top of the wonderful activities within the resort including kayaking and paddle boarding on the river, the resort offered lists of jungle explorations.
Sleeping Giant staff made it easy to book the day of if you wanted to explore the below (during the busy season January to early May, perhaps book a few weeks in advance):
Mayan Ruins
Cave tubing
Cave repelling
Zip lining
River tubing
Mayan culture
Chocolate making
Horse back riding
…and the list continues! Most activities are half day or a full day. For more activities, check out https://www.sleepinggiantbelize.com/adventures/
We chose to go zip lining at Angel Falls and explore one of the Mayan Ruins called Xunantunich. Ziplining was thrilling, exciting, and unforgettable. The course is the longest (8 total lines) in Central America and the staff at the course were helpful and fun. If you love heights and looking down upon tree tops, I highly recommend zip lining! The price is reasonable and the course is safe! Exploring Xunantinuch was surreal as well. It was a 1.5 hour drive from the resort to get to the site. There were about 10 separate excavated sites at Xunantunich but X-rays show there are 40+ sites pending excavation. We climbed the ruins and our tour guide thoroughly explained the culture and advanced society the Mayans once were living in Xunantunich thousands of years ago. This tour was all inclusive, and included immersion in Mayan culture. We explored a traditional Mayan village and market, and had lunch at a wonderful Mayan women’s co-op where they cooked for us, taught us how to make corn tortillas, and showed us their traditional pottery.
There was one restaurant at the resort and the food was delicious! The Grove House Restaurant is rated one of the best in Belize and has a surprising twist behind the kitchen. Before the resort was built (about 5 years ago), the restaurant was the main attraction and actually started as a kitchen made for British soldiers camping in and around the jungle.
PLACENCIA
We spent the second half of our trip in Placencia. We chose to spend half the trip by the ocean because we are big divers and yearned for easy access to dive sites. Placencia is a small peninsula on the southern tip of Belize. Placencia culture is abundant with fruit stands, local restaurants, shops, and easily accessible beaches all along the coast. We didn’t have a car to explore the area but we stayed in a wonderful air bnb (Dolce Cabana Waterfront Suites) in the heart of the Placencia village so walking around was no more than 20 minutes.
If you are inclined to explore more of the peninsula, there are golf carts you can easily rent during the day that we actually used for one of the days we were not diving. The resorts on the peninsula have an open door policy and love for you to explore their resort, use their pool, and eat their food.
For foodies, I would suggest the below restaurants. Everything was delicious, reasonably priced, and authentic! I would describe the food as a mix of Caribbean and Central American with a twist of Belize.
Rum Fish Y Vino
Maya Beach Bistro
Dawns Grill
Omars Creole Grub
Barefoot Beach Bar
In addition to the delicious food recommended above, there are numerous family owned taco stands along the main road you can stop by for a quick bite. Along the elbow of the Peninsula was an authentic taco and burrito stand that we loved. We ate 5 delicious tacos and had fresh fruit juices for just $1.50 USD!
TRAVEL TIPS:
*Transportation: If you visit Belize, I would recommend renting a car (can easily rent between $39-79 USD a day) if you plan to drive around to explore places yourself. If not, shuttle services, shared or private are also easy to book. Private shuttles are a little pricy, and sometimes more expensive than flying if you are flying from Belize City to Placencia (the beach peninsula). Flights can go for as cheap as $30 from Placencia to Belize City and it is a quick 30 minutes flight overseeing the vast blue ocean. We found out that flights were cheaper and quicker than a 3 hours $200+ shuttle from Placencia to Belize City!
*Best time to visit Belize: Traveling at the end of May is the end of the dry season and the start to the rainy season. I would recommend traveling during this off peak time to explore Belize without crowds and high volume of tourists. Although the forecast said it would thunderstorm and rain daily, we experienced no rain the entire trip! Because of the dry season, bugs were not abundant even in the dense jungle!
*Sleeping Giant Rainforest Lodge: If you choose to stay here, I suggest staying at least a few days to attend a few tours and also to explore the resort. At the resort, there was a 20-30 minutes gazebo hike that led to the top of a look out point allowing you to see the sleeping giant mountain range across the resort. I can promise you this view was worth the uphill hike!
*Another popular destination to visit is Hopkins. Hopkins is another small touristy town with many beach resorts. This is a very family oriented area in Belize and is absolutely stunning!
*Throughout the dry season (typically from December to April) you have the option to reside on surrounding islands in Belize (you can also stay there during the rainy season but some resorts and activities are limited). One place in particular, Glover’s Island, offers an incredible experience that includes camping out in small huts along the beach for 5 days. During these 5 days they offer unlimited water and nature activities. If you’re inclined, check it out here: https://www.islandexpeditions.com/our-belize-trips/belize-vacations/glovers-getaway-5-day We initially wanted to stay on Glovers however our trip dates didn’t align with the Glover’s Getaway dates. Island Expeditions also offers lodging and adventures at other islands such as the wildlife sanctuary.
*Diving: There are a ton of dive shops in Placencia including, Splash Dive Center, Sea Horse Dive Shop, Belize Underwater, and Belize Dive Haven. All shops offer dives in different locations in around Placencia including diving in the great barrier reef, the blue hole, and whale shark diving in the big blue ocean! If you are traveling in the next few weeks to Belize and would love a budget dive, Belize Dive Haven is a relatively new dive shop and is giving 50% off all their dives. PS. All of the dive shops also include snorkeling trips if you do not have a diving license!
I am no expert on Belize travel and only explored a little bit of what Belize offers. This guide was my trip and what I experienced and loved. If you have any questions about my trip or about any recommendations, message below! Thank you for reading this!
Love always,
Felice