Traveling to Belize (San Pedro) in August. What are some of y'alls favorite spots? Any advice is welcome also.

We stayed at Matachica and had a great time!

We own some property in Belize and try to make it down every other month. We went to San Pedro over Valentine's Day for a change, it had been two years since we had been up that way. Where are you staying?

We love Red Ginger at the Phoenix, Hidden Treasure is worth the drive. Those are both pretty pricey, but really good. Off beat places that are cheaper, Pupuseria Salvadoreno, Hungry Grouper, Mesa Cafe. Palapa Bar, Crazy Canuks, and Fido's are great beach bars.

We always rent a cart, it can be hard to find a place to park, cabs are super cheap. They aren't metered so ask the guy before you get in and get the price before hand (usually $5). We have always flown from Belize City, so I can't tell you about the ferry trip over. The flight is fast 15 minutes or so. Book beforehand on their websites or through your resort. Both airlines fly Cessna 208's and the flight is enjoyable, both Tropic and Maya Island have a ton of flights to San Pedro the wait is never longer than 20 minutes to get on a plane.

It's a third world country, the people are nice and they work hard to keep the tourist happy. Keep in mind there is crime, so take common sense precautions when out at night. Belize isn't for everyone, but we really enjoy it and will retire there someday.

What part of Belize do you own property in? I'm really fond of Placencia.

Did you build or buy something already built? Do you have someone maintain it while you are gone?

Just curious because my wife wants us to live there someday.

Love San Pedro. It's exactly what I like in a vacation. Easy enough to get to, no currency exchange needed, native language is English, sunny and warm and generally nice people. Estelle's by the sea for breakfast is a great way to start the day. Hidden Treasure is really good for a nicer dinner. Amazing snorkeling, can't recommend Lil Alphonse enough for a guide. They are awesome and Alphonse is a great guide.

The Chicken Ranch said:

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What part of Belize do you own property in? I'm really fond of Placencia.

Did you build or buy something already built? Do you have someone maintain it while you are gone?

Just curious because my wife wants us to live there someday.

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We have a condo in Placencia, my wife's best friend lives there, so she looks after it. We don't rent it out, just us and family use it. We bought a lot in Maya Beach that we will build on someday.

Some day we may be neighbors, but probably not for 20 years or so.

I wonder how hard it is to get a house built. I've heard it's gotten better. But a decade ago I know it was next to impossible to get something built on budget and on time without bribes

Keep us posted, and I am jealous!

Our friend down there is pretty connected and it took 18 months to finish her house. It will not be a fun process. We are in no hurry, and we won't build until we can devote 100% of our attention to it.

It would be great if you kept a blog when you start your building, and record and track what "works and doesn't work" for those of us dreaming about joining you as espats someday in Belize. I would love keeping track of your progress. Perhaps I will be in Placencia someday on holiday, and the Mrs. TCR and I can buy you dinner.

Cheers and best of luck!

My wife and I are planning a trip to Belize while the kids are at Pine Cove camp... late June...

would love to VRBO or just rent from a good Ag on the boards vs. just going to a hotel - if anybody has suggestions on where to go, I'm all ears

gig'em

Multiple folks here will tell you Victoria House is well worth the money. They're right!

Be sure to rent a golf cart and go explore the town. Definitely take advantage of the cheap and delicious local food. If you cross the bridge north of town there is a $5 toll (covers you both ways).

We didn't "do" a lot, but just enjoyed relaxing. Did a snorkel trip which was fun.

ok - i researched it and it looks nice!

We have 4 nights to stay in late June plus half a day on each end..
trying to understand what all to do - we want to see a lot, and we want to relax a bit also..

Any go-to recommendations of things to do that we don't want to miss? We want to snorkel - maybe dive if we can do a quick class and go (we're not certified but have done Snuba and it's amazing).

Food options - I plan to do Breakfast at Estelle's by the Sea and dinner a Hidden Treasure. Other

Would you stay all 4 nights at Victoria House? or take 1 night and check out one of the other Lodges that are in their package like Caves Branch Jungle Lode, Hidden Valley Inn & Reseve, Chaa Creek Jungle Lodge, etc.

APPRECIATE THE ADVICE!

nosoupforyou said:

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ok - i researched it and it looks nice!

We have 4 nights to stay in late June plus half a day on each end..
trying to understand what all to do - we want to see a lot, and we want to relax a bit also..

Any go-to recommendations of things to do that we don't want to miss? We want to snorkel - maybe dive if we can do a quick class and go (we're not certified but have done Snuba and it's amazing).

Food options - I plan to do Breakfast at Estelle's by the Sea and dinner a Hidden Treasure. Other

Would you stay all 4 nights at Victoria House? or take 1 night and check out one of the other Lodges that are in their package like Caves Branch Jungle Lode, Hidden Valley Inn & Reseve, Chaa Creek Jungle Lodge, etc.

APPRECIATE THE ADVICE!

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Honestly I'd stay there the whole time. Breakfast is free (continental - basically yogurt and bread). You can pay a little extra and have a nice dinner on the beach with your wife or current squeeze Remember we have rules around here.

I definitely recommend buying your bottle of booze at the duty free store in Belize City (I assume that's where you're flying into) because drink are expensive on the island. We bought a bottle of rum and wine. Bought the mixers at a local grocery store (still expensive).

That being said, Victoria House has free bicycle rentals you can take. There's a tiny shack just down the road that has awesome jerk chicken BBQ'd daily. Their fish is great as well. Try the local beer, it's not bad.

There's a taco place that the locals go to.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g291962-d5562770-Reviews-Neri_s_Tacos-San_Pedro_Ambergris_Caye_Belize_Cayes.html

You can feed an army for $5. We went at night and it's a bit sketchy but seemed safe (enough). Remember you're in a third world country.

We had plans to eat at a few nice places but decided to stay with local food. One place to go is Stella's wine bar for a sunset. Great! https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g291962-d8065442-Reviews-Stella_s_Smile-San_Pedro_Ambergris_Caye_Belize_Cayes.html
Be sure to bring a bottle of bug spray though.

For snorkeling we booked our own trip with Tuff-e-nuff tours. Good company. Went on 2 snorkel dives and then went to the island south of Ambergris Caye (pronounced key) to enjoy the shops and have lunch.

There's an infinity pool we hung out at during our stay and I spent most of my time finally reading Dune. We honestly were pretty lame that trip but just needed to go brain dead for a week to get away from work.

If you have more questions feel free to ask. Also - like someone else said go see the pupusa lady... those are delicious!!!

One last thing- Golf carts from Victoria House are expensive but it was just too convenient to grab one and go. Get a cart at least for one full day and just explore the small town and island. Pull over and run into shops to look around and try their ice cream with pineapple in it.

Don't forget to take the puddle jumper instead of the boat ride

Me and my friends rented a house owned by the owners of the Maya Beach Hotel & Bistro just a short walk down the beach. It had a private pool and hot tub right on the beach. We loved it! And the food at the bistro is the best in Placencia. The owners were super cool and nice. From Denver. And they had connections of who to call for whatever excursions you want to go on.

We were going to go snorkeling at some place that was super touristy and they advised against that and told us to go to the Silk Keys instead. Not as many people and better snorkeling. They were right. It was pretty amazing. And they provided lunch on one of the islands. We saw barracuda, jellyfish, lobster, shark, sting rays, turtles, etc. I even had a lemon shark sneak up behind me which was a tad unnerving. They also called up a guy that took us on a drive a few hours away to the rainforest where we went ziplining and cave tubing. It was cool because he knew what time to go to avoid the tourists from cruise ships so we literally were alone the whole time during the cave tubing. It was pretty sweet.

I love Belize and would go back in a second...especially to Maya Beach on Placencia.

SkiMo said:

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Me and my friends rented a house owned by the owners of the Maya Beach Hotel & Bistro just a short walk down the beach. It had a private pool and hot tub right on the beach. We loved it! And the food at the bistro is the best in Placencia. The owners were super cool and nice. From Denver. And they had connections of who to call for whatever excursions you want to go on.

We were going to go snorkeling at some place that was super touristy and they advised against that and told us to go to the Silk Keys instead. Not as many people and better snorkeling. They were right. It was pretty amazing. And they provided lunch on one of the islands. We saw barracuda, jellyfish, lobster, shark, sting rays, turtles, etc. I even had a lemon shark sneak up behind me which was a tad unnerving. They also called up a guy that took us on a drive a few hours away to the rainforest where we went ziplining and cave tubing. It was cool because he knew what time to go to avoid the tourists from cruise ships so we literally were alone the whole time during the cave tubing. It was pretty sweet.

I love Belize and would go back in a second...especially to Maya Beach on Placencia.

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E & J are good friends, glad you had a blast and I will let them know about the nice things you said on here. We got engaged on their palapa 5 years ago. The bistro has been voted the best restaurant in Belize twice. Our lot is 300 yards north.

Another restaurant owned by a friend is Rum Fish y Vino in town. This thread has made me start planing a visit.

jammer262 said:

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SkiMo said:

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Me and my friends rented a house owned by the owners of the Maya Beach Hotel & Bistro just a short walk down the beach. It had a private pool and hot tub right on the beach. We loved it! And the food at the bistro is the best in Placencia. The owners were super cool and nice. From Denver. And they had connections of who to call for whatever excursions you want to go on.

We were going to go snorkeling at some place that was super touristy and they advised against that and told us to go to the Silk Keys instead. Not as many people and better snorkeling. They were right. It was pretty amazing. And they provided lunch on one of the islands. We saw barracuda, jellyfish, lobster, shark, sting rays, turtles, etc. I even had a lemon shark sneak up behind me which was a tad unnerving. They also called up a guy that took us on a drive a few hours away to the rainforest where we went ziplining and cave tubing. It was cool because he knew what time to go to avoid the tourists from cruise ships so we literally were alone the whole time during the cave tubing. It was pretty sweet.

I love Belize and would go back in a second...especially to Maya Beach on Placencia.

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E & J are good friends, glad you had a blast and I will let them know about the nice things you said on here. We got engaged on their palapa 5 years ago. The bistro has been voted the best restaurant in Belize twice. Our lot is 300 yards north.

Another restaurant owned by a friend is Rum Fish y Vino in town. This thread has made me start planing a visit.

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super cool to hear this Jammer.. I'm taking Ski's advice and looking strongly at Maya Beach Hotel for late June trip... would love any advice you can share once I get things official on places to go/see, etc.

gig'em

jammer262 said:

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SkiMo said:

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Me and my friends rented a house owned by the owners of the Maya Beach Hotel & Bistro just a short walk down the beach. It had a private pool and hot tub right on the beach. We loved it! And the food at the bistro is the best in Placencia. The owners were super cool and nice. From Denver. And they had connections of who to call for whatever excursions you want to go on.

We were going to go snorkeling at some place that was super touristy and they advised against that and told us to go to the Silk Keys instead. Not as many people and better snorkeling. They were right. It was pretty amazing. And they provided lunch on one of the islands. We saw barracuda, jellyfish, lobster, shark, sting rays, turtles, etc. I even had a lemon shark sneak up behind me which was a tad unnerving. They also called up a guy that took us on a drive a few hours away to the rainforest where we went ziplining and cave tubing. It was cool because he knew what time to go to avoid the tourists from cruise ships so we literally were alone the whole time during the cave tubing. It was pretty sweet.

I love Belize and would go back in a second...especially to Maya Beach on Placencia.

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E & J are good friends, glad you had a blast and I will let them know about the nice things you said on here. We got engaged on their palapa 5 years ago. The bistro has been voted the best restaurant in Belize twice. Our lot is 300 yards north.

Another restaurant owned by a friend is Rum Fish y Vino in town. This thread has made me start planing a visit.

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Very cool! I could totally see myself retiring right there in that spot. Jealous you have a lot there to do just that! And yes, please tell them that there are people out there spreading the positive reviews. They and their place made an impression, and I will probably soon return.

Have a link to the house? You can PM me if it's not something you want public.

agdaddy04 said:

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Have a link to the house? You can PM me if it's not something you want public.

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here it is - there's a great 5 minute video on the page too

http://www.mayabeachhotel.com/

Oh gotcha, I thought he was talking about a separate place that just happened to be owned by them.

You can see on that website they have houses you can rent as well.

We are thinking about going down sometime this summer and have never been, but lots of people have recommended. What would y'all do for first time trip? A lot of people have said Ambergris Cay.

We are doing San Ignacio and Amergris Caye for our first trip, coming up here in a few weeks. Will report back.

BSD said:

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We are doing San Ignacio and Amergris Caye for our first trip, coming up here in a few weeks. Will report back.

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really appreciate the feedback - seems like there are 2 major areas that are totally different to consider...

• Victoria House - San Pedro area on Amergris Caye or
• Maya Beach Hotel in Placencia area

these 2 places are 5 hours apart

lots of good ideas in this thread - please share where you plan to stay and results as I'm still lining up my late June trip

Will the whale sharks still be in Placencia in late June? If so, that is worth a visit. I've done the swim off Isla Mujeres with them and it is worth every dime.

That said, we chose San Pedro (Ramon's) for the beach portion of our trip since it seemed family friendly. We have plans to snorkel every day and fish every other day.

We chose San Ignacio because of its proximity to Mayan ruins (and to jump over to Tikal), the town, and the jungle adventures just outside of town.

We officially booked our trip yesterday. Flying southwest into Belize city and then hopping on a puddle jumper to Ambergris Caye! We are staying on the bottom floor of Casa Caracol. It's a two story home right on the beach by the Palapa Bar.

Anyone have any deep sea fishing guides they'd recommend for a half day off Ambergris Caye? I could book through Ramon's but looking for other recs.

good stuff everybody - I just booked my flight! wife and celebrate 17 years in June..

My wife said she found some Airbnb's in San Pedro (which i'm learning is on Ambergris Caye) that were significantly cheaper than Victoria House and looked nice - $135-175 per night - there was an apartment, beach house, and a villa...

anybody have experience with those?

another question - regarding snorkeling... we did a Snuba dive while in Hawaii - (scuba but attached to a 20 foot line where your tank is on the surface) and really loved it - would like to snorkel but not interested in taking a bunch of classes... is there a local that can set us up to snorkel with some quick training?

if not, anybody know where we can Snuba?

You don't need a class to learn to snorkel. Just hop in and breathe! Since most snorkeling in AC is by boat, I'm sure the guide will give you a few pointers.

BSD said:

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You don't need a class to learn to snorkel. Just hop in and breathe! Since most snorkeling in AC is by boat, I'm sure the guide will give you a few pointers.

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awesome!

Anybody have a recommended snorkeling guide for beginners? I saw a comment above about Lil Alphonse?

I'm actually working on my trip today and just booked lil Alphonse for a Hol Chan/Shark alley snorkel. I'm using my hotel for the others (Manatee, Coral gardens). I've heard good things about Alphonse from friends that have gone down there.

My buddy from Jr High runs Blue Water Grill in Pedro - good joint on the water

Hustler Tours still around?

nosoupforyou said:

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another question - regarding snorkeling... we did a Snuba dive while in Hawaii - (scuba but attached to a 20 foot line where your tank is on the surface) and really loved it - would like to snorkel but not interested in taking a bunch of classes... is there a local that can set us up to snorkel with some quick training?

if not, anybody know where we can Snuba?

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The only snuba I know of is off Ramon's dock, not that exciting. We had a lot of fun snorkeling with the Glass Bottom Boat guy. He takes you out to Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley. Has nice snorkel equipment, and the glass bottom is there for those that don't snorkel. Nice guy, even chummed the water for more nurse sharks.