Traveling to Belize for spring break next year, with the kids (age 6-10).

Any recommendations, must hit spots?

We're staying most of the time in Plaencia which is booked. But we have a few open days to tack on either rain forest, Belize City, or something else.

TIA!

Look into Xunantunich really cool ruin and can also do cave tubing out there as well.

Skip Belize city.

JM04 said:

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Look into Xunantunich really cool ruin and can also do cave tubing out there as well.

Skip Belize city.

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I've heard the Zoo, outside of Belize City, is really good. Other than that, Belize City is just a jumping off place.

The zoo is worth stopping at, it's small and will only take a couple of hours but it's intimate and really well done.

San Ignacio area is cool from the cave tubing and ruins standpoint. The farmers market in town is neat, so was walking around the town and exploring. I was there for a wedding in August and we rented through Crystal rent a car. No frills vehicle but it was reliable and they didn't try any shady stuff on the backend.

I echo skipping Belize Cityavoid it.

We have a trip for spring break as well on ambergris though. All I can say is check flights as they are crazy right now. Hopefully you are smarter than me and booked already.

Thanks all!

We are trying to decide between renting a car and just booking van service.

Sounds like Texican had a good rental car experience. Any others who've done it one way or the other?

If you rent a car, take the speed bumps seriously. There is a couple at every village and are more like table tops than the speed bumps we have here.

How is the best way to get from the airport to a hotel in San Pedro? I am guessing water taxi or do the hotels have a service that would do this?

You can take a taxi to the Belize city port and then take a water taxi which takes 2.5 hours. It's the cheapest route to get there.

I would recommend taking a puddle jumper via Tropic Air. It will cost $180 RT but worth it in my opinion. 15 minute flight and the views are worth the price of admission.

Thanks texican08. It looks like they have flights pretty much on the hour. We have never been and are doing a quick anniversary trip this February. Usually we hit up Costa Rica, but wanted to change it up this time, plus I have to cross off the wish list item that Costa Rica cannot do-mayan ruins. I have been debating which ones to visit, but the previous mention solidifies it. That cave tubing seems like it will be fun. For that I was planning to rent a car for a few days.

Mayan Air and Tropic Air are the two local airlines.

I'm actually in Placencia right now! Definitely recommend the Monkey River tour. Unfortunately for us it rained hard at the beginning so it was pretty cold as we were taking the boat over, but once we got further into Monkey River it finally started to die down. It's beautiful there with lots to see. Bring bug repellent for the jungle hike.

Bumping this thread as we're honing in on our excursions to book.

In addition to Placencia, we're going to spend a few nights just outside of San Ignacio. Which puts us near Xunantunich so we'll definitely hit that up!

I was wanting to scuba dive the Blue Hole, but it's a 4 hour boat ride each way from Placencia. So we may try a few other dive options.

Thanks for any and all input!

I just looked at flights for a possible spring break trip in March. $1,500 per person out of Hobby on Southwest. That seems extremely high for a 2 hour flight.

Username checks out

We did Belize earlier this summer and loved it. Stayed half at a jungle lodge near San Ignacio and half on Ambergris.

Rent a car. We used Crystal Auto because they set us up to cross into Guatemala to go to Tikal. The speed bumps are for sure serious business and are the reason that a 50 mile trip can take a couple of hours. But once you get a little distance out of Belize City, the pot-holed crap roads are much better. Many through the mountains look brand new.

Big Rock Falls was probably our favorite activity in all of Belize. Beautiful waterfall with deep cool water pools that we basically had to ourselves. For the last couple of hours in the afternoon, we did have them all to ourselves.

We also did Rio on Pools, another set of waterfalls.

Water taxi to Ambergris is about 1.5 hours. Not bad at all and pretty views. Definitely rent a golf cart if staying on Ambergris. The reef side is mostly unswimmable close to the shore (seaweed), but clean beautiful water is easily reachable by kayak or paddleboard. Snorkeling is fantastic. We did Mexico Rocks for a chance to see a manatee and for sure, one showed up.

Secret Beach is more like a Caribbean beach experience. Sand and clear water. Get there by golf cart no problem.

Just got back from Placencia - good times but prefer San Pedro. Bugs were insane.