Hi y’all. Family of four (2 adults, a 13 yr old and 11 yr old) heading to Belize for the first time. Any recommendations on where to stay? Any tips and tricks appreciated. Thank you!

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Placencia if you want beach and san Ignacio area for jungle and adventure, we stayed at miramar suites in placencia, and black rock lodge outside of san Ignacio, pm me and I can give you contact info for a great driver to get you around

Darren thanks, I’ll look into both of those spots.

Where in Belize you going? Mainland or islands?

Samantha that’s just it, trying to decide which is best.

Stephani I’ve done both and I would highly suggest the islands. San Pedro is great. Beautiful and much more to do tho more expensive. I wasn’t crazy about the mainland!

Samantha thanks for that. Did you fly into Belize city, and if so, how did you get to the island? I was looking at San Pedro as well.

Stephani there’s a ferry to the island. We have always gone from mexico so I’m not familiar with the airports! San pedro is amazing. You can find some seriously good Chinese food and fried chicken in Belize! And cheap. Make sure you try some out of a hole in the wall somewhere. We stayed at San Ignacio on the mainland and it was pretty rough. Nothing touristy to see or do when walking the streets. we did do a zip line and river float tour which was great but San Pedro is still far better. We did a shark snorkel there that was great!

https://g.co/kgs/PwS1wz
GOOGLE.COM
ATM Cave Belize- Actun Tunichil Muknal · 4485+XRV, Seven Miles El Progresso, Belize

Must do the ATM cave. Amazing. Can be a little claustrophobic if you have issues. Squeeze through some tight rocks.

Do lots of research. Belize is a narco state controlled by drug dealers. Police may be working for drug lords. Belize City is very dangerous. San Pedro is nicer and more safe but drug sales are all over.
Look up AirB&Bs and vrbo as many Canadians own property on Ambergis.

On the main land there are many tours to the:
Mayan ruins including jungle sight seeing.
Access to going snorkelling at the live coral reef.
We stayed north of San Pedro and found the water taxis(the only way to get to the resorts) very expensive over the two weeks we were there and charge per person.
I would recommend staying on the main land and two nights on Caye Calker. Rent a manned catamaran for the day to tour the ocean.

First, if you are going to more than one place and don’t want to pay a tour company, rent a car from The airport in belize city and ask for a cellphone with data. Get an SUV.
We stayed two nights at a small resort within a shortish drive from the airport, gumbo limbo. Then we drove to Martz farm and tree houses. We did some great tours with the owner. Then drive ourselves back and dropped off the rental and hopped on the water taxi to ambergris and stayed in a condo near the water. It was all super easy.

I suggest going to san Ignacio for great adventure options for part of your trip (can hire a driver or take the bus but it’s far from luxury). San Pedro for the beautiful white sand beach sun and fun. You can get there by water taxi from Belize city and take water taxis to other cayes. I don’t recommend going south to placencia. The beaches down there are not as nice as in the cayes.

I highly recommend Placencia!