chanad

Well, it's only a year late.

So... my friend and I went to Belize last December, had an awesome time, and here's how it went down!

We stayed at Hidden Valley Inn in the Cayo district (technically Mountain Pine Ridge, but close enough) and then spent one day/night in Tikal at the Jungle Lodge, and the weekend at The Inn at Robert's Grove in Placencia.

We really liked all of our hotels.
The only thing I would do differently is, probably stay in Ambergris rather than Placencia. We absolutely LOVED the Inn at Robert's Grove, but a four hour drive to get to the airport to make our flight, was a little tough. Definitely doable if you really want to stay in Placencia, but it might have been less nerve-wracking if we were only an hour or so from the airport. (The blowout on the way didn't help

You can fly, which would make it easier, but only if you are traveling very lightly. Very low luggage limits. And we had a car to deal with as well.

We rented our own car (4-wheel drive is a MUST - we got a small SUV)and I was very happy with the freedom that gave us. Driving on the main highways is fine but the off roads...well, it was all part of the adventure! Road to Hidden Valley and road to Placencia are really bumpy, potholed, etc. Also, not many gas stations, so when you see one - fill up!

First day, Sunday, we arrived, got greeted with a long line and a rum punch at the airport (they were even handing them to kids! It was pretty funny,)and picked up our car. There was a place right next door to the car rental to rent a cell phone very cheaply. We drove to Hidden Valley, stopping off at the zoo along the way. We weren't really so interested in the zoo - having seen zoos before! - but we felt like we wanted to at least do Something that first day, and not have a totally wasted day. We ended up being very pleasantly surprised, and it was especially nice because those were pretty much the only animals we saw the whole trip! The jaguars are amazing. And the parrots were gorgeous.

Then we headed to HVI. We were racing against dark at this point, having spent a little more time at the zoo than we should have. Once you get off the highway, it takes about an hour to get to HVI because of the roads. We ended up driving quite bit of this in the dark, which was a little scary, but we made it in one piece. (more or less!) Boy was that HVI sign a welcome sight! The hotel was really nice. We had a little cottage, with a parking spot right next to it. The room was clean and comfortable, and it had a fireplace! We couldn't get it lit that first night, so one of the staff members cam and lit it for us. The staff was really nice and accommodating. We had a lot of bugs in the bathroom (but not anywhere else in the room) the first night, but we sprayed some bug-killer spray and we didn't have a problem the next few days.

Monday, we were up early and on our way to Aktun Tunchil Muknal cave tour. It was SO cool! If you like adventurous activities, definitely do that cave! First you swim, then hike, then see fascinating Mayan artifacts - including ancient skeletons calcified into the cave floor!

Tuesday we went into town (San Ignacio) to buy some produce and water. We bought a bunch of fruit from a guy on the street - no idea what most of them were, but they tasted good! Then we headed back to HVI, stopped off at a butterfly farm, which was cute, and then explored Hidden Valley - many beautiful waterfalls right on property. You can even rent one out for your own private day. FYI - you can see 1000 foot Falls from the HVI property! We didn't realize that, and following the sign on our way from the Butterfly Farm, drove down (and up and down and up and down) an insane road - wet slippery mud, up and down, ditches on either side of the road which we almost got stuck in at one point!, and pretty much deserted, only to find that there was no way to get down to the falls, and we had to go back after all that! So we headed back to HVi and drove/hiked the waterfalls which was fun, and really scenic.

Wednesday we went to Tikal. We had been planning to just kind of wing it - get a taxi to the border, and then one of the shared taxis to Tikal, but luckily, we met this really nice couple we had met on the ATM tour the day before and they told us about Eva's Restaurant (and tours) in San Ignacio, which allowed us to get a ride with their day tour, and picked us up the next morning to take us back. They also let us park our car in their backyard which was great. I was worried about using the parking lot at the border, because of stories about cars being stolen.

We stayed at the Jungle Lodge, which has gotten mixed reviews here, but we really liked it. It was clean and comfortable, bug-free, and we were charmed by the mosquito-netting canopy beds! The staff was friendly and helpful, and they gave us a better rate for money changing than the guys at the border. We actually did not hear any howler monkeys waking us up, which I was a little disappointed in!

Thursday we got our ride back to Eva's, stopping off at the zip lining tour on the way out of Tikal - Really fun! And cheaper than the places in Belize. ($35 as opposed to $95) We picked up our car at Eva's and drove to Placencia, to the Inn at Robert's Grove, which was SO beautiful and relaxing and just wonderful!
Traveling pretty much took up our whole day.

Friday, we walked around Placencia, bought some great souvenirs, went sailing back at Robert's grove on their complimentary hobbiecats, hung out in their hammocks... wonderful!

Saturday we just hung out, relaxing, at the hotel. We don't dive or snorkel, so I don't know much about the snorkeling in the area. Might be better to go to Ambergris for snorkeling but I really don't know.

And Sunday, we headed out early to get to our 4:00 PM flight. We had wanted to stop at Blue Hole on the way back...but we had a blowout on the road out of Placencia. Pretty scary, but a nice guy and his 2 sons passed by and helped us out.

When we got back to the car rental, they told us they usually charge $100 for a tire, but they will only charge us $50 because they were old tires. At the moment, I was just happy to have saved $50, but later I realized they should have paid US for giving us old tires on those roads! Could have been really dangerous.

And that was it! Came home with great memories and a whole new world of travel possibilities down south! This year, we are headed to Costa Rica and I can't wait!

Mac_1962

Thanks for the report. I'll be going there for the first time next summer (08). Would you say that staying near the park in Tikal was worth it? Or would it be better to stay in Flores? Are the zipline / canopy tours easy to find? Do you need advanced reservations to do this?

hopefulist

Thanks for sharing!

chanad

Hi Mac,

We only had one night, and we really wanted to see sunset from the top of the pyramid, so we decided to stay in the park and I do not regret that decision at all. We loved the jungle lodge. I felt like we were in the real version of a Disney ride! (Sorry for you outdoor purists, but that's the only place I'd seen stuff like this before seeing the real thing Our trip was all about seeing the pyramids and that's what we did. If you are only going for one night, that's what I would advise. However we didn't see Flores, so I don't know. If you're there for more than one night, maybe spend one night in the park and the other night(s) in Flores?

hopefulist

As above, if you only have 1 night staying in the park is my recommendation, too. It's great to be able to explore the ruins and the jungle in the evening and early morning hours when it's cooler, you practically have the place to yourselves, and the wildlife is active. It's more than an hour from Flores but you can still get there in the morning fairly early. If you have a hotel room you have more flexibility, a place to hang out in a downpour and a place to leave your stuff close at hand.

Flores is a cute town and a little taste of Guatemala if you're not traveling further south. If you have 2 or more nights in the area like I did in August a night each can be a good option. We caught an early flight back to Belize City so the 2nd night in Flores made more sense.

My photos and travelogues are here if you're interested:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/staceyholeman/collections/

Happy trails!