DOCROX

I will be taking my two teenagers to see inland Belize over Thanksgiving. I know, crazy. We would like to see: ATM cave, Tikal, waterfalls, and the Black Hole drop.
Which of these two places would be the best situated for our base camp. We are only there 6 nights.
I had really wanted Chaa Creek and then discounted it when I saw the price. But.... the kids stay free with me. It will still be much more then CP because of food. If we stayed in the tent camp food is included but it is $55 per person, not by the tent.
I like the idea of CP being run by the family.
Any suggestions?

colleen62

Take a look at Black Rock Lodge. We stayed there and fell in love with the place as did our 4 children (ages 15 to 21). Only negative is the long bumpy ride up the long road to get there. We chose not to have a car and let them do the driving which was great. The price at Black Rock Lodge was very reasonable, the food was great and they treat you like family. There are a lot of activities to do at the lodge and the scenery and birds are amazing. We woke up one morning to find a toucan perched on the tree outside our cabin. Wow! ATM is a must. Could have skiped the 1000 ft. falls, pretty, but not worth the 2 hour drive to get there. The only negative thing about Belize is the roads. They are horrible, therefore traveling is very slow.

DOCROX

I checked Black Rock and liked it. For the three of us it would be $90 plus tax which sounds great but the food would cost us $102 per day just for breakfast and dinner. Total for the 6 nights would be as much as the lodge charge.
What else did you do there?

colleen62

We went horseback riding (awesome) and got off and walked into a cave, went canoeing down the river which was a lot of fun and very scenic (saw huge iguanas in the trees and along side the river, rented the inner tubes and hiked up the river about 1/2 mile and then floated down. We also did the early morning bird watching (although saw the amazing birds throughout the day) and a night hike. Our excurtions away were to ATM and the Mountain Pine Ridge trip (could have skipped this although we were there a week after a hurricane so the roads were extra bad). My husband and our 2 sons also did some mountain biking and my daughter and husband went hiking. We spent half of our time in Belize at Black Rock Lodge and the other half at the ocean (snorkeling, fishing, etc). For most of us Black Rock Lodge was the highlight of our trip.

hopefulist

First let me say that I don't think that's crazy at all. We had a blast traveling with our teenagers and our 4 weeks in Belize was a family highlight (kids were 17, 18 and 20 at the time).

We really loved Macal River Jungle Camp - great setting, sweet tent cabins, wonderful food, and a friendly, helpful camp host (Dolcio - hope he's still there). www.belizecamp.com

If you want to do The Black Hole Drop you might have to stay at Caves Branch - you'll have to email them and see. www.cavesbranch.com That's an awesome place, too, though spendy even if you stay in the dorms because of the cost of meals. you can do ATM from there.

To keep the cost down you you might want to consider staying a few nights at a cheaper place and planning your own overnighter to Tikal. The Trek Stop is a great budget place a few miles from the Guatemala border. www.thetrekstop.com You could stay your 1st 2 nights there and do the ATM cave trip the full day between, then head into Guatemala for an overnight visit, then head to Caves Branch for your last 3 nights and do the Black Hole Drop and their Waterfall Caves Trip. Try to fit the zoo in coming or going, too.

That's my 2 cents' worth. I know it's a lot of moving around, which might not be what you're looking for. My photos and travelogues/blogs are linked below. There are Tikal photos in the 2003 Belize, 2007 Guatemala, and 2009 Guatemala collections, Trek Stop, Macal River JC, and Caves Branch are in the Belize 2003 collection, and the ATM trip is in the Belize 2009 collection. Keep us posted!

volcanogirl

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