juliegirl

My fiance' and I are planning our late June honeymoon, and we are thinking about Belize. We would like a place where we can enjoy the beach, as well as kyak, hike and visit Mayan ruins? Does anyone know of any hotels/inns/resorts that fit the bill? In general, how much does airfare run from the East Coast (DC) of the US? How much should we allot for hotels? Thanks in advance! We are desperate for advice since our original honeymoon plans fell through.
Julie

MsDama

belize is an affordable place. when you book your airfare, be sure to chose a set of flights that do not put you into Belize city too late, you dont really want to spend time there.
first thing we did was take a taxi from airport to the pier, and a ferry to Caye Caulker. this is the backpacker's caye. everyone barefoot, good cheap eats, great swimming.. fun relaxed island nightlife. life moves slow here. stayed at Mara's Cabanas.. or something like that.
we did a day trip to more popular Caye Ambergris (sight of TemptationIsland filming). THis may be more appropriate for your honeymoon, as it has more amenities and decent beaches.
after spending some time on the islands, we went back to the mainland and took a local bus to San Ignacio (known as Cayo). stayed at Martha's Guest House there. quaint little place. we checked out the Mountain Pine Ridge Reserve, and also did some caving. Daytrip to Tikal in Guatemala. All in all, a very unique place, considering its location. a big plus is everyone speaks english. gotta be a Marley fan!

Ally

My hasband and I took a charter sailboat around Belize that was amazing! It was a 40' catamaran and was quite comfortable. No 'rocking' as in monohull boats.
The beds are queen size and the hatch on top and port hole at the side in our cabin made for a nice breeze all the time. In fact, we had to use a blanket a couple nights!
Breakfast, lunch and dinner on the boat are included, is plentyful and tasty, although we did have a couple dinners ashore just try a couple of little 'romantic' restaurants for a change. Ships bar is also included with all
the wine, beer and rum drinks you can stand! And, they include a couple of tours in the price too, as well as entrance fees to snorkel Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley. We anchored at Swallow Caye the first night (saw a manatee!), then to Amberqris Caye a couple nights, then to Caye Caulker a couple nights, and then another Caye (name escapes me, but it's where "Plantation Resort" is located) for the last night. During the days we would go ashore and explore the little islands, bar hop, etc...except on the days we took tours. A fantastic vacation and a great way to see Belize.
The boat was called Nepenthe. If interested, do a search for 'Nepenthe Belize' and I'm sure their site will come up! Baz and Gill are great host!

LanSluder

It's hard to give suggestions on prices in Belize, because they vary so widely, even at nicer places. You can pay US$60 or $70 for a very comfortable spot with air-conditioning and a sea view, or you can pay US$350 or you can even pay $1800 a night (at Cayo Espanto).

You'll probably want to look at the most popular destinations in Belize (they're popular for good reasons)-- Ambergris Caye, Placencia and for jungle lodges, Cayo. You may also want to consider Caye Caulker and Hopkins.

Air from the East Coast is usually around US$400 to $500, but USAir has some specials as low as $300, and TACA, American and Continental also occasionally have some deals.

--Lan Sluder

starfish1

Ally, now THAT sounds like a wonderful way to travel. My husband and I are very interested in going to Belize and this sounds like something we would love. Just wondering if you bareboated or did you have a captain/crew to do the sailing/cooking? Also were you the only guests on the boat? I will definitely check out the website but would love to hear your comments. Tahnks!

christhetraveler

Belize is a great choice for your honeymoon! It is beautiful, unspoiled and relatively cheap. A couple of things to keep in mind: 1) if you want great beaches you wont find them on the mainland (even though some resorts will say otherwise). Stay on one of the cays. That said, you could split your stay between the mainland (a jungle lodge type place) and the cays. We stayed on SouthWater Cay. It was unbelievable. 2) dont expect (for the most part) to have luxurious accommodations. Keep in mind that Belize is still pretty close to a 3rd world counrty and the hotels/"resorts" reflect that. I think that the natural beauty of the country more than makes up for that though.

Ally

Starfish1,
We didn't do a bareboat. The Nepenthe comes with the 'crew' which is basically Baz, the Captain, and his wife Gill (pronounced Jill) who does all the cooking! You can share cost with others who want to come with you, or, do as we did...take the whole boat for ourselves, of course Baz and Gill get one cabin, but that leaves three for other quest. I don't think they take people that don't know each other, so either you go with another couple or two, or just yourselves. They also have a sail/land package where you can sail for three night and they will put you up 4 nights on one of the Cayes.
Baz and Gill are both from England so we found it a little hard to understand them sometimes....not their English of course, but for example when Baz would tell us a joke, he'd use words not familiar to us and then would not understand when we did not laugh at his joke. It was quite funny. We'd have to ask...what the heck does "???" mean?? Speak English Baz! They will leave you alone if you wish too, but we enjoyed their company so much we spent almost all our time with them. It was fun to explore the Cayes with someone who is there all the time and knows the best places to go and eat. You should be able to find all the info you needon their web site, if not, just ask me!

starfish1

Ally (with apologies to juliegirl, hope you don't mind me jumping in here again!), thanks so much for the reply. I have emailed the folks at Nepenthe so will ask them further questions relating to sailing but I'm wondering if you also did any inland tours. Trying to figure out the best way to see the most in 10 days without going full out. How long were you in Belize?

Katie_Valk

We have some of the finest sailing to be found anywhere. Hundreds of small islands along our 190 mile reef. Iif you book the saailboat for the water portion, then take a look at the Cayo district for ruins, caving, jungle, rivers, kayaking, horses, waterfalls(one you can 'rent' for yourselves for a day), spas and more.

Ally

No, we didn't do any of the land tours, although I think they do provide at least one kind of land tour. They actually got off easy with us because they offer two tours and we only did one! We were just having to much fun on the boat, snorkeling, and walking around the Cayes! The one they did set up for us was a snorkel at Seargents Caye, then a manatee tour (yes we DID see some and I got a great picture when one came right up to the boat and surfaced for air) and then a stop for snorkeling and swimming at Shark Ray Village. That was an all day 'tour'. They were prepared to set up a dive for us, but after the snorkeling at Hol Chan Marine Park and Shark Ray Alley (not the same as Shark Ray Village) we saw SO MUCH marine life we didn't want to go to the trouble of diving! We were only on the boat for 6 nights/7 days, and it went by way too quick! When you talk to Baz and Gill, please tell them Alison and Rick from Texas say hi!

Katie has a great suggestion to sail a few days, then spend some time on the mainland for the jungle experience.

starfish1

Thanks Katie and Ally, great to know. I heard back from Baz and Gill and unfortunately they don't sail in November due to hurricane risk. We're going to see if we can juggle our dates. Will certainly pass on your regards. Thanks again!

Katie_Valk

Nov is hurricane season, but that time frame hasnot traditionally been a problem for us here in the Western Caribbean. Not to say weather patterns are predictable. What we do get in Nov is cold fronts from the North, which bring rain, etc. But not always. So it's low season with lower rates. Another great guy and boat to sail with is Frankie Galiano out of Placencia on the Talisman. Try www.sailbelize.com and see what happens. If that doesn't work, contact me and I'll get the email. I chartered the boat for a group of fiends a few years ago and we're still talking about how great it was-and we live here..