By Air in The Southern Coast

You'll arrive fresher if you fly. From Belize City (both international and municipal airports) there are frequent flights to Dangriga and Placencia. There are more than 20 flights daily between Belize City and Placencia. Both Tropic Air and Maya Island Air fly from Belize City (BZ$140 one way from the municipal airport, BZ$164 from the international airport). The airstrip is about 2 mi (3 km) north of Placencia's center, so you'll probably want to take a taxi (BZ$12 from the center of the village) if your hotel doesn't provide a shuttle.

The same airlines also fly from Belize City to Dangriga (around BZ$72 from the municipal airport, BZ$109 from the international airport). Maya Island Air also has flights to Savannah airstrip across the Placencia Lagoon at Independence/Big Creek (about BZ$150 from the municipal airport, BZ$173 from the international airport) and will stop at the airstrip near Kanantik on demand. There's no airstrip at Hopkins. If going there, fly to Dangriga.

Maya Island Air offers flights between the Savannah airstrip and San Pedro Sula, Honduras. They cost BZ$250 one way.

You'll generally fly in small turbine or prop aircraft, such as the 13-passenger Cessna Caravan C208. Some flights from Belize City make multiple stops—at Dangriga, Placencia, and sometimes Big Creek—as they fly south to Punta Gorda, while others are nonstop. In any event, the total time you'll spend in the airplane is short, less than an hour to Placencia.

Contacts

Maya Island Air (Placencia airstrip. 523/3475. www.mayaairways.com). Tropic Air (Placencia airstrip. 523/3410. www.tropicair.com).