steph270

we can't decide between chaa creek or chan chich? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

steph270

never mind i found volcanogirl's thread from 2007. sorry to repeat post!

JeanH

I'll throw in my two cents anyway.

We were at Chan Chich a couple of weeks ago. It was absolutely awesome. Unfortunately, no cat sightings, but, we saw 70-80 bird species, many of them new for us.

Beautiful, remote jungle lodge. Nice cabanas, nice pool and hot tub.

We really enjoyed the food, the staff was very nice. The guides were excellent.

That said it is very remote. We chartered a plane to get there. You can get there by road, but, it's a long drive, and if you hire someone, it isn't much cheaper than a plane charter.

If you want to see a lot of sites in Belize, Chaa Creek is probably the better choice. If birding and a jungle experience are what you're looking for, Chan Chich is wonderful.

Patty

Chan Chich if you're more into wildife and birding. As Jean mentioned it's very remote with no other accommodations nearby. We arrived by road from Lamanai Outpost Lodge (2 hours) and chartered a plane to fly out.

You'll have access to more activities and excavated ruins from Chaa Creek. The area around Chaa Creek is more developed and it's fairly easy to get to by road from Belize City. There are a lot of other jungle lodges nearby.

I don't know what your primary interests are but have you also considered Lamanai Outpost Lodge? It's another wonderful jungle lodge and a bit simpler than either of the above. Beautifully sited on the New River Lagoon with good wildlife and birding and easy access to the archaeological site. You can get there by a combination of road and boat or chartered plane but the boat ride is not to be missed at least one way!

steph270

thanks JeanH and Patty. I just got email they have availability at both for dates we want to go so i actually have to make a decision! lol. I am even considering doing 3 nights at each? but not sure what the travel is like between the two...we also were going to try to do 3 nights in Ambergris (9 nights total) but I'm not finding availability for the places I am interested in. Victoria House is booked (of course) and we are a bit last minute as usual. Is it worth the trek to Ambergris?

As far as activities, we have been to CR several times - stayed at Casa Corcovado near nat'l park and at BdC 3x. Love the jungle, hiking, birding, etc. Have been to Guatemala (did Tikal - awesome), Galapagos, etc.

I was a regular on this site for awhile but have been incognito the last year or so
(and i still need to do my guatemala trip report!)

Thanks again for the input. Appreciated as always

steph270

Ok Patty - so you had to confuse me even more Just checked out Lamanai on trip advisor and seems really interesting...hmmm

I have also found rooms at xanadu if we do Ambergris (still searching). My husband and I are not divers, and we don't need to snorkel everyday. the beach part of this trip would be to unwind after the jungle with a book, a cocktail, and an umbrella for the most part with a little snorkeling if available.

JeanH

Since I live on Ambergris part of the year, I think it's worth it. White sand and blue Caribbean seas. Lots of good choices for food and drink.

Easy access to the reef for snorkeling.

Xanadu is a nice property. About a mile from town. Several restaurants in the neighborhood. Also, a couple of grocery stores.

You can charter a plane, Javier's Flying Service, and fly nonstop from Chan Chich to Ambergris. I'm sure you could arrange a land transfer between Chaa Creek and Chan Chich if you decide to do a split.

Here's the link to Javier:

http://www.javiersflyingservice.com/

RAC

We chose Lamanai Outpost Lodge for our splurge lodging when staying in Belize. The boat ride to/there is one of the best wildlife sighting experiences anywhere in Belize. And it offers immediate access to one of the top 2 Mayan sites in Belize.

It's a little more rustic than the other luxe places, but the grounds are beautiful, the setting on the lagoon is stunning, and the service is fantastic.

How good was the service? We came in on a boat ride in mid-afternoon. When we got there, there were people waiting at the dock to take our bags and escort us to the restaurant, where lunch was being prepared in conjunction with our arrival.

Katie_Valk

LOL is wonderful with great views and refreshing breezes overlooking the expansive lagoon

steph270

starting a new topic regarding order - it looks like by availability our itinerary would be Lamanai (2 or 3 nights?), chan chich (4 nights?) ambergris (3 nights?). is this a good order to do this itinerary? from chan chich would we need to transfer back to lamanai to catch a charter flight? we basically have 9 or 10 nights. any input would be appreciated (again) Thank you!

RAC

The way that itinerary would work would be (1) boat to Lamanai; (2) drive from Lamanai to Chan Chich; (3) fly back to BZE from Chan Chich and then onto Ambergris.

My understanding is that very many people fly directly to and out of Chan Chich.

volcanogirl

steph, we really loved Ambergris. I think you should go. The snorkeling at Hol Chan was fantastic; we saw big turtles, nurse sharks, rays, and lots of colorful tropical fish. Tropic Air is the company that we used for flying.

Patty

That's a good order and how we did it except we went to Caye Caulker at the end. Belize City to Lamanai is a one hour road transfer followed by a 1.5 hour boat ride. Lamanai to Chan Chich is a two hour road transfer. You do not have to return to Lamanai. You can charter directly out of Chan Chich and I would fly directly to Ambergris. There's no need to fly back to Belize City and the incremental cost of flying directly to Ambergris isn't that much more.

JeanH

Exactly what Patty said, no reason to go from Chan Chich to Belize City. Go straight to Ambergris. The flight is about 40 minutes.

Nice views of the Mayan site of Altun Ha on the way.

shillmac

We booked Chaa Creak because Chan Chich had a large group expected and no availability for our dates. I know Chan Chich is considered top of the line for birding, but we had lots of really nice birds at Chaa Creek as well. One of the advantages (already mentioned) of staying at Chaa Creek is the accessibility to other tour locations. However, you've already been to Tikal, so that wouldn't be such a big deal.

RAC's report of LOL really got my attention a year or two ago. It's on "the list".

We loved Ambergris and San Pedro and were very glad to have made that choice. That said, we'd like to explore some of the "quiter" locations as well. Very touristy, but Hol Chan was fabulous! Good luck and enjoy!!

steph270

Hey Shillmac! So change in itinerary since I'm so last minute (sigh). I could not get Lamanai to work with my dates/airfare and I'm a bit bummed, but next trip....(adjusting my airfare to go there would have increased by $$$ a person) soooo we are doing Chan Chich for 4 nights and then transferring to Placencia. I felt Ambergris prices were too $ for me not getting any of the places I wanted to stay. That being said I am looking forward to Placencia Village, the beach there, as well as some of the side tours we can do from there. I figure it is a great intro to see if we like it as much as CR plus Placencia saved me some money lol.
Hope to post a trip report when we return. Let you know! Can't imagine anything will top Osa/BdC but who knows...
Steph

hipvirgochick

Hi Steph! Have you posted a trip report for Belize? Would love to hear more about it. I just used FF miles for Belize next year.