I am planning on visiting belize in june 2006. I am undecided where to stay. I am considering Ambergris Cayes and Placencia.

My interest are fishing and getting to know the culture by visiting the local towns or villages.

Does anyone have any suggestions

I highly recommend you check out the Jaguar Reef Lodge. The website is www.jaguarreef.com. It is in a somewhat remote area of Belize - from everything I hear Ambergris Caye has a lot of tourism.

They offer several packages. We got the 6 night Multi-sport package with a two bedroom beachfront suite & two bathrooms; 3 delicious meals a day (they sent your lunch with you on the tours); and I forget how many tours were included in our package - 4 or 5. We got all of this for only $1,637 per person for my hubby & I. For my college son, it was only something like an additional $500.

The place is VERY nice - the rooms are not plush like a 5 star resort but they are very good. There is so much great stuff to tell about The Jaguar Reef Lodge - I cannot put it all down here. I just tried to sum it up on the review I wrote.

Here is my review which I put on the Jaguar Reef Lodge site in Fodors: Best Adventure Best Value
Find everything you are looking for at the Jaguar Reef Lodge. It sits on the Carribbean and the Rainforest (including Mayan Ruins) is at the back door. There is excellent snorkeling, hiking, kayaking, tubing in caves, & much more. On some of the tours, you get to see the "real" country & animals etc - it is fascinating. We even had a Puma (red lion) run across the road in front of us. The lodge has a variety of tours available every day & great guides. You are in a small group on the tours which makes it even better. The place is very very nice (not plush but excellent) and the people are wonderful. Everyone we spoke with there raved about the value -- you got sooo much for your money! A week is not enough time to do everything.

One thing about Belize - take bug spray (the little cans are very useful for hiking). The bugs are fierce in the jungle. We went last month & had no problem with bugs on the beach or in our room. I do not know what Belize is like in the summer. At several islands in the Carribbean - we have been told they are "buggy" in the summer when the winds have calmed down. We only hit the islands in winter so I cannot attest to this.

Forgot to mention - they also have fishing tours but we did not do any fishing.

Thank you very much for your helpful reply. I was considering staying at the jaquar reef lodge. I have heard all good things about it.

Would you happen to know if there is a local town or village that we could visit in the area of Jacquar reef lodge?

The Jaguar Reef Lodge is located just one mile from the village of Hopkins. We did not go into town (were too busy on the tours). There are 2-3 little "restaurants" (not like we think of restaurants) and some shops.

The people at the Lodge & our guides were the friendliest & most helpful people of all the places we have stayed (and that includes 5 star resorts) so I assume the people in the village are also very friendly.

One of the things we loved about the Lodge - it is off the beaten path of tourism. You did not feel like you were in America at the beach -- you got a flavor of the culture. Also, go on the tours & you get to see the culture & the "real" Belize.

Can't tell you anything about Jaguar Reef Lodge - not our kind of place. We prefer to stay in the villages, take public transport, etc. I realize we're not really "living" in the place we visit, but you can really get a feel for the culture of an area that way, even if you only have a week or 2 there. We loved Hopkins Village; here's a link to the village website:

www.hopkinsbelize.com

Here's a link to our travelogue, in case you're interested (which will also hook you up with the very helpful Belize Forum):

http://www.belizeforum.com/cgi-bin/u...;f=10;t=000362

Happy trails!

Re Belize Forum provided by Hopeful: Jaguar Reef Lodge and Hopkins Village are in the STANN CREEK DISTRICT.

Thank you all for your response.

an anyone tell me how they booked their travel to belize. I am having difficulty getting a total price. Since my husband and I are on a budget, we will need to know the cost before we book. My main concern is the cost of airfare.

If anyone has any suggestions about how to book our vacation, it would be appreciated. thanks

We figured out dates first and booked our flights long in advance, then set to work with guide books, forums, and internet searches. Lots of people divide their time between the San Ignacio area (hiking, caving, jungles, ruins) and the beach (Placencia or Hopkins?) or an island (typically Ambergris Caye or Caye Caulker). Once you have a general itinerary, research those areas until you land on a set of accommodations that appeals to you and is within budget. Some people prefer to just book the first night and keep things flexible after that, but I tend to fall in love with certain places and want to be sure I can visit them/stay there.

If you let us know how many days and what your interests and budget level are, we could advise you better. Also, let us know if you need suggestions for finding the best flight prices.

Happy trails!

Thanks for the useful information. I think we have decided to stay @ the nautical inn @ placencia. It seems to be a reasonalble prices place and have what we are looking for. I have been researching airfare and the best I could come up with was $1500 from Philadelphia. However, that does not include the transportation to placencia from belize city. I think we will just wait until we get there to catch a plane to placencia.

thanks again for all the great responses

$1500 each?! Have you tried Travelocity.com? Delta and Continental both have round trips for $650+/- including taxes, depending on the days of travel. I usually search with Travelocity, Orbitz, Travelzoo, Exitotravel, etc., experiment with days of the week and neighboring airports (if I have that flexibility) check out the airline's own web pages for those flights, then call the airlines to see if they'll beat their own internet prices.

Check the website of the hotel you are staying at to see if they arrange the flight from Belize City. The Jaguar Reef Lodge took care of all of that for us & included it in the price of the package. They also had a car to pick us up in Dangria. Of course, the airport we flew into may be a lot smaller than the one in Placencia so that could make a difference.

after checking with several travel specialist that deal with belize, i have become even more confused about where to stay and flights. I have been checking flights to belize city and am getting ridiculously high qoutes. I'm beginning to think this trip to belize isn't going to happen. Thanks for all the great responses. I think i'm just getting overloaded with too much information

hdsg1 - What dates are you looking at and what is your budget? I have only been to Belize twice but think I could simplify things about 400% for you with that information. Send a private email if you're interested but don't want to post here: [email protected] .

Not to add to your confusion but....
If you decide to go toward the Caribbean & want a quirky little island, check out the Anegada Reef Hotel at http://www.anegadareef.com/. Flights from Philly to St. Thomas are $460. The summer rates for the hotel are $215-$250 per night but this includes 3 meals a day for both of you (and the food is excellent). If you are interested, let me know & I will tell you more about this neat little island. It is truly unique. Not at all like tourist islands.

Or check out Hotwire.com. Look at their packages or Deals & Destinations. Or to get a real deal, you can get last minute trips on Travelocity & other sites.

Hotwire example - trip to Cabo: Not sure date of your trip & what budget you are loooking at, but if you went 6/13-6/23, you can go to Cabo San Lucas & your total package price: $1,962 (all taxes and fees included)
Price includes: 2 roundtrip tickets, 1 room (double occupancy) for 7 nights

However, good luck with your trip - hope you get to Belize.

We have found reasonable airfare and decided on ramons village for 7 nights. The price was in our budget and the place seemed nice. The travel agent I will be using is magnumbelize tours. If anyone has any feedback on ramons village (good or bad) we would appreciate it before we make our final booking. Thanks again for all the great help.

I've never stayed at Ramon's, but have spent a lot of time swimming off their dock. We usually stay in a condo close by.

Friends of our stayed there last year. They were happy there.

It does look lovely, the beach is beautiful. Many people say it's overpriced for what you get. Depends on your point of view, I guess.

It certainly is in a great location, south edge of town, easy walk almost any where. Close to a grocery store.

What part of June are you traveling? We'll be there the first week.

Ramon's gets good reviews, in general, from folks on the Belize Forum. I read that the rooms in back are dark and dreary compared to others so you might want to request a front room if there's an option. I'm glad you found something that suits you - have a wonderful trip. I hope you can go back to Belize in the future and spend time on the mainland.

I got the same feeling that it might be overpriced. The lodging is reasonable but I think each excursion will be a bit pricey.
Our original date was the first week in June for our 10 yr anniv. but the airfare was cheaper for the second week.

We were also considering staying in placencia since the excursions are included at some of the lodges and it is close to the caving, mountains, and monkey river. We are still confused but definitely want to decide soon before the airfare goes up. Thank you for your feedback. Hope you enjoy your stay in Belize. This will be our first trip and we hope to return again to the different areas.

re: hopefulist.

Thanks for the tip on the rooms being dreary. Definitely wouldn't like that.
good advise!!