Hi,

Flying in to Belize City and travelling to see Tikal. Would you recommend flying, driving ourselves, or seeking group transport through a service. Any an all ideas welcome.

Thanks,
Patti

Part of the answer depends on how much time you have. I wouldn't take a rental car over the border. There are some companies who will allow you to, but you won't have any insurance.

Personally, I like San Ignacio and would head there by bus, hired driver or rental car. It's easy to arrange transportation to Tikal from there.

Are you planning on returning to Belize after Tikal?

Hi Jean,

We are in Belize for 9 nights total. Thought we'd spend one or two nights in the San Ignacio/Tikal area. What accomodation would you recommend?

After this area, we plan to travel to San Pedro. Any thoughts on transportation to there?

Thanks for your help.
Patti

I confess to not having spent much time in San Ignacio. We stayed at San Ignacio Resort Hotel. On the edge of town, it was ok, we probably won't stay there again. I like being in/close to town. Next visit we'll probably stay at Martha's, right in town.

That said, there are awesome jungle lodges in the area. I just don't know enough about them to make a recommendation.

We only stayed in San Ignacio two nights and realized it isn't enough time. Most people will recommend an overnight for Tikal. No personal experience here.

We rented a car when we went to San Ignacio. Expensive, but easy. Easy drive, just takes longer than you think it will. Lots of bikes/pedestrians/horses/dogs on the road. As well as nasty speed bumps.

We rented from Budget at the international airport, but returned the car to the site right in Belize City. The nice people there then took us to the municipal airport to fly to San Pedro. They also would have taken us to the water taxi terminal.

We fly from Belize City to San Pedro rather than take the water taxi. It seems we're just in a hurry to get there. We keep talking about taking the water taxi one of these trips, but it never seems to happen.

I've spent far more time on Ambergris than in San Ignacio, happy to try and answer any questions you might have.

Depending on your interests, you might want to set aside more time in this area. You can land at Intl and transfer by road to San ignacio (1.5hrs) and base there for Tikal and other impressive Maya sites, jungle, waterfalls, caves with artifacts, river and horse trips, zip line, diverse cultures, friendly people. Drive back to Belize City and catch a 20 min flight to San Pedro. Or from Flores/Tikal to San Pedro if you want to overnight in that area.

you can fly on tropic air inside belize to flores, which is right outside of tikal. you need at least 2 nites in tikal to experience it. there's a couple of different hotels in the park.

I have tons of places I like to stay or have visited and plan on staying at but it depends on your budget and preferences... Lots of us here can give you ideas from $15 a night to $400...

I would highly recommend flying to Flores which is near Tikal. I drove from Placencia in the south to Belmopan then to San Ignacio, then another 2.5 hours to Tikal. The cost of flight is worth it to save time. We flew from Flores to Belize City on the way home. We spent $100USD for a one way ticket. The flight only took one hour.