kristikls

Hi I'm looking for some thoughts around an idea for a 6 night trip to Belize.

From what I've read, Tikal ruins are grander than the ones in Belize so I'm wondering if it's worth spending our first 2 nights in Guatemala (the lodging seems to be less expensive and found La Lancha lodge which looks amazing). So with that thought, could we fly straight to Flores when we land and spend 2 nights there? Or the other idea is to rent a car when we arrive in Belize City and head to the San Ignacio area for 2 nights.

For the beach part of our vacation we'll have 4 nights. Where can we have the best beach experience with easy access to snorkeling, a dive trip and I'm really hoping to see nurse sharks and rays. AC, Caye Caulker, Placenia, Hopkins have all been suggested. We want a mid-range accomodation but of course would love as luxurious as possible. Easy access to restaurants but don't need a lot of action. Any thoughts?

traveler318

I can only tell you what we did, which was take a day tour to Tikal from our lodge near San Ignacio. For years, before taking the trip, I thought I would do what you suggest, but decided it was so much easier to just leave the crossing the border logistics to others. So we flew to Belize City, went to San Ignacio for I think it was five nights (stayed at Chaa Creek), and then transferred to our island location (by car transfer with stop at the zoo, and then short flight to Ambergris). The lodge-arranged Tikal trip was a group of eight in a van with driver and guide. It was a long day but fine, and we had about four hours to visit the ruins. I thought that was enough. If you really want to see everything, or want early morning birding, maybe more time is worth while, but we saw and climbed the large pyramids (where climbing allowed) and had a nice stroll over the main parts of the site. We saw wildlife even mid-day, and it was not very crowded even then. So if you are thinking it is like Chichen Itza with the hordes mid day, I didn't find that true. Now, this was just on the cusp of Covid in March 2020, and Guatemala had closed to visitors from some counties already, so I guess that could have had an impact on the crowds, but I didn't get that impression from our guide.

I do think a visit to Tikal is worthwhile especially if you like ruins. We also liked the two sites in Belize we visited. Xanuntanich had more elaborate carvings than much of the Tikal site.

Have a great time.

volcanogirl

We also visited Tikal as a day trip from the San Ignacio area in Belize and stayed at Chaa Creek. We thought it was perfect the way we did it. Also saw monkeys on site. We used PACZ tours and were very happy with them. For our beach time, we stayed on Ambergris Caye. Snorkeling was great at Hol Chan - saw nurse sharks, big rays, and colorful tropical fish via a boat tour.