I've been reading this forum, as well as two others, for help with planning my unpcoming trip to Belize. My husband and I will be going the first week of May. The route is set. Reservations are made. Our tentative activities are below with questions in <i>(italics)</i>. Any advise is greatly appreciated.

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<b>Sat. April 30</b>
*Arrive Belize City at BZE 2:35 P
*Pick up car <i>(We have to have an automatic. Plan to rent a 4WD. Is it better to rent from home or will we be able to walk up and get a small 4WD automatic? If renting from home, should we just use Budget? We still don't understand if insurance is optional or not if we are covered by credit card.)</i>
*Fort George Walking Tour<i> (Hours for the Museum of Belize and Maritime Museum?)</i>
*Swing Bridge for opening

<b>Sun. May 1</b>
*Drive to Altun Ha Ruins <i>(Should we hire a guide at ruins? How much does one cost?)</i>
*Downtown BC Walking Tour <i>(Are any museums open in BC on Sunday? What about shops? Belize Labour Day - any activities?)</i>

<b>Mon. May 2</b>
*Drive to San Ignacio
*Stop at Belize Zoo (Mile 29)
*Stop at Guanacaste Park (Mile 48) <i>(If the trail maps are out, will we be able to find the trails and follow them without a problem?)</i>
*Afternoon El Pilar

<b>Tues. May 3</b>
*Morning tour to Barton Creek Cave with hotel guide <i>(Is it better to do this AM or PM in regards to crowds?)</i>
*Afternoon Cahal Pech and Hotel grounds

<b>Wed. May 4</b>
*Day tour to Caracol on our own <i>(Can this actually be driven? Is a guide required for entry as per Official Government Tourism website? How do we hire a guide? How much should one cost?)</i>

<b>Thurs. May 5</b>
*Morning on our own to Mountain Pine Ridge Rio Frio Cave and nature trail <i>(Is this easy to drive to? Can you hike to the Rio On pools from cave? Marked trail?)</i>
*Afternoon Xunantunich

<b>Fri. May 6</b>
*Drive to Belize City
*Community Baboon Sanctuary <i>(Is this easily accessible from the Western Highway?)</i>
*Flight/Boat to Caye Caulker
*Explore Caye Caulker

<b>Sat. May 7</b>
*Manatee watching <i>(Is this possible withOUT snorkeling? What about manatee watching with lunch on Goeffs Caye but no additional snorkeling?)</i>
*Snorkeling lessons
<i>(General Questions: Possible to get to Bacalar Chico from Caye Caulker? Can you get to Ambergis Caye during the day? What time is the first boat there? Last boat back? Any reason to go to Ambergis for 1/2 day? Any glass bottom boat tours from Caye Caulker?)</i>

<b>Sun. May 8</b>
*Wander Caye Caulker
*Caye Caulker Mini-Reserve
*Flight to BZE 1:10 P
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I should add that our Cayo hotel is in San Ignacio proper, not a jungle lodge. For those on the Thorn Tree and Belize Forums, you'll see this again. You only have to answer in one spot though since I'll be checking all three. TIA

~gnr~

Isn't there anyone that can help? Katie???

~gnr~

I'd made these comments:

First, I wouldn't stay in Belize City. It's not a great introduction to Belize, although the Belize Museum is definitely worth seeing. You could do that en route to Caulker.

I'd reserve a car in advance. I like Budget Belize, but Crystal, Hertz, Thrifty &amp; others are good too.

You don't need a guide at Altun Ha -- it's small. Since you're in the area, you might want to stop by Crooked Tree.

I'd probably skip Guanacaste park. Not much to see.

I'd go to Xunantunich rather than El Pilar, if you only do one near San Ignacio.

I'd go to Actun Tunichil Muknal cave rather than Barton Creek, if you can only do one.

Yes, you can drive to Caracol. You don't have to have a guide at the ruins -- there's a good visitor center. The road has been improved.

Yes, you can reach the Baboon Sanctuary from the Western Highway -- turn at the roundabout toward Hattieville prison and Burrell Boom. It's now a good paved road.

--Lan Sluder
www.belizefirst.com

Thanks Lan. Will we be able to park at the Museum of Belize. That's a great idea about hitting at the end, but we will have all of our luggage so we'd keep the car until we were done.

We already have our reservations in BC so we will be staying there the two nights. The full day we will go to Altun Ha and now I'm looking into Crooked Tree since you mentioned it. Would you suggest a day at Altun Ha and Crooked Tree on our own or the Lamanai river tour through an operator? That was suggested on a different forum bit it seems like it would be crowded with cruisers. Maybe that isn't an issue in early May though.

Thanks for your help. Will the casino and restaurants be open in BC on Sunday?

~gnr~

Casinos open on Sundays. All hotel restaurants open on Sunday. Chon Saan Chinese, Harbourview, a few others. Parking lot at the Musuem. Also add the Hose of Culture/Govt House to Belize City points of interest. You can drive to and from Tower Hill Bride and catch the boat to Lamani. Drive yourselves to and from Crooked Tree and Altun Ha. Hav lunch at Birds Eye View and do the lagoon or river boat trip with them too. www.birdsyeviewlodge.com

How does one get back from Lamanai? Is it a public boat or we have to meet a tour?

I wanted to do Lamanai from the beginning so this could be something to do instead of Altun Ha and Crooked Tree. My guess is Lamanai, even on your own, is a full day with the river cruise.

Can anyone give me correct opening times for the Museum of Belize? Lan's Fodor's book has something totally different from the new Frommer's book and I can't find that info online.

Thanks again for the replies.

~gnr~

www.nichbelize.org for M of B info

Hi Katie - That website didn't mention opening times. Hopefully they will respond to my question via email.

We are thinking of taking the bus to the Bridge near Orange Walk to take the boat tour to the ruin.

1) Do all buses (regular and express) run this route on Sundays? If yes, early enough to get us to the bridge by 9:00?

2) Do the express buses drop you at the bridge or do you have to take a regular bus?

3) What is the latest that you can return to BC by bus from here?

We don't want a guided tour from BC, so we are trying to decided whether to use public transport or rent a car as planned.

Thanks for any help.

~gnr~

If you have a choice, do Laminai over Altun Ha. Trip up New River by boat is double your pleasure. Laminai is next best thing to seeing Tikal over the border in Guatemala which to me is the ultimate experience.

Unless you are dead set on Belize City, I would avoid all together other than flying in and out of to get to the real Belize.

Caye Caulker is very laid back &amp; very quiet. Ambergris has much more to do. Just know before you go. If you wanted to do Bacalar Chico it is possible, but most tours I know of originate from Ambergris. I've done a very good day tour from Ambergis that included around all of Ambergis up to Bacalar &amp; visiting, then through Mayan built canal seperating Ambergris &amp; Mexico, then snorkeling/beach BBQ at Robles Point and back to San Pedro. I always stay Ambergis because of activities &amp; then do a side trip by water taxi(seems like $ 15-20 ? pp, R/T and departs both ways many times a day) for the day over to Caye Caulker. Rasta Pasta is a must for food/drinks on CC

I am from austin and in todays paper, in the travel section, there is an article on belize and i just wanted to pass on the information and website. www.statesman.com. I hope this helps you out some.

Thanks Matt. Turns out, that isn't a NEW article, it's a reprinted/edited article from a year ago, originally called <i>Please Belize Me</i> date April 10, 2004.

It wasn't even updated with new info. They could have at least done that if they were going to reprint it.

~gnr~