Belize planning; independent vs package
 

I am a single Mom planning a trip to Belize in early March 2016, for myself and my 2 daughters 19 & 24. We are a mix of wanting to be active, and wanting to lay on the beach. So locations with options would be wonderful, so we can each do as we wish. We love nature, wildlife, and water sports more than history, but also enjoy local culture.

I am going back and forth about researching every hotel and activity, and choosing a travel company package. Saw some interesting options with Island Expeditions, and starting to look at other companies as well. Have some money to spend, but can not go crazy!

Any recommendations?

We've liked both Lamanai Outpost Lodge and Chaa Creek for jungle time and Victoria House on Ambergris for beach time.

I should mention that we stayed at Chaa Creek on a Luxury Link deal.

First, get one or two guide books and study them. Second, as three adult women, realize that you have the ability to do this trip on your own and that you will be perfectly safe, whether traveling by car to various destinations or flying to outer islands. Traveling independently, which I encourage, takes a lot of planning time, but the reward of not being herded around by money-grasping indifferent travel personnel makes it worth the effort. There are three of you. Divide up the searches. Third, read what participants in this forum have written in the past about their trips.

You don't mention how long you have for the trip and that is a big factor. Belize is a nice place to visit and, according to the time available to you, certain desirable destinations may have to be omitted. That will be the impetus for another visit. ZZ

The snorkeling at Hol Chan is really good; we saw big rays, turtles, and lots of pretty tropical fish there.

How much time do you have? Most visitors choose to split their stays between inland and beach/caye locations. Belize is pretty easy to plan on your own.

Just FYI Luxurylink ceased operations back in May. Their website is still up but I think it just redirects bookings to other sites.

Great starting point everyone, Thanks!

My 19 yr old is in college, and we are basing this around her spring break March 5-13, but open to extending a couple of days additional. So 10-12 days.

Any top two location suggestions, one rainforest inland 3-4 days, one ocean, beach 4-5 days. The transportation between the two locations is a consideration,would I drive, or take public transit?

When we were in Mexico a few years back we visited a couple that has a spider money reserve. A very cool up close and personal interaction with the moneys. Anything similar in Belize?

Thanks for that update, Patty; I hadn't heard that. Bummer, they were a good company.

I would look at Cayo or Toledo for mainland portion. We have many grt places to base for beach, each different in its appeal from the other

And, if you do want some help with the planning, look up Katie Valk, who posted just above me. She's a Belize based travel agent, and, is very, very helpful.

While I don't know of a place in Belize comparable to the spider monkey reserve that you mention, I can suggest the Belize Zoo, which is not too far out of Belize City and en route to other destinations you might be considering. Don't discount it as just being a zoo. It is really quite interesting and has a section for monkeys. ZZ

Most people who split their trips start in Cayo District in/around San Ignacio as a base for Maya sites and caving. If you're interested in astonishing Maya sites, I'd start there for 3-4 nights, head to Tikal in Guatemala for 1-3 nights, then hit the beach. If major Maya sites aren't a priority, Toledo District is awesome - some lovely Maya sites but also interesting culture, cool jungly places, and some fantastic chocolate tours.

Here’s a link from an old forum thread with good descriptions of beachy options in Belize:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntre...readID=1737076

Our favorite for a quick trip (not enough time to justify heading clear out to the atolls) is Caye Caulker. If you want to move around more and hit 2 beachy places, Hopkins Village is really interesting and has nice, swimmable beaches.

For transport we like public buses - cheap and a great cultural experience - on main routes and fill in with private drivers and taxis. Great info here: www.belizebus.wordpress.com

If you mean The Jungle Place north of Tulum, there's nothing like that that I know of in Belize. I 2nd the zoo, though - really unique. I'd be happy to share our beloved lodging choices if you have a better idea of where you'd like to head. In the mean time, my photos with blog, travelogue, and review links on the main page of each collection are below in case you're interested - all my recommendations are embedded there.
Happy trails!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/staceyholeman/collections

I believe you can get pretty up close to howler monkeys at the Community Baboon Sanctuary (I haven't been). We had some good views of howler and spider monkeys at both Lamanai and Chan Chich. There are a number of ways to travel between destinations depending on where you're going including driving, shuttle, boat, plane, etc. We've never rented a car.

volcanogirl,
We took advantage of many LL packages over the years!

I’ve travelled with Island Expeditions and found them wonderful. Perhaps you could do a short land tour with them and then some beach time on your own.