Chan Chich vs. BdC
 

For anyone who has been to both Chan Chich and Bosque del Cabo, how did you think the two compared? We've been to BdC and loved it and are trying to decide if we want to go back or give Chan Chich a try. Would love to know your experiences - how do the rooms, activities, hiking, wildlife, food, etc. compare? Would also love to know all the activities you did and which ones you would recommend? What wildlife did you see? All that good stuff. Thanks for any guidance you can give me! Also, how many nights did you stay at Chan Chich, and was that enough?

And to confuse matters more, we're also looking at Lamanai Outpost Lodge. If you had to choose between there and Chan Chich and could only do one, which one would you pick? I'd say seeing wildlife is our main priority. Thanks!

I can answer the second question. We had good wildlife viewing at both LOL and CC. If I could only pick one to go back to, I would gravitate toward LOL because I loved the lagoon setting and the availability of both water and land activities.

Patty, I remember now that you've been to both. Can you remind me what activities you did at each place, and what wildlife you saw at each one? We're like you, love to be on the water, so that is a nice plus for LOL. It looks Totugueroish to me, and we loved it there.

We had such a choice back in 2010 and we chose the Lamanai Outpost Lodge. Among the big positives was the transportation to each lodge--around $500 each way for small plane to Chan Chich, vs a free boat ride down the New River for Lamanai Outpost Lodge which provided all kinds of wildlife sightings.

Lamanai Outpost Lodge also--as you would expect from the name--provides immediate access to the Lamanai Ruins--the reserve is right across the road. Lamanai also had more diverse activities available, being on the lagoon, including activities like going out on a crocodile tagging research trip.

From what I can gather, Chan Chich is more jungly and luxurious--bidets in the rainforest etc. But, the food, accomodations and especially the service at Lamanai were all incredible.

Bidets in the jungle? That is funny, wow, that is pretty fancy. That transportation does sound pricey. What activities did you do at Lamanai? Are they included in the package that you buy or separate? Any that you would or would not do again?

The activities come with a package--it was two activities per night's lodging (along with transporation and all meals)

We did:

Guided tour of Lamanai ruins
Sunrise canoe tour of New river marshes
Night hike
Early morning bird tour
night time spotlight safari (on boat)
sunset cocktail pontoon cruise on the new river

In addition, we paid extra to do the crocodile tagging trip.

Ironically, it was that one that turned out to be a let down--not so much because the trip wasn't good, but becauase there were two hyperprivileged young boys on it (around 8-10 years old) and of course that meant the entire excursion had to make them happy above all else. Oy.

Here's our trip report:

http://www.fodors.com/community/mexi...ruary-2010.cfm

Among the wildlife we saw there, or en route:
howler monkeys (they came within feet of us--all over the place there
armadillo (night)
kinkajou (night)
jabiru
black-collared hawk
snail kite
agami heron (night)
morelet's crocodile
red-capped manakins
parrots, toucans, motmots etc

Everything else was great-

Fwiw, our bird guide in the Panama Canal zone, Jose Soto of the Gamboa lodge, said that Chan Chich was the one place he's seen a jaguar.

I am really liking the sound of LOL. My husband is into birding - were parrots and toucans fairly easy to spot there? I've heard they have great guides. Are there also trails if you want to go on your own?

It looks like most of the rooms are situated around a lagoon or river. Do most of them have a view? I think I remember something about some having a shared balcony/porch and some having individual ones? Do you remember what type you had? We would love a water view and something that felt a little private - any specific room you would recommend. Bidet not required. :)

I believe there are some cabinas with views, but of course those are more expensive. Ours didn't have a view, but the restaurant does.

Both are very good for birds, but they differ slightly in which ones you see given the different surroundings--more likely to see jabiru and agami at LOL, more likely to see eagles at Chan Chich. Parrots and toucans common, all kinds of trogons too.

If your husband is into birding, look at the Lodge at Pico Bonito in Honduras. They have great off-season special on Luxury Link sometimes, and even the off-season birding there is great, and it's fairly easy to see Lovely Cotingas there (your husband will likely appreciate that). Lovely place, great service, awesome food, and lots to see/do in the area (including mangrove boat tours).

Overall, we'd say that LOL, Pico Bonito, and Bosque del Cabo have really stood out for us as places that combine nature with comfort/relaxation out of all the places we've traveled to.

Yup our deluxe cabana at CC had a bidet :) The cabanas at CC are definitely more luxurious and the food is fancier. They also have a pool.

The cabanas at LOL were perfectly comfortable though and the food was very good. The guiding was excellent at both locations.

At LOL we saw howler and spider monkeys, armadillo, kinkajou, possum, agouti and someone else in our party saw a tayra. We also saw crocs, jabiru stork, toucan, herons and many other birds. RAC is right that bird species will vary between LOL and CC because of the different types of habitat.

At CC we saw an ocelot (you're far more likely to see a cat species here than anywhere else), howler and spider monkeys, deer and fox. Birds included ocelated turkey, crested guan and Montezuma oropendola, among many others.

At LOL our package included 2 standard activities per day. There were also optional activities which we did not participate in. We spent 3 nights and did the sunset boat ride, spotlight boat ride, 2 day walks, night walk and Lamanai ruins tour. On our own we took a canoe and paddled across the lagoon and up Dawson creek early one morning. That was one of our favorite activities. Just let them know the evening prior that you would like a canoe ready. We also went back to the ruins on our own (you just need to pay the entrance fee). The archaeological site itself is very good for birding and wildlife. There are also other trails that you can take on your own but they don't have as extensive of a trail system as CC. The combination road/river transfer in/out can be considered a wildlife tour all by itself.

At CC we only prebooked room and meals. We paid for our activities a la carte and did a guided morning and evening walk. The rest of the time we walked on our own. There were also many other activities such as horseback riding, biking, canoeing, farm tours, nearby ruins, etc. but we didn't participate in any of these. Many of these tours required driving somewhere first and we prefer to do things on site. Most guests flew in/out by charter flight. You can also arrive by road which takes about 4 hours from Belize City (we came from LOL so it only took 2 hours by road).

Views at LOL are divided into garden view, lagoon view and lagoon front. We had lagoon view cabana 9 and it was more of a peekaboo view of the lagoon. The lagoon fronts will give you a better view. 4 of the lagoon fronts are in a quadplex with a long shared deck. 2 of the lagoon fronts are stand alone units. I might have posted this before but here are some photos of the cabanas including a map of the layout share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AZNnDlk5YtmbFlA

At CC, the only difference is regular or deluxe. It's surrounded by jungle so I don't think the cabana location matters as much. The deluxe cabanas have a larger, upgraded bathroom, walk in closet and a futon on the deck. Here are some photos of the differences share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AZNnDlk5YtmbFtg

Hope this helps.

Thanks, RAC; I can tell you really loved LOL. The lodge in Honduras looks great too - maybe for a future trip.

Patty, these are great details - thanks so much. Yes, I was confused about lagoon view vs. lagoon front. Is it that the lagoon front ones are closer to the water? I'm going to check out all your pictures - thanks for posting those.

Would you guys say both places are pretty hot and humid? Any months we shouldn't go due to rain?

I really appreciate all the help.

Yes the lagoon front ones are closer to the water. If you look at the map photo, the greenish ones (7-9) are lagoon view. The blue ones (10-15) are lagoon front.

We were there in Feb/Mar and it wasn't hot. It was even cooler at CC and we had on sweaters in the early morning and evening. Belize is far enough north that a cold front hitting the lower US will affect their weather as well. I think that's what happened the week we were there. It was also dry. May is generally the warmest month and when the rainy season starts. We've been to Belize in Jan, Feb, Mar and May. We prefer the winter months for the drier, cooler weather. The downside is the high season pricing.

They are close enough to each other that temps and most species are similar. LOL overlooks the expansive lagoon and has nice breeze over the flood plains and lagoon. Lagoon front rooms at LOL the best they have. CC more remote with less hunting and other human pressure in the immediate vicinity and grt for birders and devoted hikers

The pictures are great - thanks for posting those, and the map too. Some of the print was a little small, but it looked like it said that some of the cabins have a.c. That's hard for me to imagine since it looks like a pretty rustic area. I think we would really love a lagoon front room. And the tours sound fantastic.

Yes there are 2 cabanas with A/C but those only have a garden view. We were OK with fans in Feb.

Yes, I think we would much rather be close to the water than have a.c. I like the look of those two blue ones on the lower right; it looks like they're lagoon front, but also have private decks. What is right in front of them, the long orange rectangle on the map? Sorry I can't read the type.

Do the green ones have a porch that faces the water?

That orange rectangle is a hammock area that any guest can use though we rarely saw anyone there. Then farther down below is the dock (red rectangle). Those two blue ones are the stand alone lagoon fronts (14 & 15).

The green ones do have private decks that face the water. Ours (9) was the one closest to the blue ones. The views will be more of a peek of the water as there is a lot of lush vegetation. The second pic in the album shows the deck of 9 and fifth pic shows the view from 9.

Thanks, Patty, your map really helped. Your pictures really helped me make sense of it all. And thanks, Katie and RAC for all the good info. I showed this info. to my husband, and he thought it all looked great. Do you guys think three days is about right?