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Defining my Belize/Guatemala itinerary - input appreciated!

Defining my Belize/Guatemala itinerary - input appreciated!

Old Aug 18th, 2010, 02:05 PM
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Defining my Belize/Guatemala itinerary - input appreciated!

Ok all you experts - I need advice! I've been getting excellent suggestions over on the TA forum and figured it's time to move it over here and get Fodorites input as well.

Any thoughts for what to flip around, what to add, what to remove, where to save $$$, is very much appreciated!

Day 1 - TEC (Belize Zoo Jungle Lodge) - zoo night tour
Day 2 - *Lamanai Outpost Lodge - Cave's branch tubing/x-fer to Lamanai w/PACZ (may
have to move this to another day depending on logistics)
Day 3 - Lamanai - Native fishing/sunset cocktail cruise
Day 4 - Lamanai - Sunrise canoe/Lamanai ruins (possible croc encounter but 4pp min)
Day 5 - Tikal Inn - Tikal overnight (buy pass at 3pm so good for next day)
Day 6 - Chaa Creek-Macal River Camp - Medicinal trail/Creatures of the night walk
Day 7 - Macal River Camp - Mountain Pine Ridge (includes Rio Frio Cave/pools)-PACZ
Day 8 - *Chaa Creek cabina - Morning birding/horseback riding
Day 9 - Chaa Creek cabina - Natural History center/butterfly farm/canoe or biking
Day 10 -13 - Glover's Atoll Resort (over water cabina) 4/n & 3 full days of world class
snorkeling from the beach plus swim, kayak and snorkel throughout small
nearby cayes and chillin. No tours.
Day 14 - Ruby's - Hangin' at Ramon's dock and checkin out San Pedro town
Day 15 - Ruby's - Hol Chan/Shark Ray Alley
Day 16 - Ruby's - Manatee viewing with Turtleman (or other)
Day 17 - Depart for home

*Still a splurge, but taking advantage of the kids discounts/free options at Lamanai and Chaa Creek. Using PACZ for the tours that cost $ - much cheaper than through Chaa Creek.

There is a small part of me that is debating Flores in exchange for Lamanai. For anyone who had visited both I would love your thoughts on this.

Thanks all!
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Old Aug 18th, 2010, 02:52 PM
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Honestly, I would ditch the Belize Zoo lodge for an extra night at Tikal. If you transfer directly between the airport and the Lamanai Outpost Lodge, you travel on an AMAZING boat ride* up the New River where you see all kinds of wildlife in addition to natural scenery and even a look into the back country culture of Belize.

To put it another way--I thought it was better than Cano Negro in Costa Rica--and would you trade a Cano Negro trip in for a visit to a zoo? I'm sure the Belize Zoo is nice. but it's still a zoo.

*The boat ride is free if you do their all-inclusive package.

Here's the kind of stuff you might see on the transfer to/from the airport:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3126735...7623505136530/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3126735...n/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3126735...n/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3126735...n/photostream/

Flores is a nice little tourist town, but it's not a destination. It's a place people stay at night to explore other more interesting places during the day.

We were happy to have two nights at Tikal. There's so much wildlife around there. Plus, if you go in the rainy season, you'll want the best chance to see it in good weather. Our second sunset in the main square in Tikal wasn't any less magical than the first.

Also, the logistics of traveling between all of these places is somewhat challenging and you may want to build in some time for that. We wound up doing the reverse order of what you did, i.e.:

1) Land transfer from BZE to Cayo
2) Land transfer from Cayo to Tikal area
3) Flight from Tikal area to BZe; land/river transfer from BZE to Lamanai Outpost Lodge
4) River/land transfer from Lamanai to BZE for flight home.

I would be sure to do the spotlight safari at Lamanai Outpost Lodge--it was our favorite activity. We really enjoyed the sunset booze cruise, but if you're traveling with a <21 child it might lack some of the same magic.
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Old Aug 18th, 2010, 03:14 PM
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Also, cave tubing could easily be done from the Cayo region, where you have more free time. We haven't done it, but my brother and his wife did. They liked it, but found it underwhelming.
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Old Aug 18th, 2010, 03:17 PM
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Hi Rac -- Thanks for your comments. It was Dr. FeelAwesome from TA that recommended the night tour at the zoo and said it was pretty cool. I think it's supposed to be a really great zoo, but I hear what you're saying. I didn't realize I would miss the boat ride in if we stayed there and I definitely don't want to miss that! However, if our flight doesn't arrive until the afternoon then I suppose we would need to stay somewhere in order to take the boat in daylight...hmmm. Help!

Sounds like I should move the spotlight safari up on the list then. And ponder another night in Tikal. How much time did it take you to get from place to place? Is there any reason it would be better (based on above) for me to flip Lamanai and Cayo?
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Old Aug 18th, 2010, 03:18 PM
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Oh, I think we were posting at the same time. I'm not that excited about cave tubing, but my 13 year old will probably say different. It's all about balance. ;-)
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Old Aug 18th, 2010, 03:20 PM
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Oh, I see now why you said I'd miss the river trip to Lamanai...because of the tubing/x-fer. Ok, I'll have to check that.
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Old Aug 18th, 2010, 03:33 PM
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We left for the LOL 12:00 or 1:00 pm--something like that. It's about a 2-3 hour boat ride, so as long as you're on the road by 2:30-3:00 you should be fine. I would contact the LOL and figure that out with them--they're extremely attentive and will make things work for you.

Travel time:

About 2.5 hours from BZE to Cayo and from Cayo to Tikal. About 45 minutes-1 hour from Tikal to Flores (airport). About 1 hour flight from Flores to BZE.

Planning the logistics of our trip was a real struggle. What finally solved it for us was the ability to fly from Flores to BZE.

Doing Cayo-Flores/Tikal-Lamanai allowed us to land, then head west on land in smaller increments, and then circle back by plane to BZE so we could get picked up by the LOL (they have their own lounge there with WiFi--across the road from BZE).

It might also make sense for you to do that kind of travel arrangement--that way you can take the free transfer from the LOL to BZE, and from there fly out to the Cayes.
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Old Aug 18th, 2010, 03:36 PM
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Also, at Tikal don't forget there are two museums plus nature trails completely outside the archaeological reserve--including a small pond where we saw a crocodile, blue buntings, and a green heron spearing a fish. Staying one night wouldn't allow one to just kind of poke around the place and discover things.
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Old Aug 18th, 2010, 05:51 PM
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Hip - the zoo is unique - yes it's a zoo, and you wouldn't miss much to skip it, but it's a nice place to go. We didn't do a night tour, so I don't know what would be different. It's small, and we stopped as part of our transfer to Chaa Creek. Our driver came in with us and acted as a guide in the zoo. We weren't there for more than two hours and I don't know if there were many more people there than just us! But all of the animals are native to Belize. They're all in very natural environment "cages". The signs are all wooden and hand carved and meant to be humorous or very light hearted - and carefree. You get very close to the animals. For me, it was a great introduction to the country and actually it was the most wildlife we saw in Belize - other than the sea life.

I don't think I'd give up other parts of your trip for a day visit, but if the night tour is something unique, it might be worth it.

Your trip sounds great! You definitely have a lot packed into it!
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Old Aug 18th, 2010, 07:56 PM
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Shell - based on what you did do you think I'm trying to fit too much in?
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Old Aug 19th, 2010, 03:23 AM
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hip, I think it looks great. You plan awesome trips. Be sure to take your daughter to D&E's Custard when you're on Ambergris.
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Old Aug 19th, 2010, 05:15 AM
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I think it sounds great Hip! It's a lot of switching places, but I know you like to do that - so you'll be good with it! Glover's Atoll sounds really cool. I would have liked to get to Lamani, even for a day trip on our visit. But by the time we got to Ambergris, I wasn't up for any mainland excursions! It was all about the ocean for me at that point! I definitely want to plan a return trip to Belize. Are you going next summer, or sometime before that? I'll be looking forward to hearing about your trip to help out planning my next visit!
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Old Aug 19th, 2010, 05:42 AM
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Regarding getting from Lamanai to Tikal:

Tropic Air has two flights--one at 7:45 am and the other and 3:00 pm. That would mean leaving the Lamanai Outpost Lodge at 4:30 or so--which would seem unpleasant. You could take the 3:00 flight, which would arrive at 4:00 in Flores. From there it would be about an hour to get to the Tikal Inn, plus check in time. So, that would be really pushing it for seeing the ruins in the afternoon--it gets very dark very fast in the forest there.

It's possible to drive out of Lamanai during dry season, but it's considered a poor idea to do so during the rainy season (roads get washed out).



If you do things in reverse--Cayo-Tikal-Lamanai, there are 8:45 and a 4:15 flights to BZE out of Flores. We took the 8:45 and then took the van/boat transfer to Lamanai from the airport).
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Old Aug 19th, 2010, 06:09 AM
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I just got back from my whirlwind tour of Belize and I have to say only one word - DEET! I came back with bot fly larvae and still have ones to hatch. We were in the southern portion near Blue Hole National Park, Cockscomb and then over to Caye Caulker. If you type in bot fly stories you will see most of them are from Belize and from a lot of the places you are going.
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Old Aug 19th, 2010, 08:22 AM
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Thanks RAC for all of the logistics details. Even though trip isn't until next summer I kind of want to know what I'm getting myself into especially transfer costs including flight to Flores if that's the way to go. Maybe flipping Cayo and Lamanai as you said would work better...I'll put it on paper.

Shell - Well, I don't necessarily like moving around that much it's more that I can't decide where not to go! I figure 3-4 nights will be fine...but there's still a chance I up 3 areas 1 night each and do away with one area. Also, if we love Glover's we can stay a week. The cost of paying for Ruby's vs. not having to pay for a boat from Glover's would actually save us $ so I'm leaving that option open...I do want to visit the zoo, because I heard it's pretty cool, but the main reason I included the night tour is because if we need to stay somewhere our first night I thought it would make sense anyway. However, if we can x-fer straight from the airport we might skip staying there and try to visit a different day. I'm embarrassed to say trip isn't until next August and I'm already planning.

vgirl - Thanks - Well, it's still in planning stages but getting there!

moneymoo - Ack. Sorry to hear that. Did you have a good time while you were there? Yes, my daughter and I have watched countless Youtube videos of botfly as well as "Monster Inside of Me" on T.V. My daughter's first response was "I'M NOT GOING TO BELIZE". Ha! She's changed her mind, but we'll stay slathered in DEET!
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Old Aug 19th, 2010, 09:16 AM
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Another must do place on Ambergris is Manneli's or Marnelli's ice cream. Very small hole in the wall but the best coconut ice cream we've ever experienced. My kids still talk about it!
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Old Aug 19th, 2010, 09:41 AM
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I'm a sucker for anything coconut and am always in search of it - adding to the list with D & E's. Yum! I figure we'll be able to have 3 lunches and 3 dinners so all restaurant rec's are welcome!
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Old Aug 19th, 2010, 09:46 AM
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Wild Mango's, sometimes just called Mangoes, is really yummy. Nice cute little restaurant with a beach view. Portions were huge for what we ordered.
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Old Aug 19th, 2010, 10:31 AM
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I thought one of the best things about Belize, and Ambergris in general was that there was a great variety of really good places to eat! It seems so often when you travel, especially in Central America, the food is just ok - but we found Belize to have really good food!

I'm a really early planner too - as soon as we get back from one trip I'm already thinking about the next one! Although probably not quite so detailed as that so soon!!
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Old Aug 19th, 2010, 10:47 AM
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I would alternate beach and mainland a bit more, perhaps start at Rubys and then move to Lamanai. But sticking to your schedule, just move Lamanai and the zoo.

Day 1/3 nights, Lamanai, great lodge, wonderful choice
Day 4-Fly BZE intl to Flores, overnight in Tikal
Day 5/4 nights-Transfer to Chaa Creek, another wonderful choice
Day 9/4 nights-Transfer Glovers. The atoll is spectacular.
Day 13/3 nights, Rubys
Day 16-cave tubing/ zip line and day and night tour of the zoo
Day 17-40 mins drive to Intl airport.

Great trip, truely memorable.
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