Family Trip to Belize
Oct 20th, 2007, 08:37 AM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 30
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Family Trip to Belize
Two years ago our family did a trip to Costa Rica. We rented a car and traveled around the country for two weeks and stayed in four different places along the way. It was awesome. We are now looking to do a similar type trip to Belize in March 2008. Here are my questions:
If we stopped at four different places in two weeks, what four places would you recommend in Belize(we are a family who likes to be very active and likes lots of adventure, my girls are age 9 and 14)? We were thinking of staying at Xanadu in Ambergris Caye and the Hidden Valley Inn in San Ignacio as two possibilies).
Is it safe and feasible to drive a rental car in Belize? Can you give an estimate of driving times between the major recommended locations to visit.
A number of people on this board complain about mosquitoes and sand flies. How bad are they? Are some areas much worse than others?
Last question. How likely are we to have spiders and scorpions in our hotel rooms. The very last place we stayed at in Costa Rica had many spiders as well as a scorpion - I don't mind bugs but I don't like them in my room.
Thanks in advance for your responses.
If we stopped at four different places in two weeks, what four places would you recommend in Belize(we are a family who likes to be very active and likes lots of adventure, my girls are age 9 and 14)? We were thinking of staying at Xanadu in Ambergris Caye and the Hidden Valley Inn in San Ignacio as two possibilies).
Is it safe and feasible to drive a rental car in Belize? Can you give an estimate of driving times between the major recommended locations to visit.
A number of people on this board complain about mosquitoes and sand flies. How bad are they? Are some areas much worse than others?
Last question. How likely are we to have spiders and scorpions in our hotel rooms. The very last place we stayed at in Costa Rica had many spiders as well as a scorpion - I don't mind bugs but I don't like them in my room.
Thanks in advance for your responses.
Oct 20th, 2007, 10:48 AM
#2
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 4,255
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Our family of 5 (kids were 17, 18, and 20 at the time) spent about 4 weeks in Belize in 2003. Since we mostly stayed in lodgings with bugs, snakes, spiders, hermit crabs, and scorpions, I'm not sure you want my lodging recommendations, but you might be interested in our photos and travelogue:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/staceyholeman/collections/
With 2 weeks I'd start inland, check out the zoo, choose 1 or maybe choose 2 spots, like Caves Branch and a lodge in the San Ignacio area. Take an overnighter to Tikal, then end up on a beach somewhere for the week or so.
Happy trails and keep us posted!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/staceyholeman/collections/
With 2 weeks I'd start inland, check out the zoo, choose 1 or maybe choose 2 spots, like Caves Branch and a lodge in the San Ignacio area. Take an overnighter to Tikal, then end up on a beach somewhere for the week or so.
Happy trails and keep us posted!
Oct 20th, 2007, 01:03 PM
#3
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,066
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I've only driven from the airport in Belize City to San Ignacio in the Cayo. Very easy drive, especially compared to driving in Costa Rica. There are only three or four highways, easy to get around. The country is only the size of Massachusetts.
I understand the road down the peninsula to Placencia village can be pretty bad. It's about 25 miles long.
I wouldn't drive at night. Too many speed bumps and pedestrians on the roads.
We rented from Budget at the airport. We returned right in Belize City (the airport is actually in Ladyville). They then drove us to the municipal airport so we could fly to Ambergris. They also would have taken us to the water taxi terminal.
We spend most of our time in Belize on Ambergris, we see an occasional spider, but I've not seen scorpions, just a lizard once in awhile.
Mosquitos won't be a problem on Ambergris in March.
I understand the road down the peninsula to Placencia village can be pretty bad. It's about 25 miles long.
I wouldn't drive at night. Too many speed bumps and pedestrians on the roads.
We rented from Budget at the airport. We returned right in Belize City (the airport is actually in Ladyville). They then drove us to the municipal airport so we could fly to Ambergris. They also would have taken us to the water taxi terminal.
We spend most of our time in Belize on Ambergris, we see an occasional spider, but I've not seen scorpions, just a lizard once in awhile.
Mosquitos won't be a problem on Ambergris in March.
Oct 20th, 2007, 03:43 PM
#4
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 184
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My friend and I went to Belize last year for a week. We rented a car, and it was definately an adventure driving in Belize, but we were fine. Make sure to get 4 wheel drive - absolutely necessary. The main highways themselves are paved, and they are relatively easy to drive. But the road to Hiden Valley, and down to Placecia are terrible.
We stayed in Hidden Valley Inn. It was beautiful, but everything you have heard about the road to get there is true. It is full of potholes and very bumpy. We actually ended up driving it in the dark on the way there, since we stopped at the zoo for a little longer then we meant to. It was a little scary, but we made it!
I had read on travel boards that someone found a scorpian in their room, at HVI, and I was very bevous about that, but we did not see any scorpians. (Thank G-d!) The room and grounds were beautiful. We had a fireplace, which was lovely in the evenings. The bathroom was quite buggy the first night. We sprayed some bug killer spray and the next two nights were much better. We didn't see any bugs in room itself. We drove/hiked to the waterfalls on the property. gorgeous.
Definately do the Aktum Tunichil Muknal cave - lots of adventure there! It was really cool!
We went to Tikal/ziplining for a day and a half, and it was one of my favorite parts of the trip. The pyramids are maginificent, and the ziplinging was SO fun. It's much cheaper in Tikal than in Belize. (something like $35 as opposed to $95), and it's right at the entrance to Tikal Park, so you can do it on the way in or out. You can't drive to Tikal, since the Belize rent-a-cars don't let you take their cars out of the country. Eva's, in San Ignacio, let us leave our car there overnight, and they allowed us to get a ride with their day tour to and from Tikal. That worked out perfectly. We climbed the pyramid (I forget which one it is) to watch the sunset. All te travel boards said you needd to hire a park guard to guide you, which we did, but we didn't really need im. There were lts of people there. This was Xmas time though - may be less people in March? We stayed at the Jungle Lodge. Again - saw mixed reviews, but we had a great experience. It was pretty and clean - no problems.
Placencia - the road, again, is everything as bad as you heard! But to us that was just all part of the adventure! We stayed at The Inn at Robert's Grove, and we loved it. Only bad thing was that Placencia is 4 hours from te airport, if that is yur last stop! Next time, I'd stay closer to the airport my last few days.
Placencia town is worth a visit. It was so interesting to see, and we got some really great souvineers.
e: mosquitos - we brought heavy duty bugspray, and also bought some Buzz-Off pants and shirts, and I didn't get one bite. My friend, who didn't wear her Buzz-Off clothes, but used the spray got a few bites over the course of the trip. It also seemed to help in Placencia - I didn't get any sand flee bites.
One more thing about the rent-a-car car. I don't know if there is any way to prevent this, or if other people have had a similar experience, but our car had a blowout on the way out of Placencia to the airport. That was pretty cary - I've never had a blowout before! But Thank G-d, we were on a wide stratch of road. If it had happened on a bridge, or some of the mountain roads, we passed, could have been really dangerous. When we returned the car, they told us they would normally charge $100 for a tire, but they will only charge $50 because it was an OLD TIRE! Can you imagine giving two girls travelling alone on those roads a car with old tires???
It's a really great country with beautiful scenery and lots of exciting activities, so I am sure you'll have a great trip!
Oh, and finally - question for you: i am going to Costa Rica this year -where did you have scorpians in your room there?
We stayed in Hidden Valley Inn. It was beautiful, but everything you have heard about the road to get there is true. It is full of potholes and very bumpy. We actually ended up driving it in the dark on the way there, since we stopped at the zoo for a little longer then we meant to. It was a little scary, but we made it!
I had read on travel boards that someone found a scorpian in their room, at HVI, and I was very bevous about that, but we did not see any scorpians. (Thank G-d!) The room and grounds were beautiful. We had a fireplace, which was lovely in the evenings. The bathroom was quite buggy the first night. We sprayed some bug killer spray and the next two nights were much better. We didn't see any bugs in room itself. We drove/hiked to the waterfalls on the property. gorgeous.
Definately do the Aktum Tunichil Muknal cave - lots of adventure there! It was really cool!
We went to Tikal/ziplining for a day and a half, and it was one of my favorite parts of the trip. The pyramids are maginificent, and the ziplinging was SO fun. It's much cheaper in Tikal than in Belize. (something like $35 as opposed to $95), and it's right at the entrance to Tikal Park, so you can do it on the way in or out. You can't drive to Tikal, since the Belize rent-a-cars don't let you take their cars out of the country. Eva's, in San Ignacio, let us leave our car there overnight, and they allowed us to get a ride with their day tour to and from Tikal. That worked out perfectly. We climbed the pyramid (I forget which one it is) to watch the sunset. All te travel boards said you needd to hire a park guard to guide you, which we did, but we didn't really need im. There were lts of people there. This was Xmas time though - may be less people in March? We stayed at the Jungle Lodge. Again - saw mixed reviews, but we had a great experience. It was pretty and clean - no problems.
Placencia - the road, again, is everything as bad as you heard! But to us that was just all part of the adventure! We stayed at The Inn at Robert's Grove, and we loved it. Only bad thing was that Placencia is 4 hours from te airport, if that is yur last stop! Next time, I'd stay closer to the airport my last few days.
Placencia town is worth a visit. It was so interesting to see, and we got some really great souvineers.
e: mosquitos - we brought heavy duty bugspray, and also bought some Buzz-Off pants and shirts, and I didn't get one bite. My friend, who didn't wear her Buzz-Off clothes, but used the spray got a few bites over the course of the trip. It also seemed to help in Placencia - I didn't get any sand flee bites.
One more thing about the rent-a-car car. I don't know if there is any way to prevent this, or if other people have had a similar experience, but our car had a blowout on the way out of Placencia to the airport. That was pretty cary - I've never had a blowout before! But Thank G-d, we were on a wide stratch of road. If it had happened on a bridge, or some of the mountain roads, we passed, could have been really dangerous. When we returned the car, they told us they would normally charge $100 for a tire, but they will only charge $50 because it was an OLD TIRE! Can you imagine giving two girls travelling alone on those roads a car with old tires???
It's a really great country with beautiful scenery and lots of exciting activities, so I am sure you'll have a great trip!
Oh, and finally - question for you: i am going to Costa Rica this year -where did you have scorpians in your room there?
Oct 22nd, 2007, 05:22 PM
#6
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 757
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
We (kids 7 & 12) split time between Chaa Creek (loved) near San Ignacio & Banyan Bay (liked) on Ambergris Caye/San Pedro. We used a driver (Katie Valk made our arrangements) to get us to Chaa Creek and back to airport. While the road is not bad, I believe it to be less expensive and much more enjoyable to use a shuttle. The only down side, not that we wanted to drive around at Chaa Creek, tours will cost more w/out a car. Enjoy!
