hopefulist

I decided to repost the information, with a few additions, from my response on the Thorntree forum.
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Now you're talking - sounds like a great vacation! Here are just a few notes.

:: It doesn't make sense to visit Chichén Itzá from Playa or Tulúm, then visit Mérida or Valladolid at the end (Chichén Itzá is 20 minutes from Valladolid). Frankly, we didn't love Chichén Itzá but Ek Balam, similarly close to Valladolid, we loved. From Tulúm you have 2 really interesting, different ruins close at hand: Tulúm and Cobá (photos and notes here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/staceyholeman/collections

:: It will be really hot that time of year, so you might want to pick places with ac. We were really glad to have done that last summer when we stayed in Tulúm, Valladolid, San Felipe, and Isla Mujeres. June is considered low season so you're likely to find reduced prices.

:: You might want to find an alternative to Belize City, though there are a few recommended places in town. The Baboon Sanctuary and the zoo are fairly close. Check out the Toucan Trail and the accommodation download at belizefirst.com.
www.howlermonkeys.org (we stayed at the Nature Resort there)
www.belizezoo.org
www.toucantrail.com
www.belizefirst.com

:: In my opinion it's worth the splurge to stay in the park at Tikal; my favorite hotel there is the Tikal Inn. It's just so great to take full advantage of the cooler evening and early morning hours when the wildlife is active and you practically have the place to yourselves.
www.tikalinn.com

:: I'd stay in Hopkins Village rather than Cockscomb Reserve, though there's great hiking there and it's an easy day trip from Hopkins. If you want a jungly setting, consider something like Macal Jungle Camp or Caves Branch for your Cayo lodging.
www.belizecamp.com
www.cavesbranch.com

:: You can't ferry from Dangriga to Caulker, unfortunately. You could bus or taxi to Dangriga and fly there or you'll need to go by road, typically through Belmopan and on to Belize City.

:: Personally, I'd choose someplace less glitzy than Cancún for my last 4 days - Isla Mujeres or Puerto Morelos, maybe? A day trip to Valladolid and Ek Balám or Chichén Itzá would be easier from Puerto Morelos but you could snorkel with whalesharks off Mujeres.

Again, congratulations and happy trails!

suze

I think that sounds *beautiful* (except the ending in Cancun for several days part).

JeanH

I think you're going to have to get yourself from Caye Caulker to San Pedro to catch a ferry to Corozal. And, I'm thinking you can't get there early enough. Check the water taxi schedules. It's about 20 minutes between Caulker and Ambergris.

You can also catch a water taxi that will take you to Chetumal, seems easier than going through Corozal. But, once again, they leave early in the am.....

OC75

So is there an alternative to staying the night in Belize City. Its seems too much of a hike to do the playa to chetumal, chetumal to BC and then San Ignacio Cayo in one day?? I would like to avoid a night there is possible without going off course for that reason only.

OC75

Oh and I take your desperate pleas on board, we will opt for Isla Mujeres for the last few days.

OC75

the only reason we were going to go to cockscomb reserve was to treat ourselves with a night stay at coppola resort there, would you recommend similar alternatives elsewhere. Less costly if possible!

hopefulist

The Coppola resorts are in the Mountain Pine Ridge and the village of Placencia. The only lodging in Cockscomb is a few rustic cabins and a few hostel beds with a share kitchen.

Here's my idea of a treat (might not be the same as yours):
www.hopkinsinn.com

Happy trails!

OC75

OK thats good to know it would be much easier to get to. Thanks for all your help. What do you expect the weather to be like in late June. Hot, sunny and humid with occasional downpours??

OC75

Just another query on the flores/tikal bit. We plan to go from san igancio cayo to flores so that we can visit tikal. How far is it between these places, is it logical to go and stay in flores and just take a day trip to Tikal??

hopefulist

Re: weather - yes. In our experience the rain falls mainly at night. Occasionally the rains haven't started then but typically sometime in June.

Depending on how you travel between San Ignacio and Tikal, you don't need to to to Flores. The long run buses like Linea Dorada go there from Belize City and the chicken buses from the border go there. If you hire a driver at the border or arrange transportation ahead you'd just go straight to Tikal. The chicken buses could drop you at the intersection heading to Tikal but you'd have to rely on grabbing a ride from a passing van or taxi to get you the rest of the way (30 minutes?) and that could be a bummer in the heat.

It's possible (and cheaper) to stay in Flores and day trip to Tikal but I don't recommend it. As I said above:

:: In my opinion it's worth the splurge to stay in the park at Tikal; my favorite hotel there is the Tikal Inn. It's just so great to take full advantage of the cooler evening and early morning hours when the wildlife is active and you practically have the place to yourselves.
www.tikalinn.com

I'm not usually a guided tour sort of a gal but archaeologist/naturalist Roxy Ortiz gives incredibly e early morning tours; she can be reached at [email protected]

There are other places to stay between Flores (which is a cute little island town if you have the time) and Tikal; the village of El Remate has several options. My last 2 visits to Tikal I've stayed a night in the park and a night in Flores in order to catch a flight or shuttle onward the next morning.

Happy trails!

OC75

Just found out that Hopkins Inn will be closed month of June unfortunately. Any other recommendations? would it be too much of a push to try and get all the way down to palencia from san ignacio cayo in one day. Any ideas how expensive a taxi would be from belize border to Tikal??

OC75

Any tips on where to stay in Caye Caulker??

hopefulist

You can make it from San Ignacio to Placencia in a day - just get an earlyish start. I don't have other recommendations in Hopkins Village if you decide to start there but you could check out the accommodation download on www.belizefirst.com

I'm guessing $50ish US one way from the Belize border to Tikal. You could also check out what Pacz Tours and Mayawalk would charge:
www.pacztours.com
www.mayawalk.com

Not sure what you want on Caye Caulker but we loved Sailwinds - clean, nice apartments with kitchens, great location and view; their low season (including June) rates are about half their holiday rates:
http://www.staycayecaulker.com/sailwinds.html

Happy trails!

OC75

Hopeful, sailwinds on CC looks good. Hopkins Inn kindly recommended a couple of alternatives which also look good they are tipple tree beya and all seasons guesthouse.

$50 (US)ish from Belize border to Tikal?? is that a mistake?

I have a bit of a dilemma.. we will be travelling from tulum and the next stop is flores/tikal or else san ignacio. If we stop and do san ignacio on the way to flores/tikal that will mean that the next leg of the trip will require us to go straight from flores to palencia with no stopovers. Any ideas how long that would take or whether it can be done in one day.

Do you know how long the boat would take from Palencia to Caye Caulker and how much??

hopefulist

Just a quick response here as I posted a longer one on Thorntree.

No, $50 from Melchor de Mencos (border) to Tikal isn't a mistake, it actually might be more than that now. You can bus from the border but it would go to Flores. You'd either be out the shuttle cost from there to Tikal ($10-15 + an hour each way) or have to be dropped off at the intersection closest to Tikal (Las Cruces, I think) and someone hitch a ride from there (~1/2 hour to Tikal). Check out the round trip costs at the links above - maybe better?

I don't think you can plan on Tulum to Tikal in 1 day. Tikal to Placencia is doable but would be a long day - 7 or 8 hours, maybe, if the connections went well. You'd have to get back to the border, bus to Belmopan, then switch buses to head to Placencia. You can also go to Independence and take the hokey pokey boat across, depends on which buses are heading out when - you might have to wait awhile.

There aren't regular boats from Placencia to Caye Caulker. There's a chance you could arrange something once there but you just don't have time for that. I don't think the Raggamuffin boat allows people on that route but you could check with them.

You're adding things back in instead of paring down - too much!! You have LOTS of beach time built in, take your time in San Ignacio and Tikal and leave off Hopkins/Placencia this trip. We've spent nearly 2 months total in Belize and still haven't made it to northern Belize or further south than Hopkins and Sittee River Village. Maybe someday!

OC75

Not really adding anything to the itinerary, I just thought getting from Placencia to Caye Caulker might be easier than Hopkins/Drangiga.

Hopkins sounds nice and gives us an alternative route instead of heading the whole way back to belize city after flores/tikal/san ignacio as we would have travelled that route getting there.. and the hummingbird Hwy is supposedly worth seeing.

hopefulist

The problem is the only way from any of the places you name on the southern coast (Dangriga, Hopkins, Placencia) to Caye Caulker is by road with a ferry from Belize City, a long travel day to get there and another long travel day to get back to Belize City for the boat to Caulker. It would be nice if a boat was a scheduled option but it's not. You could charter a boat or charter a taxi (likely hundreds each, if the boat is even possible) or your option is busing which would be in pieces with changes (and likely some waiting) enroute. It's likely to be very hot when you're there and the buses can be very crowded and don't have ac, which is part of the reason the travel days take a lot out of you. Placencia would add 1-2 hours more on the bus each way over stopping in Hopkins. Also note that buses are fairly frequent from Belmopan to Dangriga but (I think) still just 1 or 2/day from there to Hopkins. If the late afternoon bus doesn't work for you, you'd need to taxi from Dangriga - add ~$50.

In other words you're suggesting a long bus day, 1 day in the Hopkins area, and another long bus day. I'm suggesting to leave this stop out in order to save yourself 1 and a half days on a bus - it would give you an extra day and a half of enjoyment and fewer hot, dusty bus memories.

OC75

ok you have me convinced it looks like hopkins is too much to take on, apologies and thank you. I thought I had read somewhere that a bus from dangriga to belize city was no more than 2hrs.

hopefulist

If you're driving a car, I think it could be done in 2 to 2 and a half hours from Dangriga; add half an hour for Hopkins. Buses are entirely different. By bus from Hopkins you'd have to transfer at least twice and the buses never seem to match up schedule-wise. They also stop for everyone along the route and can take 2 or 3 times as long as driving a car. Keep me posted!

JeanH

We took a 6am bus out of 'downtown' Placencia, changed buses outside of Dangriga (no wait), stopped in Belmopan, but did not change buses. Caught a water taxi in Belize City and were back in San Pedro (Ambergris) in time for lunch at 12:30pm.

Dumb luck and good timing? Probably.