Hi! My husband and I are planning a trip to Belize in June 08. We are going to 10 days. We would like to do an overnight tour of Tikal, then to ATM for cave experiences for 1 day then to Ambergis to relax the rest of the time. I need to know best way to get to Tikal and how we can get to the caves from Tikal, then onto Ambergis. Should we fly into Flores or BZE to go to Tikal, or should we go to Ambergis first? Thanks for your help

Tropic Air used to fly from BZE to Flores but since November there has been a dispute between Belize and Guatamala that has grounded flights between the countries.

I would contact Tropic Air to see if they know when and if the dispute will be resolved. Last year I booked an overnight tour to Tikal through them and it was very good.

Flights may resume by summer, but nothing is certain. You can travel by road from Belize City to Cayo for ATM and then move from Cayo to Tikal by road. And back. You can stay in Tikal park, on the island village of Flores or a quiet inn in the reserve along the lagoon. Lots of great choices. If flights resume, you can fly from flores back to Belize Intl.

If you can swing an open jaw ticket, flying into Flores near Tikal and out of Belize City, that would work well (but likely cost more). You could hit Tikal 1st, shuttle to Belize, stop in San Ignacio for a couple of nights so you can visit ATM, then shuttle or bus to BZ and head to Ambergris. I like doing the inland bits first and the water time last on my trips. My photos and travelogues are here if you're interested:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/staceyholeman/collections

Happy trails!

If you can't fly into Flores, then you'll fly into BZE and probably spend your first night in San Ignacio. The ATM takes a full day, and you'll be exhausted, so you'll stay another night there. Then go to Tikal the next day.

If you will only be in Tikal for one night, I definitely reccommend staying inside the park. The evening and early morning are the best times to see (and hear) the animals, plus the weather is cooler and there are very few tourists. If you're schlepping back and forth to Flores you will miss the best times to be in the park. You should know that the rooms in the 3 park hotels are very simple, but let's face it, you're not coming all this way to stay in your room!

As mentioned above, save Ambergris for the last part of your trip. After all the hiking you'll do inland, you'll be ready for some relaxation time on the beach!

We did the open Jaw trip just as
hopefulist suggested.
We flew into Gua, then took a
Taca flight to Flores. Stayed in
Tikal Inn. Flores to Tikal is about
an hours drive.
Stay in the park. It offers a lot
of opportunity where time is a
premium. Tikal Inn is nice with the
pool. The rooms are ok and food is
good.
To cross to belize, just get the
hotel to arrange a shuttle, which
takes 2 hours to the border. Cross
the border and take a taxi to
San Ignacio. It is 15 minutes by
road. You can stay in SI and then
go to ATM and other caves.
Then you can take a cab to Belize city which is 2 hours by road and
then fly to San Pedro. Use the
municipal airstrip and maya island
air. The reason i say maya island
air is because if you are travelling
on sunday, they offer 25% off the
fares.

You can then fly out from Belize
city back home.
Good luck
Krish