Trying to decide which way to go fro a March belize trip. I could rent a car and dicate my own agenda, or go with one of the packege tours. Those sound nice, but also very expensive and limited options. The deciding facvtor may be: do I really need to be on a guided tour to do most things? Or can we make out OK on our own?

For me at least half the fun is the research and planning. It's not that hard to get around Belize using chicken buses and shuttles or taxis so you don't have to rent unless you feel like it; I don't prefer it. Belize is a really ease place to plan your own trip - great internet presence, great guidebooks, English speaking, lots of options for adventure and lodging in various price categories. My vote is plan your own! Happy trails!

Figure out what you want to do, look at the logistics and then compare to pre arranged packages and packages you can assemble yourself. Driving around on your own is fine and you can hire guides at the sites when needed.

I will post shortly our experience renting our own car for the one week we were in the Cayo district (Dec 27-Jan 3). I am very glad we had our independence, and recommend it if you are adventurous. It is expensive, but can be worth it. Still, there may be some excursions that will still be "tour" driven.... More to come.

We went to Belize several years ago. I'm like Hopefulist - I love the research and planning. Belize was easy to get around. We didn't rent a car, but took internal flights and buses.