My husband and I are trying to plan a five or six night trip to Belize at the end of August with another couple. We all are into outdoor activities, are very athletic and would like to do some diving.
-Is it too much to try to do a couple of nights in the jungle or at ruins (2-3) and a couple of nights in San Pedro?
- We also wanted to fly in on a Tuesday and leave on a Sunday or Monday - do most places require Saturday to Saturday stays?
-I hear that it is the "wet" season presently in Belize - but San Pedro is still sunny and warm, with brief showers during the day. What about inland?
- We are on a budget - although it is not too tight. With diving excursions, I don't know how much we can spend on inland excursions. I was thinking we might try to stay at the Baynan Bay condos. While they are pricey, I figured it would be worth it for the beach front.
- Oh - and how do the flights within Belize work? Does it make sense to hire a tour operator for the entire trip?
THANKS!
Carolyne

Banyan Bay, Banana Beach and Xanadu all have two bdrm condos, are in the same area and offer good value and are good properties. I'm a big fan of Amigos Dive and book most of my clients with them. I'd say you might want 3 nights on the mainland for maya sites, scenic jungle and river trips, caving, horses. I'm partial to the Cayo district. I like Chaa Creek, duPlooys, Crystal Paradise and Black Rock lodge. It is rainy season so expect sporadic rains, usually at night. Two domestic airlines, Maya Island and Tropic, with frequent flights between the mainland and island.

We too are planning to spend 10 days in Belize in late August. I understand it's the wet season, but what does that generally mean? Will we likely have sunny weather when it's not raining? Overcast skys? We will be in Placencia for 5 days and Cayo/Flore for 5 days. Thanks for the help! -Adam

We just returned from Belize, 3 nts in Cayo and 4 at Banyan Bay. The weather was great, don't know if we got lucky or not, but it only rained at night(1-5AM) in Cayo, the days were all sun and not to hot. I had expected extreme heat. Like Katie said, if you plan on doing trips in the jungle/Cayo area, 3 nts would probably be best, because you have to allow for travel and there is so much to do. Also, bring tons of bug spray, the mosquitos inland were horrible. On Ambergris, the mosquitos were not to be found as long as a breeze was blowing, which was every day but the last morning. Be prepared for expensive food at most of the popular restaurants, the good thing about Banyan bay is that you have a full kitchen that can save you a few bucks. It's only been a couple days since I got back and I need to put my feet back on the ground. Katie is a great source for info and help, and so is Lan.

i am going to put up a trip report soon---we loved amber caye and cayo district

Everyone is saying this is the worst year for mosquitoes in Cayo (and some other area) in recent memory. Sometimes, at this time of year, you can go for days in Cayo and never even see a mosquito.

--Lan Sluder

Interesting...when we were in Cayo in June we hardly got a single mosquito bite. However, when we got to San Pedro the mosquitos were horrible.