eileen

I am looking for guides to take us to Tikal from Ambergris caye. The tour that flys there is so expensive. Any information would be appreciated.

dan

Just rent a car on the mainland and drive up to the Belize/Guatemala border and drive to it yourself. That's the cheapest way I can think of.

Susan

There is an alternative to driving. You can either fly or take a boat from Ambergris to Belize City. Then you take the bus from Belize City to San Ignacio - if I remember correctly, that takes about 4 hours. San Ignacio is a nice enough little town and you could stay overnight there (lots of hotels) if you were interested. You can then go frm San Ignacio to Tikal. I don't think it takes very long, although we didn't do it ourselves.

texasgirl

hi, we went from san ignacio to tikal a few years ago. Tikal is not really a one-day trip from Belize, so if you are short on time you might want to just spring for the air tour. <BR> <BR>Susan is right about bus to san ignacio; from there, you could hire a guide to take you in a Jeep. There are probably buses also, but i'm not sure of schedule, and the ones we saw were second-class only, not as comfortable as buses in Mexico, for instance. <BR> <BR>You should probably think twice about driving, unless you speak good Spanish (the border crossing can be a little dicey) and you're very comfortable with variable road conditions. They were in bad shape when we were there. <BR> <BR>Tikal is amazing, a great site _ i loved climbing the pyramids and hearing the howls of the monkeys! _ but I ended up wishing we'd had more time there. Even a day there just scratches the surface...

texasgirl

forgot to mention, you can arrange guides easily once you get to san ignacio. Just look around downtown, or at the bigger hotels. you can also probably do it before going, but it will be more expensive. <BR>

Charlie

We rented a car and drove to Tikal. The road really does get bad, but we had a 4WD Samurai, so no prob. It was nice to be able to stop at other places, as well: Xunantunich, the Belize zoo, etc.

dnorrie

I am surprised that anyone would recommend driving in Guatemala. We were in Belize 3 years ago and drove lots of Belize but, after spending 6 weeks there and hearing the horror stories from the residents of Belize about Guatemala, I would definately not recommend driving past the border. You can go to San Pedro Belize by car (there is only one main highway in Belize and the side roads are terrible) and then drive to the Guatemala border and bus from there. But, as an alternative, there are ruins in Belize that are currently under excavation that are fabulous to visit. It is only about 30 kms. but on a rain forest trail so allow at least 2 hours driving to get there. These ruins (can't remember the exact name) are far more extensive than Tikal but are not excavated as yet. Guides are great. If you do decide to rent a car in Belize, do so in advance. Cars are expensive and hard to find

dnorrie

I meant San Ignacio