jbh555

My husband and I will be in San Ignacio for 4 nights in January, staying at the Table Rock Jungle Lodge. We are not interested in going to Tikal but would like to tour some of the closer ruins, see the Hummingbird Highway, and look around Placencia. Would you recommend renting a car, or using taxis and tour companies?

hopefulist

If you're going to make the trip clear to Placencia from San Ignacio I'd spend at least a night there and, frankly, it wouldn't seem worth the long drive to me unless I had at least 3 nights to take advantage of what the area has to offer. A rental car probably makes more sense than a tour if you decide to make the drive. I figure anything I miss one trip is an excuse to return - maybe save that part of the country for another visit.

If you're wanting to do the full day trip to the Caracol Maya site, I'd consider a tour - it's at least 2-3 hours both ways on really rough roads and still considered a good idea to time the trip to coordinate with a security escort. You could rent a car or hire taxis to visit Xunantunich (near San José Succotz) and/or Cahal Pech (just up the hill from San Ignacio); both are possible in a day with hours to spare. You could take a local bus from San Ignacio to Succotz for a visit to Xunantunich but would have about a mile walk each way between the hand crank ferry that crosses the Mopan River and the Maya site.

My photos with blog links on the main page of each collection are below in case you're interested - all my recommendations are embedded there.
Happy trails!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/staceyholeman/collections

jbh555

Thanks for posting your reply. I really got my wires crossed! For some reason I thought Planencia was much much closer! It's a good thing we are flying to Amergris Caye from the Cayo, so I can chill out on the beach!!!

hopefulist

Try to hit the Belize Zoo on the way there. Happy trails!

MisterB2

Good advice above. You could visit the local sites by taxi, but a rental car always gives you more freedom. I'd recommend joining a tour for Caracol.

A rental car would be a good choice if you decide to go to Placencia -- it's a few hours each way, and you'll want to make a few stops along the way. If you just want to see Placencia, check the Tropic Air website -- it was recently announced that they have added a flight between San Ignacio and Placencia.