20 Best Sights in The Cayo District, Belize

Bring a picnic and check out the life's work of ornithologist Ken duPlooy and the personable Judy duPlooy at the 45-acre Belize Botanic Gardens—it's a great way to spend the day. The extensive collection includes hundreds of trees, plants, and flowers from all over Central America. Enlightening tours of the gardens, set on a bank of the Macal River at Sweet Songs Jungle Lodge, are given by local guides who can tell you the names of the plants in Mayan, Spanish, and English as well as explain their varied medicinal uses. If your family is looking for a fun group activity, try out tea-tasting tours or a tamale-making class. An orchid house holds the duPlooys' collection of more than 100 orchid species, and there also is a palm exhibit. The Botanic Gardens also run gardening programs for Belize residents as well as great birding opportunities.

Once a metropolis with five plazas and 32 large structures covering almost a square mile, Caracol once covered an area larger than present-day Belize City. Altogether it is believed there are some 35,000 buildings at the site, though only a handful of them have been excavated. Excavations at Caracol are being carried on by Diane and Arlen Chase of the University of Central Florida. The latest excavations are in an area approximately 500 yards southeast of Caracol's central plaza. Once Caracol has been fully excavated it may dwarf even the great city of Tikal, which is a few dozen miles away (as the toucan flies) in Guatemala. The evidence suggests that Caracol won a crushing victory over Tikal in the mid-6th century, a theory that Guatemalan scholars haven't quite accepted. Until a group of chicleros (collectors of gum base) stumbled on the site in 1936, Caracol was buried under the jungle of the remote Vaca Plateau. It's hard to believe it could have been lost for centuries, as the great pyramid of Caana, at nearly 140 feet, is still Belize's tallest structure.

The main excavated sections are in four groups, denoted on archaeological maps as A, B, C, and D groups. The most impressive structures are the B Group at the northeast end of the excavated plaza. This includes Caana (sometimes spelled Ca'ana or Ka'ana), or \"Sky Palace,\" listed as Structure B19-2nd. Caana is one of the most impressive structures of any Maya ruins, and remains the tallest structure in Belize. The A Group, on the west side of the plaza, contains a temple, ball court, and a residential area for the elite. The Temple of the Wooden Lintel (Structure A6) is one of the oldest and longest-used buildings at Caracol, dating back to 300 BC. It was still in use in AD 1100. To the northwest of the A Group is the Northwest Acropolis, primarily a residential area. The third major plaza forming the core of the site is at the point where a causeway enters the \"downtown\" part of Caracol. The D Group is a group of structures at the South Acropolis.

Near the entrance to Caracol is a small but interesting visitor center. If you have driven here on your own instead of with a tour, a guide usually can be hired at the site, but you can also walk around on your own. A military escort used to be required but is no longer necessary due to the increased security at the site. Seeing all of the excavated area involves several hours of hiking around the site. Wear sturdy shoes and bring insect repellent. Also, watch for anthill mounds and, rarely, snakes. This part of the Chiquibul Forest Reserve is a good place for birding and wildlife spotting. Around the ruins are troops of howler monkeys and flocks of ocellated turkeys, and you may also see deer, coatimundis, foxes, and other wildlife at the site or on the way.

On private land, Actun Chechem Ha, which means \"Cave of the Poisonwood Water,\" is a Maya burial cave with artifacts that date back three millennia. There are many pots and a stela used for ceremonial purposes. This cave may have the largest collection of Maya pottery in one place anywhere in Belize, possibly the world. To examine the pottery, you'll have to climb ladders, and getting to the cave requires a 35- to 45-minute walk, mostly uphill. The cave is on private property, and the landowner's family sometimes gives tours. Tour companies, with registered guides, also visit here from San Ignacio and Belmopan (BZ$150–BZ$200 per person) and include transportation, lunch, admission fee, and sometimes swimming at Vaca Falls.

Due to the hike to the cave entrance and climbing in the cave, you need to be reasonably physically fit to visit Chechem Ha.

This wet cave, now a part of the Barton Creek Archeological Reserve in a remote area off the Mountain Pine Ridge Road, offers a canoeing adventure in Xibalba (the Maya underworld). You'll float through about a mile of a long underground chamber—the cave is nearly 5 miles (8 km) long and parts have never been completely explored. You'll see Maya ceramics along with ancient calcified skeletal remains and skulls. You can go on a tour from San Ignacio or from your lodge. PACZ Tours, for example, offers a six-hour tour that includes lunch and admission to the cave, while Chaa Creek offers a half-day tour. You can also drive to the cave yourself, rent a boat and gear, and hire a guide near the cave. Getting to the cave is an adventure in itself, requiring a long drive on rough roads. Parts of the road and the cave itself may be inaccessible after hard rains. Be careful in the cave; it's best to tour with a reputable tour company with an experienced tour guide and reliable, well-maintained equipment such as float vests.

Also called the Rainforest Medicine Trail, this trail was originally developed by natural medicine guru Rosita Arvigo and gives you a quick introduction to traditional Mayan medicine. The trail takes you on a short, self-guided walk through the rainforest on the grounds of Chaa Creek, giving you a chance to study the symbiotic nature of its plant life. Learn about the healing properties of such indigenous plants as red gumbo-limbo and see some endangered medicinal plants. The shop here sells Mayan medicinal products like Belly Be Good and Flu Away.

The mission of Benque House of Culture, one of the government-sponsored houses of culture in Belize (others are in Belize City, Orange Walk Town, Corozal Town, San Pedro, and San Ignacio/Santa Elena), is \"promoting beauty and goodness.\" Housed in the former Benque police station, this little museum (and we do mean little) has displays on the history of Benque Viejo and also offers classes for local schoolchildren and their teachers. There is a large rosewood and mahogany marimba (a xylophone-like musical instrument) on display.

Just at the western edge of San Ignacio, on a tall hill, is a small, intriguing Maya site, the unfortunately named Cahal Pech (\"Place of the Ticks\"). You probably won't be bothered by ticks now, however. It's an impressive site, but smaller than others in the area, which makes it more manageable for folks with children or mobility issues (although there are still many uphill treks). It was occupied from around 1200 BC to around AD 900. At its peak, in AD 600, Cahal Pech was a medium-sized settlement of perhaps 10,000 people with some three dozen structures huddled around seven plazas. It's thought that it functioned as a guard post, watching over the nearby confluence of the Mopan and Macal rivers. Find information at the small visitor center and museum, where you may also find a guide.

The Natural History Centre at The Lodge at Chaa Creek has displays on everything from butterflies to snakes (preserved in jars). Outside is a screened-in blue morpho butterfly-breeding center. You can see blue morphos up close here and even peer at their slumbering pupae, which resemble jade earrings. Once you're inside the double doors, the electric-blue beauties, which look boringly brown when their wings are closed, flit about or remain perfectly still, sometimes on your shoulder or head, and open and close their wings to a rhythm akin to inhaling and exhaling. A team of knowledgeable naturalists leads guided tours every hour as you learn about the \"Belizean Blue\" butterflies, Maya culture, and more. You can combine a visit here with one to the Belize Medicinal Plants Trail.

Near the border of Belize and Guatemala, El Pilar is still being excavated under the direction of archaeologist Anabel Ford and the MesoAmerican Research Center. El Pilar is three times larger than Xunantunich, but because it's at the end of a 7-mile (12-km) rough dirt road, you're likely to have the place to yourself; it gets only a few hundred visitors a year. Excavations of Maya ruins have traditionally concentrated on public buildings, but at El Pilar the emphasis has been on reconstructing domestic architecture—everything from houses to gardens with crops used by the Maya. El Pilar, occupied from 800 BC to AD 1000, at its peak may have had a population of 20,000. Several well-marked trails take you around the site. Because the structures haven't been stripped of vegetation, you may feel as if you're walking through a series of shady orchards.

Don't forget binoculars: in the 5,000-acre nature reserve there's terrific bird-watching.

Behind the main plaza, a lookout grants a spectacular view across the jungle to El Pilar's sister city, Pilar Poniente, on the Guatemalan border. There is a visitor center, the Be Pukte Cultural Center of Amigos de El Pilar, in Bullet Tree Falls (usually open daily 9–5), where you can get information on the site and pay the admission fee. Note that several incidents of robbery have occurred at or near El Pilar. You may want to visit this site on a tour, available from several tour operators in San Ignacio including Crystal Paradise/Birding in Paradise.

Named after the famed Guatemala-born herbal healer who died in 1996 at the age of 106, Elijio Panti National Park (Noj K'a'ax Meen Elijio Panti National Park) is part of Belize's extensive national parks system. It spans about 13,000 to 16,000 acres (the exact area is undetermined) around the villages of San Antonio, Cristo Rey, and El Progresso and along the Macal River. In the park are Sakt'aj waterfalls and two dry caves known as Offering and Cormorant. The hope is that with no hunting in this park, more birds and wildlife will return to western Belize. Development of the park has been slowed by differing perspectives among those in San Antonio Village, including Maria Garcia (a relative of Elijio Panti) of the Itzamna Society, various departments of the government of Belize, and other parties. Even today, there is no one official website for the park. For information on the park and how to visit it, check with your hotel or tour guides in San Ignacio or San Antonio.

Five Blues Lake is a cenote, a collapsed cave in the limestone, named for the different shades of azure in the water, and there is plenty to see for the intrepid adventurer. Hawks and other birds abound, and plenty of wildlife like howler monkeys, tapirs, and armadillos. From the east side of the lake, you can wade across to Orchid Island, home to multitudes of wild orchids and other native flora. The park entrance is about 3½ miles (6 km) from the Hummingbird Highway, via a narrow and very rough dirt road. Bikes can be rented in St. Margaret's village, from which village volunteers manage the park. The lake does have a strange history. On July 20, 2006, a giant whirlpool formed in the lake, and most of the water was sucked into the ground; researchers are still unsure of how this happened. The lake has since refilled with water.

A permanent exhibit at this cultural center, library, and museum follows the life story of the Right Honorable George Price as he led the British colony to independence. Born in 1919 in Belize City, George Price was Belize's first and longest-serving prime minister. The \"George Washington of Belize\" is widely respected for his incorruptible dedication to the welfare of Belize and Belizeans. There's a sizeable library of books on human rights, peace, and national development, and the center hosts art shows, concerts, and film screenings. George Price passed away September 19, 2011, at age 92, just two days short of the 30th anniversary of Belize's independence.

The largest and best of Belize's butterfly farms open to the public, Green Hills has about 30 native species in a huge flight area on display at any given time, with friendly staff eager to show you around. Jan Meerman, who has published a book on Belize's butterflies and moths, runs the place with Dutch partner Tineke Boomsma and other staff, who speak a variety of English, Spanish, Dutch, Yucatec Mayan, and Creole. On the 100-acre grounds there are also many flowers, including passionflowers, bromeliads, heliconias, and orchids. Birding is also good here, with more than 300 species sighted in the area. Bring lunch and eat it in the Green Hills picnic area.

Worth a quick visit on the way in or out of Belmopan is Belize's smallest national park, Guanacaste National Park, named for the huge guanacaste trees that grow here. Also called monkey's ear trees because of their oddly shaped seedpods, the trees tower more than 100 feet. (Unfortunately, the park's tallest guanacaste tree had to be cut down due to safety concerns that it might fall.) The 50-acre park is a secondary forest, at one time clear-cut for farmland, now managed by the Belize Audubon Society. There is a rich population of tropical birds, including smoky brown woodpeckers, black-headed trogons, red-lored parrots, and white-breasted wood wrens. After bird-watching or a hike, cool off with a refreshing plunge in the Belize River; there's also a small picnic area.

This reserve is a highlight of any journey to Belize and an adventure to explore, although the scenery may remind you more of the piney woods of the far southern Appalachians than of tropical jungle. The Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve is in the high country of Belize—low mountains and rolling hills are covered in part by vast pine forests and crisscrossed with old logging roads. Waterfalls and streams abound, and there are accessible caves, such as Rio Frio. The higher elevations, up to near 3,400 feet, provide cooler temperatures and outstanding views. The best way to see this area, which covers more than 106,000 acres, is on a mountain bike, a horse, or your own feet. It's also not a bad ride in an SUV, which you'll need to get you through the Pine Ridge to the Chiquibul wilderness and the magnificent ruins of Caracol. Aside from the Honduras pines, 80% of which were damaged in recent years by the southern pine beetle but are now recovering, you'll see lilac-color mimosa, Saint-John's-wort, and occasionally a garish red flower appropriately known as hotlips. Look for the craboo, a wild tree whose berries are used in a brandy-like liqueur believed to have aphrodisiac properties (the fruit ripens June through August). Birds love this fruit, so any craboo is a good place to spot orioles and woodpeckers. You may not see them, but the Pine Ridge is home to many of Belize's large mammals, including tapirs, cougars, jaguars, and ocelots, and in the streams are a few Morelet's crocodiles.

One of the most unusual and least-known attractions in Belize, Poustinia Land Art Park is a collection of about 30 original works by artists from a dozen countries, including Belize, Norway, Guyana, Brazil, Guatemala, and England, scattered about some 60 acres of a former cattle ranch. It's owned by an architect, who calls Poustinia an \"environmental project.\" Among the works of outdoor art, which some would call funky and others fascinating, are Downtown, by Venezuelan artist Manuel Piney, and Returned Parquet, a reference to Belize's colonial history in mahogany parquet flooring by Tim Davies, a British artist. Nature is taking over the artworks, which apparently is part of the plan. Getting around the park, which is open by appointment only, requires sometimes strenuous hiking; bring insect repellent and lots of water. Make arrangements to visit the park and for a tour guide at the Benque House of Culture in Benque Viejo.

These caves are only a few miles by car down a steep track, but ecologically speaking, they are in a different world. In the course of a few hundred yards, you drop from pine savanna to tropical forest. Few other places in Belize illustrate its extraordinary geological diversity as clearly as this startling transition. A river runs right through the center of the main cave—actually it's more of a tunnel, open at both ends—and, over the centuries, has carved the rock into fantastic shapes. Swallows fill the place, and at night, ocelots and margays pad silently across the cold floor in search of slumbering prey. Seen from the dark interior, the light-filled world outside seems more intense and beautiful than ever. About a mile (2 km) away are the Cuevas Gemelas (Twin Caves), best seen with a guide. It's a great spot to stop on the way to or from Caracol.

Inside the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve, Thousand Foot Falls actually drops nearly 1,600 feet, making it the highest waterfall in Central America. A thin plume of spray plummets over the edge of a rock face into a seemingly bottomless gorge below. The catch is that the viewing area, where there is a shelter with some benches and a public restroom, is some distance from the falls. Many visitors find the narrow falls unimpressive from this vantage point. To climb closer requires a major commitment: a steep climb down and up the side of the mountain is several hours.

Besides thoughtful displays on the Cayo flora and fauna, Tropical Wings, a little nature center, raises about 20 species of butterfly including the blue morpho, owl, giant swallowtail, and monarch varieties. The facility, at The Trek Stop, also has a small restaurant and gift shop, along with cabins.

One of the most accessible Maya sites in Belize, Xunantunich (pronounced shoo-nan-too-nitch) is located on a hilltop site above the Mopan River west of San Ignacio. You take a hand-pulled ferry across the river (it carries pedestrians and up to four vehicles) near the village of San José Succotz. The ferry is free, but tip the operator a Belizean dollar or two if you wish. Tour guides offer their services as you board the ferry, and although you do not need a guide to see the ruins, we recommend them so that you can get more information and history. After crossing the Mopan on the ferry, drive or hike about a mile to the visitor center and the ruins. Although settlement of Xunantunich occurred much earlier, the excavated structures here, in six plazas with about two-dozen buildings, date from AD 200 to 900. El Castillo, the massive 120-foot-high main pyramid and still the second-tallest structure in Belize after Caana at Caracol, was built on a leveled hilltop. The pyramid, which you can climb if you have the energy, has a spectacular 360-degree panorama of the Mopan River valley into Guatemala. On the eastern wall is a reproduction of one of the finest Maya sculptures in Belize, a frieze decorated with jaguar heads, human faces, and abstract geometric patterns telling the story of the Moon's affair with Morning Light.