Safety in the Cayo

Although most visitors report feeling completely safe in the Cayo, in recent years occasional carjackings and robberies have occurred in border areas and in the Mountain Pine Ridge and Chiquibul areas. Belize Defence Forces soldiers usually accompany vehicles going to Caracol. Ask locally about any recent incidents before starting road trips to remote areas.

Being close to Guatemala's El Petén region, thousands of Cayo visitors take short trips across the border to view the fantastic ruins of Tikal. Its proximity to this tourist attraction is a boon for the Cayo but also a burden, as the poverty-stricken population of northern Guatemala spills over into relatively affluent Belize. On several occasions armed gangs from Guatemala have robbed tourists around San Ignacio, especially near the El Pilar Mayan site and in the Mountain Pine Ridge. Incidents also have occurred in Guatemala near Tikal and towns in the Petén. However, most visitors to the Cayo say they feel quite safe and as a visitor, you're unlikely to encounter any problems.

A silent killer in Cayo is the George Price Highway, formerly the Western Highway. The two-lane road is paved, but it’s narrow and most sections have no shoulders on the side of the highway. Worse, the surfacing material on parts of the road is extremely slick when wet. More people die in traffic accidents on this highway than on any other road in Belize, so exercise extreme caution if you find yourself traveling this road.