94 Best Sights in Belize

Not the oldest building in the city but arguably the most striking, the 1926 Belize Supreme Court building is patterned after its wooden predecessor, which burned in 1918. The current building, painted white, has filigreed iron stair and balcony rails, similar to what you might see in New Orleans (the construction company came from Louisiana), between two arms of the structure, and above the balcony a four-sided clock. This being Belize, the clock faces all seem to show different times. You can't enter the building, but it's worth admiring from the outside.

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.

This 1,600-acre park lies along the Hummingbird Highway between Miles 16.5 and 19 in Stann Creek District. Established in 2001, the park is still relatively young, and although it offers no spectacular sights, it does have rustic hiking trails. The Barquedier Waterfall (locally sometimes called Bak-a-Der Waterfall) is about a 20-minute hike from the entrance. The park is part of a community co-management program for nature reserves. It's best to enter the park via the northern entrance at Mile 16.5 of the Hummingbird Highway. Camping is available in the park for BZ$20 per person, plus the park entrance fee. As to the park's curious name, it was named after its principle creek. Billy Barquedier was not a person, at least that anyone knows. Barquedier is an alternative French spelling for a barcadere, a "landing place." No one can identify where the "Billy" part comes from. 

Ever been freshwater snorkeling? Check out the Bladen River in the Bladen Nature Reserve. The river snakes through the reserve, allowing for excellent kayaking, canoeing, swimming, and, yes, some freshwater snorkeling. The 100,000-acre Bladen Reserve is comanaged by the Belize Forestry Department and the Ya'axche Conservation Trust, an environmental NGO based in Punta Gorda. Bladen is the center piece of the Maya Mountain Corridor, creating a crucial link in the last remaining large, intact block of forest in the region. Additional parts of this corridor are protected by the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, the Columbia River Forest Reserve, and the Chiquibul National Park and Forest Reserve, all bordering Bladen. Tours of the Bladen Reserve also are given by interns from a private reserve managed by the Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education (BFREE). Camping and simple bunkhouse accommodations are available for around BZ$80–BZ$120 per person per day, meals included. Additional charges may apply for transportation, canoe rental, laundry, and other services.

Don't miss Blue Creek, a beautiful stretch of river dotted with turquoise swimming holes as well as an anchor village split between Mopan and Kek'chi Maya. A path up the riverbank leads to the dramatic caves of Hokeb Ha ("where the water enters the earth"). Although visitors do come to the caves on their own, we recommend going with a tour operator. It's just safer, and the excursion requires being a strong swimmer. TIDE Tours and other operators offer trips to Blue Creek, providing lights and other necessary equipment for the cave trip.

Don't swim in the river at night—the fer-de-lance, a highly poisonous snake, likes to take nocturnal dips.

Just at the western edge of San Ignacio, on a tall hill, is a small, intriguing Mayan site, the unfortunately named Cahal Pech ("Place of the Ticks"). You probably won't be bothered by ticks now, however. It was occupied from around 1200 BC to around AD 900. At its peak, in AD 600, Cahal Pech was a medium-size 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. It may be somewhat less compelling than the area's other ruins, but it's no less mysterious, and worth a visit, given that these structures mark the presence of a civilization we know so little about. Look for answers at the small visitor center and museum, where you can also find a guide.

On Albert Street's south end is the oldest Anglican church in Central America and the only one outside England where kings were invested. From 1815 to 1845, four kings of the Mosquito Kingdom (a British protectorate along the coast of Honduras and Nicaragua) were crowned here. The cathedral, built of brick brought here to what once was British Honduras as ballast on English ships, is thought to be the oldest surviving building in Belize from the colonial era. Its foundation stone was laid in 1812. Inside, it has whitewashed walls and mahogany pews. The roof is constructed of local sapodilla wood, with mahogany beams. Residents of the city usually refer to the cathedral as simply "St. John's."

You can combine a visit to the cathedral with a visit to the House of Culture, as they are just across the street from each other. The street itself is safe to visit during day; we recommend taking a taxi to and from, no matter what the time of day.

On the North end of the Caye Caulker, above the Split, lies over 100 acres of preserved littoral forest abundant with salt-tolerant mangroves. This area is seldom visited by tourists, but is a favorite of spoonbills, pelicans, herons, black catbirds, and white-crowned pigeons, as well as black spinytail iguanas (known as wish willies), turtles, and the occasional crocodile. It can be reached by kayak on the island's lee side, and there is no park fee. 

The largest tourism information center in the country, the BZ$4 million Cayo Welcome Center was established in San Ignacio due to the Cayo's archaeological sites and rain-forest jungle lodges getting an increasing number of visitors. Besides friendly staff who provide information about tours, lodging, restaurants, and sightseeing, the center has exhibits and photos of Mayan artifacts found in San Ignacio, along with contemporary art and cultural displays. Free Wi-Fi is available throughout. Food stalls and a burger restaurant are in or near the center complex, and there is easy access to the pedestrian-only section of Burns Avenue, with its tour guide offices, restaurants, bars, banks, shops, and budget hotels. The center also functions as a community center, with free movies and musical concerts by local bands some nights.

Like the Tulum site in Mexico, Cerros (also referred to as Cerro Maya, or Maya Hill in Spanish) is unusual in that it's directly on the water. Unlike Tulum, however, there is little development around it, and at times you can have the place all to yourself. With a beautiful setting on a peninsula jutting into Corozal Bay, near the mouth of the New River, the late pre-Classic center dates to 2000 BC and includes a ball court, several tombs, and a large temple. Altogether, there are some 170 structures, many just mounds of stone and earth, on 52 acres. There's also a small visitor center. Bring plenty of bug spray—mosquitoes can be fierce here.

The easiest way to get to Cerros is to charter a boat in Corozal Town, for a 15-minute ride across the bay.

The Natural History Centre at The Lodge at Chaa Creek has a small library and lots of displays on everything from butterflies to snakes (pickled in jars). Outside is a screened-in blue morpho butterfly-breeding center. If you haven't encountered blue morphos in the wild, you can see them 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. Tours are led by a team of knowledgeable naturalists. You can combine a visit here with one to the Belize Medicinal Plants Trail.

Punta Gorda's landmark is its four-sided clock tower, the symbol of this low-rise city. It sits in a triangular park officially called the Central Park of Heroes but known simply as the "Central Plaza" to residents. Murals depicting Toledo's culture and nature adorn the base. "Meet me at the clock tower," say locals who make it their convenient rendezvous point. Use it to get your bearings, but don't always count on the clock to give you the correct time.

One of the largest undisturbed tropical rain forest areas in Central America is the Columbia Forest Reserve in a remote area north of San José Village. The karst terrain—an area of irregular limestone in which erosion has produced sinkholes, fissures, and underground streams and caves—is difficult to navigate, so the only way to see this area is with a guide and with advance permission from the Belize Forestry Department. It has extremely diverse ecosystems because the elevation ranges from about 1,000 to more than 3,000 feet, with sinkholes as deep as 800 feet. You'll find areas of true "high bush" here: old-growth tropical forest with parts that have never been logged at all. Much of the rich flora and fauna of this area has yet to be documented. For example, one brief 12-day expedition turned up 15 species of ferns never found before in Belize, along with several new species of palms, vines, and orchids. Check with the Toledo Tour Guide Association at the BTIA visitor information office in Punta Gorda to try to find a guide to take you to this remote reserve.

Copalli, a smooth Belizean rum, comes from the grounds of the Copal Tree Lodge, a few miles outside Punta Gorda, and has quickly gained prestige in international circles. Copalli’s organic process bypasses the molasses stage, distilling the rum directly from sugarcane, rain-forest water, and organic yeast. The end results are a white rum and a barrel-aged rum, equally smooth. A two-hour mixology class gives you ideas for mixing farm-fresh ingredients with your rum cocktails. A half-day distillery tour guides you through the rum-making process and includes a tasting and lunch. Both tours require advance reservations and are open to nonguests of the lodge.

The architecturally elegant old Corozal Cultural Center, for many years the main Corozal market, was completely renovated and is now the Corozal House of Culture. Located in one of the oldest buildings in northern Belize (other than ancient Maya structures), the House of Culture was built in 1886. It's operated by the National Institute of History and Culture (NICH) as an art gallery and museum devoted to the history of Corozal Town and northern Belize. NICH operates other museums including ones in Belize City, Orange Walk Town, San Pedro, San Ignacio, and Benque Viejo, along with many Maya archaeological sites.

The history of Corozal, including a graphic portrayal of the brutality of colonial rule on the indigenous people, is depicted in a strikingly beautiful mural by Manuel Villamor Reyes on the wall of the Corozal Town Hall.

From cacao beans to final candy bars, you can see how chocolate is made at Cotton Tree Chocolates, a small chocolate factory on Front Street in Punta Gorda. It's associated with Cotton Tree Lodge. You'll get a short guided tour of the chocolate-making process and you can buy bars of delicious milk or dark chocolate. Cotton Tree Lodge also offers guests a program on sustainable cacao growing, producing, and harvesting.

The falls here are about 500 feet high and are the second highest in the country; the natural pool at the base of the falls is 75 feet deep. The swimming is wonderful, and the undisturbed forest around the falls is great for a picnic or enjoying nature. Before going to Davis Falls, stop at the Citrus Products of Belize plant (Mile 14.5 of Hummingbird Highway/Stann Creek District Highway) for information and to pay your admission fee. Tours of Davis Falls are offered by several tour guides including Holistic Eco Tours at Steadfast Village.

Getting to Davis Falls requires a four-wheel-drive vehicle to tackle the extremely rough 8-mile (13-km) dirt road, before you set out on the arduous 2-mile (3.3-km) hike.

The Hummingbird Highway ends at a roundabout on downtown Dangriga’s waterfront. In its center sits a bronze monument to the famed art of Garifuna drumming and to its people at large. In a link of the past to the present, the sculpture portrays three dügü drums, used in traditional funeral services, and a pair of rattle-like sísira, a staple in contemporary Garifuna music.

Near the border of Belize and Guatemala, El Pilar is still being excavated under the direction of Anabel Ford, a professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara, 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 Mayan 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. Currently you must be accompanied by a licensed tour guide to enter the park. For information on the park and how to visit it, check with tour guides in San Ignacio or San Antonio.

Although most of the best dive sites are along the Glover's Atoll's southeastern side, this is the exception, being on the atoll's western arm. It's named for its masses of huge green elkhorn coral. Because the reef's most exciting part is only 25 feet down, it's excellent for novice divers.

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.

Towering 49 feet (15 m) over the entrance to Belize Harbor, the lighthouse stands guard on the tip of Fort George Point. It was designed and funded by one of the country's greatest benefactors, Baron Henry Edward Ernest Victor Bliss. The English nobleman never actually set foot on the Belizean mainland, though in his yacht he visited the waters offshore. In his will he bequeathed most of his fortune to the people of British Honduras, and the date of his death, March 9, is celebrated as a national holiday, now officially called National Heroes and Benefactors Day. Bliss is buried here, in a small, low mausoleum perched on the seawall, up a short run of limestone steps. The lighthouse and mausoleum are for photo ops only—you can't enter.

The small Creole village of Gales Point, population about 500, has an idyllic setting on the Southern Lagoon. The lagoon and nearby waters are home to many manatees. You can drive to Gales Point via the unpaved Coastal Highway; tours are available from Dangriga and Hopkins, an easier alternative.

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 the 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. 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 passion flowers, bromeliads, heliconias, and orchids. Birding is good here as well, 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 clearcut 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. You can take one of the eight daily hourly tours, or you can wander around on your own. After, cool off with a refreshing plunge in the Belize River; there's also a small picnic area.