<p>Sorry, I put this in the forum instead of the cafe and am reposting it here.</p>
<p>Has anyone been to Belize? Thinking about going with my 2 kids next spring break. I think we would like to spend a few days in the Cayo District & Western Belize area. We are interested in Mayan ruins, cave tubing, and ecolodges/animal viewing. Then spend a few days in the Cayes area. Snorkeling, maybe kayaking, reading in hammocks…</p>
<p>Does anyone have recommendations of places to stay and/or tour arrangements? I feel pretty confident renting a car and driving there, since they drive on ‘our’ side of the road. I read the Frommer’s site to get an idea of what to expect. But there are so many lodging choices and locations… even Trip Advisor is overwhelming me. So I thought I would seek suggestions here, then read up on those specific suggestions. Thanks!</p>
<p>We have been twice. Once down in Placencia where we spent 10 days out on the cayes on a bareboat catamaran. Over that 10 days we saw very few people or other boats. All the cayes were uninhibited due to previous hurricane destruction.We stayed on land at Roberts Grove. We did a couple of great day excursions. This was 11 years ago so I would bet things have changed.
Two winters ago we went to San Pedro on a Ambergris Caye. A very different experience. We had a good time. Felt safe and did several excursions including going to mainland to see ruins. We liked where we stayed. I will look it up.</p>
<p>My family went once during spring break, when kids were approx. middle school age. We stayed at the Jaguar Reef Lodge, and I would recommend it. The food was good. We had a roomy 2-BR suite, in a beachfront cottage with several units in it. The beach itself wasn’t great, since the water was very non-clear. We learned that was the case for most of Belize.</p>
<p>We did the cave tubing, kayaking, zipline, Mayan ruins. Plus the parents went scuba diving. We didn’t drive ourselves, but arranged the tours through the hotel. It was a great vacation, although S got extremely sunburned during the kayak trip because he didn’t put on enough sun lotion and refused to let parents help. </p>
<p>Technically we were just there about three weeks ago, but we were on a Caribbean cruise, so we were only there one day, and we spent it snorkeling, so we never got to the mainland. The people we spoke to who went ashore, enjoyed it. </p>
<p>I truly think this is part of the reason we discovered we are not cruise people. I really like to take the time to explore an area. </p>
<p>We did do some Mayan ruins (Tuluum) at our Cozumel stop, and I did enjoy learning a lot about the Mayan civilization, so I would recommend doing the Mayan ruins in Belize. We also did cave snorkeling (not the tubing) when we were in the Riviera Maya about five years ago, and seeing the caves that way (whether snorkeling or tubing) is really cool (and that includes the water temperatures!).</p>
<p>I was there two years ago, also on a cruise. There are definitely safe and not safe areas and the cruise bus didn’t hide anything when we were driving through the less safe areas. Our tour took us to the Mayan ruins and they were interesting. I can’t contribute to knowing anything about where to stay on the island. </p>
<p>While we have never made it into Belize or even past Tulum, I have this advice: before you rent a car, check TripAdvisor for tips on driving and how corrupted the local cops and rental agencies are. Depending on what you discover, you could make some adjustments to your travel plans. </p>
<p>Was the cave snorkeling at Xcaret? If so, it wasn’t as busy or as dark as the Belize caves. We went cave-tubing with a tour group in Belize during a cruise stop. It was quick, but fun. Our run only lasted about 30 minutes and we went through three caves. If you book through a tour company, look for one that gives you a couple hours at the caves (Probably isn’t one, so I’d try to go on your own) I don’t know how you would snorkel there, as it’s dark in the caves. Plus, I’d be afraid of being run over by a chain of inner tubers. It gets busy. Everyone was given a head lamp and links up by grabbing the feet of the person in back of you. We brought our own water shoes, but you can rent water shoes. You need them because it is rocky in some places. </p>
<p>There is a nice shopping mall by the cruise dock.</p>
<p>I heartily recommend them. They are a family-run business and did a wonderful job. Our tour was longer than others, and they drove us all around and fed us as well. </p>
<p>Others above have talked about how poverty-stricken Belize is. As we drove to the area where we did the cave tubing, we were a bit shocked at the living conditions. Yet our guide was enthusiastically talking about how far the country has come…they were obviously proud of their progress. All those in our party were humbled at the differences in standards of living between ourselves and our hosts for the day. It was by far the best day of the cruise, for many reasons. </p>
<p>There are some very scary stories over on the cruise bulletin board website about the corruption of police and “self made” car accidents with those in car rentals (folks purposefully creating accidents for $). I would reconsider the car rental, and simply hire drivers through the place you decide to stay. I would like to visit Belize - it looks beautiful.</p>