How to spend 2 dreamy weeks in Belize
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Hi friends! In case you haven’t been a victim of my incessant Insta spamming, I have just had the dreamiest 2 weeks in Belize. I’ve already jotted down all the magical things you need to experience in the paradise of Caye Caulker here. But thought I’d throw together a quick lil logistical itinerary to guide your budget travels through Belize.
1) Arrive in Belize City, taxi to the ferry terminal ($30 USD for 3 people, 30-min ride), hop on the 45-min ferry to Caye Caulker.
2) Stay in Caye Caulker for 4 days to a week to forever. Bella’s Backpackers is the go-to party hostel, but it is a bit grungy (love ya guys but it’s true lol). Yuma’s House looked really nice and is quieter if you are diving. But if you can swing it, Iguana Reef Inn is what Belizean dreams are truly made of.
Get yourself an amazing $20 lobster dinner at Dee n D’s. Smoothie or iced coffee with a free donut sample at Ice and Beans (the owner’s from Vancouver!). Swing n sip at Margarita Mike’s. Boujee dinner at Hibiscus. Cheap dinner at Chef Juan’s or grab a fry jack from the stand next door. Party err night at Sports Bar and make sure the check out the Split.
3) Hop on the 3-day sailing tour with Raggamuffin Tours. They leave on Tuesday or Friday but need a minimum of 12 people so during slow season your tour might get postponed, and during peak season you may not be able to get a spot. This is why many people get “stuck” in Caye Caulker for longer than planned (I mean, there are worse places to get stuck).
Okay excuse my tangent but I need to share a little bit about the tour.
It’s 3 days 2 nights, $400 USD per person. This includes accommodation, meals prepped by your personal on-board chef, activities like snorkelling and spearfishing, and all-you-can-freaking-drink-rum-punch.
This was one of the BEST experiences of my ENTIRE life.
Our days looked like this: cruise through the bathtub-warm water with our crazy captain Shane while dancing to reggae tunes. Stop at a reef to jump in and snorkel with fish, stingrays, spotted eagle rays, and sharks. Spearfish some grub and get back on the boat: it’s lunch time, and our personal chef Linthon has whipped up something delish using the catch of the day. Sail again, snorkel again, now it’s rum punch o’clock and some fresh ceviche to wash it down.
We stopped to explore islands so tiny we could throw a coconut across them, and then posted up on our own private caye to rum punch into the night. but the best part was the most epic crew i’ve ever ever EVER met on my travels: Liaphility from London, Tobias from Sydney, Imogen and Alex from Perth. “shiiittt. a-HA. we go again.”
On the first day you stop at the teeny Goff’s Caye to drink your rum punch in the bathtub that is the beach. Then you post up at Rendezvous Caye for night and sleep in a tent — spoiler alert IT IS HOT AF. Honestly it was the worst sleep of my life lol. But then you wake up at 5am with the sunrise and stroll around your own private island and chill in a hammock as your new friends wake up and come join you and everything is juuussstt fine.
Day 2 you snorkel, snorkel some more, stop at Tobacco Caye which has like 30 houses, it is the cutest island living you’ll ever see. I was quite rum punch tipsy by this point but can confirm it definitely was cute. Tonight you sleep at Ragga Caye, a caye that is specifically rented out by Raggamuffin Tours, and sleep in a dorm room (also V HOT I don’t even know what to tell you guys. Bring an ice pack???) and it is precious. Next morning you will go out looking for manatees (we saw a mama and her baby poke their heads up a few times, Shane called me a manatee whisperer, what an honour) and more snorkelling, and then a quick frolic on a white sand beach. Back to Ragga Caye, lunch, a boat picks you up and takes you to Dangriga. THE END!
4) Bus or taxi ($60 Belize dollars + 30 mins) to Hopkins, which is pretty ruggedly adorable and I think during busy season would be an absolute blast. It’s known for Garifuna drumming and culture but it was quite quiet for us — it’s slow season so I’m pretty sure we were the only tourists around, and most bars were closed.
You stay at the Funky Dodo Hostel which is pretty cool. But still hot (can you sense the theme here? I haven’t stopped sweating). I 100% recommend Kat’s Coffee for breakfast, the smoothies and banana chocolate muffins are amazing and the owner Kat is a really nice and interesting lady from Finland!
5) From Hopkins you can take a 5-hour bus (transfer in Dangriga and Belmopan) to San Ignacio, or a 2-hour private car ride. We opted for a private car ride with “Boots” who is quite chatty and likes to swear when his car breaks down, which it did quite often near the end of our trip. There were 4 of us and we paid $25 USD each. San Ignacio is a good stop because it’s right by the Guatemala border, and it’s an adorable town.
Stay at Bella’s Backpackers’ other location here, which is super cute and has a great tiered deck with a view of the adorable hillside. Get a guava kiwi infused mojito at Guava Limb and a quesadilla at Han-Nah. Delish x2.
A major draw here is the ATM cave, which was named by National Geographic as the #1 most sacred cave in the world. Cost is around $85 USD, you drive about an hour to trek through a jungle path to the cave, where you descend about 500 ft below the earth. You swim through caverns, climb over and squeeze through boulders, and see Mayan artifacts and skeletons. The tour leaves at 6:45am and returns at 3pm and you’re not allowed to bring a camera or even GoPro (you will be getting v wet) because some silly tourists dropped one on a skull and cracked it.
ANYWHO — now it’s off to Guatemala!! gonna hop in a cab to the border and collectivo from there. Belize has been a dreamy vacation but i am so excited to get REALLY travelling and lost in those latin vibes. Catch ya on the Spanish side!
