By admin I visited Belize on my own in June 2021. Reuben had a father-daughter trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands planned to kick off summer break and I didn’t want to be left alone in NYC. Belize had recently started to welcome fully vaccinated travelers from the U.S., I hadn’t been to the country, and I had heard good things so I decided to check it out. I’m glad I did because Belize totally wowed me! It was beautiful, easy to get around, the people were friendly, there was a ton to see and do, and the food was delicious. I can’t believe I hadn’t visited earlier.
Logistics: When and Where to Go, How to Get There
Most sources will say that the best time to visit Belize is its dry season (November to May). I visited in late June, which is technically the beginning of the rainy season, but I hardly saw any rain all week. One night it rained while I was asleep and then it started to pour on the day I was leaving (literally as I was boarding my flight–the timing couldn’t have been better). It was very hot and humid every day, but there was always a nice breeze by the beach so it rarely felt too sticky and uncomfortable.
Belize is known for its lush jungles, Mayan ruins, and of course, beautiful beaches and diving. I wanted to do a bit of everything, so I planned a relatively ambitious itinerary, visiting three different destinations over the course of seven nights. First I spent a couple nights on the beach in Placencia, a long, thin peninsula in the south of the country. Then I drove inland and north to San Igancio. Close to Belize’s western border with Guatemala, the area includes the Xunantunich Mayan ruins and is also close to the famous Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) caves, where you can swim through dramatic underground caves and see ancient Mayan artifacts. Finally, I took a quick flight to Ambergris Caye for some more beach time and snorkeling.
Depending on your interests and the time you have available, you could also do a long weekend trip to Belize, focusing on just one area, or you could do a longer two week trip, allowing you to spend more time in each region.
When I traveled, there were nonstop flights from the U.S. to Belize City from Atlanta, Houston, Miami, Charlotte, Dallas, Seattle and Los Angeles. Since I was flying from NYC, I opted to fly Delta with a stop in Atlanta each way. Total travel time was about seven hours, but Belize is on Mountain Time, so I gained two hours on the departure and was still able to land in the country before noon.
Two Nights at Turtle Inn
I chose to rent a car for my four nights on the mainland, but I wouldn’t say this is necessary depending on how active you plan to be. To get to Turtle Inn, I could’ve caught a quick local flight to Placencia airport, but I wanted to have a car to continue on to San Ignacio and be able to explore on my own. While Philip SW Goldson airport in Belize City has all the major auto rental companies you’d expect, I chose to go with the local Crystal Auto Rental. Recommended by Reuben’s friend Bri, who has visited Belize many times and offered a wealth of knowledge when I was planning my trip, Crystal had excellent reviews and was very easy to work with every step of the way. Once I arrived in Belize, I simply walked out of the terminal, crossed the street, entered the Crystal office to complete the paperwork and was on my way with my rental car (and complimentary cooler) in less than ten minutes. I would for sure use them again.
I opted to rent an SUV because I had read that some of Belize’s roads could be treacherous, especially in the rain. However, I stuck to the main roads and would have been more than fine with a standard sedan. In fact, the high quality of Belize’s roads really impressed me. They were well-marked and well-maintained, albeit with way more speed bumps than I’d prefer. Driving in Belize was generally very relaxed. Also, because Belize was formerly a British colony, the official language is English, despite the fact that it is surrounded by Spanish-speaking countries. I’ll admit I didn’t realize this until I started planning my trip; as much as I enjoy practicing my Spanish, it did make it easier that all the signs were in English.
My first stop would be Turtle Inn, a rustic-yet-luxe property owned by the Coppola family and located just outside the colorful beach town of Placencia. It was approximately a three hour drive from Belize City, but I didn’t mind as it was a pretty scenic ride with minimal traffic. Upon arrival, I was greeted by the manager, Martin, and welcomed with a refreshing yet boozy cocktail as I overlooked the family pool and the Caribbean Sea.
My accommodations were a Garden View Cottage, a Balinese-style hut with a thatched roof, a screened porch and a private walled garden with an outdoor shower. All 25 rooms on the property are individually standing units and there are also villas for families or groups traveling together. While the rooms don’t have air conditioning, the sea breeze helped to keep all areas naturally cool.
After getting settled in my room it was time to explore the property.
On my second day in Belize, I had planned an afternoon/evening excursion through Turtle Inn. Because I had booked my stay through my friends at Cartology Travel, I received a $100 credit on any of the inn’s activities or a spa treatment. Turtle Inn offers a wide range of excursions including scuba diving and snorkeling, fishing, sea cruises, ziplining, river and cave tubing, cultural tours, horseback riding and more. I opted to do the sunset hike in Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, the world’s only jaguar preserve. The excursion included a 1 1/2 hour hike up Tiger Fern Mountain, a swim in a waterfall, and sunset appetizers with a bottle of wine. I loved the idea of an active hike and the opportunity to see jaguars.
Since the hike didn’t start until the afternoon, I still had lots of time in the day to relax.
Finally, it was time to start the hike. It would be just me and two guides, whose names I sadly don’t recall.
By the time we returned to the inn it was pretty late, I was again sweaty after hiking the rest of the trail, and I wasn’t very hungry after my solo sunset appetizer meal. I opted to skip dinner, shower and relax in my cottage.
The next morning I planned to relax at Turtle Inn, have another scrumptious breakfast, then get on the road to head to my next accommodations near San Ignacio. My first two days had gone by quickly at Turtle Inn, but I felt like I had been able to do a lot. Still, I already knew that this was a place where I’d love to return–and hopefully next time I’d get to introduce some friends to the beautiful and welcoming inn.
Two Nights at Ka’ana Resort
Next, it was a three hour drive northwest along the incredibly lush and beautiful Hummingbird Highway to Ka’ana Resort, a boutique hotel located in the jungle just across Belize’s western border with Guatemala. A member of Small Luxury Hotels, Ka’ana had fewer than 20 suites, plus two villas. There was a bar, a restaurant, a spa, an infinity pool, an organic garden and even a helipad onsite. My free-standing Master Suite had its own enclosed garden with a private plunge pool and an outdoor shower.
The service was great, but I will say that the hospitality felt a bit cold after my stay at Turtle Inn. Everybody was nice and friendly, but the personal touch was lacking. That being said, the property felt small and intimate, with a more modern aesthetic than Turtle Inn. I also appreciated having air conditioning in my suite, especially since Ka’ana was located inland, far from the sea breezes along the coast.
While Ka’ana was just a five minute drive to San Ignacio, I hadn’t heard great things about the town, so I did not opt to visit and ate all my meals at the resort. However, the restaurants in San Ignacio would be an option to mix things up, particularly during a longer stay at Ka’ana.
The resort offered a large number of activities, including trips to the aforementioned ATM caves, visits to Mayan ruins, horseback riding, ziplining, cave tubing, cooking classes and more.
My room wasn’t quite ready when I first arrived, so I settled into a seat outdoors at La Ceiba, the main restaurant onsite, for a light salad lunch and a glass of wine.
Then it was off to my room to relax for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Even though my trip was somewhat fast-paced with all the hotel changes, I had decided to give myself one day to relax and one day for an activity in each destination. Plus, my hotel rooms were all so nice that I wanted to be able to enjoy them.
For my full day at Ka’ana, I wanted to check out the nearby Xunantunich Mayan ruins. It was a quick drive (less than fifteen minutes) from the resort to the small ferry that took passengers and cars across the Mopan River. From there, it was a short, winding, uphill drive to the site’s entrance, where I parked my car, paid the entrance fee, and walked up another short hill to the ruins. There were many guides milling about, offering their services, but I decided to just do a self-guided tour since I was by myself.
Then it was back to the resort to cool down and relax a bit more.
Finally, that evening I attended Ka’ana’s “Sandals & Sangria” event at The Wallace, the cocktail bar onsite. For about $50 I was served a large plate of tapas and two glasses of sangria. The bar was pretty quiet at the beginning of the evening, but then a DJ started performing and more people arrived. I made friends with the couple sitting next to me, who had just flown in from Atlanta for a week to celebrate their 10th anniversary. They were off to a great start with their celebration, knocking back drink after drink. We then realized that we would both be ending our trips at the same hotel: the Alaia in Ambergris Caye. They would check in on my last day, so we exchanged numbers and promised to look for each other there.
Three Nights at Alaia Belize
The last stop of my Belize tour would be San Pedro, the main town on Ambergris Caye, the country’s largest island and most popular destination. The island features a bevy of dive shops and beach bars, and many visitors rent golf carts to get around. The Hol Chan Marine Preserve is a must-visit destination for both divers and snorkelers; you can also swim with nurse sharks and stingrays at Shark Ray Alley. The nearby island of Caye Caulker is great for a day trip; it is smaller and less developed than Ambergris Caye, but with more of a hippie/backpacker vibe.
To get to San Pedro from San Ignacio, it was a two hour drive to the airport in Belize City, which I managed to do in only ninety minutes because there was no traffic and I was able to speed easily on the well-paved roads. Dropping off the car with Crystal Auto Rentals was a breeze and I reached the crowded domestic gates at the airport well before my 3:40pm puddle jumper flight booked with Maya Island Air.
All commercial flights within Belize are operated by Maya Island Air or Tropic Air, which provide very comparable services and prices. Maya Island Air offers flights to and from Belize City and San Pedro every hour, and it was fortunately very easy to switch to an earlier flight at the gate so I didn’t have to wait. You can also take a ferry to San Pedro from Belize City, which is cheaper but much longer (90 minutes).
After the quick and beautiful fifteen minute flight to San Pedro, a driver (offered as a complimentary service by the hotel) was waiting for me outside the tiny airport to take me to my final hotel of the trip: Alaia Belize. A member of Marriott’s Autograph Collection, the Alaia was much larger than my other accommodations throughout the trip, but it was brand new and looked to be one of the nicest properties on the island. Plus, I was able to redeem Suite Night Awards with Marriott to upgrade to a massive Oceanview Vista Suite.
During the ten minute drive from the airport to the hotel, I watched everyone whizzing by in their golf carts and started to get major FOMO. I wanted a golf cart too! Fortunately I was able to connect with VIP Golf Cart Rentals over WhatsApp and arrange to have my own golf cart delivered to the hotel within a couple hours. Woohoo! Soon I’d be joy riding all over San Pedro. FYI–you can rent golf carts for a period as short as 8 hours or as long as a month. My three day rental cost ~$180 USD, including tax and insurance.
While I waited for my golf cart I decided to check out the hotel’s rooftop, which boasted the island’s first and only rooftop pool.
After my golf cart arrived, it was time to figure out how to get into town and try my luck getting a table for dinner. I ended up making a reservation at Elvi’s Kitchen, a highly recommended Belizean restaurant very popular with tourists, for my last night of the trip since the wait that evening was already going to be an hour. No thank you. I managed to walk into Blue Water Grill, an open-air beachfront restaurant that of course specializes in seafood. They also have sushi nights on Tuesdays and Sundays. The ambiance was relaxed, as it generally was across all of San Pedro. The food was good, but the setting on the beach was what really shined.
Day two was my adventure day, which also meant getting off the island. I had booked a catamaran tour through Lady Leslie to snorkel through Hol Chan Marine Preserve and Shark Ray Alley as well as visit Caye Caulker. The nearly eight hour small group tour cost $100 USD and included free-flowing frozen rum drinks and beer (once the snorkeling was finished).
The group for the tour ended up just being myself and a family of four (mom, dad, college-aged kids) from Colorado. Fortunately, they were very friendly and I hit if off with the mom, who ran a product team for an educational tech company. We were quickly old friends and I became an honorary member of the family for the day (maybe the young aunt?).
The snorkeling trip was a highlight of my visit to Belize and I would say it’s a must-do! The Lady Leslie team was really fun and I think it was some of the best snorkeling I’ve ever experienced. I generally get bored of snorkeling after about ten minutes, but having a guide to help show us around the reef made a big difference. He pointed out several sea turtles, sting rays, nurse sharks, barracuda, and of course numerous other types of fish.
Dinner on my second night in San Pedro was at Palmilla, the restaurant at Victoria House, another resort just up the street from Alaia. Palmilla was the fanciest dinner that I had on the island and I’d definitely recommend it for a romantic meal, but it would also be good if you wanted a nicer dinner one night for a group or a family (with well-behaved or older kids). I very much enjoyed my dinner there.
Then it was somehow day three in San Pedro, and my last full day in Belize. This was my planned R&R day to simply relax by the main pool at the resort, or my private terrace, or the rooftop (I did end up running into my friends from Ka’ana at the rooftop in the afternoon).
For my last night I had reservations at Elvi’s Kitchen that I had arranged when I first arrived in town. The popular spot was bustling when I arrived, and the colorful dining room buzzed with activity. After many rum drinks over the course of the week, I decided to switch things up with a margarita (made to my specifications, of course) that I paired with esquites and Elvi’s coconut shrimp curry. While touristic, Elvi’s lived up to the hype imho.
Then it was back to reality. While Alaia offered a complimentary transfer to the airport as well as onsite COVID testing (not complimentary), I opted to handle both myself. I had booked an antigen test in advance at Caring Hands Clinic, but I’m not sure that an appointment was necessary. The test cost $75 and I received the results (negative) in fifteen minutes. The clinic was also located next door to the airport, so it was a breeze to just zip up the street, park my golf cart in one of the parking spots reserved for golf carts, and drop off the keys in a designated box at the airport.
While I had heard great things about Belize, it actually surprised me that I enjoyed my visit so much. It felt safe as a solo female traveler, and everything seemed very easy, even with the additional complications of traveling during a pandemic. The small country is well set up for tourism, and offers diverse activities for couples, families and groups of friends in addition to solo travelers. The Four Seasons and Six Senses both have plans to open private island properties in the next few years, which will add some ultra-luxury options for accommodations in the region. Whatever your travel style, Belize offers a bit of something for everyone, and I hope to return soon, hopefully next time with a travel buddy or two in tow!
