Southern Belize

Placencia, a true beach-holiday strip poking out from the mainland, is enduringly popular with North American expats and tourists. Perched at the southern tip of a long, narrow, sandy peninsula, the village has long enjoyed a reputation as 'the cay you can drive to' – a fully paved 27-mile road heads off the Southern Hwy via Maya Beach and Seine Bight to the tip of the peninsula.

Placencia can be a lot of fun, but how you feel about it really depends on what you're looking for. If it's laid-back ambience, varied accommodations, boat access to private islands and some of the best restaurants in Southern Belize, this beachfront hangout may be for you. During the full moons of May and June especially, divers and snorkelers are drawn here as whale sharks come to feed in the nearby waters.

This beautiful 11-sq-mile park of jungle, mountains, waterfalls, walking trails, swimming holes and small Maya sites lies about 16 miles southwest of Dangriga and 12 miles northwest of Hopkins. The walks here are at least as good as the trails most people do at nearby Cockscomb Basin, and you’ll encounter far fewer tourists. You’ll see lots of birds, and the park is home to troops of black howler monkeys.

Sitting right on the barrier reef, 12 miles from Dangriga, tiny Tobacco Caye is the budget destination among the central cays, relative to other resort islands of course. It shows in the fairly basic array of cabañas (cabins) and lodge rooms, but the setting and the surrounding azure waters are still dreamy. Mainly composed of sand, palm trees and guesthouses, just 200yd long and 100yd wide, the cay can be circumnavigated in 10 minutes.

Part of the South Water Caye Marine Reserve, Tobacco Caye is a fabulous place for snorkeling, diving, fishing or hanging out on a hammock. Sociable and friendly, it's ideal for travelers on a limited budget looking for that Gilligan's Island experience.

Punta Gorda (or PG) is a slightly ramshackle coastal settlement down in the Deep South of Toledo. Once known to travelers mainly as a port to get the boat across to Guatemala or Honduras, it's increasingly attracting visitors looking to chill out in the south and as a base for exploring surrounding Maya villages and culture, and the remote southern cays.

PG spreads along the Gulf of Honduras, its compact downtown area stretching lazily for several blocks just in from the coast. The town center is a triangular park with a distinctive blue-and-white clock tower; the airstrip is northwest, on the inland edge of town. Though it lacks the beaches of Placencia, there are plenty of docks from which to take a dip in the calm waters. A good part of PG's charm lies in its unassuming character.

The friendly, slightly scruffy, coastal village of Hopkins attracts travelers looking to soak up sea breezes and Garifuna culture. It's an unpretentious place to meet other travelers or satisfied expats and makes a good base for explorations to the cays, reefs and islands to the east, and the jungles, mountains and parks to the west.

Hopkins was founded in 1942 by people from Newtown, a nearby Garifuna settlement that was destroyed by a hurricane. The village is named for Frederick Charles Hopkins, a Catholic priest who (perhaps as a cautionary tale to future travelers) drowned in the waters here in 1923. These days there's a vibrant Garifuna population in Hopkins but also a growing North American expat community.

Hopkins stretches about 1.5 miles along the coast and is divided by the 4.5 mile sealed Hopkins Rd from the Southern Hwy into North Side and South Side.

The Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary is Belize’s most famous sanctuary and one of its biggest protected areas. This great swath of tropical forest became the world’s first jaguar sanctuary in 1984, thanks to the efforts of American zoologist Alan Rabinowitz. Today this critical biological corridor is home to an estimated 40 to 50 jaguars and a vast array of other animal, bird and botanical life.

If you're serious about getting away from it all, Glover's Reef is the place. Named after the 18th-century English pirate John Glover (who attacked Spanish merchant ships from here), the atoll is 16 miles long and 7 miles wide, and is pretty much as far from mainland Belize as you can get. Lying like a string of pearls in a blue sea, Glover's consists of half a dozen small cays of white sand, palm trees, and a handful of low-key resorts, diving and kayaking bases.

Despite the remote location, weekly packages including transport make Glover's an affordable getaway.