A Week in Belize

You can get to the cayes by water taxi from Belize City, or a flight from either the international airport or the municipal airport.

By flight from the international airport:
No need for taxis. The flight to the cayes departs from the airport you arrive at. This is the easiest and quickest, but not the cheapest.

For the other options, you'll first have to get to Belize City. There are no buses from Philip S. W. Goldson International Airport (PGIA). A taxi to Belize City costs BZ$50.00 (US$25), and takes just under 30 minutes.

The municipal airport is in Belize City. Flights to the cayes might be cheaper than from international, but there is the added expense of the taxi fare.

By water taxi:
Ask the taxi driver to drop you at one of the two water taxi companies. If you don't specify which one, most taxis will probably go directly to the Caye Caulker Water Taxi at the Belize City Marine Terminal / Water Taxi Terminal.

For schedules and fares, here are the links to the 2 Belizean airlines and the 2 water taxi companies:
a) Maya Island Air, http://www.mayaregional.com/
b) Tropic Air, http://www.tropicair.com/
c) http://www.cayecaulkerwatertaxi.com/
d) http://www.sanpedrowatertaxi.com/index.html

As to which caye to go to, Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker are different and the differences have been discussed here before. Try searching the forum for more opinions. Basically, Caye Caulker is more laid back, while Ambergris has more shopping, bars, restaurants, nightlife, etc. You can snorkel off AC and CC; other forum members will tell you which one is better.

For your other activities, San Ignacio would be the best base. Belize City is not the best place to stay. San Ignacio has a good selection of accommodation and restaurants, and you'll be close to all the tour companies.

Here's a site I started with bus & travel information:
http://belizebus.wordpress.com/

You could use a good guidebook - lots of general trip and travel suggestions in addition to specifics. Also scan through the 1st 20 or 30 pages of the Belize-specific forum - plenty of reading to get you going. My photos and travelogues are below. Happy trails!

You've gotten some good advice.

I'd add that for most people basing in Belize City is not a good idea.

If you want to spend some time exploring rainforest and ruins, you could split your time between Cayo (the San Ignacio or Belmopan area) and the cayes. While you can take day trips to the mainland from the cayes, it's more expensive to do it that way, and it can get tiresome going back and forth.

--Lan Sluder
http://www.belizefirst.com

Hi Lan;
I read that flying to Caye Calker can be cheaper if you don't book the flight in advance. Is that true? How much cheaper? I'm planning to go in mid November.
Jodi

That's true, but you have to pay cash rather than pay with a credit card. Both Maya Island Air and Tropic Air usually give a 10% discount for paying cash (there's also a discount card promoted on the www.ambergriscaye.com web site that I think also gives you the 10% off). From time to time, Maya Island Air discounts 25% for cash, except on Saturdays. That comes and goes and don't know if it's in effect now or not.

--Lan Sluder

Also, the fare between the municipal airport in Belize City and Caye Caulker and San Pedro is almost one-half less than flying to/from the international airport. The catch, though, as noted, is that you have to pay US$25 for a taxi between the two airports (for the taxi, not per person). You'll save a little with two persons and a lot with three or four. If you can arrange to share a taxi -- do so before you get out to the taxi area at the airport -- and have the time to make connections you can even save with one or two.

--Lan Sluder

Getting a taxi to the Caye Caulker ferry terminal and taking the ferry isn't much more hassle is it? It's still quite a bit cheaper too isn't it?

The cab from the airport would be the same to either of the two water taxi terminals (San Pedro Belize Express at the Tourism Village or Caye Caulker Water Taxi Association at the Marine Terminal -- both go to Caulker and to San Pedro) is the same the cab fare to the municipal airport (US$25).

The water taxi to Caye Caulker is US$7.50 one-way, compared to US$35 one-way by air from the municipal airport and US$63 one-way from the international airport.

Little difference in hassle, though it takes a little longer (45 minutes by water taxi, 10 minutes by air).

--Lan Sluder

You can easily split the trip into two locations. I myself prefer Caulker and I am not a young backpacker. I would definately take 3 of the nites and go to San Ignacio. See the ruins and do some cave tubing, you'll love it!!! I think I would go there first and then unwind at the cayes. If you want beach, Placencia has the best beach, not the cayes.