Hello, we are looking at taking a trip to Ambergris Caye in mid/late October or early/mid November. We are staying there because of the access to some great scuba diving. With that said, we also really doing other things outside of the water...top of the list is visiting Mayan Ruins, then taking in some of the jungle "activities". Let me also say that we absolutely hate taking guided tours or doing any sort of group thing that involves a whole gaggle of people. We have always done things on our own, ie rent a car, take a local bus, etc. We would love to visit Tikal. What would be the best in terms of time, cost, etc for making such a visit from Ambergris Caye? We had looked into flying into Flores out of Belize City but it all seems rather complex and costly...may be our only option due to time. We would appreciate any advice you all could offer and we are open to other suggestions/ideas for day trips out of Ambergris Caye. Thanks.
You can do day trips to Lamanai. It will be a long day and will cost you. When you get ready to leave Ambergris it is easy to get to Tikal from the Marine Terminal, but not a day trip.
If you only have time for a day trip to Tikal, then you will have to fly to and from. Two sites closest to Ambergris are Altun Ha and Lamanai. If you want to travel on your own, fly to the mainland, rent a car and drive direct to Altun Ha or to the Tower Hill Bridge in Orange Walk and take the boat to and from Lamanai site from there.
Tikal is worth the trip if you can dedicate some time. I would recomment taking a local coach bus that travels overnight, then you can sleep on the way instead of staying the night in Tikal. There are some very comfortable and affordable places to stay in the city however depending on the time. If you get a guide book or reference book instead of taking the guided tour or the headphone tour of the site, it may be more meaningful to you. Tikal is one of the most amazing and beautiful places I have even been. Get there early, pack a lunch and plan on staying there all day. Take a good camera as well. the views are breathtaking and the wildlife plentiful.
Does it have to be a day trip? If not, you could get a bus from Belize City to San Ignacio and stay the night there. From there it is relatively easy to to visit Tikal independently (we did it back in May). An easy option is to hitch a ride with a tour group and just pay for the transport. The site is easy to navigate without a guide. Or you can take local transport (we went in tour minivan on way and local transport on way back). I would recommend staying at Tikal overnight though as the best time for spotting wildlife is evening and morning. If you enter the park after 4 pm you get free entry the following day. We did this and hardly saw any other people as the tour groups are only there in the middle of the day. We even had the Gran Plaza to ourselves at one point! I am currently writing a guide on visiting Tikal independently from Belize for another website but its not finished yet - I'll post the link on here when its done.
Belize is relatively small, and if you are happy to pay for flights (fairly inexpensive) you can probably see quite a lot of the country in day trips. I would recommend Belize Zoo and Cave tubing. Here are links to 2 guides I have written which may give you some more inspiration:
http://www.simonseeks.com/travel-guides/top-5-wildlife-encounters-belize__167519
http://www.simonseeks.com/travel-guides/underground-adventures-caves-belize__167529
One quick question on this subject: With only two days travel time, is it worth the time and money to go to Tikal or are the ruins in Belize jus as compelling?
Lamanai is good. Trips leave from the Cayes if you are there at the right time. A bit pricey and a long day but it can be done in a day. Two days really isn't enough time to get to Tikal, do it justice and get back on time unless maybe if you fly there. It still will be rushed.
I agree with Greg. Tikal is sort of in a league of its own, but requires a lot more time than you appear ready to spend this trip. The boat trip up the New River to Lamanai is a great alternative - jungly and with lots of temples to climb with awesome views from the top and you'll see monkeys.
On a separate note, are there night buses in Belize now I haven't heard of?
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