belize on a budget with young kids

Lots of photos with travelogues below. I'd split your time between 2 or 3 places since you're planning for 2 weeks. How about The Trek Stop just west of San Ignacio as a base for ruins, caves, and jungle time, then to Hopkins (lots of budget options there) for drumming, playing in the surf, friendly locals, then to Caulker for snorkeling trips and just hanging out (decent budget choices there, too). Sounds like a blast to me! Keep us posted....

I'd suggest staying in San Ignacio first. There's a good selection of hotels and restaurants, and you'll be close to all the tour companies for trips to Maya sites.

Then head out to Caye Caulker for sun, sea, sand & snorkelling. You might want to stop at the zoo on the way.

Belize is probably more expensive than Asia (depends on where you've been).

My site might help with travelling around Belize: http://belizebus.wordpress.com/

Try Caves Branch Adventure Lodge for a few days and then head out to Thatch Caye Resort for snorkeling and other ocean activities. San Ignacio is worth a few nights as well so that you can see the ATM caves and get a taste of the local culture.

I would think that Costa Rica would be better for the kids--monkeys are generally more entertaining to children than are archaeological ruins.

belice & costa rica are the two most expensive c.a. countries.

...anything belice has honduras has as much or more of...at half the cost

If you stay on the beaten path in Belize so the local buses can provide your transportation, it simply does not need to be very expensive. Sometimes I feel like the people who keep hammering home how expensive it is haven't even traveled there.

batfish2 - As nice as they are, Thatch Caye and Caves Branch aren't budget options, though most things are free at CB for kids under 9.

racandee - I know from reading that CR has monkeys, too, but we had incredible monkey adventures in Belize this summer - check out my photos.

germuno - "...anything belice has honduras has as much or more of...at half the cost" isn't true and therefore sounds inflammatory (and I love Honduras, too).

Tamarab, I think Hopefulist post #1 is right on the mark. Read their trip report.

Hopefulist, I don't doubt it. We're going to Belize in February and hope to see tons of los monos.

But, to put things in perspective, we've seen monkeys on the grounds of 6 out of the 8 lodges we've stayed at in Costa. Rica. We've seen them on boat trips, on ziplines, lounging by the pool, sitting on our veranda, hanging out at the beach--even browsing the Internet!

No question that CR has a lot to offer or the vast majority of Central America's visitors wouldn't flock there, year after year. But for some of us a combination of natural wonders plus incredible cultural history and diversity (and the absence of the vast majority of Central America's visitors) is better than the natural wonders and tourist infrastructure Costa Rica offers. In other words, CR holds almost no interest for me: "One man's ceiling is another man's floor".