8 Days, What should I do?

I have roughly 8 days to explore belize at the beginning of august and was wondering what is a must see or what places I should not miss? I want to visit some nice beaches, do some jungle hiking and I want to see some ruins, mainly tikal. Could you lovely thorn tree folks give me some ideas of what I should see and do? What are the best places to hit up on the way to tikal? How should I get to tikal? Also, was wondering if it is a good idea to rent a car or should I just stick to buses? Could you recommend some nice, affordable hostels? I've heard Caye Caulker is nice? Also could be interested in a cave tour. Don't want to do any touristy resort type excursions or stay at tourist resorts.

Thanks!!!

Taylor

This is a common question. Either do a search here about Tikal or go to belizeforum.com and do a search there. I just answered this and, sorry but don't feel like doing it again.

Definitely do the ATM cave tour!! It was really amazing. I know how to arrange the tour has been posted on here many times. In my opinion that is the one thing not to miss in Belize. (And don't worry if you're claustrophobic, I am and it was not a problem. But you should be reasonably fit.)

Xunatunich was the first ruin I'd seen, so it was cool. But it does not compare with Tikal in Guatemala. I also stayed 2 nights on Ambergris Caye, snorkeling there was really awesome too.

I went with a small group tour company so I can't answer any of your questions about busses vs cars etc.

Edited by: snkrsalab

What about some cheap, but clean places to stay? Not looking for the ritz, just clean rooms really.

My family did 8 days in Belze last year. You can go directly from the airport to San Pedro where there are a lot of cheap places to stay. From San Pedro you can check out the ATM cave, canoe up the river, see nearby ruins, etc. Then take a bus or hire a taxi to Flores or El Ramate which gives you easy access to Tikal (it's recommended to stay overnight so you can tour the ruins in the cooler early morning). Take a bus from Flores to Belize City and take the water taxi to Ambergis or Caye Caulker, which can be done in one day. I recommend Caye Caulker because it's much more laid back, but see other threads for comparisons of the two. Not really a beach on Caulker, but there is one on Ambergris. We went snorkeling off a sailboat from Caulker, which was a very relaxing way to spend the day on the water.

Not San Pedro, you mean San Ignacio. I was wondering what the heck you were talking about jweverka.