Belize Travel Guide 2018

Belize has to be one of my favorite countries I've ever been to. Home of the second largest barrier reef in the world and the greatest snorkeling I've ever done. Every single person we came in contact with was beyond friendly, making it one of the best experiences of our travels thus far. Belize has the best of both worlds, with the Caribbean coastline full of rich marine life and over 200 islands, and the jungle with several Mayan ruins. The national language in Belize is English and in the last 20 years has become a hot spot for American tourism and now I know why.

The Split

Getting there: We were coming from Mexico, so we caught the ferry in Chetumal Bay that took us over the border to San Pedro, Belize. In San Pedro, we went through a quick immigration process then boarded the ferry again to arrive at our destination, the small island of Caye Caulker. We were expecting a huge ferry boat for this two-hour boat ride to Belize but to our surprise, it was a small little boat that made the experience even more fun. The Ferry ride to Caye Caulker cost $65 US and another $28 fee to exit Mexico. 

Currency: The Belize dollar (BZ$) is the official currency in Belize. This one was easy for me since 1 Belize dollar is equivalent to 50 cents. So cut the prices in half and you have the price in US dollar. Also, a lot of places take credit cards and there are plenty of ATM's and exchange houses scattered around the island.

Caye Caulker: We loved Caye Caulker, it's such a fun laidback Carribean Island, we stayed for 5 nights and loved every minute of it. It's a backpackers paradise with tons of like-minded travelers. There are no cars on the island, only golf carts, and bicycles but you can walk almost anywhere in 10-15 minutes! There's also a ferry that runs every hour to and from Caye Caulker to the surrounding cities (San Pedro, Belize City) for BZ$19 ($9.50 US). We stayed in a little beach cabin right on the water, it was pretty rustic but if you are looking for an inexpensive place to stay check out Ignacio's Beach Cabins for only $30 a night. If you've never used Airbnb before use my code for $40 off HERE!

Ignacio's Beach Cabins

There are tons of great restaurants, cafes, and bars on the island. We ate a lot of street food, delicious and budget friendly! There are many spots along the beach with their BBQ's cooking up chicken, shrimp kabobs, and lobster.  Our favorite spot was Chef Kareem's jerk chicken served with rice, beans, and salad for BZ$15 ($7.50 US) and it's a huge plate of food. Another must try while on the island is Errolyn's House of Fryjacks.. basically, fried dough stuffed with all your breakfast favorites, eggs, bacon, cheese, etc. for only BZ$5 ($2.50 US).

Fry Jack

We took an all day snorkeling tour through Carlos Tours and it was the best snorkeling experience I've ever had (ok, tied with swimming with the whale sharks in Mexico). I highly recommend choosing Carlos Tours if you're planning on snorkeling in Caye Caulker. They take out smaller groups than some of the other tours about 10-12 people which was awesome. Our boat was filled with the best people, we all became instant friends and hung out together for the rest of our time on the island. The snorkeling was amazing, we swam with manatees, tons of sharks, stingrays, turtles, fish, and colorful coral. Then after snorkeling, they served lunch and unlimited rum punch and we had our own little booze cruise. We also went to a seahorse reserve and saw a couple miniature seahorses!! 

Shark Ray Alley

Caye Caulker is so cute and colorful! There are tons of spots to just relax and enjoy the ocean views! If you are looking for something a little more upbeat, definitely check out Lazy Lizard bar and grill at The Split..

The Split was created in 1961 by Hurricane Hattie splitting the island in two and has now become a famous spot on the island. A great place to snorkel and enjoy a bucket of beers while the DJ spins some bangers.

There's one sports bar on the island everyone goes to at night, it's so much fun, they have open mic night and tons of live Caribbean/reggae music. Then after that everyone heads to I&I reggae bar to dance the night away. Caye Caulker is an amazing island and if you are headed to Belize it's a must to visit! 

Hopkins: From Caye Caulker we headed to the mainland of Belize to a beach town called Hopkins. We took the ferry to Belize City for $BZ19 ($9.50 US) each and from there caught the city bus to Dangriga for BZ$15 ($7.50 US) each. The bus ride is 4 hours on an old converted school bus with no A/C and from there we still had to take a short cab ride to Hopkins. There's also a quick flight you can take but it's not as cost effective. After a full morning of traveling, we finally arrived in paradise a.k.a. Belizean Dreams Resort. 

Belizean Dreams is a beachfront all-inclusive locally owned resort. Not only is it beautiful but all of the staff were spectacular, making us feel like royalty our whole stay. The beach view from our room was insane and the comfiest bed we've slept in during our 2 1/2 months of travel. It was a perfect place to relax after a wild time in Caye Caulker.

We spent our time sipping cocktails by the pool and enjoying all the delicious meals they had to offer.

Most delicious cheesecake!

We took the snorkeling tour with Belizean Dreams which also doubled as our ferry over to their sister resort Coco Plum Island Resort where we stayed for 5 days. 

So much vibrant living coral! 

Arriving at Coco Plum we were amazed and couldn't believe we get to stay on this private island! The water was so clear, getting off the boat you could see starfish and fish in the water! 

Our beachfront cabana was amazing and not to mention pink!! 

Coco Plum is an adults-only all inclusive resort, ranked as the most romantic hotel in Belize by Trip Advisor. We met tons of amazing couples honeymooning or on their anniversary getaway... we happened to be the only non-married guests on the island. The island is amazing, great company, tons of water sports, and a full oceanfront bar so there's no chance of getting island fever. 

The bartender taught us how to sail the Hobie Cat and we had a blast sailing around the Island!

Coco Plum served 3 meals a day and every dish was incredible and different every day! They also served afternoon bar snacks that were great after a long day swimming and being in the sun. The resort offered different tours daily, and visiting Xunantunich ruins was one of them! The ruins were so cool and you get to climb to the top giving a crazy view of Belize and Guatemala! 

We had the best stay at Coco Plum Island resort, the staff and all the people we met were beyond incredible! I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a honeymoon destination or just a luxurious island vacation! From Coco Plum, we were off to our next destination Guatemala! It was a few hour bus ride to the Guatemalan border which was only BZ$28 ($14 US) for both of us and a BZ$40 ($20 US) fee to cross the border into Guatemala. Stay tuned for that blog post coming soon! 

Follow along with me on Instagram to see where we are now! xo Instagram/Kclifff

Check out our video from Belize!!