Belize Travel Forum

We are planning to go to Belize in the last week of April. 2 adults, 2 children 9 and 13y.o. Very active. What will be the best itinerary?
I am thinking to spend one day/night in Tikal and last 2 days somewhere on the beach, preferably, with good diving.

Can someone offer any suggestions?

Are there any problems finding a car w/automatic transmission there?

I would do Tikal at the end, and do the diving at the beginning, because you can't fly for a couple of days after you dive. Unless you mean snorkeling, because I don't think the 9 year old can dive (??)

(Tikal isn't in Belize of course and there are other Mayan sites in Belize)

Are you flying in and out of Belize? The trip from Tikal to Belize is a few hours, so you need to factor that into your plans if you're doing that last and heading straight from Tikal to the airport. The border can take some time to sort through as well, it is a popular cross-over.

You can do Tikal all in one day, but be prepared for a long day. I would recommend doing the morning tour. This way, you get up really early (3am at Flores, later if you're staying at Tikal itself) and you hike up to Temple 4 to watch the sunrise. It is a unique addition to the trip, and worth the early wake-up call. The rest of the day you can spend seeing as many or as few temples and archaeological sites as you'd like.

Heading off to Belize, I would recommend Caye Caulker. It is not as popular as some of the others, but I stayed there for several days and had a blast. We did not have the money for diving, but there were tons of sites that we shared with divers as we snorkeled. There were several areas where you could pet the stingrays that came close, and that was pretty cool. I imagine that would be a lot of fun for kids (it was fun to us 25-year olds). I would listen to the others as to the restrictions on flying after diving... but there is plenty of beach to relax and decompress on before you fly out. BBQs are a must in that country (say hi to Fran at her place on the beach, you can't miss it). And if you want more active fun, you can kayak over to the northern reaches of the caye where there are mangrove forests, and you can snorkel, swim, or just kayak around.

Anyway you slice it, it's a great trip. Have fun.