Belize is an amazing family travel destination that offers both beaches and jungles. Check out my Belize family travel tips below for help planning your own unbelizeable vacation!
Split your visit between the jungle and the beach.
Belize offers two very unique experiences. The jungle has Mayan sites, cave adventures, hiking and waterfalls, wildlife, and more. The beach has the second largest barrier reef in the world. Neither should be missed. It is like getting two vacations in one.
Start your visit in the jungle.
If you split your time between the jungle and the beach, start in the jungle. There are so many activities in the jungle that you can pack your days with tours and adventures. After you’ve tired yourself out, head to the beach to relax.
Stay in a true jungle lodge.
There are some hotel option in the town of San Ignacio and we were tempted to choose one so that we would be closer to more restaurants, tours, and transportation. We would have absolutely regretted it if we had done that. Staying in a lodge deep in the jungle is a truly unique experience. Waking up to the howler monkeys in the middle of the night, watching toucans fly overhead, laying in a hammock in the complete darkness of the deep jungle and looking up at the stars. It is an unbelievable and unforgettable experience.
Use your hotel for tours.
There are tour companies based out of San Ignacio that can take you anywhere from Cahal Pech at the top of the hill to Tikal in Guatemala. But if you stay in a jungle lodge (and you should!), use their tour guides. They are experts. They are on-site. They provide transportation. If you are lucky the same one will be with you throughout your trip so that they get to know you and your family, your personalities, and your interests. Ours was completely amazing and single-handedly took our trip from great to fantastic.
Do not drive yourself.
Roads in Belize seem to range from not bad to terrible. The not bad roads are paved decently but have poor signage, unmarked speed bumps (“sleeping policemen”) and are not lit at night. The terrible roads are unpaved dirt roads with so many pot holes that you have to zig zag from one side of the street to the other just to keep from getting whiplash. There is no reason to tackle this yourself. Our guide from Black Rock Lodge picked us up from the airport and drove us to all of our tours. We hired private drivers for other legs of the trip. It was so much easier. We didn’t have to worry about directions, road conditions, or old rental cars on terrible roads.
Do not miss the Belize Zoo.
There are so many amazing things to see and do in Belize. The zoo may not seem like it should be at the top of your list. But it should not be missed, even if you don’t normally like zoos. It is like walking through the jungle and seeing the animals in their natural environment. And they do amazing rescue and conservation work.
Bring a refillable water bottle.
The water in Belize is generally not considered safe to drink out of the tap. Each of our hotels had a 5 gallon jug of water in the room so that we could refill our own water bottle. This was especially important since we were out all day in the heat on jungle adventures. We actually didn’t think to bring a water bottle and ended up buying a few plastic bottles and refilling them until they started to smell questionable and we had to buy another. Having our own reusable water bottle would have been so much easier (and better for the environment).
If you choose to fly to Ambergris Caye, check out the municipal airport.
There is an international airport and a municipal airport in Belize City. The municipal airport has cheaper tickets in general and children’s fares that are even cheaper. We saved a good bit of money by flying from there. It worked well for us because we were coming from Guatemala and had a private driver so it was the same cost for him to take us to either airport. If you are going direct to the cayes from your international flight, it might not make as much sense because you would have to take a cab from the international airport to the municipal airport. Depending on the number of people in your group, you will probably still end up saving money (even after cab fare) but you have to balance that against the time and convenience of staying at the same airport.
Bring your own snorkel gear and have your kids practice with it before you get there.
We bought the kids full faced snorkel masks and had them practice in the pool the day before. It wasn’t enough. Once we got in the ocean, RB couldn’t quite get his on correctly. It kept leaking water and he got frustrated so he switched to the tour company’s mask. After a few minutes, the fit of that mask ended up bothering him even more and it ruined his snorkeling experience. Buy a mask – they are relatively inexpensive and easy to pack – and have them practice at home before your trip. A lot.
