Belize: From the mountains to the beaches to the r

Our trip to Southern Belize covered three different cities: San Ignacio (including the Mountain Pine Ridge area), Dangriga, and Placencia.

San Ignacio is a great place for adventure travelers, albeit an expensive place. We loved canoeing about 1 mile into Barton Creek's Cave (with flashlights, of course), and swimming in natural pools and waterfalls (Five Sisters and Rio On Pools). Finally, we canoed about 19 miles down the river towards San Ignacio.

Dangriga was a horrible place, and we were sorry we decided to stay the night there. However, what was interesting (to us) about Dangriga was that there were TONS of Chinese shops and restaurants. If you're craving Chinese food, this might be the place to go in Belize!

Placencia was everything we imagined a Carribbean beach to be. Uncrowded, warm water, beautiful scenery. We even saw two dolphins play in the ocean, VERY close to shore!

Quick Tips:

Due to the high tourism in San Ignacio, we believe that most prices for adventure activities are set. There are tons of adventure travel operators, and they all charge the same prices per person for the activities available.

We booked our tours with Maya Mystic tours and found Sandro, our tour guide, to be quite knowledgable and very flexible to our needs (there were only two of us on the tour, and we wanted to keep it that way!).

Best Way To Get Around:

We drove from Guatemala to Belize, but for those without a car, I believe there are plenty of shuttles from Belize City to San Ignacio. It may be a bit more difficult to get to Placencia, but I know there are buses from both Dangriga and Belize City to Placencia. In addition, I believe you can take a boat from Dangriga to Placencia. But I think the bus ride would be the cheaper option.

We first tried to stay at Blancaneux Lodge, Francis Ford Coppola's "luxurious" lodge in the mountains, but they did not have a room available. So, instead, we went next door to The Five Sister's Lodge and found it to be much cheaper (you save almost $50) and maybe even more comfortable (the rooms here had air-conditioning)!
Lodgings: You stay in cabanas in the middle of the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest. Most cabanas have an enclosed (with netting) balcony with a hammock where there is a beautiful view of the mountains; some have a view of the Five Sisters natural pools and waterfalls at the bottom of the mountain (these cabanas cost more). Rooms also have air-conditioning and a fan, which is great, because it can get really HOT in Belize. Bathrooms are quite spacious and have hot water, towels, soap… everything you could possibly need.
Activities: You can either walk down or take an "elevator" down to the Five Sisters pools and waterfalls. We spent hours exploring these natural wonders and had a great time doing so. The Lodge also offers adventure activities, but these are much more expensive than the same tours offered in San Ignacio.
Cost: We paid about $110 for a night in the lodge for a room with air-conditioning and a view of the mountains.
Food was a bit pricey, almost $20 per person for dinner. There really aren't any restaurants around the lodge (as you are in the middle of the mountains), so you are almost forced to eat here. The $20 included a soup and entrée. Dessert was extra.

Although there is another journal entry in IgoUgo.com about Pal's Place, I wanted to include a journal entry from a different perspective - I do not recommend staying at Pal's Place unless you really do not have any other place to stay.

We arrived in Dangriga, Belize, around 7pm (after picking up a hitchhiking policeman may I add!). We were using the Lonely Planet Guide and went to the recommended hotels that were listed, but to no avail. Thus, we stopped at Pal's Place to look at the rooms. Since we were pretty tired, we decided to take the room, and even decided to splurge on an ocean-front room. This was because the non-ocean-front room was on the first level and like a sauna when we walked in.

After getting some dinner, we went back to the hotel room. The ocean-front room was hot as well, but we opened the balcony door so that the ocean breeze could cool down the room. Although there were two fans in the room, only one of them worked without making too many loud noises. We also opened up the front door so that there would be some airflow in the room.

As the night went on, other hotel visitors began to walk around on the balconies, and one sketchy-looking character even tried to come into our room to ask us if he could rent a room at the hotel (apparently, he thought our room was the front office since our door was open). As a result, we closed the front door. But we could hear a large group of men gathering outside our door, and, well, they sounded scary.

As time went on, we could hear the other visitors gathering on their balconies and the air began to smell like marijuana. So we closed the balcony door and felt pretty unsafe.

Needless to say, we didn't sleep very well that night because it was extremely HOT in our room. When my boyfriend woke up in the morning, he was also covered with insect bites. We left Pal's Place and Dangriga as soon as we could.

Lodging: Rooms are a decent size, but basically a cement square with two beds and a TV. There were two fans, only one of which worked normally (the other one "screamed"). The TV in the room was a nice touch - it helped us forget where we were. The bathrooms were made of cement, and the walls and floors were not painted - they were cement grey. The towels provided were decent, I suppose, but old and had some strings sticking out. Cost: We thought it was quite expensive given the accommodations. We paid about $40 for an ocean-front room, no, for a cement box near the ocean.

Recommendation: Stay here only if there is nowhere else for you to go. Better yet, skip Dangriga altogether!

After spending a horrific night in Dangriga, we decided to splurge on a nicer hotel in Placencia. Unfortunately, most of the hotels we tried to stay at were booked. We found Cozy Corner right in front of Deb and Dave's Last Resort (you can see their signs from the road). Cozy Corner was a welcome relief - our room had air-conditioning and was immaculate, complete with a coffeemaker, refrigerator, and microwave!

Lodgings: Our room was on the top floor, and we found it to be immaculate and large. There were two beds, air-conditioning, a coffeemaker, a refrigerator, and a microwave. The bathrooms were very clean as well. In addition, we had cable TV in the room.

Location: Great location - there was a restaurant in front of the hotel, then... the ocean! It was a great spot also because that particular beach was not terribly crowded, and there were public beach chairs for you to sit on. One day, while we were sitting on the beach chairs, we spotted two dolphins playing in the water right in front of us! That was definitely the highlight of the trip. Other than that, everything in Placencia was within easy walking distance.

Other: The restaurant in the front of Cozy Corner was also very good - you can even charge your meals to your room. In addition, the food prices were quite reasonable.

Cost: I believe we had one of the nicer rooms at Cozy Corner, and it was only about $45/night for the "suite." Great deal considering the quality of the room!

After about a 40-minute drive from San Ignacio, Belize, you arrive at Barton's Creek Cave. On the way, you pass through a Menonite town (Menonites are similar to the Amish) and an orange orchard.

After boarding your canoe (usually two people to a canoe), you immediately begin the journey into the cave. Along the way you see amazing stalactites and stalagmites, as well as Mayan artifacts. These artifacts were used in Mayan rituals that were performed in this cave. You will see a skull and pieces of pottery in the walls of the cave. Your guide may let you swim in the waters of the cave or even let you explore parts of the cave by foot (to get a better look at the artifacts). The whole tour lasts about 1.5 hours.

After exploring the cave, your guide may let you swim in the natural pool near the cave. There is also a rope swing that you can use to jump into the pool. Recently, an American opened up a restaurant near the cave, so you can get some beers and have a great swim in the pool.