Staying in the Belizean Jungle

Belmopan, Belize

We just got back from our first trip to Central America, and I am so very ready to share with you some of our trip highlights. I’m going to give you the good the bad and the ugly! My travel bucket list is long, and ever-growing, and Belize has been on my short list for a long time – mainly because of its world-renowned scuba diving! My husband had just come home after being gone for quite awhile, and it felt like the perfect time to check Belize off our list. Staying on the coast? Read about our time Visiting and Diving Ambergris Caye!

Belize is located on the Northeastern coast of Central America, South of Mexico and East of Guatemala. It is a small country, which makes it easy to traverse large parts of the country in only a week.

We decided to split our week with 3 nights in the jungle of Belize, and 4 nights on the coast, Ambergris Caye, more specifically. When we travel, we like to see as much as possible, so this felt like a good way to get to know the country. We also decided to rent our own car for our time spent inland, so we could drive ourselves around the country – more on that below!

Renting a Vehicle

We chose to rent a car in Belize specifically because (1) we wanted to see as much as possible (2) we wanted to have control over our itinerary and (3) it was cheap and easy to navigate the country. We had made a rental car reservation with Budget, but when we arrived they didn’t have any vehicles so they sent us next to to Jabiru, who provided us with their last car. Some key takeaways about renting a car and driving in Belize below:

• It cost us $185 to rent a very old and beaten down Jeep Patriot for 3.5 days
• The roads are rough, so be prepared for flat tires (we lucked out, but saw lots of people on the side of the road with flats), and be prepared for everything to take awhile to get to due to poor roads
• Gas is EXPENSIVE – we drove a lot in our 3 days, and only had to fill up twice, but gas was well over $5.00 USD per gallon
• It is a ‘free for all’ on the roads, and I think we only ever saw one traffic light. Plus side is you can really crush these long drives by passing slow vehicles, down side is it can be chaotic during busy work hours

So there you have it! Honestly, it seemed as though VERY few people rented cars in Belize, there was little road traffic and most tourists book excursions directly with their resorts. Every morning at breakfast our resort asked if we were just laying low today, and when we told them what we were doing they seemed super surprised we were doing it on our own. After hours a day on bumpy roads, I couldn’t imagine suffering through that in a van with a bunch of tourists, so I am happy with the choice we made!

Where to Stay

Most blogs will tell you to stay in San Ignacio, after all, that is generally where a lot of the sight-seeing activities are located. Since we didn’t stay there, I can’t attest to how convenient that would have been, but I can tell you that we wouldn’t change a thing about staying in Belmopan at The Sleeping Giant Rainforest Lodge.

Belmopan was the closest environment to a ‘jungle’ we found in Belize. San Ignacio and the surrounding areas were very dry and full of pine trees, possibly what would be classified as a ‘secondary jungle’. Needless to say, our lodge was absolutely stunning. Amenities included: A farm to table restaurant on the property, river with SUP’s / kayaks, short gazebo hike with stunning vista, bicycles to use at your leisure, mint garden (mmm, moijto’s), private plunge pool, outdoor shower, and more. It felt like a perfect garden oasis!

The lodge offers lots of daily excursions – ATM cave, Tikal mayan ruins, Xunantunich ruins, Caracol ruins, etc. are all available to book through the lodge. Since we had our own car, and were trying desperately to avoid the extra touristy attractions, we opted to see everything on our own. Everything that required a “guide” to enter was off our list (ATM cave & Caracol, for example).

Visiting Mayan Ruins

Caracol and Xunantunich are located in Belize, while Tikal is located across the border in Guatemala. A regret of mine is not making more of an effort to visit additional ruins, because it turned out our visit to Xunantunich was the highlight of our time inland!

• Xunantunich – Easy to access! Located past San Ignacio on the way to Guatemala (about 1.5 hour drive from Belmopan). You’ll reach a sign that says “Xunantunich” and immediately on your right (next to several jewelry / souvenir stalls) will be the little river crossing. It is a hand-cranked ferry, and is free to cross. All passengers except the driver exit the vehicle and walk onto the ferry, while the driver parks the car on the ferry and remains in the vehicle while the ferry is cranked across the river. It takes less than 5 minutes all-together. There are no ferry times, it is extremely informal and the ferry just crosses the river when a vehicle is ready to cross. From there you will drive up to the main entrance, park and pay $10 BZE ($5 USD) per person to enter. Not much is known about these ruins, but they are really beautiful and you have freedom to roam and explore at your leisure (it was also quiet, which was nice).

• Caracol – Boy, is it a journey to reach these ruins. While we didn’t actually visit them, we unintentionally drove all the way through Pine Mountain Ridge Forest Reserve to the entrance of Caracol. We chose not to visit these ruins simply because we would have to be there very early in the AM to be escorted in by a military caravan, and there was construction that kept us from driving there before noon. Keep that in mind when planning your trip – but if you want to visit these ruins, you can do that first thing in the morning, and then hit a bunch of other waterfalls and stops along the way back to San Ignacio / Belmopan through the Forest Reserve!
• Tikal – Located across the border in Guatemala you will find these legendary ruins. It is a FULL day with lots of driving. Most resorts / lodges will take you, with a 5:00AM – 5:30PM itinerary with most of that time in the car. We opted out of this due to the commute (had already driven so much the day before), but ironically ended up driving through Pine Mountain Ridge Forest Reserve for 6+ hours anyway. I’ve heard it’s a must do, so go for it!

Sidenote: After visiting Xunantunich we stopped at Benny’s Kitchen for a local food lunch (delish) and then visited the Iguana Sanctuary in San Ignacio (my opinion, you can skip this, but it’s conveniently located in town).

Pine Mountain Ridge Reserve

Several of the top places to visit inland Belize are conveniently located within the Pine Mountain Ridge Forest Reserve. We spent an entire day driving through the Reserve, stopping at waterfalls, caves, and dipping pools! From Belmopan you drive towards San Ignacio but turn off early onto an unpaved road. It was about 7 miles a horrible unpaved road until we reached the Reserve entrance. Quickly provide your name, country and license plate to a military guard, and you’re in! Once in the park the roads are better, but still unpaved and bumpy. It’s just slow moving, so be prepared to spend a lot of time slowly making your way through the park.

We stopped at 1,000 ft falls first (the tallest waterfall in Central America), then Big Rock Falls, Rio on Pools, and lastly Rio Frio Cave. At that point we had traversed nearly the entire park and stopped just short of Caracol. To stop at all of these points took well over 6 hours of driving. I’m going to tell you what was worth it and what could be skipped!

• 1,000 ft falls – skip it! While it might be cool to check this off your list, it took absolutely forever to reach, and you view it from very far away. There are better waterfall opportunities, so skip it!
• Big Rock Falls – do it! This was worth it – after lots of heat and dust driving through the reserve, it was so fun to jump off the rocks and swim under the waterfall. It was relaxing and nearly empty of other visitors!
• Rio On Pools – skip it! There isn’t much to do here, if you really want to see it, its super super easy to access from the main road that runs through the reserve, but I wouldn’t plan to spend too much time here. Just a bunch of very small pools of water that I wouldn’t recommend swimming in.
• Rio Frio Cave – do it! This was so neat – a big and beautiful cave right near the entrance of Caracol. The drive to the cave was beautiful, and the cave itself was stunning. It’s an easy stop and definitely worth it!

Back to Belize City

Farewell private plunge pool – After 3 wonderful nights in Belmopan at the Sleeping Giant Rainforest Lodge – with visits to Xunantunich, San Ignacio, and Pine Mountain Ridge Forest Reserve, we were headed back to Belize City to catch a flight out to Ambergris Caye with Maya Island Air.

The drive from Belmopan to Belize City International Airport is about 1.5 hours, but easy and on paved roads. Just a general note: Driving in Belize is so easy. We rarely used our Google Maps because there are really only a few main roads to get around the country. Returning the rental car and getting checked in was super quick, so they put us on standby for an earlier flight to Ambergris Caye and we were off to the Coast! More on that, and our stay at Matachica Resort, soon!