Shopping In Belize?

[juanacruz]

Is There Any Good Shopping At The Belize Port? What Kind Of Items Will We Find?

[cruztime]

We were in Belize last Friday (1/21). The only shopping we saw was in the little shops set up by the dock the tenders drop you at. I wouldn't recommend venturing to far off on your own. We booked a cave tubing tour with XStream online. It was fabulous!! Take a tour. Save the shopping for the other ports.

[BETSY DOLL]

Same here- no shopping except cheap t-shirts & souveniers. We are going back in April, looking to try to go to Ambergris Key. Cave tubing 2 years ago was wonderful- may have to do it again.

[Cruisin' Patty]

Go out the back, past the port shops, across the street you'll see a Flea Market sign, it's a mixture of flea market and straw market. But, not real cheap. Mahahual at the Costa Maya stop and Cozumel were better shopping.

[Blue Eyes]

We were in Belize 1/25 on the Coral Princess. I had heard there was no shopping in the port and did not expect anything except usual items. I found a beautiful wooden pine bowl in one of the shops that was truly unique and different and is the kind of souvineer that I look for, something native to the island. I paid $110 for it so it is not a small trinket and we drove so I did not have to worry about carrying it home. The bowl is carved from a tree stump and everyone that has seen it since I got home has been wild about the bowl. The shop had smaller bowls and vases also. The lady helping us was Sharon, and she was very interested in the information my forrester husband gave her about all the different kind of pine trees. She thought there was only 1 kind. She wrote down all the info my husband told her about pine trees. So we both found something interesting about our purchase.

 

So the moral of my story, is that some time what someone thinks is not a good shopping port may just be one that you love....

[cruisergrandma]

Belize was one of our favorite shopping experiences. We love to find locally made items and in most ports it isn't easy. Belize has lots of handmade wood items. We bought a walking stick and several beautiful cutting boards. All are made of multiple local woods. On the back of the cutting boards they wrote the names of each wood. Prices were reasonable. We bought at the pier but, we also walked outside the gate and bought items from the street vendors. We are going back in April aboard Carnival Glory and we plan to buy more.

[caribdiver]

I want to echo what others have said about the native wood carvings; they are incredible in Belize.

 

(Please note: I'm not a shopper, my wife is. I usually spend my time scuba diving or drinking cold ones on the beach. But Belize has turned me into a shopper.)

 

In Belize you can buy woodcarvings made of Zerikote wood; it is a beautiful, dark, extremely hard wood native to Belize. Many of the carvings are of birds and sea creatures and they are fantastic. The woodcarvings are a cultural treasure of this country. On recent cruises I bought a hammerhead shark and a stingray that are absolutely beautiful. I paid $30 for the shark and $20 for the stingray; they are easily worth 3-4 times that much.

 

I recommend that you do not buy carvings in the big shopping plaza where the tenders dock. Instead go outside the port gates and walk along the main street; you will find vendors there at lower prices and in some cases you will find carvers selling their own art.

 

You can also walk about 5 minutes to the "Handicraft store by the Park" where they sell beautiful woodcarvings of sailboats and animals of all types.

 

In Belize I usually go cave tubing or scuba diving, then I shop for the woodcarvings. Finally I go to the plaza by the tender pier and buy a cold Belikan (a great local beer). You can find a place with a beautiful view that overlooks the harbor and the bustling tender pier before boarding that last tender back to the ship. Belize is great.

[Luvmaui]

but I found a really cute sun dress for a very reasonable price and cute clothes for my grandson.:)

[carbon]

What is the shopping like on caye Caulker? Or should we plan to swim at the split?

[DiverDavid]

The piers had many of the same stores you find in most other ports. Our favorite was the Fine Arts & Crafts Gallery. It is a little out of the way behind The Wet Lizard on Pier 3, but definitely worth it. We like to buy art created locally and there was so much to choose from at very reasonable prices. The wood items were so beautiful. If you like those jewelry boxes made like locking puzzles, this is the place to head to. None were over $20. The owners are happy to explain about the wood used, the artist, etc. We were concerned about buying products made from rainforest wood, but the owners explained about the Belize rainforest protection program. The interior ministry only allows trees that have fallen or marked to be taken down to due damage or disease to be taken to the lumber yards for processing.

[MommyLynnie]

I would love to venture beyond the port area to these shopping areas you are mentioning, but I am traveling without my husband and with my 11 yo DD, and we will obviously be tourists (targets for shoplifters, etc?). I have read a lot on these boards re: safety issues. How safe do you think it would be for us to walk out to these other shopping areas?

 

Any help most appreciated.