What decent activity can you do in Belize that does not take all day

[Zbayette]

Is there anything that is not an hour and a half away that is decent to do? Also we hate the idea of booking tours that include lunch (or we have to buy lunch) when we get fabulous meals on the ship. What do yoiu suggest doing? We're pretty open to suggestions but there are 6 of us in the group so I'd want it to be fairly economical.

[tomko2]

While my DH went on a horseriding trip I hired one of the female taxi drivers to walk with me around the town. It took about 10 minutes to find a driver willing to walk rather than drive but it was terrific. I got lots of terrific photographs and a bit of the history and culture of the town plus the lady kept vendors away from me. Next time I go back to Belize I will likely do the same thing although I will stop at one of the vendors tables and buy a wooden bowl; they looked lovely. By doing a walking tour I was able to get beyond the dock area and still feel safe. Very enjoyable.

[sharecruises]

From everything I have read the "interesting" stuff is outside the city...

 

some of the shorter tours could be thru the coralbreeze company...their altun ha tour, zoo tour (mixed reviews) and a few other tours do not include a meal and look pretty short.

you can also take a ship tour from your ship to Bannister Island...the thing to remember in Belize is that you are docked outside the barrier reef, you need to tender into town, south of the ship..and the "cayes" and beaches are a tender ride north of the ship, about 40 minutes apparently...

 

so if you go into town, you are backtracking to reach snorkel and beach places......ship tours seem more efficient...they usually do not include food tho it is for sale at the Bannister Island

 

Geographically there does not seem to be many really good options ashore, and walking around the city does not usually get good reviews...pretty sad if you have to hire someone to "walk" with you IMHO

 

You could write to some of the other cave tube places to see if they have lunch stop or not....and there is that bacab eco park tours, they seem fairly short and not too expensive.

 

Of course you can always just take the free tender from the ship over to the Tourist Village and shop there and maybe have a drink or something.

 

IMHO this is a place to plan ahead <grin>

[Zbayette]

[quote name='sharecruises']From everything I have read the "interesting" stuff is outside the city...

some of the shorter tours could be thru the coralbreeze company...their altun ha tour, zoo tour (mixed reviews) and a few other tours do not include a meal and look pretty short.
you can also take a ship tour from your ship to Bannister Island...the thing to remember in Belize is that you are docked outside the barrier reef, you need to tender into town, south of the ship..and the "cayes" and beaches are a tender ride north of the ship, about 40 minutes apparently...

so if you go into town, you are backtracking to reach snorkel and beach places......ship tours seem more efficient...they usually do not include food tho it is for sale at the Bannister Island

Geographically there does not seem to be many really good options ashore, and walking around the city does not usually get good reviews...pretty sad if you have to hire someone to "walk" with you IMHO

You could write to some of the other cave tube places to see if they have lunch stop or not....and there is that bacab eco park tours, they seem fairly short and not too expensive.

Of course you can always just take the free tender from the ship over to the Tourist Village and shop there and maybe have a drink or something.

IMHO this is a place to plan ahead <grin>[/quote]


thanks for all the info. I will check some of those out. And I agree it is pretty sad to have to hire someone to walk with you. Truthfully if my family doesn't want to accompany me, I'ds rather go by myself.

[PaddleAddict]

Yes, keep in mind that the tender ride is quite a bit longer than for other ports. Once you get out of Belize City, the island is quite beautiful. You can't just hop on and off the ship for lunch. Belize was worth it to do a tour, though, and I was actually bummed out that our tour didn't have time for a lunch stop. I would have liked to try some of the food in Belize.

[tomko2]

I don't want to leave the wrong impression about Belize. I chose to hire someone to walk with me just because I felt more comfortable this way. The lady was a delight; 28 years old yet with 6 children and not a line of worry on her face. This lady had such pride showing me around the town; taking me into their library and talking about the eductional system. My tour was thoroughly enjoyable and I would repeat it in a flash.

We have hired professional walking tour guides in many places, Sydney Australia, Sea Island George and Morocco -- all have been marvelous.