Belize is a sampler platter of Central America. Belize has everything you could want of a Central American vacation, including the beautiful beaches, Mayan ruins, lush jungles and a barrier reef. In just one week in Belize, you’ll have the opportunity to see a taste of everything Belize has to offer. This Belize itinerary will take you from the reef, to the jungle, to the beach all in one week. This is the perfect one week Belize itinerary for first time visitors to the country.
Getting There and Around
You’ll need to fly in to Belize City. This is the only international airport in the county. From there, you can choose to take public transportation or personal transportation.
Public transportation is available via buses and super cheap. However, it is rumored to take longer to arrive at your destination due to frequent stops.
We opted for personal transportation a majority of the time so that we could move around on our own timeline. We used both taxis and rental cars to get around the country.
Where to Stay
For this Belize itinerary, we’ll suggest a town to stay in each night. We used a home rental site to find places to stay. However, in Belize home rentals do have to have licensing with the Belize Tourism Board. Look for either a screenshot of this certificate or a license number when you are making your bookings. You can also use hotel booking sites to find places to stay as well. We did find that many of the places we stayed didn’t have a great online presence, so booking direct generally wasn’t an option.
We’ve also included links for the recommended towns to stay in below.
Belize Itinerary
Day 1 – Island Living
Arrive in Belize and make your way to Caye Caulker or Ambergris Caye (Caye = Key). You can reach either island via the ferry from Belize City. To get to the ferry, you’ll need to take a $25-30 taxi ride to the dock. You can pay for your ferry tickets with cash or credit card at the docks in Belize City. Ferry rides are between $20-30 US/person and take between 45-60 minutes.
Most Belize itineraries will tell you to visit one island or the other. However, we see the merits of both islands. Ambergris Caye is more developed and touristy and has the price tag to go with that. Caye Caulker is less developed and smaller. Challenges on Caye Caulker can be finding things to do as the tourism infrastructure doesn’t seem to keep up with demand at times. We spent a small amount of time on Ambergris Caye and a majority of our time on Caye Caulker. We liked the rough small-town vibe of Caye Caulker better but amenities were lacking.
Whichever island you choose to visit, spend the afternoon exploring town. Bikes are a popular option on the islands. We stayed in a home rental that provided us with bicycles or you could rent one in town. First, wander town and get a lay of the land and look at the different tour operators in town.
Day 2 – Snorkel and Swim
Morning – Snorkel Tour
On the second day of your Belize itinerary, you’ll be exploring the amazing Shark Ray Alley and Hol Chan Marine Reserve. Tour operators in both Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker take snorkel tours out daily. Try to book an early in the day tour to beat the crowds (yes crowds) and see the reef at the most active part of the day.
We used Caye Caulker Reef Friendly Tours, based on Caye Caulker. We were wildly impressed with Armando and his reef conscious behavior. Some tour operators feed the nurse sharks in Shark Ray Alley, which teaches them unnatural feeding habits. However, ecologically friendly tours do not participate in the antiquated practice.
Whatever tour you choose, you’ll most likely start at Shark Ray Alley. Because of years of tour companies feeding sharks here, nurse sharks with swam your boat when you arrive. Don’t worry, they generally don’t bite. Once the swarm dissipates, you’ll be able to hop into the water with your snorkel gear. At the Shark Ray Alley stop, you’ll see plenty of nurse sharks and several types of rays.
Next, your tour will likely visit the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. This is a protected area and admission is required. Make sure that your snorkel tour includes the price of admission into the reserve. At Hol Chan, you’ll get to snorkel at a shallow spot of the barrier reef that runs along the coast of Belize. Here you’ll see plenty of reef life, including fish and coral.
Additionally, some tours will take you to other snorkel sites like shipwrecks and other shallow reef sections.
A majority of these tours, including ours, will have you back on land in time for a late lunch.
Afternoon – Beach And/Or Bar
In the afternoon, spend time playing in the water or lounging at a beach bar.
In the evening, consider doing a sunset cruise around the island. Several tour companies offer these. Most of them include after dinner drinks!
Stay overnight on the Caye again.
Day 3 – The Second Biggest Great Barrier Reef
Wake up early for some adventures on the third day of your Belize vacation. You have two fantastic options this morning: a fly-over of the Blue Hole or scuba diving on the Meso American Barrier Reef. Either way, you’ll be exploring the second largest barrier reef in the world, second only to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. If you want to scuba dive, you must be scuba certified before coming to Belize or you will have to allot more time to getting dive certified in Belize.
If you choose to do a fly over of the Blue Hole, tours leave from the Cayes several times each day. Cost varies from $300/person. Most flight-seeing tours last about an hour.
We are scuba certified and love diving so we choose to scuba dive Esmerelda Reef. This is one of the several half day dives you can choose from. These “half-day” dives typically last 6 hours and include 2-3 dives. There are other full day dives to choose from as well. These typically take 2 extra hours, include lunch and one additional dive. Most of the full-day dives are at reef sites farther away from the Cayes.
Afterwards, relax by the pool before having dinner.
Watch the sun set over the island and stay another night in the same accommodations.
Day 4 – Iguanas and Mayan Ruins
Morning – Traveling
Wake up early to watch the sunrise over the Cayes. Take the ferry back to the mainland.
From this point onward, you’ll need a rental car for your Belize itinerary. We rented our car through Crystal Auto Rental. If you pre-arrange with this rental company, they’ll pick you up at the ferry and take you to the rental car office. Or you can pay the $25-30 USD fare for a taxi ride to the area near the airport where a majority of rental car companies are located.
Drive to San Ignacio where you will stay the next two nights.
Afternoon – Xunatunich and Iguanas
Next, head to Xunatunich Mayan Ruins. You’ll arrive at a small souvenir area near a river before you get to the ruins. Here you can park your car, hire a guide, if you so choose, and walk to Xunatunich. Wander around the ruins before heading back into San Ignacio. Xunatunich closes at 4:30 PM and we missed visiting by just a few minutes so we weren’t able to go. However, we did make it to the hand crank ferry that you will need to use to cross the river and get to the ruins. If traveling there yourself is too intimidating, you can hire a tour guide in San Ignacio that will take you there.
Next, visit the San Ignacio Hotel where you can pay $12 USD/person to take a tour of the Green Iguana Conservation Project. Here you can learn all about these adorable native animals.
Lastly, have dinner in town and stay overnight in San Ignacio. We also wandered around town where we were able to find tour operators for our next two days. We had good luck getting last minute tours. However, as most guided tours leave early in the morning, you are generally not able to get same day tours so you will need to book ahead.
Day 5 – ATM Cave
Next, we booked a tour to take us to Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) cave. Tour guides are certified by the Belizean tourism board. You must take a tour with a certified guide. Guides are trained in archaeological best practices to ensure continued enjoyment of the ATM cave for years to come.
Most of these tours are advertised as a full day. They’re more like half day tours. You’ll get wet so make sure to wear your swimsuits and some quick drying clothes.
Next, take a short trip to Cahal Pech. These Mayan ruins are in town! And these are easy to access on your own. Cost of admission is $5USD/person. These are smaller ruins compared with Xunatunich and Caracol but make for a nice way to end your day.
Afterwards, visit a cacao shop and learn all about the history of the cacao plant and the agriculture in the region.
Have dinner in San Ignacio before staying one final night in your San Ignacio accommodations.
Day 6 – Caracol Ruins
The next day of your Belize itinerary, visit Caracol. While you can drive yourself to Caracol, the route there is rough and involves going through a military checkpoint. Right now, there is also some serious construction happening on the road. So you can drive yourself, and in a few years it may even be easy, but right now we’d suggest going with a guide. Another advantage of a guide is how much history they can share with you.
Our guide drove us to Caracol and gave us a tour of the ruins. We had plenty of opportunities to ask questions and our guide customized our tour to us as we were the only ones on it.
After several hours exploring the site, we had a picnic lunch at the park entrance. We then stopped at two more sights, including another cave and Rio-On Pools where we were able to swim. Then our guide drove us back to San Ignacio. This was a full day tour with the drive and we didn’t return to San Ignacio until around 4 PM.
As this is the final day in San Ignacio on this Belize itinerary. You can either stay in San Ignacio one more night or continue on to the coast and stay in your beach accommodations. We chose to drive to the beach, though that did mean a little bit of night driving.
Day 7 – Beach Day
For the last day of this Belize itinerary, you will be spending it exploring the beach. You have two great options: Hopkins or Placencia. Both are popular tourist towns along the beach and both are close to Cockscomb Basin. We chose Placencia because we found a better vacation rental to stay in.
Choose a rental with a kitchen so that you can cook your own breakfast and watch the sunrise on the beach with your breakfast.
Next, drive to Cockscomb Basin Forest Reserve to do some hiking and hopefully spot a jaguar. Chances are you will not see a jaguar, but you will enjoy hiking through the jungle and finding some hidden waterfalls. Make sure to pack your swimsuits so you can swim in the beautiful hidden rivers and waterfalls here.
Then head back to your accommodations, which should be splurge level so they are on a beach. Because for the rest of the day, enjoy laying on the beach and soaking up the sun. If you’re looking for something more adventurous, there are snorkeling outfitters or bike rentals in the area that will help you to keep active.
Both of these lovely beach towns have some fun beach bars so make sure to grab a drink with dinner before spending one last night in Belize.
Day 8 – Leave Paradise
Wake up for another breakfast on the beach and spend whatever time you can soaking up the sun before you have to head back to Belize City to catch your flight home.
On your way home, you’ll want to take the Hummingbird Highway. This road curves away from the beach and back into Belmopan. It seems like it will take longer but the coastal highway is unpaved and actually takes longer. Not to mention, the Hummingbird Highway is the most beautiful road in Belize. So enjoy your final drive in this remarkable country before heading home.
Want to Adjust the Belize Itinerary
If you are short on time, you could eliminate the Caracol day tour as this takes all day. However, this was a very impressive ruin so while it takes longer to get to, it is much more impressive than Xunatunich and Cahal Pech.
If you have even less time, you can break a whole chunk off of this Belize itinerary. There are three locations that you’re staying: A Caye, San Ignacio, and the Beach. With only 5-6 days, pick two locations. If you only have 2-3 locations, pick one.
If you have more time, consider staying longer at the beach or longer in San Ignacio. San Ignacio has so many different areas to explore nearby, we felt like we could have stayed there for so much longer. Or who doesn’t love more time on the beach?
We hope that these suggestions have helped you to plan your own Belize vacation. This one-week Belize itinerary was the perfect introduction to the country. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them in the comments section below.
Thank you I am planning 1 month in September…. rentals would be appreciated….also I have heard we can fly to cancan and bus to Corozal.
Hi Lorraine,
September will be a fun time to visit.
We did meet some folks who flew into Cancun and took a bus to Belize. While this sounds like an easy trip, the people we met ran into some trouble with it. From where we are located, it is about the same price to fly into Belize City as it is to take the Cancun bus so we wouldn’t recommend it. Have fun on your vacation!