We're going to Belize next month - five days in Cayo and five days in Placencia. Is it better to rent a car to drive ourselves around from place to place, or should we just rely on hotel transfers/cab
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Cat:Central and South AmericaForum:0EE7FC86
Cat:Central and South AmericaForum:0EE7FC86Discussion:36820924-b9d1-4141-93b9-8e70e1374541
We're going to Belize next month - five days in Cayo and five days in Placencia. Is it better to rent a car to drive ourselves around from place to place, or should we just rely on hotel transfers/cabs/domestic flights?
Are you staying in the village of Placencia, or further north on the peninsula? If very far from town, I'd want a car. That's why I stay in the village itself.
Sort of the same thing in Cayo. If you're in San Ignacio, you really don't need a car to get around. If you're at a remote jungle lodge, you probably won't want to drive to town anyway.
Assuming you don't need a car in Placencia, then, it becomes more a matter of cost and convenience. Many of the tours in Cayo will require a guide anyway, so your car will set unused if you're doing lots of tours or heading to Tikal.
My one and only trip to Cayo we rented a car. But, it was only for a couple of days. A 10 day rental will be expensive.
Rent a car. We drove from Belize City to San Ignacio & were able to go to the ruins around there on our own. We followed the guide from our hotel to Caracol & through the ruins (tipped him for his time & had this prearranged) He gave us other suggestions of areas to visit & told us how to get there so we were not stuck with the "tour" the whole time. We also drove in to Guatamala & went to Tikal. Belize is very easy to get around. The border was a little tricky & I think that there is only one company that lets you drive into Tikal. We spent the second half of the trip on Caye Caulker & of course did not need a car there.
I forgot to add that if you get the chance to go into either the ATM or the Crystal Cave do not miss it. ATM was flooded when we were there so we went into the Crystal Cave which was absolutely beautiful. It had artifacts in it as well as beautiful formations.
Main roads here are very good and marked well. We drove to San Ignacio and enjoyed the flexibility of stopping here and there for lunch, etc. Stopped in Belmopan and had the best cheese nachos ever, this was the real deal.
