• Coming from USA or Canada, you can easily fly into Belize City
• via Dallas, Miami, Houston, Atlanta and Charlotte.
• From there you have the choice between an airplane (12 flights a day) or a bus
• (4 departures a day) onto Placencia.
• From Europe you have the choice over America, usually with 2 to 3 connecting
• flights resulting in a 30 hours plus journey, which is most of the time more
• expensive than flying into Cancun, Mexico with a charter company.
• At 2pm a plane leaves Cancun for Belize City (200$) arriving at 4pm.
• From Cancun you can also take a bus via Chetumal into Belize City (50 US$)
• and further onto Placencia by bus or by plane. We advise you to stay
• over for the night in Tulum, a charming place 150km/100miles south of Cancun
• airport (1h30 journey with regular bus service to and from) with a unique Maya
• temple alongside the turcoise Caribbean sea before undertaking the journey to Belize City by road.
• If you are 2 or more, it is usually quite economical to rent a car in Cancun
• (some 40 to 50$ a day) for which you get additional comfort and freedom and you
• save on excursions. Make sure you use a car rental company (http://www.europcar.com/ or http://www.cancunrentacar.com/) which is
• prepared to give you the authorization letter to cross the border with Belize and eventually Guatemala.
• Tulum to Placencia is 600km/400miles on well maintained roads. It can be done in some 9 hours with stops of
• half an hour each 200km/120 miles and a probable 1 hour delay at the border to comply with
• the administrative procedures; you have to get complementary third party
• liability insurance for Belize which is not expensive, you have to have your car
• sprayed against mad cow disease, you have passport and customs control and you
• have to register your car.
• Those who want to visit some impressive Maya sites en route can elect to travel
• 2 days towards Placencia. A worthwhile stop is the temple of Tulum. Leaving there at the latest at 12 noon will allow you
• to cross the border with Belize before dark and have a stop at Corozal, 10km/6miles south of the border.
• There's a comfortable hotel Tony's Inn along the lake. The next morning you can
• call onto the wonderful Lamanai temple off the road to Belize City not far from Orange
• Walk.
• Approaching Belize City, you should turn right in the direction of Burrel Boom
• right after an army checkpoint. Stay on that road till the next roundabout and
• head for Belmopan; this way you avoid the traffic of Belize City. Go all the way
• to Belmopan and ignore the Placencia sign post on the western highway; it is a
• shorter route but includes 40mls/60km dirt road.
• Once in Belmopan, Belize's capital, you head to the south east over the
• enchanting Hummingbird highway through the Maya Mountains. Before entering
• Dangriga, turn right onto the Southern highway and drive another 50km/30miles till the
• junction with the road into Placencia. Pass the village of Seine Bight and proceed till you arrive at the
• Placencia airport. Michelo's Suites are at 1.5km/1mile from the airport on the main
• street into the village on the left hand side just after the Atlantic Bank.
• In Placencia you can relax on the nice beach or by sailing to the cayes on the barier reef or to the
• Monkey river, penetrating the pristine rain forest inland.
• Different excursions inland are worthwhile.
• A 2 day trip to the temple of Caracol or Tikal in Guatemala (each some 300km/200 miles from Placencia):
• on this excursion you can also visit the Actun Tunichil Muknal cave and the lovely Xunantunich tempel in Belize the first day.
• Popular 1 day trips are Cockscomb National Park, habitat of the jaguar, at 60km/40miles and
• Jaguar Paw at 200km/120miles for cave tubing and zip lining through the jungle. This trip is particularly recommended for children
• in combination with the Belizean Zoo. Advisable also is the visit of the idilic communities of Mayas at 150km/100miles from Placencia
• with 3 small archeological sites and some pools for a refreshing swim if you don't mind driving on dirt roads.