Belize Honeymoon Ideas?

[lehcarm]

So, FI and I met with a travel agent to talk about honeymoon options today. We are both pretty active. We would like to spend a few days on the beach, plus some days spent doing fun excursions. Our agent suggested Belize, but was unable to give us any prices because the tour companies were closed today (Saturday). She is going to call us back early next week with some prices.

Anyway, I was wondering if any of you PSers have been on a vacation or honeymoon to Belize. Are there any places we should definitely see? Should we stay away from certain areas? We''re thinking of going for 7-10 days. I''d love to hear any stories you might have about the area! Thanks!

 

[nessvan12]

Well I am from Belize so I am def. biased...lol! You should go! It is a very beautiful place and there is plenty to do. The areas you would probably be most interested are pretty "americanized" from how they used to be. Most of the locals do not frequent the "touristy" areas. You would def. want to check out the keys...San Pedro Key. I''d stay out of the city. Belize city is confusing and there really isn''t anything for a honeymooning couple to do there. Placencia is also very beautiful. My grandparents still live on a house on the beach in Placencia. The Turtle Inn in Placencia is pretty popular and is a stunning place to stay. Let me know if you want to know anything specific...I''ll give you any info. I have.

 

[unjustenrichment]

We had a destination wedding and honeymoon in Placencia, three months ago in July. We stayed at Chabil Mar Villas. It was gorgeous! The service was impeccable. The town is quaint, yet still plenty of fun! We went SCUBA diving and to tours of the Monkey River (lots of wildlife and howler monkeys!). There were also trips available to Mayan ruins, cave tubing, etc. We loved Belize! Let me know if you have any questions! We would HIGHLY recommend Chabil Mar - we plan on returning in April to go diving again!

Good luck!

 

[lehcarm]

I''m still waiting to hear from my travel agent about prices, I am really hoping that we can do a trip within our budget because the more I see about Belize online, the more I really want to go! Once I find out exactly where we might go, I''ll post again.

Nessvan12, I''d love to hear your opinion on the site our travel agent suggests. It will be great getting advice from someone who is from Belize.

unjustenrichment, the picture you posted is fantastic! I looked at the Chabil Mar website, and wow! I''m not sure if we can afford to spend a full week there, but it looks perfect!

 

[lehcarm]

Here is an abbreviated version of the email my travel agent sent me today. Honestly, I''m not sure how I feel about this package.

"Jaguar Paw Jungle Lodge for 4 nights. Included will be a day visiting the ruins, and a day of cave tubbing and zip linning. You can also set up a horseback riding tour for an extra 65/person. Then you will be transfered from Jaguar Paw to Belize City for a flight over to Ambergris Caye, where you will stay at Ramon''s Village for 4 nights. I priced out a room with a king bed, but we can talk about room options. Here you can do your beach time and beach activities.

The total I am coming up with for the 8 nights / air / transfers / and a few
tours will be $4104.00 for both of you."

I looked at the reviews on Tripadvisor.com for each place. It looks like Jaguar Paw caters a lot to day trip people from cruise ships, and the rooms look kind of cheesy. I also don''t really like that we are stuck having to eat at the resort since it sounds like it isn''t easy to get into town. Here''s the link to the actual resort:


http://www.jaguarpaw.com/accommodations.shtml

Here''s the link for the second place:



http://www.ramons.com/index.html

Have you ever heard of either of these places? I really want to stay at places where we can do more stuff than just stay at the resort. Especially when we are inland, I don''t want to be stuck sitting in the jungle all day. I know we''ll do the excursions, but then I feel like we would be stuck at the lodge all day and night. It sounds like the place on Ambergris Caye is closer to town, but the pictures you posted about the more southern beaches are really pretty.

I''m not sure what my problem is, but I thought I would be really excited once I heard back from the agent, and for some reason I am feeling let down.

 

[unjustenrichment]

From my experience, you can still do the "inland" activities while you stay on the coast (with the exception of Ambergris Caye, of course), so maybe you want to just set up the tours, but stay somewhere else. But as an aside, I did the zipline thing in Puerto Vallarta, Mex and it was a BLAST!

I''m not sure if your agent is a friend or something, but we used Sue Castillo (her email is seaexpl at bellsouth dot net) She is from Belize, but lives in Louisiana now, so she was VERY helpful. If you tell her you were referred by the couple who got married at Chabil Mar in July, she will know

We didn''t go to Ambergris Caye, but we had friends who went there after attending our wedding (all stuff that Sue set up) and they said it was more touristy (which was bad if you were enjoy the "out of the way, authentic" kind of travel experiences, but also good in that there was more nightlife, etc...

Hope this helps. Sorry that you were disappointed :/ I''m sure that you will figure something out! Good luck!