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[mom929]

Hi. I'm a complete newbie to Belize and hoping for some quick answers to decide whether to explore further or not. I have some vacation timeshare points to use before 3/31/10. They happen to have a property on San Pedro Island and one on Cayo Ambergris. We are not into diving. Like the ocean well enough, but if we're going to Belize we'd want the Mayan ruins, cave exploring, the jaguar nature preserve, the jungle type stuff - not what you could get on a carribean island. Is it worth using these points for a trip to Belize or should we go somewhere else and save Belize for another trip. How far away are those sites? And if we do go to Belize on another trip, what areas should we look into for our interest?

Thanks for answering my questions. Usually I'd have some idea what I'm talking about before I post on a forum, but I have to make a decision on these points in the next two days or lose them

I much appreciate the quick tutorial on Belize.

[mmbcross]

Day trips to Tikal are usually offered from San Ignacio in the Belize highlands close to the Guatemalan border. To my knowledge there are no tours from Ambergris or Caye Caulker. If I were you I'd bone up on these travel blogs from Belize:

[quiquemarke]

We actually had that same questions, and ended up doing it! It was amazing, but it was an interesting trip to get to Tikal. On our way, because we new it was going to be somewhat tedious we made sure to stay in nice hotels. We started in San Pedro and we were staying at the SunBreeze hotel. Extremely nice, by the way and the people and activities available were great! from there we took a short plane ride to Belize City and stayed the night at the Biltomore, another great find and selection. We were lucky to take a plan to Peten from there, but i have had friends take a bus. Its a little longer, but didnt complain. Once we got to tikal, it was downhill from there. the NICEST place I have ever visited!!! unfortunately, were were only there for 1.5 days, as we had to go back, but i truly wished we would have stayed 3/4 days! hope this helps..

[mmbcross]

Did you stay overnight in Tikal? If so, where did you stay?

[macfarlanei]

We used Flores as a base to get to Tikal (1.5hrs away). We did see hostels on the road to Tikal that could cut the journey by up to an hour. I do not have any details as to the names but there is only one road to Tikal and as Flores is the main base for Tikal visits I would imagine cold calling on any of these hostels would bring some success. One of the towns we saw the hostels in was El Remate at the east end of Lake Peten Itza.

I don't recall whether there was a hotel at Tikal. Having said that Tikal is a vast state controlled National Park not a town so if there is some sort of accomodation it is probably state run ie, no independent hostels.

We stayed in the Los Amigos hostel in Flores, a small island to the west of Lake Peten Isla and I would fully recommend it. although this means a day trip to Tikal.

Day trips are run from Belize although these are seriously long days. We stayed in Caye Caulker prior to travelling to Flores. It took us approximately 6 hours to travel to Flores by boat to Belize City (1hr) and minibus from Belize City (5hrs) with minimal delays. I would imagine trips from the Cayes in Belize in one day to visit Tikal are not possible due to the distances involved, at least by road and water. If your in the market private planes may be the option as there is the Mundo International Airport just south of Flores in Santa Elena.

Early arrival at Tikal is highly recommended (the park opens at 6am-don't know if this is seasonal) as it will be less busy and cooler. You may also get to see more animals. We went there at the begining of April and the humidity was tolerable. If you walk all the ruin areas in the park you will walk about 5km. We had a guide and comfortably walked it with all the sights in 5 hours (slow pace). Pretty knackered at the end though. Took the rest of the day off with a beer back at the hostel in Flores.

[mmbcross]

There are indeed accommodations within Tikal National Park. No new construction is permitted by the park service so these three lodgings plus the campground have been “grandfathered” in and are pretty much limited in the way of renovations. None can be considered anywhere near luxurious, but the simplicity is made up for by location which is actually within the park. They are most definitely overpriced, but you have little option if you want to see sunrise from Temple IV. You’ll find much cheaper and better accommodation in Flores or in the village of El Remate half way between Flores and Tikal. Check into Trip Advisor for pretty honest reviews. Trip Advisor’s reviewers rate Jungle Lodge as the best, with Tikal Inn and Jaguar Inn as second and third. There are some negative reviews by people who obviously thought they would be staying at the Ritz Carlton. You’ll have to learn to “read between the lines” with some of these. One night is just about adequate, two is better, but unless you are an archaeologist, three would seem a little too much. Food served is plentiful and expensive if not inspiring. BTW, power sometimes goes off at around 10 pm and there’s no A/C, so it’s early to bed! Also bear in mind that the jungle is awfully noisy at night with insects that ascend many decibel levels and howler monkeys that can give you the jitters if you aren’t expecting them.