'The magical experience that justifies having Belize on any bucket list'
Not Just Travel’s Sue Aitken won a place on a fam trip to Belize, which the tourist board hosted last month, in a TTG competition. Here she shares the trip highlights and how she plans to use her new-found knowledge to sell the destination to her client base.
This was my first time to Belize – I’d visited neighbouring Guatemala before but Belize had been on my radar for a while. I’ve not booked any holidays to Belize previously.
We first stayed in the Cayo District of Belize before moving to the coast. The Cayo area has lush scenery and an abundance of things to do – from hiking, horse riding and water-based activities to visiting historic Maya temples. There’s really something for everyone here. And getting around was quite easy with a good road network – so you don’t spend all your time travelling from place to place.
We did a range of excursions during the trip. I enjoyed our visit to the San Antonio Women’s Co-operative where they keep ancient Maya traditions alive, creating pottery and preparing food in the traditional way. We had a delicious meal prepared by the ladies there and even got to make and cook our own tortillas. The visit to the Maya site of Xunantunich was also really enjoyable and very atmospheric. And although there were other visitors, it was far from crowded.
But for me, the absolute highlight of the trip was flying over Belize’s famous Great Blue Hole, which was utterly magical and has to rank as one of my best-ever travel experiences. Not just seeing this amazing natural phenomenon, but the surrounding seascape was absolutely gorgeous. All of us felt privileged to have been able to do this. In my view, this experience alone is enough to justify putting Belize on any bucket-list!
Boutique Belize
My two favourite hotels were Vanilla Hills Lodge and the Sleeping Giant Rainforest Lodge. They’re both boutique properties set in the most gorgeous grounds and offer lovely accommodation – individual lodges/villas where you can enjoy seclusion and privacy.
We ate really well on our trip – getting to sample a wide variety of Belizean dishes. Standouts would be the fabulous breakfast we had at Vanilla Lodge where we could see hummingbirds and toucans whilst we tucked in to our delicious breakfast. My favourite meal was the lunch we had at the Alaia Belize Hotel in San Pedro – the chef had really pulled out all the stops for us and we were treated to an amazing variety of dishes to sample – including coconut shrimp and a very tasty lobster curry (my particular favourite!).
The people in Belize were very warm and welcoming and the country is a real melting pot of cultures. The official language is English, so there are absolutely no problems in making yourself understood. Although you could travel to Belize and spend a fortnight on the beach, there are places that are easier to travel to for a simple beach holiday. And spending your time in Belize on the beach would be to ignore everything else that the country has to offer.
For me, the main selling point of Belize is its diversity and that it’s easy to experience a wide range of landscapes and participate in a variety of experiences without spending all your time travelling. So I’ll be suggesting Belize both to families and couples with a sense of adventure who are looking for an exotic destination and who want to take the path less-travelled.
Given the current flight options, I’d also suggest combining Belize with another destination – either a few days in the US or in combination with Guatemala (which is only a hop, skip and a jump away). As I said earlier, flying over the Great Blue Hole is reason alone to visit Belize – but there’s much more to the country than this.
Useful links
Vanilla Hills Lodge: vanilla-hills.com
The Rainforest Lodge at Sleeping Giant: sleepinggiantbelize.com
Alaia Belize: alaiabelize.com
San Antonio Women’s Co-op: planeterra.org/san-antonio-womens-co-op
Belize Tourism Board: travelbelize.org
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