Belize is a Central American country that speaks English, an anomaly inherited from British Honduras. It fits into a territory barely larger than the Gaspé Peninsula and still holds the second-largest barrier reef in the world, Maya cities in the jungle and cayes where people live barefoot.
The essentials in four lines
What you come for: diving the barrier reef, visiting Maya sites, sleeping on a caye.
Best time to go: December to May, during the dry season. The rains run May to November.
Entry: Canadian passport valid at least six months beyond your planned departure, no visa for stays under thirty days, iDeclare online declaration to be completed before departure and before the return flight.
Language: English is official, Belizean Creole is the everyday language.
Where to go
The cayes: Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker
This is beach Belize. San Pedro, on Ambergris Caye, moves by golf cart. Caye Caulker, smaller and looser, posts the motto "go slow" at the entrance to the village and lives by it. Both are reached by fast boat or small plane from Belize City.
The barrier reef and the Great Blue Hole
The Mesoamerican reef runs the whole length of the coast. The Great Blue Hole, a circular sinkhole three hundred metres across, is dived from Ambergris Caye: a long day by boat and a dive for certified divers only. For snorkelling, Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley are fifteen minutes from San Pedro.
Inland: Cayo and the Maya sites
San Ignacio is the base for Xunantunich, Caracol and the caves of Actun Tunichil Muknal, where you walk and swim up an underground river to a Maya burial chamber. It is the most striking excursion in the country and it is not for everyone.
When to go
The dry season runs December to May. That is when people leave Quebec for it, and the only stretch when the interior is easily passable.
The rainy season runs May to November and brings seasonal flooding. Hurricane season runs from early June to late November. Belize has been hit hard in the past, and its coast is low.
What you need in hand
A Canadian passport valid at least six months beyond your planned departure from Belize.
No visa is required for a tourist stay under thirty days. Overstaying without authorisation risks a fine or deportation, so if you plan to stay longer, settle it before you go.
The iDeclare online declaration must be completed before the outbound flight and before the return flight.
For the current official advice, see the country page on travel.gc.ca.
On the ground
Money
The Belize dollar is pegged to the US dollar at a fixed two-to-one rate. Both circulate everywhere and the arithmetic is easy.
Getting around
Distances are short but connections take time. Belize City is not a destination: most travellers head straight for the cayes by boat or on a fifteen-minute domestic flight. Inland, the road is decent as far as San Ignacio.
Budget
Belize costs more than neighbouring Guatemala or Honduras, because everything arrives by boat and because the clientele is mostly North American. It is not a cheap all-inclusive destination, and there are barely any all-inclusives to begin with.
Who Belize suits
Divers and snorkellers, without hesitation. Travellers who want to combine jungle and sea in one ten-day trip. Anyone who likes the idea of a country that speaks English and where you can arrange everything yourself.
Less so anyone after a week at an all-inclusive on a long beach. Belizean beaches are narrow and often fringed with seagrass: the real beauty of the country is under the water, not on the sand.
To plan this trip, see also judging value for money and the All-inclusive vacations section.
