The Cayes of Belize

Belize has many islands and Cayes off of its eastern coast in the Caribbean sea. Many of them are pretty small, some privately owned and some uninhabited. Cayes such as the cayes of Belize are are sandy, low-elevation islands that form on top of coral reefs. This makes visiting cayes especially exciting because the scenery is picturesque and the waters are full of aquatic life. Two Cayes we spent a little bit of time on while in Belize were Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker.

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Ambergris Caye

Ambergris Caye is a small touristy Caye located just south of the southern tip of Mexico. The locals call it the “Vegas” of Belize. Ambergris Caye offers great nightlife, restaurants, snorkeling, diving and kayaking. The city center is called San Pedro. San Pedro offers many tours ranging from kayaking, snorkeling, scuba diving, sailing, deep sea fishing to mainland tours such as Mayan ruins. San Pedro also has a small municipal airport making travel to and from Belize City very convenient. With many lavish resorts, Ambergris Caye is a beautiful and relaxing beach getaway.

Places to stay

There are many resorts scattered throughout Ambergris Caye with new ones popping up very frequently on the northern part of Ambergris Caye. A lot of these resorts are all inclusive offering great amenities on property and complementary shuttle service into town. A quick google search will yield plenty of information on these places, so if all inclusive and expensive is your speed, these will work great for you. If you are looking for some phenomenal places that cost a whole lot less you may want to check out either of the two places we stayed at.

Sandbar Restaurant and Hostel

Sandbar-compressed-1If you are looking to stay on the beach for relatively cheap then the Sandbar Hostel is the way to go. The owners and staff were mostly American and were extremely helpful when we lost a passport. We had a private room here that had a great balcony overlooking the ocean. It had a bunk bed that slept 3 of us and included a private bathroom in the room all for $60 USD/night. If you are into dorm style rooms, they have those also for only $15/night. It was very clean and safe. They do have a two night booking minimum. Even if you are not interested in staying here, it is worth stopping by to check out their food at their bar. The food and drinks were amazing. They served American dishes such as woodfire pizzas, delicious chicken wings, ceviche, sliders and nachos. We also took advantage of the daily happy hour from 3-6pm. We cannot recommend this place enough.

airbnbAirbnb

After our stay at the Sandbar Hostel, we headed into the town center to stay at an Airbnb rental. The 1 bedroom rental was located on the second floor of a 3- story building. The apartment is apart of a complex that has a bakery, which we visited daily, and Christian radio station. This place was great! Clive, the owner, was so nice and helpful with our stay. Another great amenity of this rental was the rooftop area that gave you a 360 view of San Pedro and the ocean.

Places to eat

Papuseria Hati

This restaurant was spacious and had outdoor seating. The papusa’s were amazingly delicious and only $2-$3 each. They look small but 2-3 will definitely fill you up. We visited this place 2-3 times because of the great inexpensive food.

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Town square street food

We ate a various street vendors in the town square. We had some great tacos, burritos and hot dogs for very cheap. The tacos were $1, burritos were $2 and hot dogs were $2. None of us got sick from eating at the vendors but eat at your own risk.

Sandbar Hostel and Restaurant

If you are craving American food, then this is your place. Our favorites included pizza, nachos and especially the chicken wings. The prices were pretty similar to the States. Take advantage of their happy hour, which discounts food and alcohol.

Harrys

When we were walking around San Pedro, we stumbled upon Harrys. We decided to try it our since it was pretty inexpensive. We all tried a bagel sandwich with bacon and cheese. The meal cost about $3.50. It wasn’t terrible but wasn’t our favorite either.

Things to do

Blue Tang Tour

One night we decided to go swimming a bar on the dock. We met one of the bartenders who told us about this great sailing tour of Coral Gardens, Shark Ray Alley, Hol Chan, and Caye Caulker all for $85. It started at 8:30am and included a stop at Caye Caulker for lunch. Plus, it included unlimited drinks! This was a fantastic deal through the Blue Tang Inn. They also accepted credit cards, which was nice. The entire crew was great and we had a wonderful time. This was the best deal we could find for the all day expedition.

Hol Chan

holchan-compressed-2Hol Chan is a marine park and reserve that is located off the coast of Ambergris Caye. It’s 3 square miles of reserve that has hundreds of fish, coral, turtles and other sea life. There are many tours to dive and snorkel Hol Chan. There is also an entrance fee of $10 but it is usually included in most tours.

sharkaShark Ray Alley

Shark Ray Alley is actually apart of Hol Chan Marine Park. At Shark Ray Alley you will be able to swim with nurse sharks and stingrays. We highly recommend doing this if you can. It’s very safe and a great experience.

Coral Gardens

Coral Gardens was included in our all day sailing expedition. We saw many different types of coral and fish. I wouldn’t say it’s a main attraction but it was a nice surprise for us to snorkel here. I would not make this your main day trip if you have other options like Shark Ray Alley.

Caye Caulker

We only got to spend an hour in Caye Caulker or so here but it seemed like a fun place to stay. It had less traffic than San Pedro in Ambergris Caye and seemed more relaxed. If you are staying in San Pedro, you can do a day trip to Caye Caulker for a reasonable price. If we get to go back to Belize, we will definitely be staying in Caye Caulker.

Pedro Inn

Pedro Inn is a hostel and bar that offers great music and dancing. Many locals frequent this dance club. We were lucky enough to be invited to a local DJ’s birthday party here and had a great time.

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker is a small island that is about 5miles long off the coast of Belize. It is supposedly less expensive to stay here compared to San Pedro on Ambergris Caye. Unfortunately for us, we did not get to spend much time here. We did hear many good things about Caye Caulker and splitwe will be visiting next time.

The Split

The Split is a bar located at the northern coast of Caye Caulker where the caye was split in two by a hurricane. From the bar you can see or swim across the to the other part of Caye Caulker. If you choose to swim, be careful as there is a strong current that runs through the strait. The Split had lots of people there drinking and swimming. It definitely seemed like a fun and popular place.

Rosa’s

We were recommended Rosa’s from our sailing crew. Sadly, this restaurant was overpriced and the food was not too great. Two of us had shrimp kabobs, that were mediocre and a lobster quesadillas that was fishy. They also didn’t have a printed menu which was frustrating because they server gave us Belizean pricing for one entrée and U.S. pricing for another. Anyways, we would not recommend eating here.

Helpful Tips and Info

  1. The Belize Water Taxi Express offers transportation to both Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker from the mainland. We suggest paying at the time of your arrival in order to avoid a credit card surcharge for online purchases. It was convenient to use the water taxi since they offered many departures through out the day.  Their schedule online is accurate and helpful.
  2. The cheapest beer we could find was close to the San Pedro town square for $2.50 a bottle. Ask a local to help you find it. The store just sells beer. Make sure to bring your empty beer bottles with you to get a discount! Also beers bottles are served with a white napkin folded around the top. These are for wiping off the rust stains on the mouthpiece.
  3. Also if you need to shop at the grocery stores in San Pedro, make sure you check out a few. Specific items are cheaper or more expensive depending on the grocery store. We thought Richie’s had overall good prices compared to Caye Mart.

If you have any experiences, comments, suggestions, questions, tips, or general info that you would like to share, leave us a comment below!

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