With fresh food, a unique and welcoming culture, year-round warm weather and both beautiful and historical sites, Belize is the travel destination of the summer. Whether you’re looking to relax on a beach with crystal blue water or hike through the lush rainforest, Belize offers a myriad of adventures and experiences just waiting for you. Here is a list of the top 12 reasons to travel to Belize for your next travel destination.
Belize offers the best of both worlds – not many places you visit has beaches and jungles so close together and easily accessible. Some beaches are located literally right next to a tropical rainforest, making it easy to experience and explore both.
Belize is a harmonious, calm country with an extremely low crime rate. The people here are incredibly welcoming and want visitors to enjoy their country as much as they love it. They will always go out of their way to enhance your experience or simply just start up a friendly conversation.
Belize has more Mayan ruins per square mile than any other country, as well as many temples to explore from Xunatnanich to Caracol. The breath-taking sites, ancient ruins and Mayan culture are totally reasons to travel to Belize.
Belize has a wide variety of exotic animals from monkeys hanging in the trees to stingrays and nurse sharks in the turquoise blue ocean. They also feature the only jaguar preserve in the world, and have tarantulas and scorpions (ew, I know, but they’re cool to see once in your life).
This giant sinkhole offers scuba divers and snorkelers the opportunity to dive beneath the crystal clear water to experience a whole different world. Some of the many sights you may see include huge stalactites, coral of all colors, thousands of species of fish, sharks and other marine life.
Explore the caves of Belize by water-tubing or wading through them yourself! Visiting the one of the most famous caves, the 5 kilometer long Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) cave, is a must and it was my favorite part of my entire trip to Belize. Rated the number one sacred cave in the world by National Geographic, exploring the ATM cave in Belize is an eerie, but amazing and beautiful experience. You wade, swim and climb inside the cave to explore magnificent stalagmites and stalactites, ancient artifacts from Mayan ceremonies and the fully intact skeleton of a 1,000-year-old Mayan girl.
Belizean cuisine includes a mix of Mayan and Caribbean influence, with dishes like fresh seafood, tropical fruits, tamales (I tried my first one here and it was amazing), rice and beans and local desserts (the fruit cake was my favorite). Fresh coconut is sold everywhere and I made daily pit stops on the roadside to watch as a coconut was literally taken down from the tree and cut open right in front of me. There was not a single meal I did not enjoy and there are always a ton of healthy, or not so healthy, delicious options to eat for reasons to travel to Belize!
Belize has the second largest barrier reef in the world! You can enjoy swimming alongside fish of all colors, giant stingrays, sea turtles and so much more. I also recommend visiting Shark Ray Alley, where you’ll be able to jump in the water with nurse sharks surrounding you within arm’s reach, but don’t worry these sharks don’t have any teeth!
Well-known for its lush tropical rain forests and exotic and diverse wildlife, enjoy zip lining above the canopies of Belize’s rainforest. You won’t be able to see these views anywhere else!
Belize is the only official English-speaking country in Central America, making it super easy to communicate with the locals.
In Belize, there are many reasons to travel to Belize like cayes, or islands, where Belizeans use golf carts as means of transportation instead of cars since the island is so small. I definitely recommend staying at one of these cayes and experiencing the golf cart transportation because it is a great way to experience the life of a local. Be sure to hang on tight and watch out for potholes!
Experience horseback riding, kayaking, tubing, zip lining, snorkeling, scuba diving, bird-watching, ATV Jungle Tours, hiking, exploring Mayan ruins and so much more. Belize has activities for everyone to enjoy!
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