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Guide to the 5 Best Places to Live in Belize

5/11/2021

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Ambergris Caye // Images courtesy of International Living
By John Roberts 
Belize has long held a special place in my heart. I bought Colleen her engagement ring there. In fact, she was there to help pick it out during our first visit to this beautiful country. I have been back since to enjoy the food, people and idyllic places in Belize that are ripe for both relaxation and adventure sports. 
Belize truly is a gem of the Caribbean, even if it's a place that might not immediately come to mind for a place to visit or retire. 
However, the tiny Central American nation has a lot going for it. And much of that is wrapped up in its culture, charm and scenery. For the would-be expat -- especially one looking for real value -- you can choose to make your home close to either the islands, coastal villages or inland jungle regions. Check out five spots in Belize that make great retirement destinations (plus, two that don't). 
Belize is a fairly short trip from the U.S. and predominantly English-speaking. It offers distinct and varied lifestyle options.  
How about a tranquil, laid-back beach town such as Placencia, or a lively place on the island of Ambergris Caye or a quiet, off-the-grid life out in the wild west of the Cayo District (bordering Guatemala)? 
Belize is known by vacation crowds as casual, warm, and welcoming. Signposts, menus, paperwork and conversations are in the official language of English. You'll find a loose mix of Caribbean charm, with just enough North American culture to make you feel comfortable right away. 
"I think of Belize as a rustic paradise," says Laura Diffendal, Belize Correspondent for International Living. "It's a barefoot nirvana, where you can hitch a ride on a skiff with a local fisherman for a day, then walk into a restaurant and have them cook your catch for you.  
"You can climb Maya ruins without a guardrail in sight, or swim with whale sharks in Caribbean waters. You can see and touch ancient Maya pottery deep in a cave system, hike through the rain forest, swim in waterfalls and jump off small cliffs into the sea without signing a waiver. 
"Belize is in many ways a very easy place to settle. The mix of tropical beach atmosphere, established amenities, a readymade expat network and plenty of North American influence makes for a drama-free transition." 
Sounds enticing, doesn't it? 
Here are the five best places to live in Belize, according to International Living.

Ambergris Caye
You might have heard of the Isla Bonita (beautiful island) of Ambergris Caye, especially if you're a diver snorkeler or fisherman. (Caye is pronounced as key, by the way.)  
If white sands and turquoise waters are your idea of paradise, Ambergris Caye should be on your shortlist. An established expat community with many transplants from the U.S. and Canada is located on this island, which means there's an in-place support system and plenty of company to be found at the plentiful and lively beach bars overlooking those warm, clear waters. Although prices are slightly higher than in other areas of Belize, the cost of living is less than you might imagine. 
A couple can enjoy a comfortable retirement in Ambergris Caye, including rent, for between $2,950 to $3,150 per month. Expats who own their own homes says it's possible for a couple to live quite comfortably on less than $2,000 a month.
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Caye Caulker
Caye Caulker
Caye Caulker can be reached from its big sister Ambergris Caye via a 30-minute water taxi ride. While it is much smaller, with fewer than 2,000 residents compared with Ambergris' 20,000, Caye Calker is just as beautiful -- and the pace is much slower. The streets are composed of packed sand, and nobody has to dodge traffic here. A few golf carts provide transportation, but no cars or trucks are used. The cost of living on Caye Caulker is surprisingly affordable for a popular (though not super well-known) Caribbean island. Most people can live comfortably on this island for $1,500 to $2,000 a month, rent included.
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Placencia
Placencia
This charming little seaside town is found at the tip of a peninsula off the coast of Belize's mainland, located about three hours south of Belize City. Placencia is fast becoming Belize's most desirable location because it sits on the gorgeous Caribbean Sea, as well as a freshwater lagoon. The town also is close to wildlife and owns a view of the gorgeous Maya mountain chain. There are still real estate bargains to be had -- and the relaxed lifestyle is unsurpassed -- but it's getting discovered and that means prices are likely to rise.  
Living a modest lifestyle and avoiding imported goods help to keep the cost of living in Placencia down. A couple can live comfortably in Placencia for $2,500, rent included.
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Corozal
Corozal
Corozal is located in northern Belize near the border with Mexico and is a good-value option for anybody looking for waterfront living at a great price. Coruzal is situated on the pretty Bay of Chetumal, and you'll find that prices for just about everything -- from real estate to groceries -- will be lower in Corozal than on the islands. 
There is a pretty main square in Corozal and -- thanks to its proximity to Mexico -- this town feels a bit more Latin than some other parts of Belize.  
A couple that lives in Corozal Town and owns their own home can live comfortably on just $1,500 a month. For a couple that rents, the budget increases to around $1,800 a month.
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The Cayo District
The Cayo District
If you love the outdoors and exploring rivers and rainforests, you'll be interested in Cayo. The twin towns of San Ignacio and Santa Elena are the heart of the region, and both of these places sport the feel of the Old West feel. Bargains can be found here, too -- not only on real estate but on the huge amount of produce and fresh cheeses grown and produced here by resident Mennonites. 
A couple could live comfortably, including rent, in Cayo for just $1,730 a month.

So, there you have a great list of spots that are ideal places to live if you are thinking of a move to Belize. Here's a couple notes about two other destinations you might hear about. 

Belize City
Belize City is not a place to consider for a move, mainly because it lacks the fine Caribbean beaches and quaint beachside bars. A move to Belize inevitably requires spending some time in Belize City. That's because the international airport is located there, so it's a transit point. And Belize City is home to other services you might need, such as hospitals and shopping. 
But other than for these relatively uninspiring reasons, you probably won't find much need to spend time in Belize City. 

Belmopan
Belmopan is located in the Cayo district of Belize. While it also is a perfectly fine city -- and serves as the capital city and administrative hub of the country's government -- there's not a lot in Belmopan that will inspire you to want to move there, especially with so many other fine choices that give you the real flair that Belize is known for.

Thanks for reading,
JR

Article content courtesy of InternationalLiving.com

Video Feature: Sailing in Belize with UnCruise Adventures

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Cruising to Belize: A Port Guide for Belize City

3/19/2020

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By John Roberts
Port Guide: Belize City
The tiny Central American country of Belize is a pearl of the Caribbean. It's mostly undiscovered, but the secret is getting out.
We have been to this charming country a few times and have fallen in love with its warm waters, affordability and outstanding access to active adventures.

Belize is home to just fewer than 400,000 residents and annually sees more than 330 cruise ship arrivals, bringing more than 65,000 cruisers to the country.
When arriving by big cruise ship, you will take a tender for about 15 minutes to reach the shore at Belize's Fort Street Tourism Village, a built-up open-air mall with shops, restaurants and entertainment.
These shops and eateries that serve up authentic Belizean and Caribbean specialties are housed in colorful buildings located on a wooden pier, and excursion outfitters are set up to meet you there for your tours.
Harvest Caye in Belize
Norwegian Cruise Line's Harvest Caye private port area is ideal for a relaxing beach day in the sun.
If you arrive on a Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises or Regent Seven Seas Cruises ship, you'll head to Harvest Caye, the cruise line's private port in Belize. This tiny island (75 acres) is a cool place to enjoy a relaxing beach day. Harvest Caye features a pretty lagoon and large beach with loungers, cabanas and villas to rent. You also can enjoy the zipline, ropes course and four bars -- including one with a swim-up bar.
When you stop at Harvest Caye for the day, you also can choose to go ashore to explore the mainland, and there are plenty of opportunities for active travelers.
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Ziplining, cave tubing and jungle treks are signature activities available in Belize. // Courtesy of TravelBelize.org
The Best Adventures
Cave Tubing. Belize is a natural wonderland and great destination for outdoors activities. Cave tubing is a top excursion for visitors to Belize. The country is filled with caves that are sacred spots and part of the native Maya history of the region.
You hike through the jungle and across rivers to reach the caves. The cave system is part of the Belize National Park system, and you need to book a tour with licensed guides to access them.
The activity has you hop onto a tube to float along gentle-flowing waterways and explore ancient underground Mayan sites situated within the vast network of underground rivers.
Jungle Trekking to See Ruins. Trek into the jungle to visit ancient ruins that were the site of centuries-old villages. These historic spots show how the Maya people used to live. Check out tours that take you to see Altun Ha, Lamanai and Xunantunich.
Snorkeling. Belize is located along the Mesoamerican Reef, the world's second biggest coral reef system in the world. Australia's Great Barrier Reef is larger. Belize is a fantastic destination for snorkelers.
The Great Blue Hole. This massive underwater sinkhole is a top spot for divers (and snorkelers). In fact, Belize itself is quite popular for scuba diving. But the spectacular Great Blue Hole, which boasts deep rich blue color, is almost 1,000 feet across and more than 400 feet deep, is an iconic attraction for the nation. It's located about 60 miles from the mainland and gets quite busy with crowds of people.
Hiking, Watersports and More. Visitors are drawn to Belize for the beautiful water and ideal weather. It has numerous opportunities for hiking, ziplining, tubing, river rafting, snorkeling, diving, fishing and boating.
Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary and Jaguar Preserve. Book a tour to this national park to enjoy river rafting, incredible hiking trails and the chance to see the world's only jaguar conservation project (jaguar sightings not guaranteed).
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A Belize expedition cruise with UnCruise Adventures will take you to pristine and isolated places to explore and play with your small group of fellow adventurers. We stopped at this little cay and had the place to ourselves to snorkel, swim and relax in the sun.
Try an Expedition Cruise
UnCruise Adventures sails weeklong voyages to Belize and offers an excellent small-ship program, with expert guides leading daily activities like hiking, snorkeling, kayaking and visits to parks and communities. This is a much more active and immersive way to get to experience Belize and learn about its history and culture. Instead of a one-day stop at the Belize City port area, you will spend multiple days all along the coast and among the cays and islets within the barrier reef.
The UnCruise itinerary on the 70-passenger ship Safari Voyager also includes days visiting neighboring Guatemala.
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Belize has long been one of our favorite Caribbean destinations, and we're seeing more cruises to Belize cropping up each year. It's both exciting for me and a little sad. I'm happy that more travelers will get to experience the warm people, delicious food and fun activities, but I also like when certain places are kind of a secret and less discovered. These places offer more of sense of mystery and wonder when that's the case.

Do you think you'll be going to Belize? How do you plan to enjoy this special place? Let us know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading,
JR


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First Look: UnCruise's New Itinerary in Belize and Guatemala

12/9/2019

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Yours truly with the research team during our visit to a Maya ruins site in Belize.
By John Roberts
UnCruise Adventures is returning to Belize. The leader in small-ship expedition cruising had sailed in the stunningly gorgeous Central American nation many years ago, but it's returning to the region with a finely tuned and dedicated itinerary that includes exploration of its neighbor Guatemala, too.
It's always been a no-brainer that UnCruise should sail in places like these underrated destinations. Belize is a nation of fewer than 400,000 that offers a stunning mix of culture and natural beauty. The warm and inviting people possess a rich multiracial ancestry, with Mestizo, Creole, Maya and Garifuna as the most prevalent.
Belize is located on the Eastern Coast of Central America hugging the Caribbean Sea, with amazing access to waterways that reach the Mesoamerican Reef (Belize Barrier Reef) and are speckled with tiny low-lying islands called cays. Inland, there are lagoons, jungles and rivers.
UnCruise worked hard to design a trip that gives its guests access to an immersive range of all of these features of both Belize and Guatemala.
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UnCruise Adventures owner and CEO Dan Blanchard skippered our catamaran trip through Belize and Guatemala as the company put some of the finishing touches on designing a new expedition in these Central American countries.
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One of the many tiny islands that UnCruise will visit for quiet beach days and uncrowded snorkeling opportunities along the Belize Barrier Reef.
I was fortunate enough to tag along on a late-stage research and development trip to get a good idea of how special the experience will be. The trip brought us to stunning ancient Maya ruins sites, got me in the water for snorkeling among vibrant reef systems, had us hiking into the jungle and along savanna to spot birds or swim under rushing waterfalls. Best of all was chatting with the ambitious villagers who have started their own small businesses or clinics to improve their lives and that of their communities.
There also is plenty of amazing food to enjoy, of course.

Check out the full itinerary, which is a seven-day roundtrip voyage from Belize City.
And this video of my R&D trip:
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This national park features opportunities to spot parrots, foxes and other creatures like manatees that live in the nearby lagoon.
I was among a group of seven as we sailed on a double-hulled catamaran testing out the route and looking for the places that few other travelers will get to experience. I joined UnCruise Adventures expedition guides, as well as founder and owner Dan Blanchard and Capt. Andrea Kosto, who was the driving force behind creating this new itinerary. She is also at the helm of Safari Voyager, the 70-passenger ship that will be the home for UnCruise passengers on these voyages. It also is used for the line's Panama, Costa Rica and Colombia expeditions.
During my 10 days getting a first look at the trip, we visited serene conservation areas, taking hikes in the rainforest at Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary and on savanna land at Payne's Creek in Belize. Lush mangrove areas are vital parts of the ecosystems in both Guatemala and Belize, and visitors can spot manatees, gray foxes and yellow-headed parrots (and dozens of other birds).
Blanchard thinks a favorite day for guests will be the visit to Cockscomb Basin, which offers a broad range of hikes, river tubing and chances to swim beneath waterfalls. The itinerary includes time in towns, too, with opportunities to shop at a produce market in Punta Gorda, Belize, and hang out at the bustling seaside town of Livingston, Guatemala.
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A family preserves its Maya traditions and shares this way of life with visitors to their home in Belize.
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A small, women-owned baking business in a village in Guatemala.
The Maya and Garifuna represent the indigenous residents of the region, and UnCruise offers interactions and experiences with them to show their daily life. Of course, you'll get to challenge yourself with trying to craft tortillas from scratch using traditional tools and your bare hands.
Blanchard spent quite a bit of time in Belize when he was younger and has always been impressed by the friendliness and inviting nature of this young nation, which achieved independence in 1981.
"Belize is a very open-for-business country," he says. "Getting things going here is relatively easy. Our first thing we do is just get out and experience the destination (to create a new itinerary).
"Beyond that, it comes down to contacting all the conservation organizations. Because they're the ones that really know what's going on, the special places that fit our clients best. 
"So, there's that early stage of the process, and now we're down to refining the daily activities."
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We took a panga boat to explore Guatemala, along the coast and into rivers and lush mangrove areas.
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The rustic coastal areas of Guatemala.
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A swimming area at a national park in Guatemala.
And I was able to experience some of these special spots and unique discoveries as the research team focused on how the days would play out during these trips. It was fascinating to watch them plot the route, ensuring safe navigation through shallow waters, as well as find the best places to stock up on fresh foods and other supplies.
The Maya ruins sites are particularly interesting. Some have been unearthed just decades ago. Plus, the villages along the Rio Dulce River in Guatemala offer a fantastic opportunity to see how Maya women are finding new roles in their society, breaking with antiquated norms to develop their own businesses. We stopped off to patronize small baking businesses and meet with women running important community health clinics.
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We had a number of chances to make our own tortillas in both Guatemala and Belize.
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Tiny Carrie Bow Cay is home to a Smithsonian research operation.
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Expect stunning sunrises and sunsets every day of your voyage.
I have been on several UnCruise sailings now, in Alaska, Costa Rica and Panama, Coastal Washington, Hawaii and the Snake and Columbia Rivers. This has all the makings of being one of the more memorable trips the company offers.
Like I said, it fits with the DNA of the company. Longtime UnCruise Adventures aficionados are craving new expeditions and certainly should be excited to add this experience to their list. 
"We have a high number of returning guests, and they want to go to new destinations," Blanchard says. "Everything is indicating that Belize is kind of that budding flower as far as tourism goes.
"And I think one of the things we've found in Guatemala is under-tourism. On both the border rivers and some of the estuaries that are open to the ocean, this is incredibly authentic compared with what is generally available to the traveler today in North and South America. The children still look at you like you're an oddity (when you visit their villages)."
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This sanctuary is known for its jaguar conservation efforts.
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The secluded swimming hole at the end of one of the fun and challenging hikes at the wildlife preserve.
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Safari Voyager Capt. Andrea Kosto and Dan Blanchard cool off in a refreshing spot in the river during a hike in Guatemala.

A Vision for a New Adventure: Q&A with Captain Andrea Kosto

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Captain Andrea spent months in Belize and Guatemala, tracking down the best places and activities that will offer the most intimate and immersive experiences and truly represent what UnCruise Adventures is all about -- that is, what loyal travelers have come to love about the line.
I her asked what she expects for the new adventures and what goes into creating this kind of expedition cruise itinerary.

In The Loop Travel: What are you most excited to show your guests on this new itinerary? What do you want them to get out of it?
Captain Andrea Kosto: I am most excited about showcasing the pristine conservation areas that we are accessing. Where the conversation directors inform us that we are the very first small expedition ship and foreign operator to visit. It doesn't get any more UnCruise than that! 
We have forged relationships with environmental and cultural organizations that have amazing community outreach programs for youth education, wilderness and wildlife preserves and community health. Our partnership will help support those programs and hopefully have a profound positive effect on the indigenous peoples of the area.
It's my hope that our guests not only have an amazing and memorable experience, but that they take away a deeper knowledge and respect for the Belizean and Guatemalan people and cultures. All while understanding that as our guests, they enable us to operate in areas untraveled by others, which allows our presence to positively impact an entire region and its peoples.

ITLT: What challenges do you face when trying to develop a new itinerary from scratch?
AK: It is easy to "find" places that everyone already visits; those places are suitable for many people and tour companies, but those type of settings aren't what we're about.
UnCruise proudly touts wilderness, wildlife and cultural experiences that aren't crowded. The Uncrowded places don't advertise, usually because they're a niche location and they want to remain untrammeled by large crowds. Discovering these gems is generally by word of mouth and listening to the people who live where we want to explore. The local people know where those places are and what they have to offer.  
You have to be receptive to the ideas and information that they have, because they most often have terrific knowledge of where these undiscovered gems are hidden.
ITLT: Why should travelers take an UnCruise voyage to see Belize and Guatemala vs. any other form of travel?
AK: In a nutshell, comfort, access, professionalism and respect for the cultural diversities of the region. We are accessing some spectacular places that other tour operators simply do not visit, or even know of. These locations are far off of the beaten path that everyone else travels. The local conservation organizations we will interact with know that they have something special, and we agree. The local children are learning about how precious and unique their home is, and we are humbled that their parents and elders are allowing us to take others to see how spectacular these areas and cultures are.
At the same time, we're honored to not only help promote the conservation of the region, but to educate others as to its importance. By choosing UnCruise, people will be able to travel both comfortably and safely into regions not easily accessed by any other modes of travel.

 
The first of these "Belize and Guatemala Wonders -- Rivers, Reefs and Cultures" voyages embark on Safari Voyager on October 31, 2020, and UnCruise is offering six of these weeklong expeditions ending with a December 5 voyage.
 
Thanks for reading,
JR

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