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Sorry Kids, but Belize Is No Travel Bargain

traveling in Belize no bargain

I just came back from my third trip to Belize and there are a lot of things to love about the country as a traveler. Unfortunately, the prices won’t be one of them.

“This is the most expensive place we’ve been to in years” one British couple told me as we were dining together after kayaking around on a remote island. They weren’t splurging all that much either, really. We were staying at a place with shared bathrooms and composting toilets where we were sleeping in tents. Nice tents, but still…

travel in BelizeIt has long been a mystery to me why Belize is costly when right next door is cheap Guatemala. There are some clear fundamental reasons to start with though. The Belize currency is tied closely to the dollar, so there’s no travel advantage when the greenback is strong. (The same is true of expensive Costa Rica, but oddly enough, also cheap Honduras.) The population is small, which keeps labor demand high. The main business of Belize is tourism—by a wide margin–so in some ways the whole country is like one big Puerto Vallarta in terms of what drives the economy.

There was probably a time when Belize was a relative bargain. One guy I met on this trip talked blissfully about camping on deserted islands and getting a guesthouse room on Caye Caulker for $5 a night when he visited the first time decades ago. There was probably a very short window when this was the case though, before development kicked in. Belize has only been independent since 1981, after all, which was when international tourism was already growing rapidly.

Now, when you walk into a grocery store on Ambergris Caye you’re liable to be shocked—and it’s not just because the prices are in Belizian dollars. Even when you cut the numbers in half to get to U.S. rates, they’re still double what you’re used to paying at home. It’s a little better on the mainland, but unless you’re shopping for a few select items, you won’t find many bargains.

Belikin beer and another glorious sunset in Belize, on Glover's AtollHere’s about all I could find that was any cheaper than what I would pay in the USA: rice, tropical fruit, dried beans, fresh fish, rum, local beer, Marie Sharpe’s hot sauce, local buses (not air conditioned, frequent stops); and “fry jacks” – stuffed fried dough concoctions that are popular with the locals. Much of the rest is imported, expensive, or both.  Going out for drinks is a bargain. Going out to eat is definitely not.

It’s also not that easy getting around this country. You can pile in with the locals on a bus for cheap, but it’s going to be an old school bus from the USA with open windows and not much leg room. The upgrade from that is a massive one: you fly and take taxis. Neither is anything close to cheap: figure $50 to $100 for every one-way internal flight on a prop plane and even just renting a golf cart in San Pedro is $50 a day.

Over the past decade the percentage of upscale travelers has increased and the government announced while I was there that it was trying hard to raise the average spend per visitor by greenlighting more luxury developments. I once got a hotel room for three for $20 a night in 2009 in Placencia, but good luck pulling that off now. (Check here: Booking.com usually has the best selection at the low end.) The room we stayed in then is going for $40 a night double now. Here’s what the choices look like these days at the bottom of the scale:

cheapest hotels in Placencia Belize

I’ll sometimes get e-mails from people asking me about retiring there. They’ve got some vague recollection of seeing something on TV or reading an article about bargain real estate. What they saw or read is often from 10 years ago or more though, back when you probably could find a deal if you beat the crowd. Now the condo prices in popular parts of the country are higher than the listings I see on the coast of Florida. Since living expenses aren’t any lower (except possibly a maid and your rum supply), I don’t see a lot of advantages of going to Belize. You can enjoy the same sun and fun elsewhere and benefit from the currency/spending arbitrage.

local flight in Belize

I’m not discouraging anyone from going to Belize. If you’re on a vacation budget, you’ll have a blast and this country has the longest stretch of continuous coral reef in this hemisphere. It’s a terrific place for diving, snorkeling, or jungle adventures. Flight prices usually aren’t too bad from the USA. If you’re on a backpacker budget, however, you might want to just spend a week or two here, then make a beeline for Honduras to the south, Guatemala to the west, or Mexico to the north. All three are a better value.

Rebecca Coutant

Friday 27th of January 2023

The real bargains (I guess) are in rural Belize - but then...you are living a very different lifestyle in rural Belize. Very! Great article. Just finding your site and loving it...

I'm an expat in Belize - and I write about it on sanpedroscoop.com

Francis McNab

Friday 21st of June 2019

This is really a sad misrepresentation n misinformation of Belize,in other words is not truthful,Belize is a bargain for anyone wanting to live or visit,proof is the minimum wage is $3.25 bze.dollars an hour,we live an eat n entertain ourselves well.I am belizean

Tim Leffel

Monday 24th of June 2019

That doesn't mean it's not priced for tourists. Workers in Papagayo and Los Cabos make that amount or less too, but when short-term vacationers outnumber residents, it's only natural that prices are going to shoot up. That's especially true when you're an island like Ambergris is (or a peninsula like Placencia), where nothing grows locally and everything has to be shipped in.

Warren Croce

Wednesday 15th of August 2018

Hi Tim My family of four just returned from two weeks in Belize. We had an incredible time. I agree there are many things that are no bargain but like most places there’s a tourist economy and a local economy. We visited three parts of the country; Caye Caulker, San Ignacio, and Placencia and had a kitchen in two of them. Being vacation we did eat out most nights but did cook four times. The total for those meals came to about $20 for the four of us. On a slightly different note I have been reading your Better Place book and really enjoying it. You mention Mike Campbell in Cayo as someone who is helping expats find housing. I looked online and cannot find him. If you could send his contact info to [email protected] I would greatly appreciate it.

Lorenzo

Thursday 31st of May 2018

I had written about this years ago. It’s a shame you hadn’t read my Belize on the cheap blog post - it would have given you better expectations https://www.belizeadventure.ca/belize-on-the-cheap/

Tim Leffel

Sunday 3rd of June 2018

Didn't have any expectations otherwise - I have been there multiple times over many years. Just sharing this with my readers because I get asked about it all the time.

Kara

Saturday 24th of March 2018

It all depends on what you think is expensive. We vacationed in Belieze for 12 days and would don't again. Very reasonable for hotel stay, food and scub diving. We will be going back!