Oh, Belize: you were beautiful, you were home to one of our favorite tours to date, and you were very expensive for your region. Traveling Belize on a budget is no picnic compared to its neighboring countries!
We intentionally planned a shorter stay in Belize than in nearby Mexico and Guatemala, because we knew that the cost of a trip to Belize would stretch our spending goals.
Even with forewarning, however, the high prices in Belize came as a bit of a shock after a little over six weeks in Mexico–and as a result, we severely limited our excursions there.
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The Basics of Our Trip to Belize on Budget
The Belize trip costs outlined here represent our time spent backpacking Belize on what we would consider a flashpacker budget.
Basically, no to dorm rooms, usually yes to a/c (with regrets when it we skipped it!), and no to major luxuries.
We spent 12 full days in the country, averaging a total Belize travel budget of $90.44/day for two people, or $45.22 per person, per day.
This added up to a total cost of $1085.29 for our nearly 2-week trip.
Our time spent backpacking Belize took us to Placencia and San Ignacio.
All prices for our trip to Belize costs are listed in USD unless otherwise noted.
As usual for our travel budget roundups, we don’t include the costs of entering or leaving the country here, as those expenses can vary so dramatically depending on your starting point.
Our Lodging Costs in Belize
Total: $534.48 for 12 nights, an average of $44.54/night.
We stayed in one private room in a hostel in Placencia for $54.50/night and a room at a budget hotel with air conditioning and an ensuite bathroom in San Ignacio for $34.58/night.
Where We Stayed in Belize
Placencia
Sailfish Resort — Our opinion of the Sailfish Resort is one of extremes.
The good: the property was well-kept, the staff very nice, the wifi excellent, and the resident puppy (Einstein) was adorable.
The bad: No a/c, the smallest room we’ve ever stayed in (and that’s saying something!), and shared bathrooms that required us to walk outside, down a flight of stairs, and to the back of the property to access them.
Not a lot of fun in the middle of the night, especially if it’s raining like during three of our nights there.
Our verdict? Just like Placencia, the Sailfish Resort was nice enough in some areas, but too expensive ($54.50/night USD for a private room) for what it was.
San Ignacio
Acropolis Maya Hotel — For the most part, The Acropolis Maya Hotel was exactly what we would expect of a budget hotel: clean but not luxurious and in a decent location.
The owner was friendly, and cleaning happened about once every other day.
The major downside?
A/C is NOT included in the price, despite being listed that way on Booking.com.
We were able to negotiate the cost down some due to the confusion, but it left a very bad taste in our mouth when we left.
Our Transporation Costs in Belize
Total: $37.00
We only used two rounds of transportation while in Belize: a bus from Belize City (where we arrived from Mexico) to Placencia, and one from Placencia to San Ignacio.
We were able to walk everywhere that we needed to go to in both destinations, which was a bit of a relief for our Belize travel budget.
Our Restaurant Travel Budget for Belize
Total: $197.08
Food was very pricey in both Placencia and San Ignacio, though slightly more so in Placencia.
We usually spent $15-20 for the two of us to eat a meal.
We did find some delicious street food near the outdoor market in San Ignacio, which offered much better value than traditional restaurants.
Since Belize has to import much of its food, the high prices aren’t much of a surprise in the grand scheme of things–but for backpackers traveling Belize on a budget like we were, food prices mark an immediate and obvious difference from traveling in Mexico and Guatemala!
Our Grocery Expenses in Belize
Total: $69.68
Our grocery costs were mostly confined to Placencia, where the sticker shock drove us to try to avoid the restaurants.
Food was much more expensive than in the USA–think 2-3x the price for many items.
Including restaurant meals, $11.12/person/day of our Belize travel budget went to food.
Our Tour + Excursion Expenses in Belize
Total: $205.55
Due to watching our travel budget for Belize carefully, we limited how many activities we took part in while there, and sadly, didn’t sample any of the incredible dive sites in Belize (we quickly made up ground once we got to Honduras, though, and we completed our Advanced Diver Certifications on Utila!).
We took exactly three tours/excursions: $10 to visit Cahal Pech, $18 to tour the Green Iguana Sanctuary in San Ignacio, and a whopping $177.55 for the ATM Cave tour.
The ATM tour was incredible and worth the price tag, but it also ranks as the most expensive single-day excursion we’ve done since starting our long-term backpacking trip more than 8 months ago.
San Ignacio, the jumping-off point to the ATM Cave, though, was absolutely our favorite stop in Belize.
When we eventually return, we’ll plan a longer stay there, and maybe check out ruins like Xunatunich as well.
Miscellaneous Belize Travel Budget Costs
Total: $41.50
Luckily, a 12-day trip didn’t lead to many miscellaneous expenses.
$1.50 on Krazy Glue to repair my cell phone case and $40 on Belize exit taxes are all that fell into this category.
The Value of Traveling Belize on a Budget
One of the things that we try to keep in mind while writing budgets is not only numbers but value.
I wrote recently that one of my favorite things about our recent 6-week trip to Mexico was that it was not only affordable but that we got so much for our money.
On a similar note, cities like Paris may be more expensive than places like Bangkok, but the value Paris provides still makes it worth visiting (which is not to say Bangkok doesn’t also offer incredible value of its own!).
At this point in our lives, Belize didn’t strike the right balance of cost and value for us.
On a long-term trip like what we are on, we couldn’t bring ourselves to, for example, experience Belize’s diving, when Honduras’ much more affordable diving is just ahead in our future and our incredible experiences diving on Koh Tao are not very far in our past.
Outside of the diving (which is admittedly supposed to be legendary), we couldn’t find much that made Belize distinct enough to warrant budget backpackers spending oodles of time in one of Central America’s most expensive countries.
The Impact of Currency Exchange Rates On Our Belize Travel Budget
It’s worth noting that current exchange rates also impacted our trip to Belize costs.
The Belizean dollar is pegged to the USD at a 2:1 ratio.
While the USD currently being very strong is obviously something that we generally benefit from, it made the price contrast with Mexico (whose peso is at one of its lowest points against the USD in the last few years) very obvious.
Based on what we’ve seen tour companies advertising and people we have met on the road, it seems popular to visit Tikal in Guatemala as a 1-2 day trip from Belize–but I feel the opposite.
For a long-term traveler or someone who is on a budget, I’d argue that it’s better to focus your travels on Guatemala and take a 1-2 day trip to Belize to see the ATM cave!
Thanks for the post (along with your other One’s about your time in Belize). I’m trying to decide where to take a trip in September, and Belize has always fascinated me. But your posts about it make me think maybe we will try somewhere else.
Man, that’s a tough call! I have a hard time saying not to go anywhere, but it definitely wasn’t our favorite place. We found Mexico’s beaches to be a much better value in the region–and we’re working on checking out Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama for comparisons as well! 😉
Panama is good but Costa Rica is amazing.
Enjoyed reading about your trip to Belize. Please, what tour company did you use for the ATM Cave Tour? Thank you!
Hey Robert! I didn’t save the name of the company, but they were located next door to the Ko Ox Han-ah restaurant in San Ignacio, near the center of town but not on the pedestrian street reserved for tourists. We paid about 5 USD per person less there than the companies located in the pedestrian area.
How on earth did you only spend $37 on transport?
Hey Ashlyn! It was pretty easy: we hardly used any transportation! We took chicken buses from Belize City to Placencia, and Placencia to San Ignacio. That was it! We walked everywhere else. As a rule, we don’t include our transportation into or out of a country in these budgets, because those expenses can vary so dramatically depending on where you’re coming from.