San Pedro, Belize is Gateway to Ambergris Caye
Former Fishing Village Offers Craft Shopping, Diving, Fishing
Jan 8, 2009
It's an unpretentious town where people go to relax or enjoy watersports: The Belize Barrier Reef runs just a few hundred yards offshore, and famed Hol Chan Marine Reserve is a few minutes boat ride away. In addition to fishing and scuba diving, snorkeling, sailing, sailing, kayaking, and other watersports are available.
Transportation to Belize
Belize is a relatively easy trip from the U.S, with connecting flights to Belize City from at least five gateways (Atlanta, Dallas, Charlotte, Houston, and Miami). Average flying time from the southern U.S. is in the neighborhood of two-and- a-half to three-and-a-half hours. If you have to change planes you'll need to factor in at least an hour -- and an extra hour on your return to clear customs.
From Belize City, Ambergris Caye is an easy transfer: 15 minutes on a puddle jumper, or a 75-minute water taxi. Local flights run about once an hour, and if you arrive before your scheduled flight, you can hop on an earlier flight if one is available.
Getting Around San Pedro
San Pedro is the main town; its airport is little more than a long strip and a small waiting room on the edge of downtown. The town's three main streets are made of cobblestone alternating with mud and sand. While tourism is an important economic factor here, it's low-scale, not high-rise: the tallest buildings are about the height of a respectably-sized palm tree. The major resorts, predictably, are on the seafront.
Mostly, people get around by driving golf carts, not cars. That includes tourists, who can often be identified as the ones driving the wrong way on a one-way street or gawking at the colorful combination of local markets, restaurants, souvenir shops, and hotels of varying levels of comfort and types of clientele (fancier toward the beachfront).
Shopping for Handmade Belize Crafts
In the quieter days of the summer low season, San Pedro doesn't have the frenetic feel of a tourist town, but in high season, the town wakes up to commerce, with a bustling trade in jewelry, paintings, and coconut husk souvenirs. Good buys include paintings by local artists of the colorful reef fish, authentic Afro-Caribbean drums, jewelry made of polished seashells, and, for those on a more generous allowance, Central American jade. Check out the storefront Ambergris Jade Museum on Barrier Reef Drive, which has both displays of items representing 3,000 years of the jade trade -- as well as items for sale.
Accommodations In San Pedro
Accommodations in San Pedro range from small bungalows to all-out luxury villas, or you can go to one of the many resorts along the coast outside of town, reachable by water taxi,. For a treat (and a nice, quiet contrast to the activity of town), check out Tranquility Bay, about a half hour north; it's an absolute gem of a boutique resort.
