Ambergris Caye is Belize’s big island and San Pedro, its only town, the most visited place in the country. The flights land here, the best hotels are here, and most reef trips leave from here — the reef itself sits less than a kilometre offshore.
It has more services and more going on than Caye Caulker, and noticeably higher prices. It is worth knowing what to expect.
What the island is like
Ambergris runs about 40 kilometres north to south but is very narrow, and almost everything happens in the southern third. San Pedro is a town of sand and concrete streets where the standard vehicle is a golf cart.
One detail that surprises people: the shoreline is lined with seagrass and docks, so this is not an island where you wade in from a sandy beach. You swim from the docks or head out by boat. The clean sand beaches are mostly in the north and on a few groomed stretches.
Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley
This is the essential trip and the reason many people come to Belize. Hol Chan — “little channel” in Maya — is a marine reserve protecting a natural cut through the barrier reef: coral walls on both sides, enormous groupers, turtles and shoals of fish in shallow water.
Shark Ray Alley is the second stop: a sandy shallow where fishermen cleaned their catch for decades and where nurse sharks and southern stingrays now gather. You swim among them. They are harmless species, but pick an operator that does not feed them to draw them in.
The standard trip is half a day and covers both stops plus the Manatee Channel. There is a separate marine reserve fee.
What else to do
- Diving at Esmeralda and Tackle Box: reef dives minutes from the dock, good for easing back in after time out of the water.
- The Great Blue Hole trip: leaves from here before dawn and takes the whole day.
- Secret Beach: on the western side, a very shallow, calm lagoon. It has filled with bars in recent years and is no longer remotely secret.
- Bacalar Chico at the far north: a national park and marine reserve, far wilder, with minor Maya sites.
- Sport fishing: the island is known for bonefish, tarpon and permit.
- Hiring a golf cart and driving north across the bridge over the channel.
Where to stay
In town you have everything on foot: restaurants, tour docks, banks and nightlife. It is the most practical and the noisiest.
North of the channel are the quieter resorts and the better beaches, but you depend on a cart or a water taxi for everything. To the south, a mix of the two, with mid-sized hotels and less noise.
Getting there
By light aircraft from either the international or the municipal airport in Belize City: about fifteen minutes, with reef views. By water taxi from Belize City, an hour to an hour and a half. From Caye Caulker, twenty to thirty minutes.
Practical advice
- Prices are sometimes quoted in Belize dollars and sometimes in US. Always ask.
- Bring water shoes: the bottom has dead coral and sea urchins in places.
- Mineral sunscreen is required in the marine reserves.
- Golf carts sell out in high season: book ahead.
- December to May brings better visibility and flatter seas.
