Lonely Planet Belize (Country Guide)

 (22 customer reviews)

How to rank this book depends upon what you are looking for. In my case, I've been using Lonely Planet guides for many years and am accustomed to their assistance for traveling on a real budget. This book was different in that it focused much more on the mid-range of travel, and was really lacking on the budget end. For example, it assumes that you will use a tour and tour guide to visit many archeological sites instead of pulling it off using public transportation and your feet. And the least expensive hotels are often not covered.

ON THE PLUS SIDE, there are a lot of Americans traveling in Belize and they seem to be largely staying in the nicer hotels and using tours. For them, this book is more than adequate and easily recommended. For those who are really budget travelers, I'd suggest "The Rough Guide to Belize", which I ended up borrowing from other travelers.

Bravo Lonely Planet!

This is an EXCELLENT book for planning your Belize Vacation.

Lonely Planet took the time to send their writers to Belize, and they traveled all over the country including they Cayes. All the information in the book is current and hits the nail right on the head!

While Belize is still a very ecomonical place to vacation, Belize is not as cheap as some other Central American countries. From my experiences, Belize is the cheapest place to vacation in the Caribbean, but the most expensive in Central America. So if you are looking for a vacation that offers you amazing adventures like Mayan Ruins and Cave Tubing and you are also looking for incredible snorkeling, diving, or windsurfing, then Belize is your perfect destination.

Thank you Lonely Planet for getting the information right! Belize has changed A LOT in the past few years, and Lonely Planet knows Belize!!!

Wendy

Caye Caulker, Belize

As always, the Lonely Planet guide is well-structured with key features such as bus schedules. This particular guide was hit-and-miss with its information, however. Lodging prices were out-of-date (not just seasonally); the Tropical Education Center's prices have nearly doubled. The biggest problem is the outright-misinformed notion that Belize's dry season starts in November; every Belizean told me that it always starts in January or February, hence water levels were still high in Crooked Tree and wildlife was scarce during my February trip. Several towns and locations of interest were left out, forcing me to buy the Rough Guide. Although the Rough Guide reads like a novel and not so much a field guide, it has more information than the Lonely Planet guide. This was the first trip where nobody I met was using the LP guide.