Destinations / Latin America
Put together personally by Yari Steennot
Guatemala & Belize
From Maya temples in the jungle to the Caribbean coral reef
Brochure not opening? Email me and I will send it to you.
My recommended private route through the heart of the Maya world. In Guatemala you discover colonial Antigua, the villages around Lake Atitlán and the temples of Tikal, deep in the jungle. Then you cross the border into Belize for the sacred cave of Actun Tunichil Muknal and the Maya city of Caracol, and you finish with three days on the island of Caye Caulker, snorkelling among sharks and rays.
Highlights
- The cobbles, convent ruins and volcanoes of colonial Antigua
- By private boat along the Maya villages of Lake Atitlán
- Staying inside Tikal National Park and seeing the temples before the day trippers
- The sacred cave of Actun Tunichil Muknal: swimming, wading and scrambling to the Maya offering chamber
- The Maya city of Caracol, deep in the Belizean jungle
- Snorkelling among nurse sharks and rays at Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley
- Three 'go slow' days on car-free Caye Caulker, with an optional flight over the Blue Hole
Day by day in the brochure (PDF)
For information only, not an offer yet
What I will arrange for you after launch
You travel, I arrange everything. You travel privately: no group and no fixed guide tagging along.
- Airport pickup and the transfer on your last day; the details are in the brochure.
- All hotels and guesthouses, booked in advance at the level you choose: Budget, Comfort or Premium.
- Transport on the ground with a private driver and private transfers; domestic flights or trains where that makes sense.
- The activities and entrance fees on the route. Prefer a guide? I can add a local guide to any activity.
- Breakfast, and the meals at remote places with no alternative (such as a safari lodge, desert camp or yurt camp). For the other meals I give you my restaurant recommendations, but you choose completely freely where you eat.
- A personal intake, at your home or by video.
- A WhatsApp line with me, before and during your trip, and my personal 24/7 number.
- A call-back after your trip.
- Your international flight: after launch I will also book your flight for you. Prices on the site exclude the flight.
Travel whenever you like
Your dates are completely free: there are no fixed departure dates, you leave on the day that suits you. My recommended route takes 16 days. Shorter or longer is possible too; I adapt the route.
This is advice, not a rule. If you want to travel in another month, I tell you honestly what to expect (rain, heat, crowds) and adapt the route.
Price by level and transport
You choose the level of your hotels and how you get around. Same route, same care; only the hotels and the transport differ.
Estimated prices per person, based on 2 travellers, excl. international flight. Travelling solo, count on a supplement of roughly 64%. With four travellers the price per person drops by roughly 12%.
If you are interested, I am happy to send you the hotel guide with all the addresses.
More about self-drive and the private driver on this route
Self-drive (not available on this route)
We do not offer self-drive on this route. The Belgian FPS Foreign Affairs advises against renting a car in Guatemala and prefers transport with a driver: driving behaviour is unpredictable, road blockades are frequent and driving after dark is strongly discouraged. In addition, a Guatemalan rental car may not cross the border into Belize and cannot be returned there. You fly from the capital to Flores, your hotel on Lake Atitlán can only be reached by boat and there are no cars on Caye Caulker. You would use a rental car for a few days at most. If you would still like to drive yourself in Belize, around San Ignacio, we look into it on request.
Private driver
You travel with private drivers per region: one for Guatemala City, Antigua and Lake Atitlán, one in Petén for Flores, Tikal and the drive to the border, and a Belizean driver from the border to Belize City. They collect you at your hotel, the airport or the pier at the time stated in your travel documents, and drive in daylight only. At the Melchor de Mencos border you say goodbye to your Guatemalan driver, walk through the two immigration posts and find your Belizean driver waiting on the other side. On Lake Atitlán you travel by private boat, to Caye Caulker by water taxi. Drivers in Guatemala speak Spanish, in Belize English; I can always interpret over WhatsApp.
Flight & price
After launch I will also book your flight for you. The prices on this page exclude the international flight.
Flight Brussels–Guatemala City, returning from Belize City, not included: allow about € 850–1,300 p.p. depending on the month (February is usually the cheapest). After launch I will find you the best flight with your proposal.
Indicative price (estimate) per person based on 2 travellers, excl. international flight. This is not an offer: nothing is being sold yet. Indicative price (estimate), not an offer. In high season the price can be higher, in low season lower. All prices are indicative estimates, not an offer. Nothing is being sold yet; after launch you receive a no-obligation proposal with the price of that moment.
Travelling responsibly
If you take a guide, it is a local, licensed guide from the region, from the Kaqchikel and Tz'utujil villages around Lake Atitlán to the Maya guides of San Ignacio. You stay in small locally owned hotels. In San Juan La Laguna you buy directly from the women's weaving cooperatives. At Tikal you stay inside the park itself, so you walk to the temples without extra drives. Strict rules apply in the ATM cave (small parties, no cameras, socks only in the offering chamber) and on the reef we choose skippers who follow the marine reserve rules: touch nothing, never stand on coral, reef-safe sunscreen. Park fees support the management of Tikal, Caracol and Hol Chan. Flight CO₂ offsetting is available.