Breathtaking Adventure in Belize with Kids: Free 5-Day Itinerary
Belize is the perfect place to travel with kids and one of the most beautiful places I’ve been blessed enough to visit. We spent 5 heavenly days in this country. There are many fun and unique things to do here. Also, the country is small, the currency is dollars, and the official language is English, so it is also an easy country to visit if you’re American.
My daughter, who was 11 at the time, and I went with my sister’s family which included a 13 and a 15-year-old. We came during Spring Break which was in March, and it was far enough South to be very warm even in the water which is part of what I was looking for!
Where We Stayed in Belize
This was tough for me! Belize has three different places I really wanted to visit and stay. At first, I seriously considered staying in two different places, but that would’ve taken away from some of our relaxation, which was a big priority for this trip, so we stuck to one.
We ultimately stayed in Placencia. It has beautiful beaches, easy access to the ocean and rainforest, more quiet atmosphere, and the amazing resort we stayed at. The only downside was that it was about 3 hours from the airport. However, the scenery was pretty going down, and our driver from our resort (extra money) gave us a lot of cool information, so I looked at it as a private tour!
However, I really want to go back and stay in the San Ignacio area for amazing ruins, culture, and cave tubing. San Pedro on Ambergris Caye is also a very popular option, and definitely the best if you’re looking for more of a party vibe.
In Placencia, we stayed at the Sirenian Bay Resort and Villas. This might be the best place I’ve ever stayed! It is all-inclusive, but the food and alcohol are much better than your typical all-inclusive food. The resort (pool, hot tub, bar, 3 restaurants, putt-putt) and the villa we stayed in with an outdoor shower was amazing, but what made it spectacular was the staff. I truly felt like we were royalty and family with the way they all treated us! They went above and beyond in all areas! Additionally, they have limited villas, so there was never an overcrowded feeling, and we always could easily find a pool chair! Finally, they offer free ground transfer anywhere within 30 minutes.
Our Itinerary
Here is a map and a quick summary of the main activities we did throughout our trip. Below this, I go into detail for each day. I include information for cost, hours, etc., that is correct at the time of writing.
Day 1:
- Arrive
- Drive and get settled at resort
- Relax and have fun at resort
Day 2:
- Half-day zipline and waterfall in the rainforest
- Relax and have fun at resort
Day 3:
- Drive into the village of Placencia on golf cart and walk around/shop
- Relax and have fun at resort
Day 4:
- Full day snorkel tour at Silk Caye and Moho Caye
- Relax and have fun at resort
Day 5:
- Relax and have fun at resort
Day 6:
- Leave early to get to airport for flight back home
Day 1: Arrival, get settled
Including our flight and drive, we got to our resort around 5 in the evening. We got all of our stuff unpacked, ate dinner at the fantastic, roof top restaurant at our resort, sang lots of karaoke (at least I did), and then relaxed/swam by the pool. It was the perfect first evening.
Day 2: 1/2 Day Zipline and Waterfall Tour, resort time
1/2 Day Zipline and Waterfall Tour
I knew I wanted one of our adventures to be ziplining in the rainforest. I booked through Mayan Sky Canopy which had packages for ziplining, waterfall, and/or river tubing. At first, I was going to book us for all three, but many people in their reviews of similar dates said sometimes the water during river tubing is so low that it’s extremely hard to actually tube without having to pick up and walk a lot with the tube. Just check typical water levels for the dates you’re going because I think otherwise, it looked like a lot of fun.
We decided to do the zipline and waterfall, and I can’t say enough good things about it! Some of our crew did not want to go, choosing to relax instead, so it was just myself, my daughter, and my nephew. The company came and picked us up from our resort which was about 30 minutes away.
Zipline
Once we got there, we started with the zipline which was very safe and fun. Even with only the three of us (private group), we had two guides – one at the beginning of each zip and one at the end. Also, because my daughter was on the lighter side, she zipped in tandem with one of the guides on a few of the longer zips but went solo on the other ones. In total there were 7 ziplines (one of which is the longest in the country) and 11 decks.
Waterfall
When we were done zipping, we went to Maya King Waterfalls. We were the only ones there for almost the entire time which felt so serene and secluded. There is a platform that you can jump off of and a table to sit and eat at which is where we ate the snacks that were brought. We swam a lot, and our guide took some photos and videos encouraging us to each jump and get in the falls. The water was cold, but it felt good and was refreshing.
| Cost: | $150 each with transfer |
| Hours: | 1/2 day or full day tours; every day from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. (ours was 4 hours starting at 9:00 a.m.) |
| Address: | Mile 21 Placencia Junction on the Southern Highway |
| Parking: | Small parking lot but we were picked up from company |
More Resort Time
Once we got back to the resort, we ate lunch at the pool bar and then got changed for the pool. After relaxing and swimming for a while, we went back to the roof top restaurant around sunset for a gorgeous view and more good food. We also played putt-putt and then went back to our villas to relax before going to bed.
Day 3: Placencia Village, Resort
Placencia Village
On our third day, we rented a 6-person golf cart (4 seaters also available) from the resort to drive down to Placencia Village. It was $55 for 4 hours. It takes about 30 minutes in the golf cart, but seeing everything at a slower pace with no windows was great. The breeze also felt really nice because it was hot out on this day. Our plan was to walk around and shop on the famous Placencia Village Sidewalk, but it was so hot, we just visited Tutti Frutti Gelato and then went back.
Once back at the resort, we kayaked a little and did more relaxing and swimming. We also ate at the swim up bar for lunch and the other restaurant for dinner.
Day 4: Full-day Snorkel Tour, Resort
Full-Day Snorkel Tour
Snorkeling was the other adventure I really wanted to do while in Belize! We booked the Silk Caye and Moho Caye package through Captain Jak’s. This was a 7-hour tour with a lunch included. They also picked us up from our resort.
We started by going to Silk Caye which is a tiny but beautiful island. We swam around the whole island, and the guide was fantastic to point things out (by diving down and pointing). It was not deep here, so it was easy to see everything. Then we got back on the boat and went to slightly deeper water. This is where we saw a lot of nursing sharks (harmless) and some rays. We also saw a sea turtle, but it was far away.
After that, we went over to Moho Caye which is a much bigger island. We started by having lunch which was prepared by our guides, and it was delicious! There was chicken, rice, potato salad, cookies, and cokes in glass bottles. It seemed like authentic Belizean food, but my picky daughter also enjoyed it.
Once we finished lunch, we had the option to relax on the island, snorkel some more, or a little of both. My daughter was pretty much done snorkeling, so we walked around the island some. We swam a little, relaxed some, and even were able to pay $1 to a local who was getting/preparing fresh coconut for people. We had a blast on this excursion!
| Cost: | $135 each |
| Hours: | daily 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. |
| Address: | GJ9J+H3 Placencia, Placencia, Belize |
| Parking: | Small parking lot, but we were picked up |
More Resort Time
Nothing different here – we fully enjoyed the resort some more!
Day 5: Resort
For our last day, we decided to fully enjoy the resort more and mainly relax since we had a long day of travel the following day.
We were going to try pickleball at the resort’s courts, but we stuck to more swimming, eating, putt-putt, and relaxing!
Day 6: Departure
We had to leave the resort early due to the 3-hour drive to the airport and the 3-hour prearrival for the international flight.
Our primary objective for this vacation was to mainly relax, but I wanted to at least do a couple of fun activities as well. I think this vacation was the perfect balance for what we wanted in the amount of time we had. I would love to visit Belize again mainly to do the San Ignacio area, but I’d love to have a little bit of a longer trip and stay at Sirenian Bay again too!
Recommended Items
I don’t think there is much you need for Belize other than what you’d typically bring for a beach vacation. Here are a few of the things I made sure to pack that I thought were helpful. These are affiliate links at no cost to you.
Probably the most important thing to bring is some reef safe sunscreen. I really like this Thinksport. It is spf 50, and best of all, it rubs in more clear than almost any other mineral sunscreen I’ve tried. If you prefer a spray that is compliant, this is also a great one that I have used a bunch!
Also, bugs and sand fleas can be annoying, so we brought wipe-on Deet packs and Avon’s Skin So Soft for the sand fleas. We did not need the Skin So Soft, but that’s because we mainly stayed at the pool. If you plan on relaxing at the beach, I’d bring some.
I also made sure my daughter had her sun hat to keep the sun off of her face and a sun shirt to put over her bathing suit a lot of the time. I also brought my sun hat which is similar to this but with a cut out for hair which is nice.
Finally, I brought my Bonine to prevent sea sickness while on the boat since I am so prone to it.
Additional Fun Activities to Make Memories in Belize:
There were plenty of other things we could’ve done while we were in Belize. We didn’t have a rental car, and we didn’t want to spend a lot of time in the car, so we chose to stay pretty close to our resort overall and mainly relax.
If you have more time, have a rental car, or a desire to check out more of the island, check out the additional suggestions below. I really want to come back myself for some of these!
Each picture is linked to their site for more information if you want it.
Please leave suggestions for cool activities or places to visit in Belize that I missed so future readers and myself can learn from your knowledge and experience!
Check out our other beach getaway to Aruba – 4 days with free itinerary appropriate for kids.
