Ambergris Caye Travel Guide

Ambergris Caye is the largest of the islands off Belize. The island is protected by the 2nd largest barrier reef in the world. This makes it an incredible destination for snorkeling and diving. The island has a lot to offer and has delicious food for everyone.

Aerial view of Ambergris Caye — Ambergris Caye

The currency is the Belize Dollar (BZD). Converting from US Dollars (USD) to BZD is very simple as the rate is BZD 2.00 to USD 1.00. Most places in Ambergris Caye take USD, but you may get BZD in change. If you bring USD to the island, make sure the bills are clean and not torn since their bank can be pretty strict. Most places on the island also takes credit cards. Ambergris Caye can be more expensive than a trip to Mexico, but it is definitely worth it. The island felt super safe and we never had any issues.

Another thing to note is there are no longer any COVID requirements. You will need a passport to get into the country. Immigration forgot to scan and stamp Jess’s passport which created a lot of issues when we were leaving, so watch and check your passport before you leave the airport.

Two people in front of San Pedro Belize sign — Downtown San Pedro

Getting to Ambergris Caye

Most major airlines have flights to Philip S.W. Goldson International Airport (BZE). This airport serves Belize City and is the largest in the country. Major airlines are not able to fly into San Pedro’s airport because of how small the runway and airport are. Still, it's not that difficult to get to the island from the mainland. The two most common ways to get to Ambergris Caye are the water taxi and flying.

Water Taxi to Ambergris Caye

Water taxi in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye — Water taxi in San Pedro

The water taxi is the cheapest way to get to Ambergris Caye. If you choose this option you will have to get a ride to the water taxi terminal. The Belize Express Water Taxi is a popular option. They provide shared transportation for USD 25.00 for the first person and USD 10.00 for each additional guest. There are also regular taxis at the airport that can be cheaper if you have a group.

The Belize Express Water Taxi takes approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes to get to Ambergris Caye. The actual boat ride costs about USD 31.00 a person one way or USD 57.00 round trip if booked at the same time. The water taxi will drop you off in San Pedro, which is the main city on Ambergris Caye.

Flying to Ambergris Caye

Maya Island airplane we took to San Pedro

The quicker but more expensive option is to fly to Ambergris Caye. The main two airlines that fly to the island are Tropic Air and Maya Island Air. This option will cost you approximately USD 180.00 a person round trip depending on certain flight options such as booking a changeable ticket or not.

If you are staying at a resort consider booking this flight through the resort. It seemed like we did get some priority at the airport and some of our group got put on an earlier flight. We're not sure if we would get the same treatment if we didn't book through our resort.

The flight is only 15 minutes. Just be aware these are small 12-seater planes. We flew in a Cessna Caravan and Jess got to sit in the copilot seat. She loved that view!

Getting Around Ambergris Caye

Man driving a golf cart in Ambergris Caye — Kevin driving our golf cart

Ambergris Caye is a small island with one main road and one bridge on the north end of San Pedro that was a huge deal when built. There's no need for a big vehicle on this island and a golf cart can get you pretty much anywhere. Golf carts are the most common form of transportation on the island.

We rented a golf cart for 6 days from our resort. For golf cart rentals there were cheaper prices, especially if you rented outside of the resort. When renting a golf cart make sure the company does not charge you additional for a bridge toll. Most companies provide you with a full tank of gas and you have to replace it at the end. Our resort told us a tank will last three days if you are driving a lot. Coco Beach took care of the gas for the golf carts.

For highly rated golf cart rental companies on Google, you could save $40-70 USD by using them over a resort. They do offer rates if you only need them for a few hours too. Most companies will bring the cart to the place you are staying and pick it up.

Another great option if you are looking for some exercise and a cheaper way to get around the island is renting a bicycle. There is everything from regular bicycles to E-bikes. These can be rented from $15-50 dollars a day. They also offer rates by the hour if you don’t need them for a long time.

Where to Stay on Ambergris Caye

Coco Beach Resort in Ambergris Caye — Coco Beach Resort

Ambergris Caye has a diverse selection of lodging. If you want to save as much money as possible, you can stay in a hostel for USD 15.00 a night. There are hotel rooms from USD 100.00 a night to resorts that will cost you up to USD 500.00 a night. There are also Airbnb rentals on the island. This can be especially beneficial for a group.

If you want to be around everything stay in San Pedro. This is the main city on the island and where a lot of shops and restaurants are. This will be the more populated and louder section of the island. We stayed north of the city, where it was quieter, and had no issues driving our golf cart to town for dinners and whatever else we needed.

We most recently stayed at Coco Beach Resort and we stayed at Belizean Shores about 9 years ago. Coco Beach is a very nice resort and we enjoyed our stay. They have hotel-style rooms to full-out suites/condos with a full kitchen.

They had multiple pools including a kid's pool with a fun slide, we tried it out, and confirmed it was fun! There is also a hot tub in the middle of the pool and the swim-up bar is heated. Food was also pretty, and solid at the bar area. We never ate in the main restaurant because locals kept telling us good places in San Pedro.

Belizean Shores is part of the same chain of hotels. Coco Beach is nicer and newer, but pricier. Belizean Shores Resort was also very nice and we enjoyed our stay there too. They keep both resorts very clean and customer service was always responsive.

Where to Eat on Ambergris Caye

We always say we eat our way around new places. We love trying different kinds of food so we always do a lot of research to find the best restaurants. We used Trip Advisor to find the top restaurants in Ambergris Caye and also asked the locals for their recommendations. We ate at some amazing places on the island.

Breakfast

Stuffed fry jacks at Estel's Dine by the Sea — Stuffed fry jacks at Estel’s

Belize takes breakfast seriously, and we ate at some amazing places.

Estel’s Dine by the Sea was one of our favorites. The stuffed fry jacks with their Mayan eggs were unreal. We ate there a couple of times.

Another great breakfast place was Cool Beans Cafe. It is on a dock over the water and everyone thoroughly enjoyed their meals.

If you want to stay further north Marbucks is a great option. It's not on the water, but it's a cute little restaurant and the frittata was amazing.

Other popular places include D Family Cafe and The Farmhouse. The French Croissant Bakery by the airport also had a delicious chocolate croissant.

Lunch and Dinner

For lunch, we typically ate at the Coco Beach resort bar or used our kitchen to make something. We did this to save some money. Lily's Treasure Chest was highly recommended by locals and other tourists. Everyone recommended the ceviche.

Most of our dinner recommendations came from locals. We had more restaurant reommendations than days on the island, so we hit the restaurants that multiple people suggested. Here are some of our favorites.

El Fogon

When asking locals around the island about a restaurant that serves local cuisine, El Fogon kept coming up. This restaurant is located in San Pedro and can be pretty busy. The good news is they do take reservations. Not every restaurant does on the island. El Fogon in Spanish is Fire Hearth. You will notice a closed-off area where you walk in with a huge hearth where they cook their stews. We ordered a sampler platter as an appetizer that had a few different types of traditional Belizean food. For dinner Kevin got the Belizean Creole with fish and Jess got the shrimp curry. They were both delicious. This is somewhere we would both go back to.

Blue Water Grill

Blue Water Grill also came up a lot as one of the nicest restaurants on the island. It was very busy so we recommend making reservations. Twice a week they have specialty nights. They have Italian night and sushi night. We love us some sushi so went to sushi night which is on Fridays. The sushi was delicious. We ordered 3 rolls and could have eaten more. They also had non sushi options on their menu and others in our group ordered grilled fish and pasta dishes. Everyone loved their food. You can also get a picture with their famous I Love Belize sign. We ate here for our last night and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Hungry Grouper

We learned about Hungry Grouper on the small plane ride over from someone who has a house on Ambergris Caye. This is a very small restaurant, a little off the beaten path with only 5 tables. It's run by a husband and wife and they do all the cooking and serving. They recommended the coconut-crusted grouper with shrimp and it was delicious! We love finding small places like this and it did not disappoint.

The Truck Stop

Truck Stop is another well-known location, but is different than your typical restaurants. The Truck Stop is very similar to going to a food truck event. All of the food options are in shipping containers. The different stops are a Malaysian/Southeastern Asia, A Latin Fusion Kitchen, New Haven Style Pizza, and for dessert an ice cream place. There are also a couple of bars. One is further back towards the water (follow the dock back) and another is upfront with everything else. There is a stage for music and a bunch of tables in the middle of it all. The truck stop made for a fun night. We had some good tacos and Chicken Pad Tai. The tacos were really good and the Chicken Pad Tai was excellent. We had a couple of drinks from the bar, which were okay. Then we finished it off with a scoop of ice cream. The Truck Stop was a lot of fun and we enjoyed a change from the normal restaurant vibe.

Moon Bar

Ambergris Caye is not known for their pizzas; however, Moon Bar is a great place to go and grab a slice. It’s adults only (18+) pizza joint and bar. Moon Bar is located further north on the island but is right on a beautiful sandy beach and the chill vibes were fantastic. We liked their pizzas and their drinks were pretty good too.

Tipsy Lobster

We found Tipsy Lobster because it was within walking distance from our resort and had really good reviews. This is an outdoor restaurant with tables on the sand. They have different seafood options but specialize in lobster. We also learned if you had been fishing for the day, you could bring everything you caught and they will cook it up for you for a fixed price. There was a group of 20 people that came and did that. We figured they must like the place because the server said they do it every year. We had the Fisherman’s Style dinner with lobster and it was delicious. On the menu, they have lobster kabobs, but the server said they do not typically buy the small lobsters for that dish. We all had pretty big lobsters on our plates. It was not the cheapest, but it was a really good lobster dinner.

Things To Do In Ambergris Caye

There are tons of activities to do around the island. From snorkeling and fishing to watching hermit crab races, there’s something for everyone!

Scuba Diving and Snorkeling

Ambergris Caye is well known for the Barrier Reef that runs along the island and snorkeling and scuba diving are popular activities for people visitng the island. The reef and sea life are beautiful!

Scuba Diving

Nurse shark in Ambergris Caye — Nurse shark we saw scuba diving

We went scuba diving for two days with Elite Divers. The first day was more to the north and it was good, the reef was healthy, but we didn't see a crazy amount of sea life, but the dives were still beautiful. We told them we wanted to see sharks on the second day. We did a shallower dive further south and it was a blast. We saw reef sharks and nurse sharks. There was even a reef shark under the boat right when we got in. There was also tons of other sea life. The reef was not quite as healthy, but we really enjoyed day two of diving.

Always ask for package deals when negotiating with these small dive shops. They didn't charge us tax and waived the fee for Jess's rental gear. They were also way cheaper than the dive shop right by the resort. The boats were nice and did not feel overcrowded. Jess appreciated the bigger boats since she gets seasick pretty easily. We really liked our experience scuba diving with Elite Divers.

Snorkeling

If you aren't certified to scuba dive, snorkeling is a great activity that anyone can do. Even if you aren't a great swimmer, they have floatation devices you can use. We used the company right by our resort because we decided to do this last minute. We paid more than if we would have researched places ahead of time. We went through Tuff E Nuff Tours, which was within walking distance from our resort. The trip we went on was to the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. We went snorkeling in 2 locations, the first was through the reef and the second was at Shark/Ray Alley. We wern't sure what to expect since we usually just scuba dive, but we were blown away by how much sea life we saw snorkeling through the reef. We saw sharks, rays, turtles, barracuda, more rays, eels, puffer fish, jacks, snapper, grouper, and many other things. We were really pleased with the first stop.

The second stop was at Shark/Ray Alley. We didn’t fully realize what we would see here until we were close to getting off the boat. Out of nowhere, more nurse sharks than we could count appeared. You could watch from the boat or get in the water. We jumped right in and the crew began throwing chum in the water and more began to appear. It was really cool to see. The nurse sharks were not small either. We also saw a raw and a bunch of other fish. The snorkel adventure was a hit with everyone and we would definitely recommend it.

Secret Beach

This not-so-secret beach can be accessed with bikes or vehicles. It is a long and bumpy ride in a golf cart, but it was fun. Secret Beach is on the west side of the island and north of San Pedro. This has become a well-known tourist area, but locals still go there on weekends. This is more of a party area, but there is still a water park with inflatable obstacles for kids or adults.

Since it is a tourist area, beware that employees will try to bring you into the establishments by offering free rum shots. Don’t worry no one was crazy pushy and just choose where you feel like going. The water is clear blue, warm, and shallow. Most bars either have, tables, chairs, and or swings in water for you to have a drink on.

Since Secret Beach is on the west side of the island we figured it would be a great place to watch a sunset. We got there a little later in the day and it was dead. Most places close by 6:00 PM. After talking to employees, we were informed this was more of a daytime hangout since a lot of mosquitos come out at dusk. They said they are usually pretty busy and I would suggest coming earlier in the day to enjoy the festivities. There are some bars like the Swing Bar that offer a bonfire at sunset if you would like to attend. We see this as a fun day activity to change it up a little and have some fun.

The Chicken Drop at Wahoo’s Lounge

The Chicken Drop is something entertaining to do in the evening. Wahoo’s serves food but has the main vibe of a bar. They didn't get the best reviews, so we ate elsewhere. Their famous Chicken Drop game is every Thursday usually starting at 5:00 PM and new game supposedly starts every hour. There is a board outside with numbers 1 to 100. You can buy a ticket for a number from the staff. You can usually win BZD 100 (USD 50) if the chicken decides to poop on your number. Yes, that is correct the chicken wanders around the board and everyone is hoping the chicken poops on their number. If it lands on your number you win. Bet you never thought you would be cheering on a chicken pooping!

Just a note, we arrived around 8:30 PM and the place was pretty dead. They had decided to not do any more chicken drops for the night. We recommend not coming too late. They do have a DJ if you like to dance.

Nauti Crab

The Nauti Crab is another restaurant/bar that hosts a unique event, Hermit Crab Racing! You can bet on hermit crabs. Once you choose your hermit crab, you will need to name it, so be prepared. Also, the MC can be a little brash. We didn't eat at the Nauti Crab, but most people report the food as so-so. If you want to join the fun of hermit crab racing be sure to get a reservation. They usually start at 6:00 PM and fill up super quickly. I would recommend a few drinks and a race. They also have trivia night and other fun games throughout the week.

Fishing

Black Grouper in Ambergris Caye — Black grouper

With the island being next to the barrier reef this is a great spot to go fishing. There is a ton of delicious sea life such as snapper, jacks, barracuda, wahoo, marlin, tuna, and many others. There are a bunch of charter companies on the island that will take you reef fishing or deep sea fishing. Some of the dive companies also offer fishing charters. Some companies will offer packages where you can have a BBQ and they will cook up your catches of the day. There are also restaurants on the island that you can bring your catches to and they will cook them up.

Eat and Learn About Chocolate

The Belize Chocolate Company located in San Pedro has some delicious chocolates! They offer classes about how chocolate is made from the cacao bean. They craft all their chocolates in-house. We of course tried a few different kinds of chocolate goodness in the shop and they were all delicious. The staff was very friendly. We also took home some coffee mixed with cacao which Jess loves!

A Day Trip To Caye Caulker

Aerial view of Caye Caulker — Caye Caulker

Taking a day trip to Caye Caulker was on our list, but we just ran out of time. You can get a ferry round trip for about USD 35.00. It's only a 30-minute ferry ride, so it is something you can easily do in a day. We learned from locals that kids take the ferry from Caye Calker to Ambergris Caye to go to school every day. Caye Caulker is known to be a little quieter and slower island than Ambergris Caye. There are plenty of places to wander around and explore.

Final Thoughts on Ambergris Caye

This was our second time to Ambergris Caye (the first time was in 2015). We were able to explore much more this time and really enjoyed our time on the island. Everyone was super friendly and we stayed busy the entire time. We will definitely visit the island again and would recommend it to anyone.