Belize 

With very reasonably priced airfare from the US, traveling to Belize has been on our family’s bucket list for quite some time.  During our previous trip to Costa Rica, we loved splitting our time between the country’s jungle and ocean areas and knew that would be the perfect way to experience Belize as well.  Our kids were especially pumped when we found amazing accommodations: a TREEHOUSE during our jungle stay and a CATAMARAN sail on the ocean!  This would have been plenty to get excited about as is, so the wonderful activities and tours we did ended up being just icing on the cake!   

Details:

Our stay at Caves Branch was a perfect way to immerse ourselves in the jungle of Belize.  There are less than 25 rooms on property, and the property sits on 50,000 acres!! This gave us a unique opportunity to have a quaint atmosphere with personalized service, but yet have amazing tours like a night jungle safari and caves tubing all onsite.  Waking up with coffee and breakfast delivered to your treehouse and overlooking the untouched jungle off our second story balcony was a perfect, tranquil way to begin our days packed with adventure.

Our tours there were consistently top-notch as well.  We traveled by horseback through the forest and riverbed, ziplined next to toucans, spotted snakes, tarantulas, and opossums on a night safari and Jon even jumped off waterfalls inside caves.  River cave tubing was probably our family’s favorite.  We were able to explore, learn about the Mayan ceremonies that took place in the cave, have a picnic lunch inside, and jump off a cliff into the river after.

We were able to check off a huge bucket list item when we chartered a private catamaran for the second half of our stay.  We loved the idea that we could explore small islands, snorkel, spearfish, and paddleboard all from where we slept.  We had islands totally to ourselves and were able to set the pace since it was just our family.  We came right up to manatees, stingrays, and huge lobsters while snorkeling.  The captain and crew made us delicious meals and let our kids help sail the boat.  Since it was very windy the first half of our trip and not suitable for snorkeling, they even took us to an island normally used for cruise excursions that had water trampolines, swings, and an obstacle course! 

Notes and Tips:

• Since it is a relatively short tour, we did the zip lines our first day there so we could also recoup from traveling.  Normally, however, we’d recommend pairing this with another activity since it took us around 45 minutes to complete them and about that long to drive there.  
• Although we chose a shuttle, Belize has two airlines, Maya Island Air and Tropic Air, that fly small propeller planes (mostly 12-seater) within the country.  Especially if you are considering staying on Caye Caulker or Ambergris Caye, this might be a great, time-saving option that would also be a fun activity for kids.
• Private catamaran charters, in general, can seem like a very expensive option.  However, make sure you are factoring in all the costs.  Most include all meals, drinks, and activities (kayaks, paddleboards, sailing to secluded islands, fishing, etc.)  If they are priced per boat, you can also look into splitting the cost with several other family members or friends.  

Gear:

• Since we couldn’t bring luggage with hard cases on the catamaran, we purchased this duffle bag that is very large and weighs almost nothing.  Jon and Ashley were able to fit both of our belongings in here for the week with quite a bit of room to spare.
• Since most every activity at Caves Branch requires closed toed hiking shoes, Jon was the only one smart enough to bring these super comfortable water shoes with great grip.  The rest of us brought our main pair of tennis shoes and promptly donated them to the country of Belize after wearing them in rivers, caves, etc.  

Accommodations: 
Caves Branch Eco. Lodge
Belize Sailing Vacations

Activities:
Zip Lines Aerial Adventure
Jungle Safari After Dark
Horseback Riding
Waterfall Cave Expedition
River Caves Expedition 

**This post contains affiliate links.  We were graciously hosted by Caves Branch and received a discount with Belize Sailing Vacations in exchange for drone footage and promotion of their companies. All opinions are our own.

If you have questions or tips for traveling to Belize with kids, let us know!