Hello fellow wanderers!
Belize is truly unBelizeable!
We spent one week at the Hilton at Mahogany Bay near San Pedro in February 2024 and explored all of San Pedro and Ambergris Caye, Caye Caulker and headed to the mainland of Belize to explore Mayan Ruins via Tropic Air. If you are looking to visit San Pedro or the surrounding area, this blog is for you!! We provide everything that you need to know to maximize your trip and have a laid back and relaxing time in Belize.
Check out our Youtube Channel: Wandered Off. We have full video tours of the Hilton, Secret Beach, San Pedro Town, a driving tour of Ambergris Caye, walking tour of Caye Caulker and of course, the day spent over at the Mayan Ruins.
Let's start with the Hilton at Mahogany Bay. Brandi is a Diamond Member with Hilton from all of her work travel, so we stayed at the Hilton using her points. We rented a golf cart through the Hilton due to the convenience of it. The cart rental was less than $400 for the week and we charged it to our room (gas on the island was $6 USD per gallon). We used less than two tanks. The Hilton sent a cab to pick us up from the airport as part of being a Diamond member. There are a ton of cart rental places right around the airport so do your research and make the right decision for you!
The picture above is Mahogany Bay from the air. This resort houses the Hilton and several other private rentals along with a Pool Club, several restaurants, spa and shops.
We flew Southwest into Belize City and then took Tropic Air $198 each RT) to San Pedro. Arrival was easy and smooth. We landed in Belize City at 12:10pm and made it through immigration and baggage by 12:50pm. We went through a second security check and by 1pm we were checked into our Tropic Air flight for 3:40pm. They managed to get us on a 1:30pm flight which was fantastic! We researched and booked a couple of hours in between but we didn't need it. We landed in San Pedro at 1:38pm. It was that quick! Had our luggage by 1:45pm, in the Hilton Cab and checked into the Hilton and in our room by 2:15pm. Was such a smooth process. It was unBelizeable!
This is a map of the Hilton. We stayed on Third Street and were upgraded to a King Sweeping Suite. The Hilton provides two glass bottles of water that you can refill in the lobby. They do not sell bottled water. We went to the grocery store in town and bought gallons of water to drink while we were out and about and to have extra in the room. Stay hydrated!
Belize takes US Dollars and the main language is English. However, we do recommend that you download a currency converter and tranlation app on your phone. We got a small amount of Belizean Dollars for tipping but really didn't need to as everyone accepted the US Dollar.
The Hilton does not heat their pool! As local Floridians, in February, the pool was too cold for us to enjoy which was very disappointing. The restaurants are pretty pricey, Miami priced in our opinion. Happy Hour was nice daily but we found ourselves looking for the locally priced places to eat and of course, we wanted the cultural experience!
The Hilton's beach club was amazing! They provide a water taxi that is a 15 minute ride out to their private beach with a restaurant/bar and restrooms. They have paddle boards over water bungalows you can rent.
Tip: Over water bungalows are not that comfortable and provide zero shade!
Tip: Be one of the first off the taxi to get yourself a tiki umbrella or spot under a tree because you will want the shade. Trust us! They are first come, first served.
You can put all the food and drink charges on your room tab. We highly spending some time at the beach club. It was very relaxing and we had a great time. The ocean was warm enough for us to float for a couple of hours too.
More Hilton tips: There is no ATM on site. No grocery store at all for anything. You cannot reserve beach bungalows. No cash exchange. If you have US Dollars, have small bills such as $1 and $5 for tips. There is no glass in the windows in your room, just screens. The AC is really loud and drowns out most of the outside noise, but we did lose power one night for a few hours and we could hear the neighbors talking in their room. Bring bug spray! You cannot eat dinner outside at sunset without bug spray! Check out our full vlog on YouTube of the Hilton.
Mahogany Bay has several restaurants that we ate at. The Pool Club was by the far the most expensive, but they have a heated pool. We got desert, a very small apple pie for $18 and a $5 shot of espresso. Bring your wallet if you visit the Pool Club. The Japanese restaurant was excellent and reasonably priced. The taco stand was great, and the owner was beyond fantastic. We did not care for the coffee and Rum and Bean. We got out coffee in town at Mayan Coffee drive through.
Our itinerary consisted of spending one day at the Hilton Beach Club, one day at Caye Caulker, one day at Secret Beach, one day exploring the entire island of Ambergris Caye, one day hanging out in San Pedro and one day on the mainland at Lamanai Mayan Ruins.
Secret Beach is a 45 min drive from the bridge in San Pedro. The bridge is 30 minutes from the Hilton. It was super windy that day, so we did not go in the water. If you stop at the bars right as you enter Secret Beach, you pay tourist prices for drinks... like $16 for a mojito and $4 for a bottle of water. If you wander off to the Sunset Palace down the road aways, take a cart because it is too far to walk... the drinks were only $9 and bottled water was $1.50 and just as good.
We also drove all around Secret Beach looking at potential investment properties. With super windy weather, we did not hang around long, just a few hours.
We did stop at the Truck Stop on the way back to the Hilton for dinner. The Truck Stop has multiple food trucks and a bar with TVs, a pool and yard games for everyone to enjoy. The pizza, tacos and ice cream were very good and a decent price. Highly recommend a stop. We heard they have live music at night, but we were not there to witness that but sounds fun. Meat Lovers pizza $22.50.
We spent alot of time walking around and exploring San Pedro town. Driving though the local neighborhoods and visiting curltural centers. The main cultural house was closed when we went. But we highly recommend the Garafuna Experience. They make you an authentic Belizean meal and they have a video that plays showcasing their history and dancers. Highly recommend this if you want a more cultural experience while visiting San Pedro. Our dinner was $60 for the Dinne Boil Up and the Bundinga with one Cosmo and water. Not bad! Bring bug spray!
Other places we ate at in San Pedro and recommend is Elvies. The Belizean tacos were delish! Midtown Cafe for coffee and fry jacks, Mayan Coffee drive through was our fave.
We took the water taxi to Caye Caulker for the day. The taxi tickets online were $87 for the two of us round trip. We reserved times but were able to take an earlier taxi back to San Pedro. We walked the entire island of Caye Caulker in 4 hours. Stop at Lazy Lizard. Stop for lunch at the Pelican. They had an amazing frozen mojito. Caye Caulker was so relaxing with no cars, just a few carts and mostly bikes and pedestrians roaming the dirt roads. We would definitely stay on Caye Caulker in the future. It was the total laid back vibe. Full walking tour on our YouTube channel.
We booked a tour through Tropic Air directly to visit the Lamanai Mayan Ruins on the mainland of Belize. The tour was $300 each which included round trip airfare on Tropic Air, the cab from the landing strip (in the grass) to the boat launch, the 20 mile boat ride up the river and the guided tour through Lamanai with lunch and the whole ride back to San Pedro. This was an amazing adventure and well worth the money and the long day! We left the airport at 8am and was back to San Pedro at 2:30pm. See the full vlog on our channel.
Overall, we loved San Pedro but would probably not visit again. It was very busy but has been a bucket list item of Brandi's for a long time. We would definitely go back to Caye Caulker and the mainland of Belize. San Pedro is worth visiting at least once though! The food, people and the island are amazing!
Check out our vlogs for more info on YouTube. Search for Wandered Off.
Wandered Off
Chris & Brandi
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