Drivers Guide to Beautiful Belize

Other Important Belize Roads

ABOVE: Speeding through a jungle highway in southern Belize.

Other Important Belize Roads

ROAD TO CONSEJO This level 8-mile stretch takes you from Corozal Town to the Chetumal Bay, where there is a Belize customs station.
Overall Road Condition: Fair
Paved Section: 0%
Gas Availability: None

ROAD TO SHIPSTERN Once past the paved section near Orange Walk Town, this road just goes on and on, over rough, washboarded limestone. It’s about 40 miles to Sarteneja village and Shipstern, but it will seem like twice that. A redeeming feature of this road is Progresso Lagoon, the quintessential tropical lagoon. If you want to go to Cerros instead of Shipstern, you start the same way, but about 12 1/2 miles from Orange Walk Town, and 6 1/2 miles past the village of San Estevan, you go straight instead of turning right; this takes you to Progresso, Copper Bank and Cerros. The road can be tricky after heavy rains. From Corozal Town, take the new hand-pulled ferry across the New River, saving you several hours of driving time.
Overall Road Condition: Fair to Poor
Paved Section: 15%
Gas Availability: Fair

ROAD TO CHAN CHICH AND GALLON JUG From Orange Walk Town, it’s about a three-hour, 68-mile drive to Chan Chich, the stupendous Barry Bowen lodge. Along the way, on a road that varies from a poor rubble road to an excellent paved road at Gallon Jug, you’ll pass a number of villages, some farms, the Mennonite settlement of Blue Creek (where you can also spend time as a hard-working, paying volunteer at a major Maya archeological site) and plenty of jungle. As you cross the Programme for Belize preserve and Bowen land (you’ll have to stop at two guard houses), you’ll almost certainly see a variety of wildlife, including Belize’s two species of deer and the oscellated turkey. At San Felipe village, about 23 miles from Orange Walk Town, you can turn on a dirt road to the Lamanai ruins and Lamanai Outpost Lodge, about 13 miles from San Felipe. This road is now passable year-round.
Overall Road Condition: Mostly Fair to Poor, with some Good to Very Good sections
Paved Section: 15%
Gas Availability: Fair (gas up at the Linda Vista “shopping center” at Blue Creek, run by Mennonites; closed Sunday)

BURRELL BOOM You have two choices to get to Burrell Boom, Bermudian Landing and the Baboon (Black Howler Monkey) Sanctuary: Either turn off the New Northern Highway at about Mile 13, or off the Western Highway at Mile 15.5. The road to the Boom also functions as a short-cut if going between points on the Northern and Western highways, eliminating the need to drive through Belize City. The road from the Western Highway past the prison is now beautifully paved.

Overall Road Condition: Good to Excellent
Paved Section: 100%
Gas Availability: Fair

ROAD TO SPANISH LOOKOUT AREA This part of Cayo will remind you a bit of the Midwest, with spiffy Mennonite farms. The roads are mostly gravel and better-maintained than average. (Note: In theory it is possible to get to Chan Chich from Cayo via this route, a much shorter route. But access involves crossing private lands, not presently open to the public.)
Overall Road Condition: Fair
Paved Section: 10%
Gas Availability: Fair to Good

MOUNTAIN PINE RIDGE ROAD TO CARACOL By the route from Georgeville, it is about 46 miles from the Western Highway to the ruins of Caracol. From San Ignacio, the trip is a few miles longer — this route connects with the Mountain Pine Ridge Road near the village of San Antonio. Even in good weather in a good vehicle, don’t expect to average more than 25 to 30 mph on this road — it’s a three-hour rough ride to Caracol, even with recent improvements to the road between the Augustine station and Caracol. A reward: I have never seen so many butterflies in Belize as I’ve seen on this road, and the scenery in many spots is lovely. After a heavy rain, the limestone dirt can be very slick and dangerous, and clay areas even more so. En route, stop for a cold drink or a hot gourmet pizza at Francis Ford Copolla’s lodge, Blancaneaux, about 15 miles in from Georgeville. Note: Improvements soon will make it practical to take cruise ship passengers to Caracol on a day trip.
Overall Road Condition: Good to Poor
Paved Section: 0%
Gas Availability: None

ROAD TO PLACENCIA This 25-mile mostly dirt and gravel road runs from the Southern Highway to the tip of the Placencia peninsula, passing Maya Beach and Seine Bight. In wet weather, this road can be dicey. To placate real estate developers, who want more sea-front land to sell, a section of the road along the sea has been moved closer to the lagoon. Small sections near Placencia and Seine Bight villages are paved. The paving set for spring 2005 has now been postponed. Again.
Overall Road Condition: Fair
Paved Section: 3%
Gas Availability: Fair (one station in Placencia village and one at Riverdale)

ROAD TO MAYA VILLAGES IN TOLEDO A series of connected roads take you from the Southern Highway near PG to the Mayan villages of San Antonio, Santa Cruz and Pueblo Viejo villages, or in other direction, to San Pedro Columbia village, Lubaantun ruins, San Miguel village, and then back to the Southern Highway near the Nim Li Punit ruins. This area was badly hit by Hurrican eIris.
Overall Road Condition: Fair to Poor
Paved Section: 0%
Gas Availability: Poor (gas up at the junction to the road to San Antonio)

AMBERGRIS CAYE You can’t rent a car on the island, although residents seem to be stocking up on pick-ups and cars, crowding out golf carts, bikes and pedestrians on the caye’s sandy roads. Sections of Coconut Drive, one at the airstrip and the other at Island Supermarket, are paved with cobblestones. You can rent a golf cart and putt south to near the tip of the island, and north (if the rental company allows its carts to go over the river on the hand-pulled ferry) to around Belizean Shores. After rains, these cart paths are rough and muddy, and away from the water the mozzies will swarm you if you slow down.
Overall Road Condition: Fair to Poor
Paved Section: 2%
Gas Availability: Fair (gas is available, but most golf carts run on batteries)

Next: Other Tips and Advice on driving around Belize