Island Paradise: 4 Days in San Pedro and Ambergris Caye

For a family trip we let the kids pick between Belize and Costa Rica. They picked Belize because they wanted to see Mayan ruins and we picked Belize to see the second largest barrier reef in the world. For the first part of our trip we went from the airport, to a taxi and to a boat that took us for a ride to Ambergris Caye.

Ambergris Caye is the largest island in Belize. The coastline is a diver and/or snorkeler’s dream. Home to the second largest barrier reef in the world and teeming with fish, sharks, turtles, stingrays and other sea creatures.

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The first part of our Belize trip was spent on Ambergris Caye. We went from the airport to a taxi to the water taxi and to the island.

We rented the upstairs of a house right on the beach. San Pedro is the main town on Ambergris Caye. The town has most of the island’s restaurants and shops.

Getting to San Pedro

Just getting to San Pedro is an adventure. We arrived at the airport and took a taxi to to the Marine Terminal. The Marine Terminal is a busy area with shops and it is a short walk to the water taxi.

Helpful porters will take and tag your luggage at the curb when you get out of the taxi. You then need to walk down to the terminal to obtain tickets for the water taxi. The ride to San Pedro is 90 minutes. As of 2026, it is $34 US per ticket.

Staying in Ambergris Caye

San Pedro and Ambergris Caye are popular island stops in Belize. We rented an upstairs condo on VRBO right on the beach. We had a gorgeous view from our condo.

Getting Around the Island

There are no cars on the island. Your choice is to:

• Walk
• Bike
• Rent a Golf Cart

Most of the time we walked. Everything is fairly close, so it wasn’t far to walk to downtown or along the beach. However, for one day we rented a golf cart to explore the entire island.

Beaches

The beaches are not like Hawaii or the white sand beaches of Florida, but they are still beautiful. The best beach area on the island is by Ramon’s Village resort just south of downtown. It had the softest sand and the cleanest beach area.

They also have a great pier for swimming and snorkeling from.

Hol Chan Marine Reserve & Shark Alley

The main reason we visited Ambergris Caye in Belize was to see Hol Chan Marine Reserve. This is the second largest barrier reef in the world. We just went to the beach near the ferry and booked a trip with Mystical Adventures, now Belize Magical Adventures. We chose the Hol Chan Marine & Shark Alley tour for our family of five. It was one of the most memorable days of our trip in Belize. We went at our own speed since it was just our family.

Seeing this amazing place was one of the best excursions. We snorkeled the reef for a few hours and then went to Shark Alley to swim with the sharks

This trip includes a stop at Shark Ray Alley. Our guide grew up here and he was very knowledgeable about the all of the different fishes and sealife.

Parasailing

There are all kinds of fun things to do along the beach. The kids went parasailing and had a blast.

Kayaking

An inexpensive thing to do is rent some kayaks and it is a great work out too.

Exploring Ambergris Caye

One of the days we took the golf cart and drove north until the road ended. It was a fun way to see the island. We saw iguanas everywhere while visiting Belize. We saw several Spiny Tail iguanas running around when we were in San Pedro. They can run pretty fast. The Spiny Tail Iguanas eat insects, fruits and vegetables.

Belize Guides

San Pedro & Ambergris Caye Tours