Ziplines, Caves, and Ancient Ruins – This is San Ignacio!
“I travel a lot; I hate having my life disrupted by routine.” For a lot of travel lovers like myself, this truly speaks to my heart. Recently, this need to explore the world is exactly what led me to spending 3 days in San Ignacio, Belize.
San Ignacio is a popular little town in Western Belize within the country’s Cayo district that is growing in popularity as many travelers turn to eco-tourism. The town is an ideal jumping off point for exploring inland Belize and hitting up all the tropical adventure travel activities your heart desires. Read on for all of the amazing adventures to experience and top things to do in San Ignacio, Belize.
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Xunantunich Maya Ruin
Visit Xunantunich, a Maya Ruin that served as a civic ceremonial center. The site has several pyramids (you can climb them!), a ball court, burial chambers, and carvings dating back over 1000 years. To get there, hop on a public bus and let the driver know where you’re going. Note that there is no bus schedule, so you might have to wait at the bus station a bit. Another option to take a cab—there are usually plenty of willing drivers waiting for tourists at the bus station. Once you get off the bus, take the free ferry across the river and hike about a mile up the hill. Make sure to bring plenty of water!
Find a Pool
It’s no secret, Belize is HOT. It was over 90 degrees every day, so at some point, you’re probably going to want to find a pool and live there. For me this was after hiking around Xunantunich for hours on end. Also when the town decided to shut off electricity for about 9 hours one day. Really, any afternoon is a good afternoon to plop yourself in a pool and relax.
Farmer’s Market
One of my favorite parts of San Ignacio was visiting the farmer’s market. They had all of the fresh fruit and veggies you could ever dream up. Pick up a pineapple and enjoy a tasty happy hour snack.
Cave Tubing
If you have 3 days in San Ignacio, you should definitely dedicate at least one to adventure activities. As the adventure capitol of Belize, there will be no shortage to choose from! In my cave tubing experience, we all suited up in our helmets and hiked through the Belizean jungle in our bathing suits. You might feel weird in the helmet/ bathing suit combo, but don’t worry; everyone’s doing it. After reaching the river, the guide steered us through some very dark Belizean caves. You could even climb up some rocks and jump off in the cave! Make sure to bring your camera; I use the Olympus TG-4 Waterproof Camera
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Zip Lining
Continuing the theme of awesome jungle activities, you have to go zip lining! I’m really not sure if anything in the world beats flying through the rain forest. We even made friends with some monkeys while we were there! This is 100000% one of the top things to do in San Ignacio, Belize
Marie Sharp’s Cooking Class
It’s no secret that I LOVE food, so obviously I had to try a cooking class. In the class, we got to cook a typical Belizean Sunday dinner complete with fried plantains, beans and rice, stewed chicken, potato salad, and best of all, bread pudding. The local wines and frozen drinks included in the class didn’t hurt either…
Cultural Museum
I’ll be honest here…I ended up at the cultural museum because there was air conditioning. Before you judge me too much, I stayed even after I cooled down. The museum walked through the history of Belize and taught me all about the influential people of decades past. Though I hadn’t intended to get a history lesson, it’s definitely worth a stop. There are rotating exhibits, and best of all, it’s free!
Green Iguana Conservation Project
One of the unique things to do in San Ignacio, Belize is visit the Green Iguana Conservation Project. You can learn about the conservation efforts and interact with the iguanas. This is me right before I dropped the iguana…don’t worry, he was fine and I apologized profusely after! Turns out, I might be a little afraid of iguanas, especially when one starts crawling near my head.
Panty Rippas
Alright, I’m going to let you in on a secret. If you ever see a “Panty Rippa” or any version of that on a drink menu, do yourself a favor and order it. I’m not sure if Belize has a national cocktail, but if I were president, that would be my first order of business. This tasty drink is made with rum (duh!), pineapple juice, and then some combination of grenadine and/or lime. You can thank me later.
Chocolate Class
Continuing the trend with things you should ingest in San Ignacio, hit up the local Chocolate Class. I learned how chocolate was made in the Mayan times (hint: with a lot of work and arm strength!) I also got to taste raw cacao beans (not a huge fan), plus chocolate drink with local spices. Definitely try the chocolate with fresh allspice—that made a tasty concoction!
Logistics
Flights to Belize: I’d recommend searching through eDreams.net. They scan tons of different travel discount sites and feature special flight deals. Fly into Belize City, and grab the bus to San Ignacio!
Where to Stay in San Ignacio, Belize: I personally opted to stay at a VRBO Rental. I was traveling with friends, so it was easily the most cost efficient, plus we had our own kitchen and access to a pool…perfect for those steamy Belize afternoons. If you opt to go the hotel route, definitely look into Rainforest Haven Inn. You can’t beat the location, and they serve excellent rum punch. For a budget option, you can’t go wrong with D’s Hostel. It’s clean, new, and close to the center of town.
What are some of your favorite things to do in San Ignacio, Belize? I’d love to hear your stories! For more on Belize, check out my guide to Caye Caulker!
Next time, have a Panty Rippa BEFORE you hold the Iguana! : )
Hahaha I should have! Probably would have mellowed me out
I would really love to go and see the old Maya temples one day. Was it easy to travel to the old sites? Have heard so many amazing things about Belize, it’s nature and history, recently that it is itching on my travel planning. 🙂
It was really easy, we just hopped on a bus, told the driver where we were trying to go and hopped off. There were also plenty of taxis (both legit and not legit) that would drive tourists there.
You did a lot! I love that you managed to get in a couple food experiences and culture, even if it was to avoid heat stroke!
Yes, I definitely stayed busy! And it felt like a really good mix of activities 🙂
I would love to try the Panty Rippas well. If it is 90 degrees then I would jump inside a museum myself as well. But I love museums and love visiting them. Cave tubing and Ziplining also seems to be something I would love to do.
There’s definitely no shortage of activities!
I’m loving the mix of food and adventure travel here Melissa! Sounds like a great place to take the family. We certainly have more of the Americas to see especially in the Central and south. Plus love any drink with rum so that drinks sounds almost perfect for me. As a chef I’ve never known anyone to actually like cacao beans either, me included.
Cheers
James
I thought I would like cacao beans, so was sadly disappointed haha
Interesting! There is so much to do and learn in San Ignacio. I am a big chocolate fan so everything chocolaty here will be on my radar. How did you manage to hold green Iguana? Panty Rippas also seems to be tempting. I will love to try zip lining too.
Haha I didn’t hold the iguana for long…I ended up dropping him! I felt bad, but he was creeping pretty close to my head
I had no idea zip lining was a thing there, but I bet it was awesome! I did the ATM Cave tour when I was there, which was super cool. And I love your face with the iguana hahah
Yeah zip lining was amazing there! I’ve heard great things about the ATM cave, so if I’m ever back, I’ll have to check it out 🙂
OMG this seems like the perfect vacation for me. So relieved to finally see something adventurous and fun besides boring old museums haha. Cave tubing looks like so much fun!! Your face with the Iguana is hilarious! Looks like a blast!
Haha yeah, I go for the adventurous things! And you can tell how I feel about iguanas lol
San Ignacio has so much to do! The caves and zip lining excite me. I am terrified of iguanas and you are really brave to actually hold it. The Mayan ruins is another thing that really fascinates me. The ruins are a great source to connect to this intriguing culture.
It really does have a ton to do! Hope you
Enjoy whenever you get a chance to visit 🙂
haha.. I don’t think I would have dared to hold the Iguana in my hand. Zipline in the greens, cave tubing and the food – reason enough for me to make a trip to San Ignacio. Of course, the farmers market for photography.
Belize looks awesome for a fun holiday. I really like that Mayan ruin. It looks like there was no shortage of activities there. Panty rippa?
Definitely no shortage of activities! And yes panty rippa/ panty ripper – they really like their rum drinks there 🙂
OMG! This looks so much fun! I would love to do this Chocolate thing over there. also it made me laugh seeing you scared while holding the creature! too much fun! glad to know that you had a great time! Cheers.
Thanks Sophie! I guess it turns out I’m not much of an iguana person…but I’ll try anything once haha
Total fun and worth the visit!
Loved the expression on your face with the chameleon. 😀
I too am keen on the chocolate activity.
Yes definitely! The chocolate was a ton of fun 🙂
Great expression with the iguana… he he…
Amazing place wiith so many different types of attractions. I lke places that combine both hertage and nature…
Like the dreamy effect on the waterfall…
Yes, I think the heritage/ nature combo was one of the reasons I enjoy San Ignacio so much!
Your story made me look even more forward to my upcoming trip to Belize! Learning to cook the local cuisine and drinking spiced chocolate… so yummy! I’ve never done cave tubing before so that’s definitely high on my list of things to do as well.
I can’t wait for our trip to Belize after this post! What was the waterfall in the first photo? And how was the mosquito situation?
You can see small waterfalls on day trips from San Ignacio. There were definitely a lot of mosquitos, I basically bathed in bug spray every day lol
Your adventures sound amazing! Did you book a tour for the iguana, Mayan ruins, and chocolate visits or just go on your own?
We took public transportation to the Mayan ruins (very easy- the bus driver even told us where to get off).
For the iguanas and chocolate, we were able to just walk to each location from where we were staying in San Ignacio and then set it up there. The chocolate was a very last minute decision, and so easy to schedule!