Belize

Belize is a small country on the Caribbean coast of Central America, at the south-eastern edge of the Yucatán Peninsula. Offshore lies the Belize Barrier Reef, its cayes and atolls a UNESCO World Heritage site. Divers and snorkellers explore the Hol Chan Marine Reserve, close to the beaches of San Pedro on Ambergris Caye, and further out the Great Blue Hole is a dive site. In the south, the Placencia peninsula has a long sandy beach.

Inland, Cayo District offers rainforest, rivers and waterfalls, the pine-covered highlands of the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve and cave tubing through river caves. Near San Ignacio, the temples and plazas of Xunantunich stand above the Mopan River, and Caracol lies in the Chiquibul forest. Birds and howler monkeys fill the trees, manatees and, in season, whale sharks are sometimes seen from boats, and the Cockscomb Basin reserve protects jaguar habitat.

At the table: rice and beans with stewed chicken, fresh seafood, lobster in season, and fry jacks (fried dough) at breakfast; the south grows cacao for chocolate, and sugar cane becomes rum. English is the official language. The climate is tropical: the drier season runs roughly from late November to May, rains come later in the year, and travel works all year round. It suits a reef-and-rainforest trip, divers, couples and families.