North Side Versus South Side, Ambergris Caye

When it comes to your destination wedding or family vacation, whether you are “North” or “South” is a much bigger component than you might think!

I had a very brief conversation with a travel agent yesterday about Belize. She was looking for a place for her clients, and i quickly ran down some of the incredible highlights of the mainland and the coastline.  In a few minutes she felt she had the information that she needed to proceed with offering belize to her clients, but then i had to beg a pause from her, as i requested a bit more information from her clients.  Determining the winner in a Mainland Vacation versus Island Vacation is often readily made by a client, but alas, such an easy victory cannot be claimed for either the North Side or the South Side of La Isla Bonita.   Ambergris Caye is divided, just to the north of  San Pedro Town, by a channel.  In 2006 a bridge was built to span this channel.

While Ambergris Caye is about 38 miles long and skinny as a sand bar, it’s really only truly populated on about 15 miles of it.  La Isla Bonita is very clearly defined in terms of “North of Town” or “South of Town”, roughly translated into “north of the bridge” or “south of the bridge”.  There is also “In Town”, but that has no baring on this blog.  While this division has implications on everything from real estate prices to politics to the price of a beer, this blog is about only one factor: Vacations and Destination Weddings in San Pedro, Belize.   And for the purposes of your vacation/wedding, “In Town” isnt significantly different than “South of Town”

The complexities of a family vacation or wedding are really, well, complex.  Theoretically, you should run through a checklist about what is most important to you, and then, like focusing a camera lens, the perfect location materializes because the answers for the north side and the south side become self evident.

For the purposes of this wedding and vacation blog, I define the geography as follows:

• South – From the bridge to about 2 miles south of town, which is where the paved road ends.
• North – Anything North of the bridge
• South-South -anything past where the paved road ends, about 2 miles south of town.
• North-North – About mile 6 through 10 north of the bridge
• “North  North North, way up north” – Mile 12 or so on up to Mexico
• In Town – From the bridge south to about Exotic Caye/Roadkill.
• Mainland – while there are many variables on the mainland as well, generally speaking all areas are comparable to each other since they are all connected by roads.

Factors to Consider
Nightly Room Rate:
There are properties for every budget on both the north and south side of the island, as well as In Town.

Type of Accommodation:
All quality and type of accommodation are found on both the north and south sides.  There might only be 1 or 2 $80 usd per night property on the north side, versus several options south of the bridge.

Beaches:
Since we are so fortunate to have the words largest living barrier reef running our entire coastline, we have a lot of turtle grass, which is an essential component of the reef.  Therefore, not all properties, either north or south, have great beaches.  However, there are a few that have some lovely beaches both north and south.  The beach itself is not really a factor between north and south, as much as it is which property you prefer.

Ground Transportation: There are several ways to get around Ambergris Caye (aka San Pedro), but where you are on the island has a major impact on all decisions.  If you want to party like rockstars in the dance clubs in town until 2 am, then whether you are north or south will determine what time you turn into a pumpkin.  Similarly, the cost to travel north versus south is very different, therefore the transporting of goods and services is reflected is the price – expect to pay a surcharge or fee for everything delivered north.  If you are planning a destination wedding in Belize, then tables, chairs, musicians, everything – will have a fee associated with going north.

Golf Cart

• South – Golf Carts can run freely to any part of the island south of the bridge. Deliveries and services are often on golf cart and included in most delivery charges.
• South-South- there will often be a surcharge to go farther south as the dirt road can be difficult
• North – Golf Carts pay $5 usd round trip to cross the few hundred feet of barely held together steel.  The road is not paved, and due to the bridge, it is not as often grated as the road South-south. For this reason, it is often a very bumpy and uncomfortable golf cart ride.  The road is not lit, so after dark, it can be rather unsafe.
• North – North – Golf Cart rental companies will not allow their carts to go farther than 5 miles north of the bridge, so there is no golf cart or, for all intents and purposes, no ground transportation beyond this point

Ground Taxi – taxi’s are everywhere.  They are mostly mini-vans, however a few small cars have started running around as taxis.  There is a fee chart, in Belize dollars, that is required in each taxi.  Make sure they are referring to that when they quote you pricing.  Prices are quoted per cab, not by the passenger.

• South – any and all taxis will freely run from the bridge south.  Price is anywhere from $5 bzd to $20 bzd
• South-South- taxi’s will go to the very tip of the island, however, late at night they will charge a surcharge.  Minimally, expect to pay $20 bzd, but often it might be a bit more to go wicked far south
• North – There’s a $20 bzd surcharge just to cross the bridge, and then it’s some number more for the ride.  It’s $60 bzd to go 5 miles north.
• North- North – No ground taxi service

Water Taxi – thanks to John McAfee putting Island Express out of business by price gouging then raising their prices once they’d accomplished that, there is only one water taxi company.  It runs on regular intervals, however, those intervals change fairly often.  At the moment, they run every hour or so, with the last water taxi runs north at 1030pm.

• South – At the moment, the water taxi does not run south at all.  It used to, and it was lovely. boo.
• South – South- nope, no water taxi service
• In Town – the water taxi leaves from Amigos Dock and heads north.  If you want to water Taxi to Wayo’s or Wet Willy’s, knock your socks off.  I’m not sure the rate, but it’s probably around $5 bzd one way
• North – They just raised the prices, and frankly, i’m a bit confused, but i paid $12 bzd one way to 5 miles north this weekend.  Then inexplicably,  i paid $10 bzd on the way back.
• North – North – you have to call to make sure they come far enough up, but they will come get you up to about 10 miles north or so.

Grocery Store: If you are on a family vacation, this will might be a consideration for you.  If you are planning a destination wedding and will have guests, this mustbe a consideration for you.  Your guests will have all sorts of different budgets, so the availability of non-restaurant food may be a big deal.

• South – every 20 feet you’ll find a store. DO NOT go into Island SuperMarket, it’s ridiculously priced.
• South-South – there is a small but very well stocked tienda (small grocery store) at mile 2.5
• North – there is a well stocked, reasonably priced grocery just across the bridge
• North – North – there is a really awesome grocery, Mata Grande, at mile 5 or so.  There really isnt much that isnt ‘tourist priced’ aside from those two in that span, so unless you have cart, groceries are a challenge for you.  Mata Grande does do provisioning and delivery, so if you want to take a nice walk to the store, pick out all your items, they will deliver them to your accommodation.

What other factors would be of interest to you? Email me and i’ll add them to this list! Lara@romantictravelbelize.com