Belize is the only English-speaking country in Central America, and it packs a barrier reef, dense jungle and Maya ruins into a country smaller than Wales.
Belize is bordered by Mexico to the north, Guatemala to the west, and the Caribbean to the east. It is small, smaller than Wales, and it manages to fit a world-class reef, thick jungle and Maya ruins into that space.
The reef
The Belize Barrier Reef is the headline. It is the largest reef in the northern hemisphere and the second largest in the world after Australia’s, running the length of the coast from the Mexican border down towards Honduras. Diving and snorkelling is the main industry here, over the reef itself, the offshore atolls and a few hundred sand cays. You can share the water with something like 500 species of fish, hard and soft corals, and the usual cast of rays and turtles.
What makes it good is how few people live along it. The coast is thinly populated compared with most reefs, so the water stays clear and the colour is startling. The reef spent nearly a decade, from 2009 to 2018, on UNESCO’s list of World Heritage sites in danger, mostly over oil exploration and mangrove clearing. Belize banned offshore oil drilling in its waters in 2017, and the reef came off the danger list in 2018, which is a rare piece of good news in the genre.
The beaches and cayes
Like most of the Caribbean, the beaches are a draw, and the pale coral sand gives the shoreline its own colour. The mangrove cayes off the coast are the place to do nothing in a hammock. The accommodation out there is rarely fancy, but that is part of the point. If you want a marble lobby, go somewhere else.
For anyone who cannot sit still there is kayaking, windsurfing, kitesurfing and fishing, and inland there is the jungle.
The interior
Inland, Belize turns green and close. Under the rainforest canopy it goes quiet and a little eerie, the opposite of the open glare of the coast. There are birds in absurd numbers, waterfalls, and animals coming down to the water, and if you watch the ground you start to read tracks. Maya sites are scattered through the forest too: Caracol, Xunantunich and Lamanai, and the Guatemalan giant, Tikal, an easy crossing away over the western border.
Key facts
- Capital: Belmopan; the largest town is Belize City
- Language: English, the only English-speaking country in Central America
- Currency: Belize dollar (BZD), pegged at 2 to 1 against the US dollar
- Best time to visit: the dry season, roughly February to May
- The reef: largest in the northern hemisphere; off UNESCO’s danger list since 2018
First written in 2005, updated 2026.