When I first thought of visiting Belize, I pictured a mostly tropical country of beaches and palm trees. While that’s somewhat true, there are a lot of interesting things to see in the country. The tours I ended up on took me to ancient ruins in the jungle and cave tubing in Belize through an extensive cave system in the interior of the country.
It was a great mix of adventure and relaxing. I climbed quite a few temples and explored the ruins, went on adventurous tours like this one and ended the week on Caye Caulker, an island off the coast near Belize City. But not before taking a flight over the famous Blue Hole.
Getting There
San Ignacio, Belize is a town just near the Belize-Guatemala border and a popular place for tours. We had previously been in Flores, Guatemala (to take a tour to Tikal) as Flores is only about two hours from San Ignacio.
Our group went across the Guatemalan border a little late and the only tour we were able to do for the afternoon was cave tubing in Belize. There are different cave tours you can choose from or tours to ruins that are relatively close by.
We went to the Nohoch Che’en Caves which is about an hour east of San Ignacio. It’s part of the largest cave system in Central America and is along the Cave Branch River which is an archeological preserve. There are about 19 limestone caves in the area that the river flows through. Other popular tours are the ATM cave (Actun Tunichil Muknal) and the Crystal Cave.
📍 Address: 37 Miles George Price Highway
Tours
Since I was on a tour, we got picked up from our hotel and driven to the caves. Our tour also included a lunch before cave tubing and there’s a large grassy area near the entrance with picnic tables. Lunch consisted of chicken, rice, coleslaw and non-alcoholic rum punch. Apparently the tour I was on was no longer able to serve alcohol due to the likely over consumption of some previous tour goers.
If you aren’t on a larger tour, you can opt for a half-day tour but they can sell out. Cave tubing in Belize is a pretty popular thing to do in this area.
When you’re all set to start, you’ll be outfitted with a life jacket, helmet and a tube. Green tubes are if you want to paddle on your own through the caves. Blue tubes had a head rest and were for being tied together with the guide so you all float together. Normally, I would have gone for green but I wanted to be able to take pictures and wouldn’t have been able to do both if I had to paddle myself at the same time.
Cave Entrances
To get to the cave entrances, you’ll be walking through the jungle in your water shoes while carrying your tube. It’s a pretty decent walk, about 30 minutes, but it’s along mostly flat paths. I found it kind of pretty and at some point, you’ll cross through the river that you will later tube down.
There are actually two different caves that you can float through at this section but for some reason, our guide told us that most people start at the first cave and don’t end up walking further to the second one. It was only about a 10-minute walk further to the second, so to me it was a no-brainer to do both of them.
The second cave entrance is down a set of stairs into a beautiful blue hole. But you can also cliff jump in from a spot that isn’t too high. There were two 70-year old men in our group that did it and me haha.
Cave Tubing in Belize
Once you enter the caves, they are pitch black. At times, they’ll have the group turn off their headlights to see just how dark it is. But otherwise, you’ll have the light on your helmet to see where the cave walls and stalactites are.
The second cave also had an opportunity to do a cliff jump. If you aren’t jumping, you stay in your tubes and you don’t get to see what’s back in the cave. One of the 70-year olds was going so I wasn’t about to be left behind.
Our group stopped by some stalactite-looking waterfalls that they have you climb up and over if you’re doing the cliff jump. Then you have to walk through the cave over slippery rocks to an overhang. The wild part is how crystal clear the water is and at the bottom is large boulders that look like they are right near the surface. It makes it nearly impossible to gauge when you’ll hit the water and how close or far the rocks are so it’s definitely scarier than the first jump.
After the second cave, you’ll be doing a lazy river float out in the open. It’s super peaceful and a pretty decent amount of time out in the sun until you get to the end. The walk back isn’t as long as it’s in a different location than the start of it, so it’s not too bad.
What to Wear + Bring
You can either wear or bring your swimsuit with you. Right next to the parking lot are restrooms that you can change into if you want to bring your suit and change into dry clothes later.
The only thing you’ll really need for the cave tubing is a swimsuit on and water shoes. If you don’t have water shoes, there are stalls at the entrance that have crocs and water shoes for rent. You can rent them for a couple dollars and you return them afterwards. I paid $3 for some pink crocs.
I ended up bringing a waterproof bag so I could have my camera on me and I could also throw my sunglasses in there. You’ll want to apply sunscreen before as well and leave anything else behind. While you’ll be in the caves for a lot of the time, you will be out in the sunlight towards the end and between caves.
- Swimsuit
- A change of clothes
- Water shoes
- Sunscreen/bug spray
- Waterproof phone case
Other Nearby Tours
- Tikal National Park Day Trip to Guatemala
- Actun Tunichil Muknal aka The ATM Cave
- Xunantunich Mayan Ruins + Cave Tubing
- ATV and Waterfall Excursion
- Cave Tubing + Ziplining
- Caracol Mayan Ruins
- Barton Creek Cave Canoeing
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