🇧🇿 Belize City, Belize — Cruise Port Guide
Belize's gritty, characterful old capital is the gateway to a country-sized adventure playground: jungle rivers threading through caves, jade-hoarding Maya temples, and the longest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere shimmering just offshore.
Updated September 2026
Quick facts
Getting ashore
When to visit Belize City
The dry season runs roughly February through May, with late fall through spring the most comfortable cruising window. Hurricane season spans June to November, peaking August-October, when heavy rain or swells can cancel tendering.
Getting back to the ship on time
Back-aboard risk is real here: tender queues can stretch long on multi-ship days, and top excursions like cave tubing, Altun Ha, and reef snorkeling are 4-5 hour round trips an hour or more from the pier. Book through the ship or a punctual operator and build in a generous buffer before last tender.
All-aboard is ship's time — check it in the daily programme, and set your watch to it.
Things to do in Belize City
Cave tubing at Nohoch Che'en Caves Branch
Float on an inner tube down a jungle river through a dramatic limestone cave system about an hour inland — Belize's signature cruise excursion.
Altun Ha Maya ruins
Climb the Temple of the Masonry Altars at this compact Maya city where the famous jade head of the sun god was unearthed, about an hour's drive from port.
Snorkel the Barrier Reef at Goff's Caye
A 30-minute boat ride reaches this postcard sand islet perched right on the Belize Barrier Reef, with guided snorkeling over coral gardens.
The Belize Zoo
Meet jaguars, tapirs, and toucans at this acclaimed sanctuary for native rescued wildlife set in natural forest along the Western Highway.
Old Belize & Cucumber Beach
A quick-ride combo of cultural museum, man-made beach, and waterslide just outside the city — the closest beach fix to the port.
Museum of Belize
Housed in a former colonial prison near the Fort George district, this small museum covers Maya artifacts, colonial history, and the 1961 hurricane.
What to eat
- Rice and beans with stew chicken
- Fry jacks
- Conch fritters
- Ceviche
- Cow foot soup
Weather by month
Best time to visit: Feb–May (dry season)
| Month | High | Low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 82° | 69° | 5.4" |
| Feb | 83° | 70° | 2.4" |
| Mar | 85° | 72° | 1.7" |
| Apr | 87° | 75° | 2.2" |
| May | 88° | 77° | 4.3" |
| Jun | 88° | 77° | 7.8" |
| Jul | 88° | 76° | 6.4" |
| Aug | 88° | 76° | 6.7" |
| Sep | 88° | 76° | 9.6" |
| Oct | 86° | 74° | 12" |
| Nov | 84° | 72° | 8.9" |
| Dec | 82° | 70° | 7.2" |
A little history
Belize is the only Central American nation with English as its official language, a legacy of its past as the colony of British Honduras, which gained full independence in 1981.
Belize City grew from a 17th-century settlement of British Baymen log-cutters and enslaved Africans, whose descendants shaped the Kriol culture and language heard on its streets today.
Hurricane Hattie devastated Belize City in 1961, prompting the government to move the capital inland to the planned city of Belmopan in 1970.
The Belize Barrier Reef, the largest reef system in the Western Hemisphere, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996, and Altun Ha yielded the carved jade head of the sun god Kinich Ahau, a national treasure depicted on Belizean banknotes.