3 Days in Ambergris Caye with Kids

Seventeen years ago, Celine and I visited Belize as part of a trip through Central America. On that trip we visited Caye Caulker and loved it, so on our return visit to Belize we wanted to try visiting Ambergris Caye with kids. We had a great time on our three day family trip to Ambergris Caye, although it was arguably one day too long.

Here’s what we got up to on our family trip to Ambergris Caye. Keep reading after our itinerary for tips on where to stay, how to get around and our favorite kid-friendly restaurants.

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Day 1 in Ambergris Caye with Kids

Full Day Ambergris Caye Snorkeling Tour

We had just finished spending five days in the jungle in San Ignacio with kids, so we were excited to get to the Ambergris Caye, a beautiful Caribbean island!

The thing we loved most about our first trip to Belize was snorkeling the incredible barrier reef. We were so excited to go snorkeling on Ambergris Caye with our kids that we did it on our very first day. We booked a full day snorkeling tour which included visits to all of Ambergris Caye’s top snorkeling spots.

We arrived at our snorkeling tour at 8 AM in order to sign our waivers and get outfitted with our snorkel gear. We’ve done a lot of snorkeling tours with our kids and I was impressed with how much effort they put into making sure everyone had the perfect sized gear, including smaller gear for our kids.

Hol Chan Marine Reserve

We were all geared up and on our snorkeling tour boat by 8:45 AM and we were racing towards Hol Chan Marine Reserve; the most famous snorkeling spot in Belize.

After checking in with the park rangers we were ready to start snorkeling at Hol Chan Marine Reserve. Our family and two other people were assigned to one guide, who led us through the marine reserve.

We had a bit of a rough start to our snorkeling tour. Our daughter was nervous about jellyfish (having been recently stung elsewhere in the world), and our son was having trouble with his fin.

Our guide was patient and helpful with both of our kids and ended up towing them around the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. He attached a large orange lifebuoy with a rope to his waist allowing them to simply hold on and enjoy the ride. What an amazing guide!

Given how many people were in the water snorkeling, the coral is still surprisingly healthy in the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. This coral is home to a wide variety of tropical fish, who were on full display during this portion of our snorkeling tour.

Throughout our 45 minutes of snorkeling, our guide would dive down and point out new and exciting fish and types of coral. He’d then surface and tell us what he just pointed out.

To be honest, there were so many different types of fish and coral that there’s no possible way I could remember all of it. Trust me when I say, there’s an abundance of tropical fish species on display at the Hol Chan Marine Reserve!

A few highlights include the large schools of snapper fish, as well as watching the Dori fish (from Little Nemo) darting in and out of coral plants. The biggest thrill from our first stop snorkeling in the Hol Chan Marine Reserve was the sea turtles!

We were beyond excited to snorkel past a full grown sea turtle, gracefully eating sea grass along the bottom of the shallow ocean. It was even more exciting when it swam to the surface for air, just mere feet away! Less than a minute later we swam past a baby turtle; it was so cute!!

Shark and Ray Alley

The second stop on our snorkeling tour in Hol Chan Marine Reserve was Shark and Ray Alley. This exciting stop was an opportunity to snorkel with nurse sharks and large stingrays!

The excitement began before we even got to enter the water as two massive eagle rays swam right next to our boat!

Shark and Ray Alley is a much shorter snorkel than the first stop. Basically, we all got in the water, then our tour guides chummed the water. Before long, the chum attracted a school of nurse sharks which swam super close all around us.

While it seems super scary to swim with feeding sharks, it should be known that nurse sharks are well known for being safe for humans to swim with. It’s very rare for a nurse shark to attack, and often only does so if the human does something stupid like trying to touch it.

As exciting as swimming with the nurse sharks was, they were soon followed by a fever of large southern stingrays. These stingrays are especially exciting to snorkel with due to their enormous size, which can be as much as five feet wide!

The combination of swimming with nurse sharks and stingrays at the same time is such a cool experience. It’s one your kids will not soon forget!

Coral Gardens

Our third and final water-based stop on our Ambergris Caye snorkeling tour was the Coral Gardens. The feature attraction at Coral Gardens is not actually coral, but sea turtles!

Throughout this snorkeling tour in Hol Chan Marine Reserve, Celine and I each teamed up with one of our kids. On this stop, Celine went with our daughter and I went with our son.

For whatever reason, our son wasn’t enjoying the Coral Gardens and wanted to stay close to the boat. Perhaps he wasn’t prepared to see more nurse sharks and stingrays? Regardless of the reason, we didn’t want to force him to do something he wasn’t comfortable with.

Celine and our daughter, on the other hand, had incredible success! They found a large sea turtle and had him all to themselves for nearly ten minutes! After leaving the first turtle, they kept encountering more and more turtles. In total, they swam with six different turtles at the Coral Gardens!

Manatees

After the Hol Chan Marine Reserve snorkeling was complete, we started towards Caye Caulker. Before landing, our boat stopped at a sinkhole where manatees are known to be.

Although we stayed for a while, a manatee never materialized. That’s just the way it goes with nature sometimes, but you gotta try!

Caye Caulker

We had a 2.5 hour break on Caye Caulker, which included a traditional Belizean lunch at a seaside restaurant. The lunch was delicious, then we went exploring the island.

It was fun being back on Caye Caulker. Celine and I wanted to go visit the Treetops Hotel, where we stayed all those years ago. We had such good memories there.

Then we just randomly explored the charming streets of this fun, laid-back island. It’s so much more chill than Ambergris Caye with sandy streets with only occasional golf carts driving by.

It was a typical sunny and warm day in February, so we treated ourselves to an iced coffee and grabbed some ice cream for the kids.

Tarpon Cove

Back on the boat, our snorkeling tour continued on the opposite side of Caye Caulker, when we stopped at Tarpon Cove. There’s a spot here where large Tarpon fish congregate in the brackish water. A popular activity in Caye Caulker is to feed the Tarpon fish.

Upon dropping anchor, there were lots of these 3-foot long fish swimming near our boat. We each took turns feeding the tarpon fish. We’d dangle a sardine from our fingers and hold our hand about a foot above the water. Before long, a tarpon fish will jump dramatically out the water and grab the sardine from your hand! It’s quite a thrill!!

Although it’s billed as harmless, when it was our son’s turn, the tarpon put its entire mouth around his hand. His hand scratched something sharp inside the fish’s mouth, perhaps the fish’s gills? He ended up with a few scratches; it was nothing serious, but it did draw a little blood.

Stingray Beach

The final stop on our snorkeling tour was Stingray Beach on Caye Caulker. There are two attractions here… the first was looking into a mangrove forest just offshore for seahorses. They are tiny, but our guide pointed out two of them, which was pretty cool!

The final activity was feeding stingrays on Stingray Beach. Here you stand in the shallow water holding a fish in your hand. The large southern stingrays slowly approach and eat the fish from your hand.

Celine and I didn’t do it, but the kids thought it was a thrill. Our daughter especially liked touching the stingrays, which she described as silky smooth.

Final Thoughts: Hol Chan Snorkeling Tour

There’s no question that the experience we had on our Ambergris Caye snorkeling tour was amazing. We saw an impressive selection of tropical fish, coral, sharks, stingrays and more!

Our biggest complaint about the snorkeling tours on the islands in Belize, is the practice of feeding wildlife to entertain tourists. They did it 17 years ago, and are still doing it today.

It’s a tough balance… In general we are against feeding wildlife for human entertainment, but the trade-off is that is that it presents incredible educational opportunities for kids. We didn’t love the feeding of wildlife, but our kids had an incredible time.

Day 2 in Ambergris Caye with Kids

Secret Beach

Despite being a tropical island in the Caribbean Sea, Ambergris Caye is not a family-friendly beach destination. There are very few public beaches on Ambergris Caye, the most notable one being Secret Beach.

A 30-minute golf cart drive north of the bridge, Secret Beach is on the west side of the island, in a small, but growing community. The water just offshore of Secret Beach is the stuff of tropical postcards… shallow, calm, brilliant turquoise water as far as the eye can see. It’s so beautiful!

It’s a shame how built-up it has become. There is virtually no space on the sand for anyone to put down a beach blanket and enjoy a day on the beach. 99% of the beachfront is dominated by the restaurants and beach clubs who operate there. Not only is all the sand taken up by tables, chairs and beach chairs, but they extend into the water as well.

This setup may work well for adults who want a lively beach club atmosphere. But for families looking for space to spread out and relax, Secret Beach was disappointing.

The only saving grace for Secret Beach is that there is a giant Wibit just offshore for kids to play on. The Secret Beach Waterpark Bar & Grill operates the Wibit, which is a floating inflatable jungle gym over the water. For a small hourly fee, kids (and adults) can play on the Wibit to their hearts content.

We paid for an hour on the Wibit for our kids, and the restaurant let us sit on the beach chairs to watch them. It was a very hot, sunny day so we treated ourselves to some iced coffees while we watched.

San Pedro Oceanfront Walk – Barrier Reef Drive (Front Street)

In the afternoon, we drove our golf cart to the northern edge of San Pedro. We parked it and began a fun family walk along the ocean on the east side of San Pedro. There’s a walkway that follows the coastline called Barrier Reef Drive (also known as Front Street by locals).

It was a very windy afternoon, so it was a perfect outing for our family. We slowly meandered south on Front Street, enjoying watching the palm trees sway in the wind with the beautiful Caribbean Sea on our left.

Even though all we did was walk, it was a very enjoyable thing to do on Ambergris Caye with kids. There’s no shortage of things to see on this fun family walk.

There are all sorts of seabirds overhead, from pelicans to frigate birds. Along the way you’ll pass souvenir stalls, restaurants, bars, shops and tour operators and other people out enjoying the same walk. It’s a perfect slice of island life and a great way to spend an afternoon on Ambergris Caye with kids.

Day 3 on Ambergris Caye with Kids

Secret Beach

Our original plan for our third day in Ambergris Caye with kids was to go on another snorkeling tour, but the wind was so strong that we didn’t want to go out on the open water. So, for a lack of anything better to do, we simply went back to Secret Beach and let the kids play on the Wibit again.

They love playing on Wibits and thankfully the wind was not as strong on that side of the island. Today, there were many more kids on the Wibit, and it was a nice opportunity for them to play with other kids (and not just each other).

Marco Gonzalez Archaeological Reserve

After lunch, we hopped in our golf cart and headed south of San Pedro for the first time. Our destination was about 30 minutes south of town: the Marco Gonzalez Archaeological Reserve.

This is an old Maya archeological site. It was hard to tell what was there… I had heard there aren’t any ruins, but maybe some pottery. In either case, we heard it was an excellent birding location, and we all love looking for birds, so we felt it was a better option than just spending the afternoon at our vacation rental swimming pool.

The drive down to Marco Gonzalez Archaeological Reserve was fun. We got to see a whole other side of the island; it seems like it’s quieter south of town with many nice condo complexes.

The Marco Gonzalez Archaeological Reserve was not well marked, but we were able to find it. To get to the site, you need to walk on a short, elevated wooden boardwalk through a dense forest. Sadly, the wooden boardwalk was in such disrepair, we felt it wasn’t safe to continue, and we turned back.

We did see several beautiful white egrets in the area, so the trip wasn’t a complete waste of time.

How to Get Around Ambergris Caye with Kids

Virtually every visitor to Ambergris Caye rents a golf cart to get around during their stay on the island. The distances on the island are large and aside from the oceanside Front Street, the streets are not easy or enjoyable to walk on, so having a golf cart is practically a must.

We rented a 4-seater golf cart for our three days on Ambergris Caye with kids. Celine and the kids would take turns on who got shotgun and who sat in the rear-facing back seats. The roads on Ambergris Caye have a significant number of speed bumps, so those sitting in the back need to be paying attention and holding on!

There isn’t a single dominant golf cart rental company on Ambergris Caye. I saw dozens of different names on the golf carts I saw on the road. We weren’t particularly happy with the quality of our golf cart, so I won’t recommend the specific company, but it’s easy to find an Ambergris Caye golf cart rental online.

Where to Stay on Ambergris Caye with Kids

The first half of our family trip to Belize, we stayed at the Sweet Songs Jungle Lodge with kids. We had to share a single room with two queen beds, so for our family trip to Ambergris Caye, we wanted a little more space.

When we were planning our family trip to Ambergris Caye, we looked for hotels with family-friendly room configurations and came up empty-handed. So, we went ahead and rented a 2-bedroom vacation rental one-minute north of the bridge. Our waterfront condo rental faced the lagoon and had bunk beds for the kids. We were happy to have the extra space and the ability to do laundry after spending nearly a week in the jungle.

We liked staying north of the bridge as it was significantly quieter and less crazy than in San Pedro. There are plenty of good restaurants in the area, and it’s close enough to town that you can easily go back in for meals or tours.

Browse family-friendly Ambergris Caye vacation rentals and hotels.

Where to Eat on Ambergris Caye with Kids

The Farmhouse Market & Café (Breakfast & Lunch)

On our first morning on Ambergris Caye we needed a breakfast place that was open early as we had an 8 AM start to our snorkeling tour. Thankfully the Farmhouse Market & Café, which was right across the street from our vacation rental, was open at 7:00!

We got there right at opening and they had our food on the table within 15 minutes. The kids each had bubble waffles (a fun variation on regular waffles), while Celine and I each had breakfast bagels. The food was excellent, as was the coffee. It was just the fuel we needed to get us through an excellent morning of snorkeling off Ambergris Caye!

Later on in our family trip to Ambergris Caye, we stopped at the Farmhouse Market for lunch. The kids ordered waffles again, while Celine and I split a turkey sandwich and a massive cinnamon bun. Eating lunch at the Farmhouse Market did not disappoint; it was every bit as good as our breakfast.

See Farmhouse Market on Google Maps

The Truck Stop (Dinner)

We had worked up a pretty healthy appetite after our full day snorkeling tour, so we decided to fill up with a family pizza feast. We had heard about the Truck Stop as a family-friendly place to eat in Ambergris Caye, and when we found out it had a pizza place we were in!

The Truck Stop is about a mile north of the bridge. It’s a fun collection of “food trucks” which operate out of old shipping containers. There are three food trucks to choose from at the Truck Stop: a pizza place, an Asian place and a Latino Fusion place.

We split two 12” pizzas from the pizza truck at the Truck Stop and both were excellent. Celine and our daughter split a delicious buffalo chicken pizza, while my son and I split an Island Pizza (with ham, pineapple and jalapeño).

We noticed the Latino Fusion truck was the most popular and we almost got tacos there, but ultimately decided to stick to our original plan of pizza.

On any given family trip, we usually let the kids pick their favorite restaurant to return to on our final night. For our family trip to Ambergris Caye, the kids chose the Truck Stop. We essentially repeated our first night’s order, with the exception of getting ice cream for dessert. Try the sour sop ice cream, it’s so good and refreshing on a hot day in Belize!

See the Truck Stop on Google Maps

303 Belize Bar & Grill (Dinner)

After a full day of traveling from San Ignacio to Ambergris Caye, we were looking for something easy for dinner. 303 Belize Bar & Grill had a kid-friendly menu and was just a few minutes away from our vacation rental by golf cart.

We loved the theme and setting of 303 Belize Bar & Grill! It’s a ski-themed restaurant which is over the water; an odd combination, but it works! We loved sitting at our oceanfront table and watching the sky slowly get dark as we enjoyed our meals.

The food was really good too; we all got some variation of bar food, which was perfect for the situation. Our 10-year old son got a big platter of cheesy fries, while our 12-year old enjoyed a steaming hot bowl of mac and cheese. Celine ordered a big plate of loaded fries, while I knocked back a big plate of beef nachos.

If you are looking for a kid-friendly restaurant in Ambergris Caye with an excellent setting, 303 Belize Bar & Grill is a great choice!

See 303 Belize Bar & Grill on Google Maps

El Buen Taco (Breakfast)

There’s a very popular taco shop just south of the bridge called El Buen Taco. We noticed it the first time we drove to our vacation rental and it was consistently busy each time we passed, so we decided to give it a try for breakfast.

We each ordered a bacon, egg and cheese breakfast burrito, and they were very good. They were big, tasty and affordable; a winning combination!

Note that El Buen Taco is open at 5 AM every day, making it an ideal San Pedro restaurant for anyone who has an early morning tour or departure.

See El Buen Taco on Google Maps

Tacos La Diosa (Dinner)

We noticed Tacos La Diosa on the day we came into San Pedro to walk along Front Street. We had parked our golf cart nearby and made note of the colorful taco restaurant. Later that day, we noticed it had very high customer ratings, so we went back for dinner.

We started with some guacamole with chorizo. It was so good, it barely lasted a few minutes!

The kids and I each ordered four al pastor tacos, which were very good. They had lots of pineapple on them, which made them especially sweet and juicy. Celine ordered the carnitas tacos, which ordinarily are guaranteed to be good. Unfortunately, she found her carnitas tacos to be a little on the bland side.

See Tacos La Diosa on Google Maps

Tres Cocos Waffles And Smokehouse

We wanted to keep trying new breakfast restaurants north of the bridge, but we are early risers, so we also needed to find one open by 7 AM. Thankfully Tres Cocos Waffles And Smokehouse fit both criteria and looked amazing!

Given they had “Waffles” in their name, we all couldn’t resist ordering some. Celine had an eggs benny waffle, while our daughter had pineapple waffles, our son had strawberry waffles and I had cinnamon waffles. They were all very different, yet we all really enjoyed what we ordered!

See Tres Cocos Waffles and Smokehouse on Google Maps

Final Thoughts – Ambergris Caye with Kids

Although it’s not the most kid-friendly destination in the world, we enjoyed our three days on Ambergris Caye with kids. The snorkeling is some of the best in the world and the tropical scenery is amazing. That said, due to the lack of any real beaches on Ambergris Caye, once we had done our snorkeling tour, we quickly ran out of things to do.

If you would like your children to experience some amazing snorkeling, it’s definitely worth a trip to Ambergris Caye with kids. I wouldn’t recommend three nights like we did though… two nights on Ambergris Caye would be enough to enjoy the snorkeling and perhaps a trip out to Secret Beach.