Belize: Immerse yourself in this hidden paradise

Belize likes to describe itself as the planet’s “greatest open-air natural history museum” – and it’s no idle boast, says Julian Evans in Condé Nast Traveller. The Central American nation possesses an extraordinary range of landscapes and natural habitats – from tropical pine and broad-leaf forests to riverine and grassland savannahs, inland and coastal lagoons, and even the world’s second largest barrier reef – and yet it’s very small (scarcely twice the size of Yorkshire), easy to navigate and conveniently scattered with luxurious lodges and resorts.

Culturally, too, it’s both “highly eccentric” and reassuringly “homely” – a Caribbean nation unusually proud of its “knee-socks-and-long-shorts British colonial past”. Occupied in the 17th century by British buccaneers and finally annexed as British Honduras in 1787, Belize evolved into “that rarest of creatures in Central America: a non-violent polity”. Its villages are like neat little slices of suburban Britain, with roadsidecafés serving a Lancastrian delicacy – cow-heel soup. Still, any sense of nostalgia they induce is banished by tourist lodges such as Blancaneaux, with its “almost surreal
perfection of style”. Created by the film director Francis Ford Coppola, its riverside gardens are a “nirvana”, while its rainforest setting is so remote that the night sky above it seems to “snow a
heaven full of stars”.

No visitor should miss the ancient Mayan city of Lamanai – one of the most impressive in Central America – or the nearby Lamanai Outpost Lodge, where “eagle-eyed” guides will take you out into the jungle to look for rare animals, including jaguars, crocodiles and a host of spectacular birds. As for the coast, some parts – notably the island of Ambergris Caye – are “glamorised” and rather “brazen”; but even there, a few resorts are close to perfection – including Matachica, with its white sand, sparkling water and colourful seaside casitas.

The Ultimate Travel Company offers a 10-night itinerary
in Belize from £2,075, incl. flights. Contact: 020-7386 4646 theultimatetravelcompany.co.uk ·