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It is so hard to choose cities to visit in a country you have never been to, and you just can’t get a real sense of a city until you visit yourself. I had driven through Hopkins a few times before and we decided to stay for a long weekend to get a better sense of what it is like, as we get many questions about the differences between Placencia and Hopkins.

General comparisons

In general, you will read that Hopkins is a “sleepier” village, more rustic, and perhaps tourist wise, a bit behind Placencia. Some travelers choose Belize because they want to have an authentic experience, and do not want to feel like they just went to another all inclusive resort. I believe the average tourist will not feel that either place is TOO touristy–I mean really, it is very hard to find a place that has NO traveler comforts unless you are going wayyyy off the beaten path. Both if you are looking for a lot of warm interactions with locals, where the experience IS the village, there are no chains, plenty of local excursions and restaurants, but it is still safe, manageable, and you can get by with English, then you are headed to the right places. I added in a few pretty pictures of Hopkins to enjoy 🙂 So, the comparison….

Hopkins

Hopkins has an interesting divide. After you drive the road in, if you go left, you head into a very authentic Central American village. You will see a few tourists riding bikes, but for the most part, you have all local owned businesses, a lot of very simple and rustic shack restaurants, parts of it look a bit rough, but you can safely navigate it. The roads are dirt and moderately hard to bike in places. The ride in is quite bumpy.

If you go right, you will see a bunch of signs that look pretty touristy–and you will quickly enter into a town where it is all tourists. However, this is a seriously cute little town, we were told it is called Hollywood Boulevard :). There are a bunch of really cute resorts on the beach–Jaguar Reef, Belizean Dreams, Hamanasi, Almond Beach. Any of these will make a traveler happy. Very first world. We stayed at Jaguar Reef – they had a nice clean beach, free bikes and kayaks, good restaurant on site, and a fun pool bar. I also realllllllly appreciated that the resorts banded together to keep the beach clean….in Placencia, we rake our beach, but many parts of the beach aren’t touched too often. This is annoying and aesthetically unpleasing when the seaweed comes in.

Closer to Excursions

One huge plus of Hopkins is that you are closer to the excursions. You are saving about 45 minutes of a drive to most of the inland excursions. If you are looking for a first world resort where you can easily hit the inland excursions, it might be the right choice for you.

Authentic Experience?

I would say that for MOST people–if they stayed IN town (taking a left) they might feel it was a bit rough looking with not a huge amount of village activities to do. So you get a more authentic experience on that side but you need to be ready for a town that is not geared for the average tourist. The “Hollywood” side of town – great restaurants including Barracuda’s, Chef Rob’s, and a cute shopping center that I’d kill for sometimes in Placencia. There was a very fun bar called Loggerheads that I recommend. BUT overall on that end of town, you might feel like you had a more tourist-contrived experience. The prices were all in American dollars which tells you a lot right there 🙂

Cons of Hopkins

The water was a bit muddier than Placencia and the bugs got me bad in Hopkins–but this is entirely unfair to say this is the norm, as it really just depends on luck sometimes. A consideration is that while Placencia has an airport a couple minutes from town, you have to fly into Dangriga and get a ride from there, which can be 20+ minutes, and there may be a charge for that, with a bumpy drive in. I am trying very hard not to be biased here….but Placencia is just a perfect mix of authentic and what you see on a Caribbean postcard. Everything is is one place (not separate sides of town for tourists). The village experience IS the experience here. There are too many good places to eat to name, and while we don’t have a super polished resort area in town, we have adorable guest houses and a unique Caribbean looking village that just works. While you are farther from the excursions, it makes up for it by the village experience you can have (just head out for an afternoon turned evening here and you will see what that means!!) And, you can drink the water in Placencia.

Overall, Hopkins has a more polished (tiny) resort village on one end/more authentic Central American village on the other end–where Placencia is a perfect mix of the two. Hopkins is closer to excursions; however, with that, there is more to do and experience in the village of Placencia. I’d say you may want to stop in Hopkins and do the excursions, then check out Placencia for a few days to have the village experience! 🙂

Placencia is extremely proud today–for the first time ever, PLACENCIA was chosen as the TOP BEACH DESTINATION of 2015, as voted by a large number of countries, at World Travel Awards!! Here is more details on the award….we were up against some stiff competition!https://www.worldtravelawards.com/award-mexico-and-central-americas-leading-beach-destination-2015

Let’s just take a moment to explore a few  reasons Placencia is awesome. Our beach has been picture perfect for weeks now, the weather has been spectacular, and Tutti Frutti opened back up today! Tranquilo also reopens this week! Here are a few pics from the last week or so, it has been amazingly beautiful.

The whole village is getting ready for high season. There is so much construction and updating going on, and we have been doing our share here at Caribbean Beach Cabanas. We took a little time off of having guests to do some updates, and here are the latest pictures of the upgrades we have made!

On a different note, another option when you come here that I wanted to plug is BB Yoga Flow. I love yoga, and going to a class is always better (for me anyway). I had heard about Agnes, and started attending her classes a couple weeks ago. The people in the class are awesome, Agnes is a GREAT teacher, and I love her little studio. From CBC, it is a short bike ride, just past Turtle Inn. Her classes are at 6 and 9am, and you can find both advanced and beginner classes. Here are a couple images I took–this is highly recommended when you come, she’ll make you never want to leave!

Another awesome recent find I want to share….we get a lot of athletic people here who want to do active things (note, on vacation I usually want to lay on the beach and be lazy. But, if you are the type who likes to hike and be active, listen up!) Dave and I drove to Cockscomb this past week and did the Tiger Falls hike. This was SO awesome. You’ll want to bring a small backpack with water, your bathing suit, a towel, and a change of clothes and shoes. You will hike about 4 miles to a FANTASTIC TOTALLY WORTH IT 2 waterfalls, where even with my fears of spiders and snakes, I jumped in and swam. It was just amazing and a must do for hikers. You will also see a breathtaking view of Victoria’s Peak, check out these pictures! Note–this hike was, for me, grueling. I was exhausted afterwards but also had that nice natural high. It was a lot of uphill hiking! You can really earn your drinks later in the day. I am not the only one who loved it….

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g291976-d300701-r166942344-Cockscomb_Basin_Wildlife_Preserve-Dangriga_Stann_Creek.html

For those of you on your way here soon, ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lots going on this week!!!Tonight at Tranquilo:

Live music Fri. July 17 @ Tranquillo with Los Estebanes

Blues, Folk, Jazz, Rock, Pop & more

The Best Place in Placencia to watch the sunset and to enjoy a sunset shot and a wonderful meal. Call 660-7263 for the free shuttle boat to pick you up. The sea-to-table and farm-to-table menu changes weekly. Check out Tranquilo’s facebook page for times, menu and pricing.

Rumfish–

The “RUMFISH SUMMER SPECIALS SERIES” is kicking off with an EARLY BIRD SPECIAL!

ALL MENU ITEMS 25% OFF BETWEEN 5-6:30 PM for any and all Placencia Locals & Residents (or anyone who mentions this post)! Begins today through Sunday!!!

Belize Ocean Club Shuttle times for the International Film Festival this weekend!

SHUTTLE TIMES FOR BELIZE FILM FESTIVAL BETWEEN PLACENCIA AND BELIZE OCEAN CLUB! Pick up point Scotia Bank!

Friday July 17th

Departing Hotel: 10am, 2pm, 4.30pm, 5.30 pm, 7pm, 8pm and 9pm

Departing Placencia: 10:30am, 2:30pm, 5:00pm, 6.00pm, 7:30pm, 8:30pm and 9:30pm

Saturday July 18th

Departing Hotel: 10am, 12pm, 2pm, 5pm, 7pm, 9pm and 11pm

Departing Placencia: 10:30am, 12:30pm, 2:30pm, 5:30pm, 7:30pm, 9:30pm, and 11:30pm

Sunday July 19th

Departing Hotel: 10am, 2pm, 5pm, 7pm, 9pm

Departing Placencia: 10:30am, 2:30pm, 5:30pm, 7:30pm, 9:30pm

Belize Ocean Club lineup this weekend:

Belize Film Festival 17 – 19 July.

Single movie ticket $10

Movie Pass $50 (buy via https://www.belizefilmfestival.com/)

Friday: Red Carpet Opening cermony 5.30pm – 10.30 pm $40

Friday: Afterparty 10.30pm – 2am $10

Saturday: MOVIE DAY cinema 10am – 11 pm

Saturday: Free beach screening of Awaken and Mad Dogs 7pm – 11pm

Sunday: award ceremony, dinner and entertainment $75 5.30 – 9.30

Un Wine’d at Los Porticos:

Un Wine’d is featuring a “Specialty Drink” & Appetizer today & tomorrow. “Very Superstitious” is a refreshing drink made with Arbor Mist Blackberry Merlot, Mango & Pineapple Nectar for $8.00/glass. Enjoy a platter of locally made hummus served with Ritz Chips for a special price of $5.00. You may also chose from the regular wine/beer & appetizer menu. Open 2 to 6 pm Thurs & Fri.

Saturday at Pickled Parrot:

Sat. July 18:

The bi-weekly Sat. jam @ The Pickled Parrot , WEBEJAMMIN’ (again), Jam hosted by HOT PAPAYA. Musicians welcome.

Starts around 6:00 PM.

A Placencia landmark and long time local favorite, the Pickled Parrot offers a cool, laid back Caribbean experience with a full bar, good food (killer burgers) great people and cool music. You haven’t been to Placencia if you haven’t been to the Parrot!!

Mariposa next Saturday:

July 25th Wine and Cheese tasting at Mariposa from 3:00-6:00 with mellow background music provided by Lost Reefers.. RSVP please 523-4474

Who says it is low season??? Not Placencia!

Tonight, Thursday night, July 9th:-All you can eat spaghetti at Flying Pig, 6pm, $15bz

-Rumfish-Live Music @ Rumfish y Vino with Steve Fasano. Blues, Rock, Folk, Pop, Jazz & more. From 7:00 to 9:00 PM. Reservations and info @ 523-3293

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rumfish-y-vino/121087497902121

-Turtle Inn–Indonesian Rijstaffel Dinner at Turtle Inn tonight.A tasting platter of the rich food culture from the island nation of Indonesia stretching from Sumatra to Timor. They serve 18 small servings on a “Lazy Susan” at BZ$64 per person. Call for reservations-523-3244

Tomorrow, Friday the 10th:

Sushi Lunch from Go Sushi–call 600 5498 to order, pick up at Eucalypto

https://www.facebook.com/gosushiBelize

-Un Wine’d Wine Shop, Los Porticos Villas– tasting plates and wine 2-6! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Un-Wined-Wine-Shop-at-Los-Porticos-Villas/100834830256472

-FREE Zumba 7-9 Tipsy Tuna with Hayley!

https://hayleyh.zumba.com/

-Paradise Resort-This Friday Night Starting at 7 PM, Paradise Resort Welcomes:

“PROYECTANDO Y CIRQUEANDO ANDO”!!!

New to Placencia from Italy, this Troupe will be Performing Their Circus Acts and Fire Dancing On Our Beachfront!!! Come Early and Enjoy Our $10 Menu Special of the Day ~ Our Homemade Deep-Fried Chicken Bites Served with Our Hand-Cut Fries and Coleslaw!!!

Don’t Forget Happy Hour Starts at 5 PM!!! $1 Off All Local Beer and Rum!!!

Saturday the 11th:

-Tranquilo-Pirate party! Costume contest, the Lost Reefers are playing, games, $20 pirate punch. 4pm-?

-Pickled Parrot-Live Music @ The Pickled Parrot with HOT PAPAYA. Placencia landmark and long time local favorite, the Pickled Parrot offers a cool, laid back Caribbean experience with a full bar, good food (killer burgers) great people and cool music.

NEXT WEEKEND…..

The Belize International Film Festival!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/BELIZE-INTERNATIONAL-FILM-FESTIVAL/99617944315

Friday-Red Carpet, movies and fun all weekend!

**all pics courtesy of the establishments listed 🙂

1.) Before you get here, while you are planning your fun, I just found out something interesting this week. BTB–Belize Tourism Board, which is the board who asks for your passport info, and who makes the magazines you see, and promotes tourism here, collects money with each hotel guest. Part of what they give back, is a FREE service to incoming guests…..they will send you a bunch of information to your home for FREE if you sign up here:

https://www.travelbelize.org/request-brochure

And, you can actually FOR FREE call them and ask them any questions you want (and enjoy the charming Belize accent!)…the only caveat is you get 10 minutes per call and then you have to call back 🙂 But, this is a really nice service if you have some exotic questions that you can’t find answers to! Here is the FREE number!

Toll free info–from the US–1-800-624-0686

These are the guys that came up with the cute logo for the country!

2.) I will try to be as nice as I can for #2 :)…..Guatemala is known for their coffee, right? I am not sure if this is something Belize is really known for. What I know is, there is coffee bags available at all the stores. I have tried all.of.them. Some are really expensive and some are cheap, but this has little to do with the taste. BIG TIP here…..I am noticing a lot of guests buy the Belize coffee in the green bag, and then leave almost the whole bag in their cabana when they leave.

The long break in blogs is due to friends’ visits, weddings, being BUSY here, and I have been in the US for a lot of the last couple months, leaving my husband Dave in paradise to work :). Thanks to his efforts, there have been a lot of great changes to our place, and many of them are going to be very exciting for upcoming guests!!One of the great changes….we just upgraded our wifi so that it is STRONG!! you will be able to get a strong signal throughout and even out past our property now–even in the water (not recommended :))! This is quite a feat in Belize, where you have to ship in everything you need 🙂 Dave was “excited” to learn all that programming 🙂

We also have two brand new bikes for guests to use! Two of them are old fashioned beach cruisers that have baskets for groceries, and the other two are great for longer journeys up the peninsula.

We purchased two huge inner tubes for using in the water…the type that you generally see on excursions. They allow you to really sit up and float in the sea (for those like me, who are a bit wary of creatures!)

I have been working on a ton of new art, and Dave built a large new welcome wall as guests enter the property. We are going to work hard to recycle bottles and make art out of them!

Thanks to Keith and Lacey’s wedding, we now have an arch to incorporate into the entrance….

We have redone our signs, both at the entrance to the main street and at the sidewalk….

We also LOVE the wood carvings that the locals make, so we will be adding a whole new family of animals to the landscaping! Including a lizard that I love!!

There will be even more improvements as we move forward…..we are so excited to make Caribbean Beach Cabanas the first micro resort that is walking distance to the village!!

The water has been GREAT…although rainy season is upon us :). Rainy season consists of night showers, short bursts, awesome skies, fun thunder at times….and a bit more muggy. Here are some recent totally undoctored pictures of the sea!!

The biggest change is that we are working on a large new unit in the back of the property! The walls are up and it is starting to look like a house! Our guests during this transition have been wonderful. We hope they all return to see the final product! The outside of the house will be done in July but the inside will take a bit longer of course. Here are some images from the back of the property, in chronological order!

In no particular order….these restaurants, excursions, and activities are the ones most consistently highly rated by guests as their best memories in Placencia, Belize!

(images are a mix of my own pictures and pictures from facebook and google!)

Restaurants:

Tranquilo…..takes the #1 spot right now. Between Geof’s hospitality, the beautiful sunsets, the great food, and the fun little boat ride, this is a very unique and vacation-ey way to spend an evening. Many of our guests go back multiple times!

https://www.facebook.com/TranquiloPlacenciaCaye

Rumfish–Always a crowd favorite with John and Pam being great hosts…..the food and the pre-made awesome drinks make everyone happy 🙂

https://www.rumfishyvino.com/

Secret Garden--the sleeper! Our recent guests have RAVED about how great their dinners have been and how much they have enjoyed the tropical garden setting.

https://www.secretgardenplacencia.com/secret_garden_placencia.html

Maya Bistro–When guests make it up to Maya Beach, they love the Maya Bistro…still considered one of the best!

https://www.mayabeachhotel.com/tag/bistro/

Turtle Inn–Mondays and Thursdays there is an Indonesian 16 course dinner for about $32 us…..our recent guests had their rehearsal dinner there on the beach. For an additional $25 us, Turtle Inn will set you up with a private table on the sea, with a private server and tiki torches…..awesome for a special event!

https://www.coppolaresorts.com/turtleinn/food-drink/the-mare-restaurant

De’tatch–another crowd favorite. Their atmosphere for breakfast, and their awesome fish, make this pretty much a multiple outing restaurant for most guests.

https://www.seasprayhotel.com/detatch_cafe.html

Tiger–Don’t overlook this place….we took guests here who said it was the best Indian food they had ever had! Worth the 10 minute cab ride, such an exotic atmosphere too.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tiger-Beach-Club/1432713346995283?sk=app_254084314702229

Sweet Mama’s–Thursday night Garifula drumming at Sweet Mama’s-Robert’s Grove–Our guests have had a BLAST dancing along to the Garifuna drumming, and Sweet Mama’s has awesome barbecue for less than $10 us. Robert’s Grove will also even pick you up to take you there if you call in advance!

https://www.facebook.com/placenciabelizeresort

Excursions:

Monkey River/Barebones Tours–Percy from Barebones Tours has gotten rave reviews from our guests. He had Jack Hannah on his tour and our guests raved about their experiences!

https://www.barebonestours.com

Cockscomb Jaguar Preserve–You get to do rainforest hiking, waterfall swim, river tubing, and rock slides all on one tour! Doyle gets consistently high rating and people say this was one of the highlights of their trip….

https://www.facebook.com/dtourz

Silk or Laughingbird Caye Snorkeling–Two of the famous cayes in Placencia…about 30-45 minutes away, Laughingbird Caye you will see lots of coral and tropical fish–possibly a nurse shark or two! At Silk Caye you can swim with turtles the size of cars, 8 foot sting rays, and lots of nurse sharks! Our guests have had great experiences with all the tours, including Splash, Nite Wind, Pirates Point, and Ocean Motion.

Spear Fishing/Mayan history–We recently met Mark from Cayequest–highly recommend him as a tour guide. He is kind, funny, and interesting, with a ton of stories and insights. He does a range of tours, including one our guests recently went on, where they got to snorkel, fish, and watch as Mark speared a fish for their lunch! He also has a highly rated chocolate tour, Marie Sharps tour, and more….

https://cayequestadventures.blogspot.com/

Xunantunich Mayan Ruins/Inland Blue Hole--Trip N Travel recently took our guests to Xunantunich and the Inland Blue Hole tour. The drive is LONG…over 2 hours…but you do get to see a lot of Belize on your way, and Xunantunich is the best Mayan ruins in Belize. The drive back is made shorter by stops for ice cream, the Inland Blue Hole, and a couple other surprises!

Cave’s Branch Cave Tubing–Ian Anderson has private land less then 2 hours away, and there is a great cave tubing/Mayan history tour where you can even touch 1500 year old Mayan pottery fragments! Our guests had a great experience and this is recommended…

https://www.cavesbranch.com/belize-cave-tubing

Activities:

Fusion Beach Pool--Becoming a guest favorite, walk to the beach out front, take a left, and walk a few minutes on the beach to Fusion Beach. It is a Miami-beach style pool and bar. The view is incredible, great music, relaxing, and wonderful mojitos and small plate food!

https://www.facebook.com/fusionbeach

Belize Ocean Club--always a favorite, BOC offer Sunday pool parties, free kayaks and paddleboarding, and now they have movies on the beach on Saturday nights! They even offer free shuttles from the village…

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Belize-Ocean-Club/147461978762029

Tutti Frutti gelato…another classic favorite of guests….100% happy customers and you can walk there from CBC! They are #1 on TripAdvisor!

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g291977-d1092180-Reviews-Tutti_Frutti-Placencia_Stann_Creek.html

Tipsy Tuna/Barefoot Bar–these two beach bars are the highlight of the beach bar scene here. Day and night, these two places are a guaranteed fun time. They often have big screens on the beach for sporting events, live music, games, horseshoes, and great happy hours. They advertise their daily activities on chalkboards throughout the village, these are always a can’t miss! (2 minute walk from CBC!)

Tipsy Tuna Beach Bar in Placencia, Belize

https://www.facebook.com/BarefootBarPlacenciaBelize

Kayaking and biking--it is always great to take advantage of free fun, and at CBC we offer complimentary bikes and kayaks for guest use. You can kayak over to Tranquilo, or to Placencia Caye, and bike as far North as you can, stopping at many of the places listed above! here are a couple of our guests enjoying the kayaks…