Caye Caulker was the highlight of our trip to Belize. I now shudder that we ever even considered leaving it out of the itinerary. We spent an unforgettable four days here, so don’t listen to anyone who says that there isn’t enough to do here to warrant more than 2 days or so. One of the best things about Caye Caulker is that you hardly HAVE to do anything to have an amazing time. If you’re planning on going, here are my Top 8 recommendations what to do, see, and eat and experience:

Top 8 Things To Do In Caye Caulker:

Stay At Colinda Cabanas

Colinda Cabanas is hands-down the best place to stay on Caye Caulker. This place is fantastic – affordable, comfortable, clean, well-managed, and RIGHT ON THE BEACH. Colin and Linda (Co-Linda…get it?!), a very sweet couple from Canada, run the place and spend half of the year living in Caye Caulker. They’ve kept up what I think is inarguably the best spot to stay on the island. You’ll also get access to cruiser bikes, fresh water ensuite, kayaks, a private pier that rewarded our nightly fishing efforts with no less than five barracuda!

Pro tip: Save some dough and stay in one of the sea-facing cabanas that isn’t right up front. You’ll still have an amazing view and the difference from beach-to-door vs the closer cabanas is about 15 feet.

Hang at the Lazy Lizard by the Split

Every single person who has been to Caye Caulker will tell you to do this. The Split, which came to be after raging Hurricane Hattie in 1961 literally “split” Caye Caulker in two, is a narrow channel on the northern tip of the more developed southern part of the island that boasts a most glorious beach bar, The Lazy Lizard. Yes, drinks are a little expensive here and the overpriced food is fo sho not worth it, but the scene couldn’t be greater.

We spent an entire night watching the trip guides from one of the more infamous excursion companies hustling for the chance to be the subject of tipsy bikini-clad tourist girls’ future “That Time I had a Crazy One-Night Stand in Caye Caulker” stories, and the next day we spent all afternoon getting tipsy ourselves on these amazing “beach seats” that are literally seats IN the water. So from the waist up you’re dry and have a little table for your beer, and waist down you’re just chilling in the ocean. Hell yeah.

If you meet a guy here named Aaron Moses who is selling his latest reggae CD and tells you all about how he used to be a gangster but turned his life around, I actually recommend buying the CD. Aaron is a cool dude, and although I’m almost positive that when we actually tried to play the CD (do you know how hard it is to find a CD player these days?) there wasn’t anything on it, I say it’s a fluke. Also he will show you a scrapbook of articles about how he’s now helping other at-risk kids do the same thing that he did and set a positive direction in life. Totes righteous cause, mon!

Meet The Dogs of Caye Caulker

I know I may incite criticism for this one as engaging with stray dogs in foreign countries is empirically unadvisable, but I hold my ground. Sweet, maybe love-starved dogs looking for human attention are around every corner.

We were bad guests and despite all of the stern warnings to NOT do this, we let a dog up onto our 2nd floor cabana porch because we rationalized that he was really cute and also had a collar on so he MUST not be stray (FYI every dog on Caye Caulker has a collar it means jack shit), and then he went inside in our apartment and laid down in our shower and we LET HIM BECAUSE IT WAS SO CUTE!

I not saying I necessarily recommend this this (I have zero boundaries when it comes to dogs), but I do really recommend finding safe and productive ways to interact with the adorable pups on this island! One way you can do this that doesn’t involve recklessly chasing after animals on the street like I do is to learn more about Caye Caulker Animal Shelter – you can even internationally adopt a pet!!

Snorkel Around Caye Caulker with Caveman Tours

Going to Caye Caulker and not snorkeling is like going to Napa and not drinking wine. It makes no sense. Belize is one of the best places to snorkel (not to mention dive, but I hate talking about this because I have yet to get my PADI certification which is just stupid and now I’m sinking into a downward spiral of shame again…) in the world and Caye Caulker is an ideal launch point: we swam with manatees, sharks (of the non-man-eating variety), rays, sea turtles, tarpon, and countless other amazing marine life all in 5 hours. The Hol Chan marine reserve especially will blow your mind.

Though there are many good companies to choose from, I strongly recommend Caveman Tours. Caveman (yep, it’s a real guy) is a glorious human with an amazing story (just ask him!) and his staff, including our favorite guy, Tomás (he called me Scuba Steve’s Wife and showed me how to pressurize my ears so I could swim down 20 feet and under a coral cave) are as good as it gets. Caveman offers several different tour options including a shorter and a longer tour; if you have the time don’t skip the longer tour because it’s worth every penny and you’ll still end the day wishing it wasn’t over.

A heads up – make sure you volunteer to “feed the birds” when you get to the tarpon stop! A fun little surprise awaits you.

Get A Bucket Of Belikens

You can do this pretty much everywhere, but our favorite place was at Rainbow Grill and Bar, where we took cover for a good two hours on our 2nd day in town while the most raging of all raging storms passed through. We waited out the typhoon by slamming probably about 20 Belikins, which is super easy considering that the standard beer size is only about 9 oz to the 12 oz bottles that dominate the U.S.

Beliken, the national beer of Belize, is fantastic in my opinion, once you get past the fact that you have to drink about 4 to even catch a buzz. Or maybe we should just drink less.

Ride a Bike, Everywhere

You can ride around the entire island of Caye Caulker in about 30 minutes, and even that estimate assumes a leisurely pace. If you can’t get your hands on a fabulously rusty old cruiser bike courtesy of your host digs, it’s not too hard to find a place right downtown to grab one. You don’t need a lock, and you quite literally cannot get lost as you only have four options for roads: Beach perimeter, Front Street, Middle Street, and End Street. I would LOVE to meet someone who actually got lost on Caye Caulker just so I can laugh at them and call them a moron.

Eat at All of Caye Caulker’s Best Secret (and not-so-secret) Spots

Fine Dining (That’s Still Basically “No Shirt No Shoes No Problem”)

If you want to go a little more upscale and accessible with higher price to match (although nothing on this entire island is obscenely prices, we’re talking about $10-$15 for an entree here), Habanero’s and Rose’s are your best bets.

Linda recommended Habanero’s on Middle Street for a fun “fancy” night , and it was money – great ambiance with romantic lighting and warm service, killer seafood, extensive menu options, and a surprisingly good wine selection. To learn why I say “surprisingly,” read more about our other wine experiences on Belize here.

Rose’s is easy to find on Front Street and more crowded than Habanero’s. The best part about this place is that they display all the fish for eating right in front of the restaurant entrance and they’ll prepare the exact fish you want, how you want it, right then and there while you seat yourself and enjoy some drinks (you get a free rum drink just for eating there)! Pro tip: Get the barracuda, blackened, and sit outside at one of the family picnic tables.

Breakfast

Glenda’s is hands-down the best place for breakfast. It’s tucked away and a no-frills joint, but the food is kickass and you don’t feel nearly as touristy as you feel at other places like Amor y Cafe (which still is another great breakfast option). The coffee is better at Amor y Cafe and has WiFi vs Glenda’s, but in our opinion, Glenda’s is where it’s at.

Off the Beaten Path (and so worth it)

Time for the real authentic and out-of-the-way places that may make you feel as if you’re walking into a shack to get murdered. The Little Kitchen was the the best dining experience of our entire Belize trip. Reaching Little Kitchen involves a questionable walk through an unlit alley, fancy footwork over about a dozen cats, and a visit to someone’s backyard to reach the rickety staircase that brings you to Nirvana. We had two lobsters, conch fritters, and I can’t remember what else because I was in a food bliss blackout, all washed down with four Bellikens for about $25 – who knew that heaven on earth resides under a quaint little second story palapa with the kindest people you’ll ever meet. Don’t miss this place.

We heard similarly great things about Wish Willy’s (amazing food, off the beaten bast, great value, on your way there you feel like you’re the Law & Order victim at the beginning of the show who is idiotically walking into a murder hole), but we didn’t have the chance to try it for ourselves.

Try the Dum Dum Rum at the Local Grocery Store

So I am serious about this one, because really I’d like you to do this and then send me a message about it so I can live vicariously through you. Dum Dum Rum is a real thing and you can find it on the shelves at any of the several local grocery stores, which are amazing things in and of themselves and offer hard liquor, mini-beers, and cereal all in the same aisle. There’s an amazing little stick figure caricature of a dude all rummed-out, it’s easy to spot. Although we were too chicken-shit to try it, I would surmise that it’s very similar to Bacardi 151.

Last time I drank Bacardi 151 I was on spring break in Ft. Lauderdale and my night ended with both a verbal and a physical fight between me and a shrub. Some of my friends found my kicking it and hissing “don’t you laugh at me, I’ll kill you!” So, this is why I opted out of the 2nd-time-around experience and I’ll need you to go test out the Belizean Dum Dum rum and then just tell me about it instead. Stay safe; there are many shrubs on the island of Caye Caulker, as well.