Written By: Patrick Reck

One of my favorite places in Belize is Placencia. Placencia is a sleepy Caribbean beach town. Its picturesque beaches and calm, bioluminescent waters made it the perfect tropical getaway.

Getting to Placencia

There are several ways to get to Placencia. If you are driving and coming from the north, you turn left off the Southern Highway on to Placencia Road. This alternatively paved and unpaved road winds through the jungle and runs the entire length of a fragile peninsula, north to south. From the time you turn off the Southern Highway, it is 40 kilometers and nearly an hour to Placencia. You can catch a bus to Placencia from most of the major cities in Belize.

If you are coming from the south, you can take a boat. It’s a pleasant, 30 minute motor boat ride from the twin villages of Independence and Mango Creek on the mainland.

Placencia also has its own airport and larger ferries that go there from Belize City or Caye Caulker.

The good news: once you are there, you can walk everywhere!

Arriving at Lydia’s Guesthouse

After our beautiful drive along the Hummingbird Highway, we drove into Placencia in the dark. The narrow highway along the peninsula was crowded and eclectic. You round a bend and drive past high rise casinos and fancy resorts under construction. Round the next bend and you are winding your way through the local community of Seine Bight, creeping slowly past throngs of pedestrians out for dinner and commuting home from the tourist centers. The next stretch was isolated and quiet, small houses scattered along the road, overgrown by the swampy lagoon foliage. You curve around the tiny airport and find yourself in the village of Placencia.

We pulled off the dirt road and checked into Lydia’s Guesthouse. Lydia’s Guesthouse is an affordable, comfortable, and clean place to stay on the north end of the Placencia beach-front sidewalk. For only $30 USD a night, we had a private room with a shared kitchen and bathrooms. It’s only a block away from the beach and an easy 5 minute stroll to the heart of Placencia village.

Travel Tip: Even though we didn’t “plan” our trip, we would usually go online the night before and book a place at our next destination. Booking.com was a great resource and helped us find affordable gems like this. Another perk of traveling in the off-season: last-minute availabilities. You will want to make reservations further in advance for the busy season.

We dropped our bags and headed downtown for food. In the mood to wine and dine and relax,  we stumbled upon a delicious feast at Wendy’s Creole Restaurant and Bar. The special Creole cheesy tomato shrimp was incredible!

For more information on Lydia’s Guest House, click HERE!

Full and satisfied we walked back to the hostel along the beach.

Dipping our toes in the sand, we noticed something shimmering. Clara got squeaky excited because she knew what that meant: Bioluminescence!

Stripping down to our skivvies, we jumped in the warm tranquil sea and had one of the most memorable experiences of my life.

Bioluminescence is the emission of light by living organisms. It is a phenomena that occurs in a large array of marine creatures, from fish to bacteria. When we swam and moved about in the sea water, the ocean came alive in glowing green sparkles, rippling and shining as far as your fingers would fing.

Mesmerized by the play of light and the tropical scene unfolding under the clear, starry sky, we floated and played for hours, lost in a child-like wonder that can be so fleeting in the modern world. After Clara got stung by a jelly fish, we went back to our rooms.

Above Grounds Coffee quickly became a favorite.

The next day continued in this paradisiacal reverie as we woke early to the sound of birds and laughing children and walked back downtown along the beach-side walkway, designated by signs as the narrowest road in the world, looking for coffee and breakfast.

We found what we were looking for and so much more. From the front of the main road, Above Grounds Coffee looks like a treehouse. As you climb the stairs and enter the cafe from behind, it feels like you’ve wandered into an arboretum.

Disclaimer: I am a coffee snob. A mug toting, bean smelling, origin inquiring, hipster fresh off his electric scooter. And in Belize, it is hard to get good coffee. Nescafe is kind of the standard fare. So finding this place made me so happy. The coffee is so good.

The business is run by a Brit who sources his beans from small, independent producers in Guatemala. Organic, fair trade, shade grown deliciousness. And our barista was the sweetest. Sabina is adorable–a local ketcha Maya descendent who makes jewelry and baskets she sells in the shop. We chatted with her while sipping cappuccinos, eating bagels, and enjoying the people watching from the porch. Such a heavenly experience.

We spent the rest of our day exploring the town, browsing through local artist shops, lazing on the beach, and enjoying having nothing to do. As the night set in, we went back to the sea to revel in the glowing ecstasy of the bioluminescent waters. Satiated, we went back to the guest house and mapped out our next destination: the Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Preserve

To learn more about Above Grounds Coffee, click HERE!

Placencia is the perfect location for another day in paradise.

So good that I would come back two weeks later.

Happy Travels Travelers!

For a basic list of what to pack for your trip to Belize, Click HERE!