Belize Airport to Hopkins: Rental Cars, the Travel Desk, Roadwork and the Drive Beyond Dangriga

The doors slide open at Ladyville and the air outside is warm and a little salty, with taxis and rental agents and the low hum of a small international airport behind you. Somewhere ahead lies Hopkins, a Garifuna village on the Caribbean shore where drums carry across the sand in the evening. Between the terminal and the village sits one decision, which is how you want to make the trip.

How do you get from the airport to Belize City?

At Philip S. W. Goldson International Airport, the ways of getting on the road are a rental car from one of two agencies with desks at the airport, or an arrangement made through the travel agency that also has an office there. The airport lists two rental-car companies and one travel agency.

What decides it is mostly the shape of your trip. If you want to stop along the way, wander a little, and have a car waiting once you reach Hopkins, a rental fits.

If you would rather hand the logistics to someone else, the travel agency is the contact to start with. Your luggage and the size of your group matter too, since a family with several bags thinks differently from a solo traveler with a backpack.

Time of arrival counts as well. The airport keeps daytime hours, and a flight landing late leaves less room to sort out a car or a transfer. Think about the end of the day you are heading into, because Hopkins is a small village and you will want to arrive with your bed and your dinner already in mind.

One more thing shapes every option. Roadwork and dredging are underway on the access road to the airport, which means slower traffic and uneven surfaces, so whichever way you go, the first stretch may take longer than you expect.

Your options from the airport

Rental cars at the airport

Two car rental companies work from the airport: Hertz/Safari Belize and Crystal Auto Rental. Both are reached by phone, and Crystal also takes reservations by email. A rental puts the pace of the day in your hands, so you can set out when your bags are ready and stop where you like.

The road right outside the airport deserves attention. Work is going on along the access road, with dredging equipment and workers near the roadway. Drivers are asked to reduce speed and follow the flaggers in the work zone, and to leave extra time for trips to and from the airport. Treat those first minutes behind the wheel as slow ones.

This option suits travelers who like the idea of arriving in Hopkins with their own wheels, with the village, the beach and the nearby parks within reach of one key. The contact details for both agencies sit in the comparison that follows.

The travel agency desk

All in One Travel Service is a travel agency at the airport, and it can be reached by two phone numbers and two email addresses. Travelers can contact the agency to ask about onward arrangements.

An agency is a natural first call when your plans involve more than one stop, say a few nights in Hopkins and something else before or after. You can describe what you are trying to do, and they can speak to the specifics. This route suits people who value a conversation over a counter.

The last stretch toward Hopkins

Hopkins lies in the Stann Creek District, and the town travelers measure it from is Dangriga, the district capital and the cultural center of the Garifuna people. From Dangriga, Hopkins is about a 40-minute drive. Dangriga sits between the Maya Mountains and rainforest on one side and the islands and the Belize Barrier Reef on the other.

Hopkins itself is a small village, surrounded by the Maya Mountains and the Cockscomb Range inland and fronted by the Caribbean Sea, very close to the Sittee River. It was founded in 1942 to replace Newtown, a village devastated by a hurricane further up the coast. Most of its people are Garifuna, and that shows in the drumming, the cooking and the rhythm of the evenings.

Plan your arrival so that you reach the village with daylight left to find your lodging.

Airport transfer options compared

The two rental agencies offer the same basic thing, a car at the airport, so the difference comes down to which one you reach and which arrangement suits you. Both give you independence once you are past the roadwork. Crystal lists an email as well as a phone number, which some travelers prefer for making plans ahead of time.

The travel agency is a different kind of choice. Instead of a vehicle, you are asking for help with the plan itself, and the agency has two phone numbers and two email addresses to reach it by. If your itinerary has moving parts, that conversation can be worth having before you fly.

Slower traffic and uneven surfaces affect everyone leaving the airport, so give yourself room in the day for that first stretch and for the drive that follows.

Arriving at the airport

The airport is Philip S. W. Goldson International Airport, in the village of Ladyville in the Belize District, about a 30-minute drive northwest of the center of Belize City. It has two terminals. Check-in counters for all airlines are in Terminals 1 and 2, so the terminal you use depends on who you fly.

Terminal 1 serves COPA, Sun Country, Transportes Aereos Guatemaltecos (TAG), Maya Island Air and Tropic Air. Terminal 2 serves Air Canada, Alaska Air, American, Delta, Southwest, United and Westjet. Knowing which building your airline uses helps you picture where you will start and end your visit.

The runway is long enough to take international jets, and the airport sits within the Belize District, which also includes the offshore islands of Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker. Many of the places people visit in the district are reached from this same arrival point.

When you head out to the road, keep the roadwork in mind. Work on the access road means dredging equipment and workers near the roadway, and drivers should reduce speed and follow flaggers. The airport also keeps a Security Office in Terminal 1, where items left or found in the Terminal Building are turned over and held for 60 days before being donated or destroyed.

Good to know before you go

The U.S. State Department rates Belize Level 2, “Exercise increased caution”, because of crime, and says the south side of Belize City has historically had the highest concentration of violent crime.

Hopkins and the rest of the coast sit within the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, and the weather in those months is worth following as your trip approaches. When you head home, TSA PreCheck is not available at the airport, and passengers are encouraged to arrive well ahead of a flight. The airport’s own charges are shown here in US dollars.