Know Before You Go to Belize City: Entry Papers, Money, Getting Around and Health

You step out of the airport in Ladyville into warm, damp air, and the first voices you hear speak English with the rolling lilt of Belizean Kriol. Belize City sits on a small peninsula where Haulover Creek meets the Caribbean, a working port town of wooden houses on stilts, bridges and boat traffic.

It is also the doorway to the cayes of the district. A handful of practical things about papers, money, roads and health make the arrival much smoother.

What should you know before visiting Belize City?

Four things matter most here: the papers you carry at the border, the Belize dollar, the state of the roads, and how thin medical care is once you leave the airport. Get those right and the rest of the trip is mostly a matter of taste, of where to eat fry jacks and how to reach the water.

Several things can surprise a first-time visitor. Belize City is the largest city in the country, with a population of 63,999 in the 2022 census, yet it is no longer the capital.

After a hurricane in 1961 flooded and damaged the city, the government moved to Belmopan, and the old capital kept its role as the commercial and port city. The place feels like a town with a long memory rather than a resort.

English is the official language and the language of schools, government and most media, so you can order, ask directions and read signs without a phrasebook. In daily talk you will also hear Kriol, and Spanish is the most used language in the northern districts of Orange Walk and Corozal. Prices that come in two currencies, a fixed exchange rate and a mix of paved and gravel roads are the other small shocks.

The beaches people picture are not in the city itself. Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker, two of the country’s main tourism areas, belong to Belize District, along with St. George’s Caye, Caye Chapel, English Caye, Goff’s Caye and Turneffe Atoll. Belize City is where you arrive and, for many trips, where you pass through on the way out to them.

Entry, fees and paperwork

U.S. citizens entering Belize need a U.S. passport valid for the length of their stay, according to the State Department. No Belizean visa is required for a tourist stay of less than 30 days. All travelers must show proof of an onward or return ticket and sufficient funds to cover the whole stay. Belize does not require special immunizations for visitors.

Visitors are usually given an initial stay, and anyone planning to stay longer must have the passport re-stamped at a local immigration office and pay an extra fee for each additional month, up to a maximum of six months. The Visitor’s Permit Extension adds a further month, provided you do not work or do business without consent. Whether you qualify is settled at the nearest Immigration Office in Belize.

Families should know that when children travel without both parents, immigration officials require proof of consent and identification from the parent who is not traveling, along with the children’s birth certificates. Anyone coming in by land pays different fees depending on whether the stay is shorter or longer than a day. The U.S. State Department is unaware of any HIV/AIDS entry restrictions for visitors.

Leaving through Philip S. W. Goldson International Airport carries its own charges, listed by the airport in U.S. dollars. The extension fee, by contrast, is set in Belize dollars.

Money and cards

The Belize dollar is the national currency, and its official value is pegged at two Belize dollars to one U.S. dollar. That fixed rate makes mental math simple, and it is why you will see a price written as BZ$ or US$ and can convert it at once. The Central Bank of Belize, which looks after the currency, was established on January 1, 1982.

Pay attention to which currency a number is in. Airport charges are quoted in U.S. dollars, while the immigration extension fee is quoted in Belize dollars. A figure with no symbol deserves a quick question before you hand over money, because the difference is a factor of two.

Getting around

Philip S. W. Goldson International Airport lies in the village of Ladyville, northwest of the city center, about a 30-minute drive. It has one asphalt runway and covers 457 acres. Most of the cayes of Belize District, among them Ambergris Caye, Caye Caulker and Caye Chapel, lie offshore from the city, which makes Belize City the natural starting point for the islands.

Road conditions across Belize range from two-lane paved roads to dirt or gravel tracks. Driving at night is strongly discouraged, and roadside assistance is frequently unavailable, so a breakdown can leave you waiting. Valid U.S. or international driver’s permits are accepted only for three months after your initial entry.

The Fort Street Tourism Village stands on about two acres on the northern bank of Haulover Creek, at 38 Fort Street. It is a reminder that the city grew up around the water, with the creek and the sea as its main thoroughfares.

Health and the sun

Medical care deserves a plan before you leave home. Emergency services in Belize are usually unavailable or significantly delayed, and a serious injury or illness normally requires evacuation to another country. Advanced treatment is scarce even in Belize City and Belmopan, and in rural and remote areas, even basic care is hard to find or not available at all. Many travelers therefore look into medical evacuation insurance before they go.

The CDC recommends the hepatitis A vaccine for unvaccinated travelers one year old or older, and infants 6 to 11 months old should also be vaccinated. Hepatitis B vaccine is recommended for unvaccinated travelers younger than 60, while those 60 and older may get vaccinated.

Typhoid vaccine is recommended for those who might visit rural areas with poor sanitation, spend a month or more, or visit friends or relatives. A travel clinic can sort out which of these apply to you.

The sun at this latitude is strong, and a city built on a peninsula between creek and sea offers little shade on a bright day. A hat, sunglasses and sunscreen belong in your daypack from the first morning. Out on the water, with the glare coming off the surface, the same habits matter even more.

Local customs and etiquette

Belizeans greet each other, and strangers, with a friendly good morning or good afternoon, and walking into a shop or a restaurant without a greeting can seem curt. A handshake is normal at a first meeting. Conversation is unhurried, and people often ask how you are before they ask what you want.

In the city, swimwear stays at the beach or on the boat, and shorts and a light shirt are usual for a walk through town. For a church or a visit to a family home, a little more cover is polite. The country is a mix of Kriol, Garifuna, Maya, Mennonite, mestizo and other communities, so you may hear several languages in a single street, and curiosity expressed with respect is welcomed.

Meals follow a rhythm. Breakfast often means fry jacks or johnnycakes with beans, eggs and cheese. Lunch is the main meal, and rice and beans with stew chicken is the dish that appears on tables everywhere. Dinner can be a simple plate of fish or a hot pot cooked with coconut. In a market, polite haggling over a craft is fine, but prices in shops and restaurants are fixed.

On personal matters, there are no legal restrictions on consensual same-sex relations in Belize. The Immigration Act prohibits “homosexual” persons from entering, but immigration authorities have not enforced that law.

Significant hostile sentiment toward people based on their real or perceived sexual orientation continues, so many LGBTQ travelers choose discretion. When shopping for souvenirs, remember that counterfeit and pirated goods brought back to the United States can mean fines or having to give them up.

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.

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, so a trip in autumn falls within it, and the country’s own history, with the 1961 storm that moved the capital, is a fair reminder of why the dates matter. An average Atlantic season brings 14 named storms.

Keep your passport, your return or onward ticket and your funds easy to reach on arrival, because those are the papers immigration asks about. Departing passengers are expected at the airport at least 3 hours before their flight, which leaves time for the passenger service and PACT fees.