Practical Information for visiting Belize

The Belize dollar is pegged at BZ$2 to US$1, and the Central Bank names protecting that fixed rate as one of its primary objectives; in practice US dollars circulate alongside Belize dollars at the same two-to-one rate, so a visitor with US cash needs no exchange. Card acceptance, ATMs and tipping are not summarised here until they have been read on an authority's page.

Entry: a Belize visa, or the exemption for holders of a valid multiple-entry US, Canadian or Schengen visa or a US or Canadian residence card, allows at most 30 days from entry; staying longer means a visit to an Immigration Office to extend.

At Actun Tunichil Muknal, cameras without a permit are banned since a dropped one fractured a thousand-year-old skull in 2012, and shoes come off for the upper chamber. At the Maya sites, the NICH ticket is the entry document and arrives as a QR code by email; the reserves open 8:00 am to 5:00 pm every day, the last tour at Caracol leaves at 2:00 pm and the site empties by 3:00 pm, a guide may take at most 15 people, and NICH's rules forbid jumping on the monuments, loud noise and music, and leaving the marked trails.

At Hol Chan, no fishing; snorkelling and diving on payment of the reserve fee.

Laws on driving, alcohol, drugs, drones and marine life are not summarised here until they have been read on the authorities' own pages.