San Ignacio

San Ignacio needs 3 days: the Mayan ruins of Xunantunich, with its 40-meter El Castillo pyramid, on one, a tubing tour through Barton Creek Cave -used by the Maya for rituals- on another, and a hike through the Mountain Pine Ridge jungle on the third. January-May is the dry season. It's inexpensive, geared toward nature and archaeology tourism more than beach tourism. It's the gateway to Belize's jungle interior, with the country's highest concentration of Mayan archaeological sites within a few kilometers, still surrounded by little-disturbed tropical rainforest.