Have questions? We are here to help! If you don’t find the answer on this page just send us a message and we will respond within 24 hours.
How do I book a tour? Once you have read through this FAQS page to learn about our cancellation and booking policies, click here: Contact Us for more information, to check tour availability and to book in your selections. If you are already in Placencia, stop by our shop located on main street in Placencia Village next to Annas Fashion boutique (see map here). Gueli our shop manager will be happy to help you book your adventures! Please reserve your tour/class in advance if possible as we do get booked out during our busiest months.
Why should I book with Taste Belize Tours? Here at Taste Belize we are the food and culture experts! From fine dark chocolate to home made corn tortillas or a simple plate of coconut rice and beans, we love sharing our diverse culinary heritage with everyone who visits Belize. We strive to be excellent in all we do. This is reflected in our guests’ reviews and we have received the TripAdvisor certificate of excellence every year since we opened in 2014. Our guides undergo specialized training on chocolate and our cultural cuisines that goes far beyond the mandatory tour guide training course that all Belizean guides must pass in order to receive their license. Our little team works hard to make sure that your tour inquiries and emails are answered quickly, to ensure that we answer all your questions and to help you select the best tour and class combinations for you! We believe the tour begins the minute you step into our vehicle and our guides will always take the time to make sure you are having fun learning about all the hidden history, culture, ecology and unique stories that make up this beautiful country. Our main tour van comes equipped with a headset for the guide that is routed through speakers, ensuring that even if you are seated in the back that you will be able to hear and participate in the conversation.
What do our Tours Include? Tour prices include 12.5% sales tax, all park entrances fees, all activity fees, transportation, guiding from our enthusiastic, licensed and knowledgeable guides and cold water on ice. All full day tours include lunch. Some half day tours also include lunch, please read tour description for details or email us if you aren’t sure.
What do our Classes Include? Class prices include 12.5% sales tax, all activity fees and instruction from our enthusiastic and knowledgeable instructors. All cooking class prices include a meal. Transportation to and from the class location is not included.
How do I pay for a tour? Once you arrive in Placencia please pay for your tour or class at the Taste Belize Shop BEFORE your tour or class date. If for any reason this will not be possible let us know ASAP so we can arrange other payment options for you. We have a credit card machine at our shop, save yourself the 3.5% credit card fee by paying cash. We accept both US and Belize dollars. There are four ATM/Cash machines located in Placencia Village if you need to withdraw cash. We are happy to email you an invoice upon request.
What is our cancellation policy?
Our Cancellation Policy:
1: If you cancel a tour 15 days or more before the tour date, you will not be charged anything for the tour (for example if you cancel 5th of July or earlier for a tour confirmed for July 20th).
2. If you cancel 14 days to 8 days before the tour date you will be charged (via manual entry of your card information) 50% of total tour price minus processing fees (for example, if you cancel on the 12th of July for a tour booked for July 20th).
3. If you cancel 7 days or less before tour date (for example, if you cancel on July 13th or later and the tour is confirmed for July 20th), you will be charged 100% of the tour fee minus processing fees (via manual entry of your card information) and will receive NO REFUND.
If you RESCHEDULE your tour for another available day we will not charge a cancellation fee. Please be courteous and aware of other guests and try to avoid last minute cancellations or rescheduling. When you book you acknowledge that you have read and accept the terms of our cancellation policy. We will not cancel a tour unless inclement weather makes it impossible (due to flooded roads, etc) or dangerous (due to extremely rough seas, etc) to our guests physical safety to proceed. We will do our best to reschedule the tour at a safer time. If we do have to cancel a tour you will receive a full refund (minus transaction fees).
What should I wear and bring on tour? For all tours we recommend bringing extra cash, sunblock, bug spray and something to take pictures with (make sure the battery is charged!). We recommend wearing lightweight, practical and comfortable clothing, close toed shoes or walking sandals. For tours that include hiking or farms please wear tennis shoes. For tours that involve water, such as waterfalls or river tubing, bring a towel and swim wear.
Should I tip? Tipping is welcome but not required. While on tour you will have a guide with you for the entire day as well as activity providers along the way that make our culinary and cultural experiences happen. For classes, you will have an independent instructor guiding you. Particularly where a service provider or guide is working for someone else, (such as the farm guides at the Belize Spice Farm and Cheil Chocolate farm), tips are an appreciated addition to their daily wage.
How long is the drive? Please take a look at our tour description pages (in the drop down menu at the top of the website) and you will see that approximate drive times are given for the different regions of southern Belize where we go on tour. Please note that drive time and length of tour will vary depending on how fast our group is moving. If you have time constraints please let us know before booking.
Does the van have air conditioning? We have two tour vans, a 14 seat Nissan Urvan and a 7 seat Ford Freestar Minivan. Both vehicles have great air conditioning and comfortable seats ready to take you across Belize on any adventure. For sea tours with our marine partners the Caribbean breeze will keep you cool while boating about.
How much does (a specific tour) cost? How many people do you need to run a tour? On our tour description pages you will see prices for most of our tour combinations. If it is not listed on our website please ask us via our contact form and we will email you the information. Class prices and per person minimums are also listed on the website. Full day land tours are a 2 person minimum as are our Creole and Garifuna cooking classes. Sea tours, half day tours and our coffee and rum classes are a 4 person minimum. If your group is less than the minimum email us at tastebelize@gmail.com and we will let you know if there is an already confirmed tour that you can join.
Can you pick us up at our vacation rental/hotel? Within Placencia Village land tours depart from in front of our shop. The shop is located in downtown Placencia Village, on main street, between Omar’s Creole Grub and Anna’s Fashion. See Map Here. If you are staying in a hotel or vacation rental north of Placencia Village we will pick you up on our way up the road for land tours. All sea tours depart from in front of our shop in downtown Placencia. Let us know where you are staying when booking and we will confirm your pick up location. Our coffee class departs from our shop. Our other classes have different locations as described on our website. You are responsible for transporting yourself to their starting spot, we will give you detailed directions to each class.
What days do you offer (a specific tour)? Our most popular tours are offered on a weekly schedule, you will find the days/times listed as part of each tour description. We recommend that you book your tours and classes in advance if possible, as we do book out during our busiest months.
We are coming on a cruise ship, what tours can we do within our time constraints? Because of time constraints we only offer our classes and 11AM Placencia Village Food Tour on Placencia Peninsula to cruise visitors, you will need to take the earliest shuttle from Harvest Caye to Placencia. Please contact us through our contact form for more information and to book a class or the Placencia Food Tour. You can read about these Placencia options here: Explore Placencia’s Food Scene
We are staying in Hopkins Village can we book a tour with you? We are happy to book in groups of 4 or more for our tours including direct pick up and drop off from your accommodation in Hopkins. We can also book groups of 2 or more in for a Garifuna Cooking Class or drumming experience right in Hopkins Village.
I don’t like chocolate do you do anything else? We offer over 20 different tour combinations with adventures from ziplining to Maya ruins, river tubing, jungle hiking and waterfalls, fire hearth cooking classes, Belize spice farm, Monkey river, snorkeling and fishing tours. Just ask for a custom combination, we don’t list everything on the website! You don’t have to like chocolate to book amazing hands on adventures with us!
Which Chocolate Tour is Best? We offer tours to two different chocolate companies, Ixcacao Chocolate and Cheil Chocolate. Both destinations are small chocolate businesses that give guests the opportunity to see and learn about cacao trees and cultivation and to make chocolate from scratch using heirloom Maya stone tools. The chocolate tasting and making experience is more detailed at Ixcacao Chocolate, which offers lots of chocolate samples and Maya style hot chocolate as part of its experience. At Cheil Chocolate the only chocolate we eat is the chocolate that we make. Ixcacao Chocolate is a 2 hour drive south of Placencia Village while Cheil Chocolate is only 1 hour north, so Cheil Chocolate is good for a half day tour or a shorter combination. See our tour descriptions to see which other activities can be combined with Cheil or Ixcacao Chocolate.
Which Maya Archaeological Site is Best? We offer tours to three different Maya sites: Nim Li Punit, Lubaantun and Xunantunich. The shortest drive is to Nim Li Punit which is about a 90 minute drive south of Placencia Village. Nim Li Punit is a small royal complex located right off the Southern Highway. This site is famous for large carved stones called stelae (8 to 26 feet tall) that have hieroglyphs and images of the royal family on them. Some of the best preserved stelae in Belize are found at Nim Li Punit. This site is also famous as the location where the second largest piece of carved jade in Belize was discovered. It is called the Wind Jewel and an identical copy of the pendant, in jade, is available for viewing at the site museum. There are 5 plazas at the site as well as a ball court, but there are no large pyramids at Nim Li Punit.
Lubaantun is also located south of Placencia, and is about a 2 hour drive away. The last 7 miles of the drive is on rough unpaved roads. The site is famous for the legend of a crystal skull allegedly discovered there. This site was an important regional trading center comprised of 7 plazas with small and medium sized pyramids (up to about 50 feet tall) made of black slate as well as several ballcourts. There is a small site museum with artifacts from the site.
Because Nim Li Punit and Lubaantun are located in Toledo District in the south, either of them can easily be combined with other activities in the area including Ixcacao Chocolate, Belize Spice Farm, Maya fire hearth cooking, jungle waterfall or ziplining. You can also visit both sites in one tour on our southern ruins tour.
Xunantunich is located north of Placencia a 3.5 hour drive away. It is the furthest drive but also the most imposing site with the central pyramid standing over 170 feet high. You can climb the pyramid which you cannot do at Lubaantun. There is a site museum and extensive plazas and structures at the site. We offer a tour to Xunantunich combined with the inland Blue Hole.
I am vegetarian/gluten free/have an allergy, can you accommodate me? Please let us know when you contact us if there are any dietary restrictions and we will let you know whether we can accommodate you for a specific tour or class. Much traditional Belizean food is gluten free and some of our tours/classes can easily accommodate vegetarians.
I have a mobility restriction/handicap, can you accommodate me? Please let us know you have any mobility issues, illnesses or differently abled people in your party and we will let you know which activities can best accommodate you.
We are a large group, can you accommodate us? Have a family reunion, retreat or wedding party? No problem! With advance notice we can comfortably accommodate large groups on some of our most popular activities!
Are you family friendly? Because we offer so many hands on activities, many of our tours and classes are wonderful for kids and adults of all ages. We have taken children as young as 9 months and adults as old as 90 on tour and they loved it!
Are you LGBTQ friendly? We love meeting our guests from all over the world and we strive to offer fun, comfortable and excellent hands on adventures for everyone regardless of color, creed, class, orientation or gender. As we say in Belize, Alla we da one (We are all one).
Is our water safe to drink? Placencia water is some of the best in the world! At Taste Belize Tours we believe strongly in preserving our natural environment and supporting sustainable development of our country. We have limited recycling services in Belize, so to avoid contributing to area landfills we provide water to our guests in stainless steel reusable water bottles (reusable cups on sea tours) filled with our very clean and delicious Placencia water, which comes straight out of the Maya Mountains. Our canteens and cups are thoroughly cleaned after every use. If you would rather bring your own reusable canteen please feel free, there is plenty of room in our ice box. NOTE: Due to the pandemic at this time we only offer prebottled water, if you don’t want to add to our plastic trash please feel free to bring your own canteen!