And feedback on Placencia? We are trying to decide whether or not to make the bus trip down to Placencia while in Belize in October. Any input on what it's like there, how are the beaches, what's the scene, how bad are the mosquito's etc? Cool stuff to do there?
Thanks for the input in advance!

Fly, don't take the bus, the road from Southern Highway to Placencia will likely be horrible as, from prior experience, it usually rains every night in October. Not much going on at that time of year, a lot of businesses will be closed and there are very few tourists. Mosquitoes weren't a problem but the sand flies were. There are some great beaches on the penninsula.

Is the weather usually rainy at night everywhere in Belize, or just the south end?

I was in Placencia in May for 3 nights and I really liked it. Definitely fly there if you can. It was very quiet and laid back, exactly what I wanted to start the trip. The beaches are very nice too. We had no rain in May at all - don't know about October, but my travel partner did get some mosquito bites (I didn't).

You can do the Monkey River trip or take a snorkel trip. Walking around town is interesting. Not a whole lot to do, but I can be very good at that sometimes! I didn't do any night life stuff at the bars, so I couldn't tell you about that.

The south end gets a lot more rain than the north year round due the proximity to the mountains. I spent September and October of the last 2 years in Placencia and found there to be much more rain down there than was reported in SP. Mostly it was at night and early in the day. Great sunsets at that time of year and in the morning you can see the mist coming off the mountains.

Don't fly, rent a car and drive, it's a beautiful trip.

I agree with driving down the peninsula. It's a good adventure lots to see from BC. I'd get a 4 wheel drive though, just in case! If you want to park close to the place you stay you may have to drive thru some soft sand.

I've been to both A.C. (a handful of times) and Placencia (once, this past January). I can't speak for the roads at the time you're going, but when I went they were fine.

We spent the first half of the trip up in Corozal, and drove from there all the way down to Placencia in one day. The group that went (two couples) all agreed that the drive was one of the best parts of the trip--portions of the Western, Hummingbird and Southern Highways which you'll likely take are beautiful.

Placencia doesn't have as much going on as Ambergris Caye, but some people would say that's a good thing. Also, the beaches are higher ground and generally nicer. However, the sand is much coarser than the fine sand out on Ambergris caye.

Foodwise, we thought Ambergris Caye was better, both in terms of quality and in choices.

We did like the fact that Placencia was much quieter than A.C., as well as the fact that it was within driving distance of some neat mainland sites.