I would love to be able to get to the Botanical Gardens in San Ignacio to see all of the native orchid species and the work that they do.
We will be arriving in San Pedro on January 27, 2009.
Can anyone tell me some ways to get there and some approximate timeframes and costs. Is it possible to make a day trip out of it? How long should we plan to stay there for the day?
Has anyone been there before? Is it as interesting as it sounds on their website?
Or is there anywhere else like it closer to San Pedro? Maybe I should just hang out one day at a nursery? I love to study plants and flowers and really want to see some pretty stuff.

Belize Botanic Gardens is at duPlooys Jungle Lodge and has a formidible collection. Its a two hr drive each way from Belize City and well worth booking into duPlooys for the night or longer.

katie is right (of course). you would have to get from SP to belize city, and then a 2+ hour ride each way out to san ignacio, then up the (very bumpy) road to duplooy's.

duplooy's is a great place to stay a few days, and we love it...BUT - (as of 2002) the "botanical gardens" is a small louvered room with many various vine plants, bromiliads & orchids. many plants were cool, and they are lovely to see if you are already there, but i do not think it is a destination on it's own (my opinion only, anyone else???).

unless it has been seriously expanded since 2002, i would say it took us like 20 minutes to see & photograph everything.

that said, walking the grounds of duplooy's lodge shows many species of plants & birds, and you can grab lunch there & take a dip in the river. that might make a nice day trip, albeit it a long one.

Thank you for the good and honest info.
Sorry to have posted in the wrong category. I thought I could get a better perspective asking in the category of where we are staying since it is a ways away.
I think I will save this trip for a future visit when I can stay over there a couple of days.

They have seriously expanded and the garden has seriously grown since 2002, 7 yrs ago.

hey, thanks for the update info, katie. ha ha and i was there last year, and didnt walk over to the gardens cause i thought i'd seen it already. oh well, i guess i'm always looking for an excuse to go back...