Hi,
I've checked the previous threads and really couldn't find an answer to my question.
We fly in on the afternoon on March 9th to Belize City and would like to get to Guatemala that night and spend the night close to Tikal. We would then like to spend the day at Tikal and return to Belize City to catch a plane to Ambergris Caye. Does anyone know if this is doable? If so suggestions on where to stay close to Tikal.
Thanks- I really appreciate any help.

yes doable and wiser than go and return the same day.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-...ional_Park.html
right in the park...very cool.

Regardless of whether it's feasible to shorten the trip, I think you should try to spend at least one night, preferably two, in the immediate vicinity of the ruins so you can experience them at dusk and at dawn.

The obvious way to get to Tikal is to fly to Flores and travel on land from there. Depending where you're flying into Belize from, do you know that you can fly internationally directly into Flores? Certainly there are flights there from Cancun.

What time do you arrive in Belize?

There is a Tropic Air flight that departs from PGIA at 3:00 pm...
http://www.tropicair.com/reservations/FlightSchedule.cfm

There is an express bus that departs from the water taxi terminal in Belize City at 2:30 pm. That bus takes about 5 hours to get to Flores; US$25.

There are a few transfer services.

Or, you could get there by using a combination of local Belize bus, taxi, Guatemalan bus - might be a bit more than 5 hours.

There are more details about buses on my site:
http://belizebus.wordpress.com/

Do those buses wail at the border for all passengers to clear formalities? I took a Belizean bus once from Chetumal to Corozal and I was the only non-Belizean-or-Mexican on board. I wasn't detained long in formalities at the border, but when I walked out of the hall the bus had gone.

The Linea Dorada & San Juan express buses that operate between Chetumal, Belize City and Flores wait for passengers to clear customs/immigration.

The Belizean buses that operate between Chetumal & BC are supposed to wait for all passengers. When I've done the trip going north, the bus sometimes drives a bit further past the Mexican immigration building, and parks around a corner on a side street. The first time that happened, I thought the bus left without me.