This board is a great resource and I have had many of my questions answered already!

To those of you who have flown to Tikal from Ambergris Caye:

Possible to do it all in one day? Can we see all the best sites in that amount of time?

From the web this looks like a must-see trip and although expensive (compared to cave tubing) my friend and I were just wondering if you agree? And if we will not do ourselves a dis-service by not doing the overnite trip and going with the daytrip?

Staying at the highly touted Belizean Shores and if anyone would like to throw in a recommended tour operator to Tikal that would be welcome!

Thanks

Though it is possible to do in one day, I highly recommend going for more than a day, even if it is for just one night stay in Flores. I remember a similar thread a few months back and the couple was glad they stayed there in Flores. I loved it and would have felt too rushed and not seen as much had I done it just in one day. I visited Tikal and flew from Guatemala-AC (the opposite of what you want to do) and it still is possible if you have to do it in one day.

It is possible to do it in one day... there are organized tours from AC to Tikal designed specifically for that, but they (imho) cost a fortune for the little time you actually get to spend there. Some guys staying at the same hotel as me last year did it... I think it was about $350-$400US for the day, flight from AC at about 7:30am to Flores, drive to Tikal, arrive at the park with all the other tourists and leave early afternoon to make it back for the last flight back to AC. They ended up being there only for a few hours, with a ton of other tour groups, for the hottest part of the day. If you can afford it and one day is absolutely the most time you can spare, it would be fine to do to say you've done it... but I highly recommend going for a few days if you can. I left AC, flew to Flores, got a taxi to the park and spent the night there. I got to do the amazing sunrise tour in the park, some ziplining outside the park AND got a personal tour of the Yaxha site thrown in for good measure before heading back to Flores to spend my second night. The town is small, but nice... worth a visit. All things considered, I spent less than the guys who did the day trip and got soooooo much more out of it.

We spend nearly a day and a half there - it is great to go around, get tired and hot and then go back in a 2nd time the following morning when you are fresh, the temperature is cooler and have another look at your favorite bits all over again!

Having travelled so far it is worth taking the time as suggested by other commentators.

Incidentally we will be going back again in the future to remind ourselves.

My wife and I did the day trip just this last Febuary. Tropic air is who offers it. We flew from AC to Belize City, wait for others coming from Placencia, and other regions then another flight to Flores. Once in Flores you must clear customs, and then find your guide. Which was easy. Our Guide was names Noel, a real nice guy, and very good guide. After you leave Flores, it is an hour plus drive to Tikal. You spend just a very few hours there, but you get the highlights. At one point Noel took us to the main area of Tikal, he then told us that he would leave us alone to explore, but we needed to return in twenty minutes. I was like twenty minutes?

It was a dream come true for me to see Tikal, and in that respect I'm glad we did it. If I had to do again, I would have listened to everyone else and flew to Flores the night before, drove to Tikal early and seen it at my pace the whole day. It all depends on what you want.

Now, this is what I would do. Unless you are totally hooked on San Pedro or the water period, divide your trip in two parts, spending a few days on the water, allow at least two days for Tikal and Flores, at least, don't forget all that is worthwhile in Cayo, and if you don't want to miss that we are talking four days away from the water, so do this: Skip the Cayes just this one time and devide your time between Cayo and Flores/Tikal, no need to fly, by the way, outrageously expensive. Rent a car or take buses or whatever, go to the waterfalls in Mountain Pine Ridge, or better stay in one of the resorts there, Five sisters is a popular place as is Blancenaux, big bucks, but nice, there are a lot of really neat places, and let whatever resort or hotel take you to waterfalls, medicine trails, butterfly farms, caves. Tikal and other ruins! In Belize!

In March we spent our vacation on AC and did the cave tubing and Lamani ruins from AC. We had a great time but didn't have enough time to spend at the ruins because it was such a long day. We decided next year we would fly into Belize City, rent a car and stay in San Ignacio for 3 days and tour the ruins/waterfalls then fly over to AC and relax.