I read in the lonley planet travel guide that lots of folks from Belize shop at the border town of Chetumal in Mexico because of the Mexican peso exchange rate ..( Things are much cheaper )It makes me wonder what the town is like ,as it is on the carribean and beside Belize. Does it have a reef and the beauty of Belize ?

it was kind of a divey, bustling, dirty place last time I was there. Good shopping and medical care. all of it is cheap.

I quite like visiting, nice get away. Enjoy the restaurants (especially along the seafront) movie theatres, ships. Used to be more important to Belize people because there was so much more in Chet for less $ than we had in Belize. But now we've got alot more in Belize and don't need Chet as much. Big war as Belize people would cross the border to buy items for less in Chet. Then Belize opened the free zone, so MX cross into that to biy for less in Belizwe than they can in MX. Now MX will open a free zone so that...back and forth. Really like Laguna Bacalar and restaurant at the cenote there. and the beachy areas just outside of Chet. Relatively good musuem too.

shopping, shopping & more shopping

Nice Colonial Spanish Architecture...particularly along the "seaside" park. Open air market is worth a visit. Air Conditioned room necessary most tourist months.

Booming!

Major cruise ship port planned, soon.

Good access to Costa Maya, Bacalar, the bioshpere and mayan sites.

Good museums, good food/drink.

SIN

World class wide sidewalks, too. PS. Rumor has it that a very corrupt politican was eventually put away in jail...a famous Belizian remarked; at least Chetumal got some nice sidewalks out of it.

Chetumal sits on the Bay of Chetumal and not the Caribbean. Just north of Bacalar Chico on Ambergris Caye, a large channel has been cut through the penninsula allowing for access to the Caribbean without entering Belizean waters.

Things are very inexpensive in Chetumal and rest of the State of Quintana Roo, it is a duty-free state for Mexico.

Cancun south to Xcalak are showing explosive developement.

It is Mexico and has a definite Mexican/latin flavor. For the most part it lacks the Caribbean vibes of Belize.

As with Belize, Chetumal also hosts a large Lebanese population.

SIN

Chetumal is a great little city. Population about 250,000. Great new shopping mall with 10 movie theaters, nightclub, cold a/c. Most movies in english. Shopping is super though not as cheap as it used to be. Living in Corozal Town we go to Chetumal a lot and enjoy it, the stores, the restaurants, the people, the traffic and go go go.
And when we get back to sleepy Corozal Town we enjoy Corozal Town even more.

The drug dealing ex-govenor of Quintana Roo/Chetumal was actually hiding out in Corozal Town for a few months 2 houses from us. Saw him with our own eyes but did not recognise him as he had long hair and a beard. When we saw the Mexican news (when he was caught)we recognised him right away. He is having a long holiday now in the slammer.