Hi All - I want to take some friends (4 or 5) over to the mainland to hit the 3 places listed in the subject line. We're planning to take the water taxi over to Belize City, then a local bus to San Ignacio, where we'll find a guide to take us to Tikal the following day. I'm pretty comfortable with that plan, but is there a good way to get from San Ignacio to the boat up New River for the trip to Lamanai? How about getting to the Cave Tubing? Can we do this all via local bus and find guides when we get there? Is there a tour group we can 'join' since there are only 4 or 5 of us?
Thanks!

You should rent a car and then go to all those places at your own speed. San Ignacio to Orange Walk is a trip but can be done in a couple of hours by car. You grab the boat in Orange Walk right after the toll and they will take you up the new river. Do the cave tubing while in San Ignacio. You can get a trip from your hotel. It is a pretty busy schedule. Have fun

That's just what I was thinking as well about the car, PK. Can you drive to the cave tubing, or park the car and catch a bus there? I was going to get the car on Wednesday, do tubing on the way to San Ignacio. Spend the night, go to Tikal for the first thing Thursday (by tour bus, not driving I'm thinking), another night in San Ignacio, then drive to Orange Walk and do Lamanai on Friday. If we need to go to SI first, and then catch a tour back to tubing we can do that. I was just thinking we could do it on the way if possible?

Have you considered that you might mix up Tikal with Lamani in your memory of the trip? For many experienced travelers that schedule would reduce the pleasure of the trip rather than enhance it.
Several of them are sitting right here, making pleasantries over the idea of so many stops.
Tikal makes Lamani seem like nothing has been dug up yet. Long hurried car drives in Belize are fraught with dangers.
Did you know Paul Steele? He was a great adventurer and survived a Reality Show life but not the highways of Belize...

Why not skip Lamanai and see Cahal Pech and Xunantunich? My wife and I did both of those tours in one day, then Tikal the next day, and cave tubing the following day. It was a good bit of travel but it was what we wanted. Its totally doable, but I woul take the Lamanai part out and substitute something closer to San Ignacio.

It's not the Lamania ruins, it's really the boat trip getting there and back with all the wildlife viewing they do along the way. Is there another river tour like that which doesn't need to include a ruins visit?

When you get to the boat dock in Orange Walk, you hire a guide and he will do whatever you all agree on. The river is beautiful.But for really fantastic bird watching, consider the interior Blue Hole and Hermann's Cave area. It is about 15 minute drive down the Hummingbird HWY from Belmopan. Also you can drive to Cave's Branch to pick up cave tubing just call to let them know you are coming

Excellent information.
Thanks!

Tons of wildlife along rivers to be seen in the San Ignacio area. Lamanai is way out of the way and you won't see anything there that can't be seen in the Cayo district for the most part. I am not sure leaving a rental vehicle at the river at Tower bridge while you go on the Lamanai tour is a good idea as well. Personally I much prefer the Barton Creek cave canoeing or tubing to the Sibun River cave tubing.

OK, great info, Barbara. We've changed our departure date to tomorrow (Thursday), and have removed Lamanai from the itinerary. So now I'm looking for a great guided river trip in the San Ignacio area. (We'll be cave tubing and doing the zoo tomorrow, night in SI, Tikal all day Friday, night in SI again, then looking for a trip on Sat before coming back and catching the water taxi back to San Pedro.) We'll also be doing a quick trip to check out the Belize Botanical Gardens while in the SI area, but any suggestions on a guided nature trip (preferably on the river) around SI are greatly appreciated.