we just got back from our first ever trip to AC so naturally we are the ultimate experts here. We stayed in the "heart of town" at the Mayan Princess, it was clean, safe, friendly and close to almost everything. I would imagine the town to be more crowded in January that September. We really liked Lilly's for breakfast and didn't have a bad meal anywhere at night. Elvi's is good as was Sweet Basil on the north end (closes at 5, I think) and we liked Ambergris Delight on middle street. Fido's was alright though rice and roll sushi and martinis upstairs was more to our older taste. We rented bikes one day and did the entire north & south of the island, quite the ride but worth it, we thought. Snorkeling, doesn't get much better than here. We did Shark/Ray alley twice, Mexico Rocks and Tres Cocos, all worth the money. We also did Laminai Jungle tour, an all day adventure but lots of fun. The rum punches started at 8:20 AM and didn't stop for the entire day. We walked extensively all over town as well as the beach south to a little past past Victoria House and up north just past Capt. Morgans and always felt safe. Our absolute favorite place had to be BC's Beach Bar just south of town on the beach (of course). Lots of ex-pats, rum punches, caipirinhas, and Beliken this is a cool place! We have been a lot of places but this was one of the best, in our opinion.