Once it was time to leave Caye Caulker, we needed to decide on where to go next in Belize. After reviewing our options, we decided on Placencia, a city in the south on a peninsula. A full day of travel (two water ferries, a chicken bus, two regular taxis, one golf cart taxi, and some walking) saw us arriving on the peninsula just before dark. We checked into our small hotel room and went to the sports bar three buildings away for dinner. While at dinner, we discussed what we wanted to do over the next few days in town.

The view from the water ferry to Placencia.

The next morning, after having some coffee, we walked around town (at this point, I should mention that there are only two paths you can take around town: either the sidewalk or the street). Doing so allowed us to see which places were open and which were closed. There were many restaurants, shops, and tour companies that had “Closed” signs on them, most of which were closed through the end of our time in Placencia.

The sidewalk in Placencia was not very crowded when we were there!

After spending a day in Placencia, we quickly realized that we had too much time scheduled in the city during low season. The number of restaurants that were open were limited, so we ended up eating at the sports bar for one meal three out of the four days we were there. Many of the galleries and shops were closed, so we couldn’t browse any artwork or crafts. Some of the tour operators were also closed, limiting our options of what activities we could do while we were there.

The one activity we did was to rent a golf cart for the day and drive the length of the peninsula, stopping to explore a couple of other towns along the way.

The one perk of being there during low season was that the beach was nearly deserted. For two afternoons, I set up camp on a beach chair in the shade of a palm tree and alternated floating in the sea and listening to podcasts on my phone while enjoying the scenery. On one evening, Jon and I went for a walk along the beach (which was more difficult than we had expected, due to the course sand that slid everywhere!) and encountered only a handful of other people. These moments were relaxing and just for us – we didn’t have to share them with crowds of tourists.

The view of the beach from my chair – there was nobody in sight!

We did enjoy some good meals while in Placencia, despite the limited number of restaurants available to us. Freshly caught lobster at Omar’s, smoked fish dip at Barefoot Bar, a shrimp dinner on the patio of Wendy’s, salbutes and fry jacks from Carmen’s, and generous iced coffees at Brewed Awakenings – these were some of the things we tried and loved over the four days we spent on the peninsula.

Fresh lobster dinner at Omar’s – I was too excited to eat that I almost forgot to take a picture!

While I generally prefer to travel in low season, due to lower prices and fewer crowds, this was one of the times when I would have liked it to be slightly busier, just so that we could enjoy the full offerings of Placencia. While it was a very relaxing stay for us, we weren’t able to do some of the things we originally wanted to do because of the fact that we were there during low season. I hope that someday we will be able to return to take advantage of everything Placencia has to offer.

My chair was the one in the middle – I could have sat there all day! (except for when it was raining…)