Product Description

Fodor’s. For Choice Travel Experiences.

Fodor’s helps you unleash the possibilities of travel by providing the insightful tools you need to experience the trips you want. Although you’re at the helm, Fodor’s offers the assurance of our expertise, the guarantee of selectivity, and the choice details that truly define a destination. It’s like having a friend in Belize!

•Updated frequently, Fodor’s Belize provides the most accurate and up-to-date information available in a guidebook.

•Fodor’s Belize features options for a variety of budgets, interests, and tastes, so you make the choices to plan your trip of a lifetime.

•If it’s not worth your time, it’s not in this book. Fodor’s discriminating ratings, including our top tier Fodor’s Choice designations, ensure that you’ll know about the most interesting and enjoyable places in Belize.

•Experience Belize like a local! Fodor’s Belize includes choices for every traveler from diving, deep-sea fishing, and bird-watching to just lounging on the beach.

•Indispensable, customized trip planning tools include “Top Reasons to Go,” “Word of Mouth” advice from other travelers, and tips to help save money, bypass lines, and avoid common travel pitfalls.

Visit Fodors.com for more ideas and information, travel deals, vacation planning tips, reviews and to exchange travel advice with other travelers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42663 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-26
• Released on: 2008-08-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781400019410
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"In terms of comprehensiveness of coverage, the very accessible format, and the enthusiastic tone, this series remains one of the best on the market." –Booklist
 
"Fodor's super-informative guidebooks are known for accuracy and attention to detail…" –The Sacramento Bee
 
"The Fodor's guides are notable for their ratings of sights, restaurants, shops, accommodations and attractions." –Chicago Tribune
 
"The great detail, infectious spirit, and attractive format are distinguishing traits of these guides, which are entries in one of the top series in the business." –Booklist
 
"Fodor's can help you plan the perfect adventure" –The Arizona Republic
 
"Always thoughtfully written and easily readable, Fodor's travel guides have become a must-have when traveling to unfamiliar destinations" –Mid South Magazine
 
"Widely recognized as the gold standard of mainstream travel" –Honolulu Advertiser

About the Author
Every Fodor's Travel Guide is researched and written by resident experts.

Customer Reviews

Great book, although more $$ recommendations
My husband and I just returned from a 16 day trip, and this book was definitely worth the money!! It is the most up to date Belize guidebook you can buy right now, and almost all of it's information was right on. We also bought the Belize Moon Guidebook, and comparing the two, I would say that Fodors is more upscale. Usually, it's assuming you're going to rent a car and hire guides for your trips (both of which cost $$$), and it does a better job of describing more expensive hotels and restaurants. This is great if you have the money, but we were on a budget, so this info was useless for us. The Moon book did a better job covering places and topics for a budget traveller (like what to do if you get a GI bug--something no one wants, but when it happens, you're glad it's covered in the book!). That said, Fodor's was still really helpful because it's the most up to date, so it's maps, attractions, restaurant, and lodging recommendations could usually be relied on (Kudos for the Fodor's recommendation for Tradewinds in Plancencia--this tip alone made me glad I bought the book!). Overall, it's the perfect book if you are planning a more upscale trip, but it's still very helpful (4 star) if you're a budget traveller and I would defintely recommend purchasing it along with the Moon Belize book.

Disappointing drop in quality.
I have always considered Fodor's travel books to be the best. They covered the highlights of each country in terms of a brief history, what to expect, places to visit, restaurants and where to stay. Their reviews were concise, accurate and covered a range from moderate to expensive. Most refreshing was an absence of the pretentious attitudes that often characterized other guides. (Frommers being the worst offender.)

I've visited Belize before, but since it had been a few years, picked up Fodor's Belize 2007 guide. First thing I noticed is it is now one complete book devoted to the country, where in the past it was grouped under the title of "Central America". In this case, more does not translate into better. Much of this book is irrelevant filler.

Most disappointing however is that the writers seems to have "phoned it in" while lounging by the resort swimming pool. In short, if you love expensive hotels or trendy restaurants, this is the book for you. If you are interested in visiting more of the real country, try another publication.

For example, Dangriga is a fascinating part of Belize, but lacks traditional tourist infrastructure. While it may not be the most popular part of the country for the Fodor writers, I would expect at least an update of hotel descriptions. Sadly, some are easily two years out of date.

Yet another example is seen in the coverage afforded to Belmopan, the capitol of the country. Belmopan is also not a major area for tourism, but people do visit. There are some small hotels and B&B's available, nothing fancy, but clean and friendly. Yet the only listings shown in the 2007 Guide are for resorts located many miles away (One suggestion is at least a 45 minute drive from Belmopan. Its a beautiful air-conditioned jungle lodge but so far away, to list it is absurd.) Again, the writers may not like having to stay in a small hotel, but they should at least list them for others who may visit.

Not surprisingly, the only place this book excels is when it comes to Ambergris Caye and San Pedro. It does give a very good listing of hotels, restaurants and activities. While the focus is on the more expensive, it does cover a representative range.

I hope this guide does not mark a new direction for Fodors. I personally enjoy staying in more upscale accommodations, but would not avoid a section of a country simply because there are no 4-star hotels. A good travel book should give a complete range. I stopped using Frommers because of this arrogance. I hope Fodors is not following in their footsteps.

Good preparation for Belize
This book answered most of the questions I had prior to taking my trip to Belize. The questions it could not answer were questions that only could be answered in specific situations by actually being there. For an in depth look at Belize and how to prepare for your trip, it is an excellent guide book.