Pan American Highway > Belize Currency to display:

1 Visiting Belize
2 Entering Belize with a Car or Motorbike
3 Driving in Belize
4 Gas and Diesel price in Belize
5 Safety and Security Considerations
6 Camping in Belize
7 Navigation
8 Special Overland Travel interests
9 Vehicle Maintenance
10 Buy or sell a car or motorbike in Belize
11 References
12 Helpful External links

Visiting Belize

Belize is a great English-speaking country to visit, there is lots to see and do, and the border crossings are simple.

Entering Belize with a Car or Motorbike

Correct as of: July 2013

Required Paperwork

Passport of registered owner (original).
Vehicle registration (original).
Drivers license of registered owner (original).

No copy of the documents required!

Process at border

(To check if you need a travel Visa for Belize, application instructions and fees see: Belize Visa online application at VisaHQ.com)

The vehicle must be fumigated, which costs BZ$10.00 BZD( for a suv the price is BZ$11.00 BZD). Be sure to get a receipt. The fumigation station can be easy to miss. At the Chetumal border crossing from Mexico, the station is a small, tin roof building you see before you get to the immigration buildings.
The vehicle must be parked, and the owner and all occupants of the vehicle gain entry at immigration (migración), including a stamp in their Passport.
The owner must show the new passport stamp, drivers license and the original vehicle registration to customs (aduana).
The owner is issued a temporary import permit for the vehicle. Save the paperwork for this permit, as you will need it to get through the customs checkpoint and to exit Belize with the vehicle.
You have to purchase insurance. This is done past the customs checkpoint.

NOTE: You may encounter pushy locals offering to help you with paperwork to get across the border. They may try to trick you into buying insurance from them for a very high price. See Border Crossing Helpers for advice.

NOTE: If you stayed longer than about 5 months in Mexico you might be denied to enter Belize! They have a new policy to reject tourists that were too long Mexico to avoid VISA runs! Stay calm and try to explain your trip, plans etc. If you have dogs that's a big plus and you will probably enter easier, since people doing VISA runs don't go with dogs.^[1]

Cost of entry

BZ$10.00 BZD(for suvs it's BZ$11.00 BZD) for fumigation. The fumigation station at Chetumal no longer takes pesos. You can exchange pesos for Belizean dollars to the left of the parking area in front of the Aduana office on the Belize side of the border. Look for the guys on the left side of the gate sitting around a bus station bench, they all have fanny packs and gave the exact current exchange rate.

Permitted length of stay

30 days, but you can extend for up to 90 days.

Extension of stay

Unknown.
Describe the process to extend the permitted length of entry for the vehicle, if possible.

Storing a vehicle and temporarily leaving the country

(unknown)
Describe if/how a vehicle can be stored, and for how long.
Also mention if the owner / temporary importer can leave the country while the vehicle is in storage.

Exiting with a vehicle

People must pay an exit tax of BZ$37.50 BZD per adult, BZ$18.25 BZD for children.
The registered owner presents the temporary import paper to customs.
The registered owner is stamped out of Guatemala at immigration.

if you're just transit in one day. You don't have to pay the BZ$37.50 BZD exit tax.

NOTE: As with entering Belize, you will definitely encounter very pushy locals offering to help you with paperwork to get across the border. See Central America Border Crossings for advice.

Driving in Belize

Insurance requirements

Insurance is mandatory in Belize, and you will be asked for it by Police

Cost of insurance

BZ$46.00 BZD for two weeks for a 4x4. ^[2]

BZ$29.00 BZD for a suv for one week.

Where to purchase insurance

There are a couple of offices right at the border. The Insurance Corporation of Belize Ltd. seems to understand the idea of Overlanding and so purchasing insurance there is easy. Large white building just 1/4 mile past the Santa Elena border crossing. They accept VISA/Mastercard.

Driving license

Technically an International Driving Permit is required.
In reality, showing a license from anywhere in the world seems to be good enough.

Driving side of road

Right.
Right hand drive vehicles are permitted without problem.

Mandatory items in vehicle

None.

Roads

General Road quality

Roads in Belize are typically good, though you can expect dirt roads to be impassible mud pits in the rainy season.

Road signs

Road signs are common enough, and are generally good enough to rely on.

Toll roads

None.

Bribery in Belize

Police bribery is uncommon in Belize, but it might happen. See the bribery tips page for advice.

Checkpoints

Police checkpoints are common in Belize, where the Police primarily want to see your vehicle insurance. You'll be asked to show your Passport, Vehicle registration, drivers license, vehicle insurance and the temporary import permit you were issued at the border.

Traveling with pets

According to travelers in 2012, you need: ^[3]

Entering Belize with dogs is officially pretty difficult and needs some preparation. Travelers in 2013 explained all the steps when traveling from Mexico to Belize: ^[4]

A Health Certificate for the animal (max. 5 days old!)
A vaccination record (nothing older than 30days!)
You need to fill out a Belize Pet Passport form to save costs! (BZ$25.00 BZD instead of BZ$50.00 BZD per dog)

You might not be asked for all these, but you should have them ready.

Gas and Diesel price in Belize

Last updated: Feb 2012 (Diesel July 2013)

Currency and unit to display:

Gasoline Grade	Price
Regular	BZ$12.00 BZD per Gallon (US)
Super (90)	??
Premium (95)	??
Ultra (97)	??
Normal Diesel	$1.36 USD per Liter
Diesel (low sulfur)	??

Price Information: gasoline-germany.com - International Gas / Petrol / Diesel prices - Belize Last updated 2009

Gas and Diesel Availability / Frequency

Gasoline is common.

Gas and Diesel Quality

Accepted to be good quality. Sulfur content of diesel is unknown.

Safety and Security Considerations

Driving at night

Driving at night is probably OK in Belize, though definitely not recommended in big cities like Belize City due to safety considerations.

The border with [Guatemala] is known to be particularly full of bandits and people wishing to visit the ruins of Caracol in the area will be given a military escort along the roads.

Vehicle parking

Find a secure parking lot to park in big cities. Price unknown.
Backpacker's Paradise^[5] in Sarteneja offers secure parking for $5.00 USD per day if you want to go visit the Cayes without your vehicle.

Special driving considerations

None.

Security advisories and information

Camping in Belize

Camping is becoming more popular in Belize, and you will almost always find somewhere in the rural areas. Roadside camping is also OK in smaller places.

Camping guide books

The Traveler's Guide to Mexican Camping also contains information on Belize. Information includes detailed maps, GPS co-ordinates, and descriptions of campground facilities.

Drinking water

Tap water in Belize is not safe to drink.

Navigation

Paper maps

Reise Know-How are amoung the best paper maps. Purchase paper maps before arriving in Belize

Guatemala & Belize 1:500,000 Travel Map, Waterproof, G...
by Reise KnowHow
From $12.95 on Amazon

Belize (national Geographic Adventure Map)
by National Geographic Maps - Adventure
From $7.71 on Amazon

Lonely Planet Guatemala, Belize & Yucatan La Ruta Maya...
by Tom Brosnahan, Nancy Keller
From $40.15 on Amazon

The Mexico Road Atlas also has maps of Belize. It can be bought at gas stations within Mexico for around $20.00 USD. It is updated yearly, and is in Spanish.

GPS Maps of Belize

Open Street Map: Appears to have good coverage.^[6]
Cenrut: Free Open Source GPS map of Central America. Coverage is occasionally better than OSM. ^[7]
Garmin: Apparently no map of Belize.
TomTom: No map of Belize. ^[8]

GPS co-ordinates for camping, propane, gas, repairs, etc. in Belize

Places in Belize - Camping Places & Sights in Belize by Pawsontour
Belize Campgrounds and Hotels - Life Remotely - List of campgrounds and hostels with photos, GPS co-ordinates, descriptions and amenities from 2012]
Camping Sites: Belize - Detailed list of campsites and propane filling with description, directions and GPS co-ordinates. Some at hotels (lists facilities and price), some roadside and free.
Central America Camping Locations - List of campsites, with basic directions and GPS co-ordinates. Mostly free sites.
BELIZE - A trip through the Belize with gps locations and prices recorded.