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"I was highly pleased. The tour was beautifully organized... covered all essential topics: from real estate, to shopping, to doctor's office visits. We were well cared for... meeting incoming flights, shepherding us through border crossings. And we were well fed, good food at every meal and plenty of it...I can't imagine trying to get acquainted with Belize without having you as my guides!"  D.W. Atlanta , GA

"Thanks for the attention given to the recent tour. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and appreciated all of the connections you gave us with attorneys, realtors and citizens.  You gave us a "grassroots" visit to Belize. It was a behind the scenes look at the country, its people and its treasures. We recommend this tour for the person serious about relocating or retiring to Belize" T and R. Day California.

This isn't standard tourist fare. We'll show you Belize from “the ground up.” You'll see what it’s really like to live in Belize. We'll take you grocery shopping, to the doctor and you'll even meet our dentist!.
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You'll meet expats who've come to Belize to retire, others who are entrepreneurs and have launched second careers in Belize. You'll have the chance to visit with them in their homes and places of business. You'll also meet with attorneys, tax experts and real estate professionals who can fill you in on the potential for investment in Belize and all of the offshore services offered here in Belize.  View the tour as an intensive week long seminar on how to live, retire, work, start a business, buy property, build a house or invest in Belize. Every day will be packed with information and you’ll meet all kinds of people, from local expats to government officials, giving you the opportunity to network. We show and tell you all the things we wished we would have known before we moved to Belize… the things that would have saved us a lot of time, money and hassles! We’ve designed the tour to be flexible. You can customize the tour and participate in only the portions you're interested in. We have combined the highlights of a certain region of Belize into an intensive one day experience that we call a “Power Tour.” We’ve eliminated anything that we don’t feel would be of interest to you, and taken care of all of the details so you can just sit back and take it all in.

Itinerary

Sunday January 25, 2004

Day #1: San Pedro ? Caye Caulker

Spend Saturday night on the beautiful tropical island of Ambergris Caye where most of the expats in Belize live. Sunday morning you’ll board a boat for a day of sea and sun. You’ll snorkel in crystal clear Caribbean water and see the greatest “living” coral reef on earth and its brilliant array of underwater sea life. In the afternoon we’ll stop at the island of Caye Caulker, (it’s said this is where the pirates came to caulk their boats) and feast on fresh fish for lunch. Afterwards, the ambitious among us will take a walking tour of the island, and the rest of us will crash on the beach. We’ll have another chance to snorkel on the way back to San Pedro and will get back in time for our welcome reception and dinner tonight.

Day #1 includes: Saturday night hotel accommodations. Boat trip Snorkeling gear. Lunch. Tour guide services.
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Sunday Night 6:00 p.m. Welcome Reception & Dinner San Pedro, Ambergris Caye We’ll get acquainted and have dinner on the beach…imagine doing this back home in January.  Be sure to dress for dinner…wear your loudest Hawaiian print and a pair of flip-flops! Monday January 26, 2004 Day # 2 Belize Relocation Conference Sunbreeze Hotel, San Pedro, Ambergris Caye From 9am to 5 pm we will listen to a variety of expert speakers. Topics covered will include: immigration issues like becoming a permanent resident or citizen of Belize, real estate, health care, Customs, offshore services. You’ll be able to ask any questions you’d like. We’ll also have a panel of expats who’ve lived in Belize for many years, some are retired, and others have begun second careers or started businesses in Belize.  Others have built homes in Belize.

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The conference is really a gold mine of information; we encourage you to take notes.

Day # 2 Conference Package includes: Airfare to San Pedro (From Belize’s International Airport).Sunday night hotel accommodation. Welcome reception and dinner. Conference. Coffee breaks and lunch.

Tuesday, January 27, 2004

Day # 3  Corozal/Chetumal, Mexico

We’ll fly from San Pedro to Corozal in Northern Belize. This seaside town is popular with expats and has the lowest cost of living in Belize, because of its close proximity to Mexico. We’ll tour Corozal Town, and then head out to Consejo Shores, a retirement development 7 miles outside of town. We’ll visit the beautiful homes built by expats, then follow a jungle lined path up to Smugglers Den, a restaurant/bar/resort owned and run by a Canadian expat.
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On our trip up to the border, we’ll pass the Corozal Free Zone where one can operate a business tax free.  Next we head over the border to Chetumal, the seaside, tree lined capital of Quintana Roo Mexico. Here you will get an up close and personal tour of our favorite shopping centers, medical and dental clinics. From a filling to a face lift it's all available here in Chetumal at bargain prices. You’ll see doctor’s and dentists offices and laboratories and have a chance to speak with doctors who will be happy to answer any of your questions. Sound a bit quirky? Don't laugh, some of our past tour participants after seeing the spotlessly clean, ultra modern dental clinic, stayed on and had extensive dental work done at a fraction of what it would have cost them at home! After a traditional Mexican dinner, we will stagger back to the tour bus to head back over the border to Corozal where we’ll spend the night.  Day # 3 includes:  Airfare from San Pedro to Corozal. All ground transportation in air conditioned tour bus. All border crossing fees. All tour guide fees. Lunch in Consejo. Dinner in Chetumal. Hotel accommodations in Corozal.

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Wednesday January 28, 2004 

Day # 4  Western Belize- Belize City/Belmopan/Cayo

We will fly from Corozal to the municipal airstrip in Belize City, where we will be met by another air-conditioned tour bus. After a driving tour of the colorful old capital, Belize City with its canals, colonial buildings and the Swing Bridge, we will head out to the Western highway. We'll stop at the unique Belize Zoo which was started by an expat American woman. Lunch will be at Cheers run by a family of expats from Denmark.

Then we'll head on to Belmopan the capital of Belize, where we will point out important government offices. The next stop as we continue heading to the "wild west" of Belize is San Ignacio. Verdant rolling hills, Mennonites in their horse drawn buggies and the longest suspension bridge in Central America give this town real atmosphere. We'll drive along the Macal River (look for the Mayan women washing clothes on the rocks) all the way to the border of Guatemala. Then we will ride a hand cranked ferry over the river to the Mayan ruins of Xunantunich, for a tour of the Mayan pyramid there.

We’ll drive out to the Mennonite settlement of Spanish Lookout and see what the most successful group of expats to ever come to Belize have accomplished. We’ll also see the ready built wooden houses that the Mennonites build and will deliver to your property anywhere in Belize.

Finally we will check into the San Ignacio Hotel (www.sanignaciobelize.com) and if you've got any energy left you can enjoy the swimming pool, nature trails and iguana hatchery. 

Day # 4 includes:  Airfare to Belize City. All ground transportation. Admission to the Belize Zoo. Lunch. All tour guide fees. Admission to ruins of Xunantunich. Hotel accommodations.
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Thursday January 29, 2004 Day # 5  Punta Gorda We'll fly into Punta Gorda, the last town in Belize; some expats are crazy about this seaside town surrounded by tropical rainforest. If you're attracted to remote, rustic locations and have the urge to get away from it all, this may be the spot for you. We’ll tour the area around Punta Gorda and then head for El Pescador (www.elpescador.com, a mountaintop jungle lodge overlooking a beautiful bay. After taking an unforgettable tram ride through the rainforest we’ll have lunch and meet Jim Scott, the American expat who runs the place. We’ll spend the night in Punta Gorda. Day #5 includes:  Airfare to Punta Gorda. Ground transportation. Lunch. Hotel accommodations. Airfare back to international airport. Friday January 30, 2004 Day # 6 Placencia   In the morning we will fly into Placencia, the gorgeous peninsula with palm fringed white sand beaches. With the Caribbean on one side and a lagoon on the other you feel like you’re on a South Sea island. We'll take a driving tour of the 10 mile long peninsula, and see homes built by expats; we’ll also get to meet some of the North Americans who own the hotels and restaurants here. We’ll have a chance to enjoy the best beach in Belize this afternoon and tonight have a beach barbeque with live entertainment.

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Day # 6 includes:  Airfare to Placencia. Ground transportation. Lunch. Dinner. Hotel accommodations. Airfare back to international airport.
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This is not a “Bare Bones” bargain tour; we don’t “rough it.”  Our hotel rooms will have private bathrooms, hot water, air conditioning, cable TV and telephones and when possible we stay in beachfront hotels. We fly instead of taking long bus rides over bad roads. Having said that, we must also say that this is not a “Fun in the Sun vacation,” if that's what you're looking for please look elsewhere. Belize is nothing like Cancun or Hawaii. While your accommodations will be cool and comfortable and your meals tasty and nourishing, don’t expect luxury hotels and gourmet food.  If you can’t handle that, then Belize isn’t for you and please don’t sign up for our tour.

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The complete 7 day tour package includes the following:

Airfare for 6 flights within Belize, including:

• International Airport Belize City to San Pedro
• San Pedro to Corozal
• Corozal to Belize Municipal airport Belize City
• Cayo to Punta Gorda
• Punta Gorda to Placencia
• Placencia to International Airport Belize City 
• All ground transportation in air conditioned tour bus
• Boat/snorkeling trip 
• Six lunches and 3 dinners 
• Seven nights hotel accommodations 
• Entrance fees to Mayan Ruins and Belize Zoo
• Driver and tour guide services
• Border crossing fees 
• Price for the complete tour is $2,495 per person
• Additional cost for a private room for a solo traveler is $395
• Certain days of the tour may be deleted and the cost of those days deducted from the tour price, see below for details.

Day 1 San Pedro/Caye Caulker ? $200 per person

Day 5 Punta Gorda ? $300 per person

Day 6 Placencia ? $300 per person

If you do choose to sit-out any part of the tour please be aware that you are on your own for those days. Please be sure to specify on the reservation form which days you are deleting.

Rooming: Tour price is based on double occupancy, 2 people sharing a hotel room. Couples and friends signing up for the tour together, will room together. If you are traveling alone, you can either request a private room or a roommate, see Reservation Form. We can’t promise that there will be a roommate available for you or that the roommate will be either smoking or non-smoking, if that’s a problem please request a private room. If you request a roomate, you will share a room but always have your own bed. 

If stairs are a problem and you would rather be on the ground floor please let us know on the reservation form. 

Smoking: While we welcome smokers on our tour, we must enforce a strict non smoking policy in indoor locations and on the tour bus. We take lots of breaks and will be outdoors most of the time so this should not be a problem for either smokers or non smokers.

Getting to Belize: There are 4 airlines that fly directly to Belize. American Airlines flies from Dallas and Miami, Continental and TACA fly from Houston, and US Air from Charlotte, NC.  See your travel agent for details, as airfare to Belize is not included in the tour package.

How to Reserve:  Reservations accepted online, and by mail or fax. If you submit your reservation online, please also print out the reservation form fill it in and mail it to us. If you fax your reservation please also mail us the original form.

Reservations must be accompanied by a deposit of at least 50% of your total. Deposits are payable by check, money order, Visa MasterCard or E-gold. All checks must be drawn on a US bank and payable in US funds.

If accepted, we will confirm your reservation by email and also mail a written confirmation and receipt to you. Please wait until we confirm your reservation before making airline reservations.

Balance is due by December 15, 2003

Send Reservations to: 

Preview Publishing.  Box 107.  Corozal Belize.  Fax: 619 615 2345

More Information: If you like we can mail you printed information or a reservation form; just send us your mailing address. If you have a question regarding the tour please email us at prepub@belizeretire.com or call us in Belize at 501 422 3406 (From the U.S. dial 011 first). - Click here for Belize Relocation Tour Reservation Form - 
 

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