With a permanent population of only 25,000, San Ignacio may not seem like a booming metropolis — but the fact that it's one of the largest town in Belize says a whole lot about the experiences this country offers. You aren't going to find familiar chain restaurants in San Ignacio, but you will find an ethnically diverse community with a wide variety of local businesses and restaurants. And while San Ignacio is often treated by tourists as little more than a base camp for adventures in the wild Cayo District, it's actually a lot more than that. You could comfortably spend all of your Belize vacation in San Ignacio, and that's true whether you're a foodie or simply a leisure lover.
Cuisine
Belize has a long reputation as a breadbasket for Central America, and that's thanks to the particularly nourishing soil of the Cayo District. This is the largest of Belize's districts, and most of the delicious meat, produce, and seafood passing through Belize ends up in the Cayo District. Latin dishes with a heavy focus on seafood are central to the identity of Belize — but the amount of cultural influence on the country's food is sometimes underestimated. Indian and Chinese laborers have all brought their own unique twists to cuisine, as have the Mennonites who moved to Belize decades ago. From cheap hole-in-the-walls to fine dining, San Ignacio has a little bit of everything.
Leisure
When you're immersed in a jungle lodge just outside of the San Ignacio town limits, it's not hard to find excuses to relax. The Cayo District offers everything from exotic birdwatching to spelunking to ruins exploration, but the town has plenty to offer in its own right. The shops and markets are every bit as local and authentic as the dining, and the San Ignacio Market in particular stands out as a cultural attraction everyone should visit. Stop by the historic San Ignacio Resort and Hotel to check out the Green Iguana Conservation Project, or check out the variety of Maya ruins in and around the town.
Cahal Pech Village Resort: The Best Place to Stay
If you're looking to perfectly straddle the line between nature and civilization, Cahal Pech Village Resort offers the best experience around. Located just outside of an ancient Maya city but within the reach of San Ignacio's downtown, it's the ideal launching point for your trip throughout the Cayo District. But with two restaurants on-site — Sky Sushi Bar and the more traditionally Belizean Cooling Rack — you could have a perfectly satisfying experience without even leaving the property.
Questions about visiting Belize? Contact us at info@cahalpech.com. We’d love to help you plan your Belize vacation.
