Barton Creek Cave Reserve — Attraction in Cayo District

Our party of 8 arrived with our guide after about a 2 hour shuttle from Placencia. This was our final stop after hiking Xunantunich and lunch at Benny’s. The hike to our site was pleasant and easy- my 70 year old father did it without difficulty- lots of shade and relatively flat. Please wear water shoes with thicker soles! If you don’t have any they do sell them at the site for $25USD. Not tennis shoes or pool shoes but something more like strapped hiking sandals or crocs with sports mode strap. You will have to walk through many streams and they are super rocky with large smooth stones. Comfortable shoes are a must. You will have to walk about 30 mins and even though it’s a very gentle hike you wouldn’t want to do it in pool shoes. The caves themselves are amazing. I did another cave tour closer to little blue hole and it was extremely dark and very narrow. The vaulted ceilings and stalactite formations are truly marvelous here. Very peaceful. All 8 of us tubed through with only 1 or 2 head lights on. I do recommend tubing instead of kayaking. The kayakers seemed to go through very quickly while we floated slowly and really enjoyed our surroundings. There are other places to kayak in my opinion. I would definitely do it again. Also, try to avoid weekdays if possible. Cruise ships port and it’s an excursion for them. We had the caves to ourselves for the most part. But if cruise ships are there as well there could easily be 100 people in caves at a time. In my opinion that would ruin...

We went December 28, 2023 with a tour guide who took us through rivers in his van to get us there. Apparently a hurricane washed out the bridge so people just drive over the shallow riverbed. When we got there the one restroom there had a toilet that didn't flush and the floor was flooded with unknown fluids either from the sink which drained into a bucket or maybe overflow from the toilet. The hard hats and life preservers we had to put on smelled moldy. They gave us one flashlight per kayak and one oar. I am one for an adventure though so all these little things were kind of to be expected as minor inconveniences. The caves were pretty cool although I feel sorry for the bats who may have had to find new caves to sleep in because of the noisy tourists constantly flashing lights on them as they tried to sleep. Also it was hard to maneuver the kayak through some of the stalactites without touching them, and I feel like others may have already damaged those "living" structures. All-in-all it was a fun little excursion, but after having done the ATM Caves the day before, I felt like it was a watered down version of the ATM Caves. We passed by some properties on the way out, and they added speed bumps on top of the already bumpy dirt roads, which I found to...

We came here during the dry season (March) and had to drive on dirt roads (not bad ones) and through two small rivers (you'll want an all whee drivel SUV) to get to Mike's Place. We didn't have a guide booked in advance so we had to wait around for a half hour or so. There's a little walk to wander and a restaurant. Our guide was great! He had lots of information to share, kept it PG for the kids and answered all our questions. We canoed about 1 km into the cave and saw some nice formations and Mayan artifacts (not too many). Lights were provided although we did have our own headlamps too. There were maybe two other groups we passed, which was nice and kept the experience quiet. Our guide said it is busier on a weekend. And he said if you want to see bigger bats - not just insect bats - try to be on one of the first two tours. You can swim in the water outside the cave after (there are little fish in there and both shallow and deep areas), so bring a towel and swimsuit. Swimming could be a good idea to do after you've ordered food as it takes a while. We had fresh coconuts chopped off a tree...