Barton Creek Cave Reserve

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 the experience.