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Local dishes to try in San Ignacio

1. 1🍚

   Rice & Beans

   Belize's signature plate: rice cooked with red beans in coconut milk, served with stewed chicken or pork and a ladle of gravy. It's the everyday lunch locals eat, filling and cheap.

   📍 National staple
2. 2🫓

   Fry Jacks

   Puffy deep-fried dough, crisp outside and soft within, eaten with refried beans, eggs, cheese, or a drizzle of honey. The classic Belizean breakfast, found at every morning spot in town.

   📍 Breakfast favorite
3. 3🌮

   Salbutes & Panades

   Salbutes are soft fried tortillas topped with shredded chicken, veg, and sauce, while panades are fried masa pockets stuffed with fish or beans and topped with pickled onion. Market and roadside staples.

   📍 Street snacks
4. 4🍲

   Escabeche & Chimole

   Escabeche is a tangy, spicy Maya-style chicken and onion soup, while chimole is a deep-black soup made from charred chilies, rich and bold. Traditional bowls you rarely find outside Belize.

   📍 Local soups
5. 5🇮🇳

   Ko-Ox Han Nah

   A Burns Avenue legend that blends Indian dishes with Belizean staples: curries and naan alongside rice and beans. One of the most talked-about restaurants in town.

   📍 Beloved institution
6. 6🥞

   Pop's Restaurant

   A local breakfast landmark serving pancakes, waffles, eggs, sausage, burritos, and fresh fruit from early until late. A favorite gathering spot before heading out on tours.

   📍 All-day breakfast

1. 1🏛️

   Xunantunich

   The most visited ruin in western Belize, just 15 minutes from town and reached by a hand-cranked ferry across the Mopan River. The star is El Castillo, a 130-foot temple with sweeping views all the way into Guatemala.

   📍 Top Maya site
2. 2🔦

   ATM Cave (Actun Tunichil Muknal)

   Belize's legendary cave tour: wade, swim, and climb your way to genuine Maya pottery and skeletal remains left untouched for centuries. Cameras are banned inside to protect the artifacts, but the experience stays with you forever.

   📍 Cave adventure
3. 3⛰️

   Caracol

   The biggest Maya city in Belize, set deep inside the Mountain Pine Ridge. Its main temple, Caana or the Sky Palace, rises over 140 feet and remains the tallest manmade structure in the country to this day.

   📍 Largest Maya ruin
4. 4🛕

   Cahal Pech

   A hilltop Maya site right above town and the easiest to reach. It holds 34 structures including temple pyramids, plazas, and ball courts dating back to 1200 BC. The name means Place of Ticks in Maya.

   📍 In-town ruins
5. 5🦎

   Green Iguana Conservation Project

   Just over a mile east of downtown at the San Ignacio Resort Hotel, you can hold and feed green iguanas up close. It's consistently ranked the #1 activity in San Ignacio on TripAdvisor and is a hit with kids.

   📍 Family favorite
6. 6🛶

   Barton Creek Cave

   Paddle a canoe through a cave system once used by the Maya, about 40 minutes from town with a roughly 4-hour tour. Calmer than the ATM Cave but every bit as atmospheric.

   📍 Canoe caving
7. 7💦

   Big Rock Falls & Rio On Pools

   Natural pools and waterfalls inside the Mountain Pine Ridge. Rio On Pools has slick rocks that act as natural waterslides, while Big Rock Falls is a tall cascade with a deep pool you can swim beneath.

   📍 Pine-ridge waterfalls
8. 8🍫

   Saturday Market & AJAW Chocolate

   The Saturday market is the soul of town, where villagers sell produce, fruit, and fresh food. Nearby, AJAW Chocolate & Crafts runs hands-on Maya chocolate-making workshops from raw cacao.

   📍 Local culture