BELIZEmagazine.com - The Internet Magazine of Belize

Frommer’s Belize, according to the publisher, is currently in the process of being updated. We read the first edition and found it very informative. As typical to guide books, Frommer’s Belize gives the travelers are the tips required to insure that your vacation can be adequately planned. From visitor information, entry requirements and customs regulations to exchanging money and health and safety concerns, the book covers Belize.

The book is broken down in to chapters that report about hotels and transportation and restaurants and the adventures available such as cave tubing, snorkeling and diving, visiting the extensive Maya sites scattered around the country, fishing or simply lounging about in the hammock.

From Cayo to San Pedro, from Corozal to Punta Gorda, author Eliot Greenspan who is also charged with the process of updating the guide has thoroughly researched Belize. However, as typical with travel writers especially those reporting on Belize, we are not how often Mr. Greenspan travels to Belize. In the foreword of Frommer’s Belize, it mentions that the author is “a poet, journalist, and travel writer who took his backpack and typewriter the length of Mesoamerica before settling in Costa Rica”.



	Frommer’s Belize 1st edition by Eliot Greenspan, 338 pages Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. Available online at www.Frommers.com www.Amazon.com

One aspect of Frommer’s Belize that we enjoyed was ‘The Best of Belize’ section. Here, the author explains his personal ‘best of list’. Mr. Greenspan details ‘the best purely Belizean experiences’ such spending a night in a Mayan ceremonial or drinking a seaweed shake or betting on a chicken drop. There are fifteen separate ‘best of’ categories. They include the best of natural Belize, best diving and snorkeling spots, the best bird watching, the best for families, the best luxury properties, the best moderately priced and budget, the best after dark fun and the best websites.

On the latter, this is obviously where the author has missed the mark and it reflects that the guidebook has some catching up to do. For he only lists six Internet portals. The book also lists hotels and restaurants that have closed as for back as two years ago. The author also refers to Placencia as a small village. Any one that has traveled to Placencia in the last five years would understanding the days of Placencia being a sleepy little village disappeared years ago.

What so often amazes me about travel writers and their reporting is, that they never seem to agree with each other. They, for the most part, do an adequate job of researching but all too often they seem to sway towards a specific restaurant or property accommodation. As a reader, I always find myself wondering if the writer receives free meals and lodging that ultimately clouds their vision.

All said, Frommer’s Belize does a good job presenting the country Belize to a traveler. We hope that the new edition will report more accurately all the new lodging and restaurants offering across the country. Our rating: **** Four Stars out of Five.