Belize Driving Advice and Car Hire Info
Driving In Belize
You’ll drive on the right when driving abroad in Belize.You can drive on the licence of most countries for up to 3 months, after which time you’ll need a local licence. Speed limits are 55 miles per hour (90 km/hour) outside residential areas and no more than 40 miles per hour (65 km/h) within towns and villages. Signs are generally in English.
Only around 20% of Belize’s 3000km of roads are paved. Paved main roads in Belize include –
Philip Goldson Highway between Belize City and the Mexican border north of Corozal (95 miles or 153 kilometres)
George Price Highway between Belize City and the Guatemalan border near Benque Viejo del Carmen (78.3 miles or 126.0 kilometres)
Hummingbird Highway from Belmopan to Dangriga (55 miles or 89 kilometres)
Southern Highway from Dangriga to Punta Gorda (104 miles or 167 kilometres)
The Coastal Highway, sometimes known as the Manatee Highway, is a poorly maintained gravel road that is difficult to travel even in good weather without a four-wheel drive vehicle. The road is 30 miles long (48 km), the Coastal Highway connects an area west of Belize City to just north of Dangriga.
Main roads are usually paved and in reasonable condition, smaller roads will be gravel or sand and often in poor state of repair, especially after rain. Some rental companies specify that non 4WD vehicles can’t be taken on unpaved roads, so its worth letting them know where you intend to be driving. A main risk of driving in Belize is the high incidence of drink driving. You should therefore avoid driving at night and take particular care at weekends and holidays. Belize City is small but has a few areas which suffer gang related violence, especially the area to the south of the Haulover Creek, known as Southside. You should therefore plan your route carefully and if unsure, and are driving into or out of the city-ask a taxi driver if you can follow him. If you’re going to the islands try and leave your car at a hotel rather than at the docks. (The Radisson is just up the road, try parking there if you can get away with it!)
Although I try and keep the information in the site updated as much as possible, in a rapidly moving world, situations can change daily. Therefore please use the site as an approximate guide, and in conjunction with other resources in order to form your view on driving conditions, roads, safety etc.
Belize Car Rental-
Hertz, Thrifty, Budget, have outlets here. Also usually features on Car rental broker sites.
We currently have no local car rental partners in Belize. If you are a local car rental company who would like to feature on DriverAbroad.com please check details on our Partnering page or contact us on ADriverAbroad@Outlook.com
Belize Self Driving Rules-
None of the big companies seem to allow cars to be taken out of the country.
