The Cayes and the Belize Reef are a paradise for water sports enthusiasts, offering all the swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving, sailing, windsurfing and fishing anyone could ever wish for. If that's still not enough, travelers can canoe on the Macal, Mopan and Belize Rivers around San Ignacio and tube through caves along the Chiquibul River. The best hiking trails are in Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve and the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary. Bird-watchers should check out the rivers, swamps and lagoons of the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary, midway between Belize City and Orange Walk Town, which attract flocks of migrating birds between November and May.

The big national holidays are dictated by the Roman Catholic calendar, but other celebrations include the wonderfully titled Baron Bliss Day (March 9), which honors a philanthropic British nobleman who fell in love with Belize and upon his death willed the bulk of his fortune in trust to the people of Belize. Belize National Day (September 10) commemorates the Battle of St George's Caye; celebrations continue until Independence Day (September 21). More festivities occur on Colombus Day (October 12) and Garífuna Settlement Day (November 19). The latter commemorates the arrival of the Garinagus (Black Caribs) in dugout canoes from Honduras in 1823. Dangriga is the place to celebrate this festival: the small town explodes in a frenzy of dancing and drinking.