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My Tips and Observations of San Pedro

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I’ve been to Belize twice as a tourist, but not this time. This visit to Belize isn’t exactly for fun, sun, and diving this time. Instead, I went to San Pedro to help a longtime friend, who is currently a Belize resident. Here are a few tips and observations from my latest visit to San Pedro in Belize. Arriving into Philip Goldson International airport in Belize City (BZE,) all visitors are subject to customs inspections. My friend had asked me to purchase some Southern Comfort from the duty free at Dallas Fort-Worth Airport. Belizean customs ended up charging me customs because visitors are only allowed to bring in one bottle of alcohol. I had purchased a twin pack at DFW, so I was subje...Read More

I’ve been to Belize twice as a tourist, but not this time. This visit to Belize isn’t exactly for fun, sun, and diving this time. Instead, I went to San Pedro to help a longtime friend, who is currently a Belize resident. Here are a few tips and observations from my latest visit to San Pedro in Belize.

Arriving into Philip Goldson International airport in Belize City (BZE,) all visitors are subject to customs inspections. My friend had asked me to purchase some Southern Comfort from the duty free at Dallas Fort-Worth Airport. Belizean customs ended up charging me customs because visitors are only allowed to bring in one bottle of alcohol. I had purchased a twin pack at DFW, so I was subject to 50% tax on one of the bottles. So my $14 bottle of booze was subject to $7 tariff. If you’re going to bring booze, the first bottle is free, everything past that is subject to tariff

A round trip ticket from BZE to San Pedro’s airport on the island of Ambergris Caye (Caye is pronounced KEY, like Key West,) is $120 USD on Tropic Air. Before my trip, I asked about taking the boat from BZE to Ambergris Caye. The boat ride itself is cheaper, perhaps $20 USD, but it takes off from the Water Taxi terminal in downtown Belize City. The cab ride to downtown Belize City can cost around $40 and take 30 minutes. The boat ride to Ambergris Caye is a little over an hour. Since the cost would be around the same for a round trip regardless of boat or airplane, I opted for the quicker route via air.

San Pedro is the only town on the island of Ambergris Caye, and it’s a popular destination for tourists. Most of the tourists end up staying in the downtown area, as there are many hotels and resorts there. San Pedro is a relatively small town, with around 12,000 residents, so it’s easy for the locals to spot tourists. As a visitor, I found that whenever I’m in the downtown area, and I’m approached by the locals, it’s usually because they want to sell me something. I hate to generalize, but every time I’ve been approached a Rasta looking person, it’s to see if I wished to purchase marijuana. I politely said no and was on my way. They seem to respect that fact and continue on their own way. I have no problem with those that do wish to partake in the weed, but it is illegal in Belize, and I don’t relish the fact of being a foreign national in another country’s jail. For informational purposes, the dealers tend to frequent the beach areas and main streets around Central Park.

My friend told me that Belize requires prices to be in Belizean dollars. Belizean currency is directly tied into the United States Dollar at $2 BZ to $1 US. Just remember 2 to 1, so a menu entrée in a restaurant is $22 Belize is actually $11 USD. Plus tax is supposed to be fully calculated, so it’s harder to cheat tourists on such things.

The local beer is Belikin, and it’s fairly good and cheap, usually around $5 to $7 Belize. The Belikin brewery is visible from the runway at BZE. Most reputable restaurants and bars will serve bottles of Belikin, or anything else in a glass bottle to you with a napkin around the top. The reason for this is that Belize is quite humid, and also susceptible to the salt air from the ocean. This sometimes rusts the metal bottle caps to the beer and soda bottles. If it’s not served with a napkin, kindly ask for one and wipe the mouth of the bottle. I'm not kidding about this.

The beach on San Pedro is mostly made of coral sand, so it can be gritty, abrasive sand. The beaches in San Pedro aren’t your typical beaches you’d lay out to sun yourself. A good portion of the east facing beach has a large concrete seawall to prevent the beaches from eroding into the ocean. There is also a lot of sea grass in the water, which is legally prevented from being removed due to erosion. You could still find a nice spot to lie out on the beach, but the actual beach is quite narrow, and there’s a lot of traffic on the beach. There are a lot of piers, with tourists and workers going to and from the piers and along the beaches. There is a legal principle called the "Queen’s Beach," which allows people to walk along the beach or seawall. Beachfront property owners cannot block passage to people walking along the beach. I found that a nice thing to do is walk along the beach during the early morning and late evenings. An observation I noticed is that there are a lot of unfinished luxury condos along the beach, mostly further away from the downtown area. These ended up being unfortunate victims of the recession, as people can’t afford to buy second homes, which impedes their construction.

It’s quite easy to get around San Pedro. As a visitor, there are taxis, and bicycle and golf cart rentals. The roads in San Pedro are narrow, made of rough paver stones, and there are large speed bumps and dips all over the place. It’s hard to keep a nice car in San Pedro, as they get gritty and have their suspensions overworked from the bumps and dips. I had a chance to drive my friend’s golf cart on trips to the hardware store. It’s almost impossible to go past 20-25 miles per hour due to road and traffic conditions. There are also pedestrians and bicyclists everywhere. There are traffic police too, speeding around on little motorcycles with flashing blue lights.

Since San Pedro is a small town, walking around San Pedro isn’t very hard, although it can get sweaty, as it’s quite humid in areas. Walking along the beach is quite nice, although slower due to walking on sand. The beach offers nice views and a cool ocean breeze to keep the humidity down. The beach is also a good reference point, as when you’re walking north or south on the beach, there’s no mistaking where you’re going. One caution during the night though, lighting is sparse along the beach, and it is advisable to bring a flashlight for certain parts, as the seawall has abrupt changes of direction or ends in some areas and then continues. There are a few bars around my friend’s house, and it was quite easy to walk home, we took the opportunity to visit a few bars and enjoy ourselves. From my friend’s house, it’s three-quarters of a mile to Central Park in downtown Belize, and about 12 minutes walk via the beach or a few minutes less via surface streets.

There are mosquitoes in San Pedro. They’re small little bastards, difficult to see, and mostly come out at night. I got bit around 40-50 times during my visit, mainly due to the fact that I was helping my friend with several projects. If you’re visiting San Pedro, it’s advisable to purchase some mosquito repellent with DEET back home to bring with you. The mosquito repellent is quite expensive in San Pedro, usually around $8-10 US for a spray can of Off. For that matter, drugs are a bit more expensive, so you might want to bring a little bit of cold medicine or something for your allergies if you need, rather than buy them in San Pedro.

Hopefully these tips and observations will assist those wanting to visit San Pedro, and not drive them off. Despite the fact that I was there to help my friend, it was still a good vacation for me. I had timed my visit around San Pedro’s Lobsterfest, which has a large street party on Saturday, June 19, 2010. The Lobsterfest street party had lots of lobster in every form imaginable, as well as lots of fun entertainment. I plan to time my next visit to San Pedro to coincide with Lobsterfest again, if possible. All in all, I really enjoyed my time in San Pedro, and it’s my pleasure to share it with others, hopefully they will visit and have a good time as well.
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Ms. Sara's Kitchen

Restaurant | "A Good Coffehouse and Breakfast Joint"

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Ms. Sara’s Kitchen is a small restaurant and café that’s also the local reseller for Caye Coffee. Ms. Sara’s Kitchen is located within the Exotic Caye Beach Resort, adjacent to Crazy Canuck’s Bar off Coconut Drive. It’s located behind the swimming pool to the resort, just off the beach. We entered off the Coconut drive entrance, through the front lobby to the tables outside on the beach. The lobby has a large rack with all sorts of different flavors and roasts of Caye Coffee, which is a local coffee roasted in San Pedro. You can purchase packages of Caye Coffee to take back with you. Plus, the packages are sealed so they will be allowed past customs.Paul, one of the owners of M...Read More

Ms. Sara’s Kitchen is a small restaurant and café that’s also the local reseller for Caye Coffee. Ms. Sara’s Kitchen is located within the Exotic Caye Beach Resort, adjacent to Crazy Canuck’s Bar off Coconut Drive. It’s located behind the swimming pool to the resort, just off the beach.

We entered off the Coconut drive entrance, through the front lobby to the tables outside on the beach. The lobby has a large rack with all sorts of different flavors and roasts of Caye Coffee, which is a local coffee roasted in San Pedro. You can purchase packages of Caye Coffee to take back with you. Plus, the packages are sealed so they will be allowed past customs.

Paul, one of the owners of Ms. Sara’s Kitchen, took our drink orders and gave us our menus, with a few suggestions for specials of the day. The menus has traditional breakfast specials, such as omelets, pancakes, waffles, breakfast scrambles, and lunch specials too. There are also a few dishes with a Caribbean twist, such as conch fritters.

Paul quickly returned with our iced coffees, made with San Pedro’s famous Caye Coffee. We opted for iced coffee since it was already quite warm in the morning hours. The iced coffee hit the spot, both giving us a jolt of caffeine and providing iced cold refreshment. We chatted with Paul a bit, and learned that Ms. Sara is his wife and does her work in the kitchen. I ordered a ham, cheese, and bell pepper omelet, and my friend ordered the cinnamon French toast, which is one of Ms. Sara’s specialties.

After about ten to fifteen minutes of enjoying the nice ocean breeze, Paul brought out or breakfast entrees. My friend’s cinnamon French toast was served with strips of thick bacon and diced potatoes. As a garnish, cross cut pieces of star fruit adorned each piece of French toast. I had the omelet, which had cheese, bell peppers, and ham. I had a pair of breakfast sausages, papaya, and star fruit. I liked my omelet, the ingredients were fresh and delicious. I never liked papaya much, so I traded them to my friend for the potatoes. I’ve never had star fruit before, so it was my first time trying it. It has a texture slightly softer than an apple, and tasted somewhere between an apple and a pear.

For breakfast, I usually like things to taste consistent, when I want something like an omelet, it should taste like an omelet. This was no exception, and the food at Ms. Sara’s tasted the way it should and was good. We especially liked the iced coffee, albeit a bit strong. Our total bill came out to $39 Belize, or $19.50 US. Not bad for two breakfast entrees and two iced coffees. We liked it so much we returned to Ms. Sara’s Kitchen the next day for breakfast. It has a good location on the beach, with a nice ocean breeze to cool you off, and it's a good place to watch the sun rise. Ms. Sara's Kitchen is a small restaurant, so don’t expect all sorts of staff to wait on you, just restaurant owners that are quite friendly and willing to please. Read Less

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on June 27, 2025

Ms. Sara's Kitchen
Coconut Drive
San Pedro, Belize
+501-624-8933

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Roadkill Bar

Attraction | "A Great Bar Where Locals Hang Out"

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The Roadkill Bar is an outdoor bar just off Coconut Drive, and across from Crazy Canucks, and one block from the beach. The Roadkill offers drinks only, no food, but it does have a nice sized stage for events. On Wednesday, they have karaoke nights, and Friday, they have Dennis Wolfe and The Usual Suspects playing on stage.The Roadkill is truly an outdoors bar. There is a covered bar area against a building, and a bunch of uncovered tables up against a railing separating the bar from Coconut Drive. I'm guessing the proximity to the road is why it's named the Roadkill bar. The floor is just sand, but a few of the customers thought it was a perfect dance floor while enjoying the tunes. The o...Read More

The Roadkill Bar is an outdoor bar just off Coconut Drive, and across from Crazy Canucks, and one block from the beach. The Roadkill offers drinks only, no food, but it does have a nice sized stage for events. On Wednesday, they have karaoke nights, and Friday, they have Dennis Wolfe and The Usual Suspects playing on stage.

The Roadkill is truly an outdoors bar. There is a covered bar area against a building, and a bunch of uncovered tables up against a railing separating the bar from Coconut Drive. I'm guessing the proximity to the road is why it's named the Roadkill bar. The floor is just sand, but a few of the customers thought it was a perfect dance floor while enjoying the tunes. The owner of the Roadkill, a very sociable and jovial English expatriate, welcomed us to the bar. It’s not hard to tell that he’s English, as a huge white and red English flag adorns the entrance to the Roadkill Bar. The World Cup is currently underway, and it’s no secret who he’s cheering for.

We arrived on a Friday evening to a packed house. Dennis Wolfe and his gang were already set up on stage and playing some honky tonk and blues favorites, and everybody was having a good time. The band is actually very good, and very entertaining, as they were playing some of my favorite songs. I chatted with the band during a break, and learned that Dennis Wolfe is a very accomplished musician, as are his bandmates. The other guitarist is Dennis' son, and is already quite good, the bass player is a great singer too, and the drummer is new, but learning quickly.

Most of the Roadkill customers are the local gringos and tourists. A few of the locals brought their kids, who were playing around near the side of the bar, where games were provided for them.

We had a good time taking in a few drinks, a bottle of Belikin beer was only $3 US, and served up by the friendly staff, or the owner himself. There is no food available, but they don’t mind if you bring your own food or snacks. The location a block away from the beach means there isn’t much of an ocean breeze, but a large fan is provided to move the air about. The appeal of the Roadkill Bar isn’t that of a beach bar or a sports bar, but rather the fact that it’s a friendly place where the locals hang out, where the owner and staff makes you feel welcome, and you can have a good time taking in a drink and listening (or dancing) to live music.
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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on June 27, 2025

Roadkill Bar
Coconut Drive
San Pedro, Belize

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Manelly's Ice Cream

Restaurant | "Some of the Best Handmade Ice Cream I've Ever Had!"

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I’ve been craving some of Manelly’s coconut ice cream since my last visit, and I made it a point to visit Manelly’s on my current visit. Manelly’s is located in a humble, yet colorful little storefront on Barrier Reef Drive (aka Front Street,) just north of Central Park. When asked, locals always recommend Manelly’s ice cream, which has been in operation since 1985.Manelly’s is in a little storefront sandwiched between an internet café and a gift shop. Once inside, the shop offers a few booths for visitors to sit and enjoy their frozen treats and a few coin-op video games for the kids. The aromas inside Manelly’s are incredible. There is the obvious smell of waffle cones being made,...Read More

I’ve been craving some of Manelly’s coconut ice cream since my last visit, and I made it a point to visit Manelly’s on my current visit. Manelly’s is located in a humble, yet colorful little storefront on Barrier Reef Drive (aka Front Street,) just north of Central Park. When asked, locals always recommend Manelly’s ice cream, which has been in operation since 1985.

Manelly’s is in a little storefront sandwiched between an internet café and a gift shop. Once inside, the shop offers a few booths for visitors to sit and enjoy their frozen treats and a few coin-op video games for the kids. The aromas inside Manelly’s are incredible. There is the obvious smell of waffle cones being made, but also hints of the various ingredients used in the ice cream, from mangoes, to strawberries to coconut. There is also a really cool 200 gallon aquarium full of various fish, just opposite of the booths for customers to gaze upon while enjoying their ice cream.

The menuboard on the back wall had ice cream, shakes, slushies, and other frozen treats, as well as nachos and popcorn. The freezer had all sorts of ice cream, from lime, mango, strawberry, chocolate, pineapple, banana, cappuccino, and my prized coconut. Despite the fact that they have homemade waffle cones, I decided to order a cup with coconut ice cream, and on a whim, I also wanted a scoop of lime ice cream. My 2 scoops of ice cream only cost around $3 US.

Sometimes when I crave something, I build up my expectations too much, and the results, while still good, fall sort of my inflated expectations. Manelly’s coconut ice cream was absolutely heavenly and exceeded my expectations. There are real bits of soft, young coconut, and a really nice creamy taste. When mixed with the lime, it became my own little tropical treat. The lime itself is a bit tart and reminded me of a frozen margarita, but with a good creaminess to it.

I was chatting to the girl behind the counter while enjoying my ice cream. She said that all of the ice cream is handmade at the shop and pointed to the ice cream machines on the back wall. She mentioned that the ingredients used are fresh and locally available.

One of the days I was visiting San Pedro, I saw a Manelly’s Ice Cream bicycle drive cart pedal by on the street. I called out to the cart operator, but he replied that he had just run out of ice cream. That just meant I had to walk down to Manelly’s, but it would be well worth it anyways. I do have to say that it’s good to see that Manelly’s has expanded from storefront sales to ice cream carts.

If you love ice cream, as I do, a visit to Manelly’s is a must. It’s relatively cheap, refreshing, and tastes great on a hot tropical summer afternoon, or any time for that matter. I really do think Manelly’s coconut ice cream is better than anything I have found in the United States, both in ice cream parlors and stores. I’d definitely visit Manelly’s, you might get hooked.
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Member Rating 5 out of 5 on June 27, 2025

Manelly's Ice Cream
Barrier Reef Drive
San Pedro, Belize
+501-206-2286

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Caliente Mexican/Caribbean Cuisine

Restaurant | "A Good Beachside Restaurant for Peoplewatching"

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Caliente’s is a Mexican and Caribbean themed restaurant located in Downtown San Pedro, attached to the Spindrift Hotel. Caliente’s is accessible via the beach or by walking through the lobby of the Spindrift Hotel. It’s adjacent to the Pier Lounge, which is home to the World Famous Chicken Drop, making Caliente’s a good place to eat before the chicken does his business.We entered via the beachside entrance and seated ourselves on a table by the deck, overlooking the beach. The interior of Caliente’s is air conditioned, but we wanted the view and the ocean breeze. Our waiter took our orders and we sat and gazed out over the beach as we waited for our food. The interior of Caliente’s is dec...Read More

Caliente’s is a Mexican and Caribbean themed restaurant located in Downtown San Pedro, attached to the Spindrift Hotel. Caliente’s is accessible via the beach or by walking through the lobby of the Spindrift Hotel. It’s adjacent to the Pier Lounge, which is home to the World Famous Chicken Drop, making Caliente’s a good place to eat before the chicken does his business.

We entered via the beachside entrance and seated ourselves on a table by the deck, overlooking the beach. The interior of Caliente’s is air conditioned, but we wanted the view and the ocean breeze. Our waiter took our orders and we sat and gazed out over the beach as we waited for our food. The interior of Caliente’s is decked out in typical Mexican restaurant fashion, with lots of the familiar red Mexican terracotta tiles on the floor and colorfully painted tiles on the bar in the restaurant. The wood deck on the outside faces towards the beach and the various piers with dive shops attached to them. There’s a lot of activity on the docks and beach, and the outside seating makes for good people watching. The deck is about three or so feet above the level of the beach, and out location at the beachside edge of the deck made it easy for local vendors to approach you to hawk their wares, whether it’s local handcrafted jewelry or carvings, or other trinkets. There is a sign for no solicitation, but the vendors stay on the beach and solicited us from there. We politely declined the vendors, and continued our people watching.

Our drinks arrived quickly after ordering, and our food arrived a little bit later. Our drinks were very good and refreshing. I had the mojito and my friend had a soft drink. I had the steak gorditas platter, and my friend ordered the ginger rum shrimp. His ginger gum shrimp is made of Belizean shrimp wrapped in bacon then grilled, and glazed with a sweet ginger rum sauce. It came with some Caribbean rice and a fried plantain. He loved the rice, and liked the shrimp, but felt it was too smothered in the ginger rum sauce. I tried one of his shrimp, and the ginger rum sauce was a little too sweet and overwhelming for my taste. It felt like I was eating some sort of dessert. My gorditas platter is made of grilled flour and corn tortillas sprinkled with mozzarella cheese and filled with steak, and topped with lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, and cheddar cheese. I liked the taste of the steak, but felt the gordita was overstuffed with lettuce and tomatoes, most of which I removed.

Our bill was $58 Belize, which is $29 USD. This wasn’t too bad for 2 entrees, and two drinks. We chatted with our waiter, who said that Caliente’s will have a kitchen booth at San Pedro’s Lobsterfest this upcoming Saturday. I liked the food on this visit to Caliente’s, although a few things could have been improved. We did enjoy the atmosphere and the drinks at Caliente’s, and although it wasn’t their best, I’d return to try some of the different entrees at Caliente’s in the future. But we’ll definitely be visiting Caliente’s Lobsterfest booth!
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Member Rating 3 out of 5 on June 27, 2025

Caliente Mexican/Caribbean Cuisine

San Pedro, Belize
+501-226-2170

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BC's Beach Bar

Restaurant | "The Belizean Version of Cheers"

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BC’s Beach Bar is an open bar under a pilapa right on the beach. It’s located just south of the downtown area and adjacent to the Blue Water Grill restaurant. BC’s is where locals and tourists alike hang out. The bar is a wooden pilapa with a square bar in the middle, and a small kitchen off to the side. They serve beer, cocktails, and some light snacks such as fries, nachos, and burgers. However, on Sundays they do break out the BBQ grills and have a Sunday Barbeque with ribs, chicken, fish, sausages, and all the trimmings. I arrived late on a Thursday evening and the bar was well packed with customers. A lot of them were sitting, taking in a drink and chatting with each other. A few othe...Read More

BC’s Beach Bar is an open bar under a pilapa right on the beach. It’s located just south of the downtown area and adjacent to the Blue Water Grill restaurant. BC’s is where locals and tourists alike hang out. The bar is a wooden pilapa with a square bar in the middle, and a small kitchen off to the side. They serve beer, cocktails, and some light snacks such as fries, nachos, and burgers. However, on Sundays they do break out the BBQ grills and have a Sunday Barbeque with ribs, chicken, fish, sausages, and all the trimmings.

I arrived late on a Thursday evening and the bar was well packed with customers. A lot of them were sitting, taking in a drink and chatting with each other. A few others were huddled around a television in a corner of the bar, as the NBA Finals were playing on a large screen TV. Dennis Wolfe, a popular local musician, was playing keyboard and guitar off in one corner of the bar. Dennis was strumming and singing up honky-tonk and bluegrass favorites for all to listen to. There's something here for everyone!

The fact that BC’s is right on the beach makes for scenic views. There are a few tables set out on the sand, so one can sit out on the beach and just gaze. There’s a really nice ocean breeze that takes away the humidity and cools things down. The proximity to the beach helps to give patrons at BC’s a nice lazy, relaxed feel. The ceiling of the pilapa is adorned with T-shirts and memorabilia from various universities and sports teams from all over the world, although most of them are in the United States. The bartender said the T-shirts and memorabilia were donated by various tourists and locals that had visited the locations on the shirts.

The two bartenders are very friendly, and very knowledgeable about drinks, from serving up the local Belikin Beers from Belize to mixing up mojitos. There is also a small selection of cigarettes and cigars available for purchase. The general atmosphere there is a "Cheers" type feeling, except with a great view down by the beach. I met a few of the locals and we shared an order of nachos with melted cheese and little slices of jalapenos, which was quite surprisingly good for bar food. The price is reasonable, I paid about $2.50 US for a bottle of Belikin beer. If you want a nice bar to hang out for an evening, take in some nice music and a nice ocean breeze, or a sports bar with drinks and nachos and burgers to graze on, BC’s is for you.
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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on June 26, 2025

BC's Beach Bar
Next to Sunbreeze Hotel
Ambergris Caye, Belize

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Lobsterfest

Attraction | "Lobsterfest - All-You-Can-Eat Lobster!"

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If you love lobster, you can’t miss San Pedro's Lobsterfest. Lobsterfest is a celebration of the start of the lobster season here, and an opportunity for San Pedro to showcase its best side to visitors. Lobsterfest is a week long event, usually starting in mid June. This year, it started on Monday, June 14, and the finale was on Saturday, June 19, 2010. The first several days consist of smaller events, such as a cocktail party at a few of the local bars. I attended the finale, which started around 5 PM Saturday, June 19, and it's a huge block party centered around San Pedro’s Central Park. It featured booths from dozens of San Pedro’s local restaurants cooking up everything having anything to do wit...Read More

If you love lobster, you can’t miss San Pedro's Lobsterfest. Lobsterfest is a celebration of the start of the lobster season here, and an opportunity for San Pedro to showcase its best side to visitors. Lobsterfest is a week long event, usually starting in mid June. This year, it started on Monday, June 14, and the finale was on Saturday, June 19, 2010. The first several days consist of smaller events, such as a cocktail party at a few of the local bars. I attended the finale, which started around 5 PM Saturday, June 19, and it's a huge block party centered around San Pedro’s Central Park. It featured booths from dozens of San Pedro’s local restaurants cooking up everything having anything to do with lobsters, art exhibits, music, dancers, food competition, and more. Most refer to Lobsterfest as the huge block party itself, which is the largest event of Lobsterfest.

There’s a lot of good energy at Lobsterfest from the 8,000 or so people who are looking forward to getting fed lobster and taking in some good drinks. Loudspeakers are scattered all over the venue, playing a mixture of reggae, Latin, and other island tunes and setting a great party mood for Lobsterfest. The fact that it's centered around Central Park in the evening means that there is as nice ocean breeze to keep the humidity down.

Most of the booths are set up for preparing lobster in a plethora of forms, grilled lobster, boiled lobster, lobster kabobs, lobster tacos, lobster dip, lobster ceviche, and more. There is also drink available, from water to sodas, to mojitos, margaritas, and other concoctions with rum or tequila. I stopped by the booth by Caliente’s Restaurant, where they had grilled lobster tails for $15 BZ ($7.50 US) and $8 BZ ($4 US) mojitos. The lines and wait were a bit long, maybe 15 minutes, but well worth it. The long lines are also a good opportunity to meet and chat with people while waiting. After placing my order, and waiting for a minute or two, I walked away with a nicely grilled lobster tail, a few spoons of a tomato sauce, a big one too, probably 5-6 ounces, and a nice refreshing mojito. There weren’t many tables available, so I found a nice spot on the edge of a planter and set into my lobster tail. The plastic fork was useless against the lobster tail, and I ended up using my fingers to remove the meat from the shell and shredded it into bite sized pieces. The buttery flavor of the lobster married well with the tomato sauce, absolutely wonderful.

During the block party, they had a stage set up with various exhibitions, such as a food competition, fire dancer, and other events. I noticed that Elvi’s Kitchen had won the lobster dish contest with their lobster flan. Curiosity for the better of me and I decided to try out the lobster flan. After standing in line for another 20 minutes, I picked up my lobster flan, along with lobster dip and tortilla chips, and a lobster and mango taco, totaling under $10 US. The lobster dip was nice and creamy, with lots of lobster flavor, and a little bit of spice. I could eat the lobster dip all day. The lobster tacos were good too, with the sweetness of the mango giving it a good balance. The lobster flan was interesting at best. When I initially tasted the lobster flan, it reminded me of pumpkin pie, with a lobster aftertaste at the end. It wasn’t bad, and actually quite sweet. I’m not sure that I would eat this as a dessert or an appetizer of some sort, but it is something I would eat again, just not too often.

Throughout the night, I wandered around the Lobsterfest venue and bought a few more drinks, and eventually had some ice cream for dessert, chocolate, not lobster ice cream. The Pirate Pizza booth even made lobster pizza. I would have tried some, but I had already gorged myself on all other things lobster. There were also other food booths with hamburgers, hot dogs, and pizza, as well as other local fare, such as Caribbean jerk chicken, beans and rice, and Mexican cuisine. There are also booths and tables set up to sell souvenirs, local jewelry, pottery, and native art.

The only things that I would recommend that Lobsterfest could have improved on is better stage lighting, and more tables for people to sit down and eat. It’s generally a safe place to have fun, as it’s full of tourists and has a good police presence, but it’s still advisable to keep your cameras and cash in front of you. Lobsterfest gives you a taste of lobster, local culture, local music, and just a good time in general. I even found out afterwards that MSNBC called San Pedro’s Lobsterfest one of the 10 best food festivals in the world, and I whole heartedly agree! Lobsterfest is a lot of fun, and I definitely recommend it to everyone. This is an event I would actually plan my vacation around in the future so I can attend!
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Member Rating 5 out of 5 on June 24, 2025

Lobsterfest
Central Park
San Pedro, Belize

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San Pedro Journals

Back to San Pedro - One of My Favorite Spots!

My Tips and Observations of San Pedro

Ms. Sara's Kitchen

Roadkill Bar

Manelly's Ice Cream

Caliente Mexican/Caribbean Cuisine

BC's Beach Bar

Lobsterfest

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