Is Belize a hidden gem for adventure travel?

“There’s one under this rock!” we call out to our snorkelling instructor, who dives down and resurfaces triumphantly with a lobster clutched in hand.

You might be familiar with farm-to-fork, but sea to spoon is a rarer experience. In Moho Caye, an island off southern Belize, though, catching your lunch before watching it sizzle on a beach barbecue is as authentic as it gets.

“When I have an off day, I still come and do this,” says our guide, Akeem Williams of Cultural Experience Belize (CEB). “Head out on the boat, grab some lobster – that’s how we hang out here.”

Williams’ tours blend food, culture and conservation, with tales of the indigenous Garifuna people, and the reefs that sustain them, told between dives and lobster hunts.

To get here, we’ve taken a small boat from Placencia Peninsula – a laid-back stretch of beach and colourful wooden houses on Belize’s southern coast (Placencia itself is a 20-minute Tropic Air hop from Belize City, or a five-hour drive through rainforest and citrus groves to the Caribbean coast).

Tiny and uninhabited, it’s ringed with palms and sand so pale it almost glows, the morning sun cutting through the water so clearly it looks like liquid glass.

Even without dipping your head beneath the surface, the coral and fish are visible: angelfish, stingrays and blue tangs dart between coral heads.

But this isn’t just sightseeing – it’s sourcing. “Crabs, lobsters and other fish can be caught right here,” Williams says.

“We catch it, bring it back to shore and Raquel [his business partner and CEB’s mobile chef] cooks it up for lunch. You don’t get fresher than that.”

When the lobster we spot turns out to be too small, he gently tucks it back under its coral ledge. “We don’t want to over-farm anything,” he says. “If we’ve got several tours, you don’t want to disrupt the ecosystem.”

By the time we return to the beach, Raquel has already fired up the barbecue. A makeshift table stood under a palm canopy, with grilled lobster, crab, guacamole, salads, roasted pineapple and cold Belikin beers – what beer is to Belize like Guinness is to Ireland – all laid out like a feast.

The beauty of Williams’ approach is that you’re never watching the clock. After eating with a view of the lapping waves, people drift onto hammocks, wade into the sea or lay out on the sand.

After a day exploring the cayes, we’ve developed a taste for adventure and decide to head north to see more of Belize.

Travelling inland, the country’s coastal calm gives way to dense jungle and some of Central America’s most remarkable Maya ruins.

At Lamanai Archaeological Reserve, reached by a mix of dirt track and riverboat through the Orange Walk District, our guide Reuben talks as though he’d excavated the site himself. “Artefacts everywhere – this place has never been looted,” he says. “It’s under constant occupation.”

Lamanai, meaning “submerged crocodile,” was once one of the largest Maya cities in the region, with over 700 buildings across two square miles. “David Penderghast and his men worked 12 years straight and excavated just four per cent,” Reuben noted, gesturing to the mounds still buried beneath jungle.

“This is the longest-standing Maya city in the world – because of water and fertile soil.”

He explains how the Maya engineered their temples with astonishing precision. “They keyed in on their three A’s – astronomy, acoustics and agriculture. They even knew which stones to use so a speaker’s words could travel to thousands.”

At the High Temple, taller than the forest canopy, Reuben points to the horizon. “They built it high so rulers could look out and watch armies rowing in,” he says. “Belize is the only flag with people on it – and our museum in Belize City used to be a prison for slaves. This land remembers everything.”

From Lamanai, we continue west towards the Guatemalan border to Chan Chich Lodge, hidden inside a private rainforest reserve on the Gallon Jug Estate.

Built within the remains of a Mayan plaza, the thatched lodges feel quietly luxurious – with open-air hammocks and screened walls. Here, jungle sounds mitigate any need for playlists and howler monkeys replace alarm clocks.

“Chan Chich is 30,000 acres, so a perfect escape for nature lovers,” says our Gallon Jug tour guide Levy. He’s not wrong. The eco-lodges are comfortable enough that you’re not roughing it, but rustic enough to feel like you’re on an adventure.

The estate once operated as a logging site before being rewilded in the 1980s by Michael Bowen, of Belikin beer fame. “We want to be as self-sufficient as possible,” Levy said. “Everything you eat comes from the Gallon Jug Farm.”

The farm supplies fruit, coffee, meat and milk, with even chicken waste reused as fertiliser. Bowen also built a small school for children living on the estate, creating a self-sustaining community deep in the forest.

Days here fall into a rhythm of guided hikes, horseback rides through the trees and night safaris where you might spot jaguars or ocelots (unfortunately we don’t).

If you prefer your adventure slower, saddle up for a ride across the Gallon Jug Estate – a chance to explore off-piste through open savannah and secondary jungle, with toucans and spider monkeys as your audience.

You don’t need to know how to ride; the horses are well-schooled and guides keep a gentle pace through trails that reveal just how wild this corner of Belize still is.

Experienced riders, meanwhile, can trot and canter at their own pace across the clearings, the green fields flickering past like a moving postcard.

While there’s plenty to do, Chan Chich is equally a place to stop, and it’s further proof that Belize offers adventure without the crowds. At sunset, we gather by the estate’s lagoon for drinks and guacamole and as the sun goes down I paddle out by canoe to watch the sky darken with a blanket of gold cloud.