Late November through early December, or May. You get dry season weather without peak season prices or crowds. February and March are the most reliable weather of the year but they are also the busiest and the most expensive.
There is no bad month to visit San Pedro. There are months that cost twice as much as others, months where you will queue for a boat, and months where it rains hard most afternoons. Knowing which is which is the whole of this guide.
Belize has two seasons rather than four: a dry season running roughly December to May, and a wet season running roughly June to November. The temperature barely moves across either of them. What changes is rain, humidity, how many other people are here, and what you pay.
If you only read one line
- Best overall: late November to early December, and May. Dry season weather, shoulder season prices.
- Most reliable weather: February and March. Also the most expensive and the most crowded.
- Cheapest and quietest: September and October. Wettest too, and the peak of storm season.
- Book a cart early: mid December to mid April. The island genuinely runs out of carts in that window.
Month by Month
Shaded rows are the extremes: amber for peak season, blue for the quiet months.
| Month | Weather | Crowds & price | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | Dry, breezy, warm | Very busy, high rates | Northern winds can make the sea choppy for a few days at a time |
| February | Driest of the year | Peak of peak | Carnaval falls before Lent, so February or early March |
| March | Dry, hot, clear | Very busy | Best underwater visibility of the year, and the best month for diving |
| April | Hot, still dry | Busy early, easing late | Easter week is busy island wide and books out early |
| May | Hot, first rains late | Quiet, good rates | Excellent value, still reliably dry for most of the month |
| June | Wet season starts | Quiet | Lobster season opens, and the island makes a fair amount of noise about it |
| July | Warm, humid, showers | A second small peak | Northern hemisphere school holidays bring families back |
| August | Hot and humid | Moderate | Costa Maya Festival, one of the bigger events of the year |
| September | Wettest, most humid | Quietest, lowest rates | September Celebrations bring parades and a genuinely local atmosphere |
| October | Wet, peak storm risk | Very quiet | Some businesses close for a few weeks. Check your hotel is open |
| November | Drying out, improving | Quiet until late | The best value month of the year in the second half |
| December | Dry, pleasant | Quiet then very busy | Everything changes around the 15th. Before that it is a bargain |
What Hurricane Season Actually Means
The Atlantic hurricane season officially runs 1 June to 30 November, and it is the single thing that puts people off booking. It deserves a straight answer.
A direct hurricane strike on Ambergris Caye in any given year is unlikely. What is considerably more likely, and what actually affects trips, is a storm system somewhere in the western Caribbean disrupting things for two or three days: flights cancelled, reef trips called off, and rain that does not stop.
The sensible response is not to avoid six months of the year. It is to buy travel insurance that covers weather disruption, to keep the last day of your trip loose rather than packed, and to book the reef early in your stay so there is time to reschedule.
One practical point: if a storm is forecast, the island
evacuates by air and water taxi, and both fill up. Belize has a well practised
system for this and you will be told what to do. Listen to your hotel rather
than to social media.
Sea Conditions and Visibility
For snorkeling and diving, what matters is not rain but wind. Northern fronts in December through February can push wind across the island for several days, which makes the water inside the reef choppy and cuts visibility. It passes.
March is usually the clearest water of the year. September and October are often very calm and very clear too, in between the rain, which is why divers who do not mind the weather quietly like the low season.
Sargassum
Sargassum is the brown floating seaweed that has affected the whole Caribbean in recent years. On Ambergris Caye it is variable: some years are bad, some barely register, and it changes beach by beach along the east side.
It is worst in the warmer months, broadly April to August. Hotels with beachfront clear theirs daily. It does not affect the reef trips, because those take you out past it, and it does not affect the lagoon side at all, which is one more reason Secret Beach stays popular. Our beaches guide covers which parts of the coast are which.
Which Month Suits Which Traveller
The best month depends far more on what you want out of the trip than on any weather average. Four common cases:
- Divers. February to April. Best visibility of the year, calmest water outside the northern fronts, and the atoll trips run most reliably.
- Families tied to school holidays. You are going in July, August or at Easter and you do not have a choice. July and August are hot and humid but perfectly good, and the sea is at its warmest.
- Couples wanting quiet. Late April, May, or the first two weeks of December. Dry, uncrowded, and hotels are still discounting.
- Anyone on a budget. September and October, without question. You will get rained on and you will save a great deal of money.
What Changes With the Season
Two practical things shift across the year that the temperature averages do not tell you.
Mosquitoes and sandflies are worse in the wet season, worse at dusk, and worse on the lagoon side after heavy rain. Repellent matters more in September than in March. Sandflies on the beach at sunset are the ones that catch people out, because they are small enough that you never see what bit you.
Opening hours contract in low season. Some restaurants and a few smaller hotels close for several weeks in September or October for maintenance. Nothing essential shuts, but if there is a specific place you have read about, check it is open before you plan an evening around it.
What to Pack for the Season You Get
The list barely changes: light clothes, swimwear, something for the evening, and more sun protection than you think you need. Two seasonal additions.
- Dry season, December to February: a light layer for the evening. The northern fronts bring genuinely breezy nights, and the boat back from a sunset trip is colder than you expect.
- Wet season, June to November: a light rain jacket, a dry bag for phones, and a second pair of shoes, because the first pair will be wet.
Bring a rash guard in any month. For a trip built around being in the water it is the most useful thing in the bag, and it works better than reapplying sunscreen every two hours while your shoulders burn anyway.
When to Book the Cart
This is the part we can speak to with complete authority, because we watch it happen every year.
From roughly 15 December to mid April, the island runs out of golf carts. Not "prices go up" — actually runs out, particularly six seaters, and particularly over Christmas, New Year and Easter. Groups booking three or four carts together should be thinking months ahead, not weeks.
From May to November you can usually sort a cart a few days out, and in September and October you could turn up and ask. We would still rather you booked, because then we can meet you at the airstrip with it rather than making you find our office first.
Current rates are here, and they do not change by season, which is not true of everything on this island.
Before you ask
Common Questions
Statistically, yes. Hurricane season runs June to November, but a direct hit on Ambergris Caye in any given year is unlikely. The practical risk is disruption rather than danger: a storm passing anywhere in the region can cancel flights and boat trips for a couple of days. Travel insurance that covers weather cancellation is the sensible response, not avoiding the season.
Broadly June through November, with the heaviest rain usually in September and October. Rain here is typically a heavy downpour for an hour rather than a grey day, and the sun is often back before you have finished waiting it out.
September and October. Hotel rates drop sharply, the island is quiet, and you will have the reef trips nearly to yourself. The trade off is the highest chance of rain and of a storm disrupting a day or two of your trip.
Warm all year. Daytime temperatures sit broadly in the high twenties to low thirties Celsius, or the low to mid eighties Fahrenheit, and the sea stays swimmable every month. The bigger variable is humidity, which is noticeably heavier in the wet season.
Typically the warmer months, roughly April through August, though it varies year to year and beach to beach. Hotels on the east side clear their beachfront daily. It affects how the beach looks rather than whether you can snorkel, since the reef trips take you offshore.
Keep planning
More San Pedro Guides
Written by people who live here and rent carts to visitors every day. See all 10 guides.
Things to Do
The reef, the beaches, the ruins and the bars, and roughly what each one costs you in time and money.
Read guideGetting Here
Plane or water taxi from Belize City, what each costs in time, and how to get from the terminal to your hotel.
Read guideWhere to Drive
North past the bridge, south to the airstrip, and the stops worth making on both runs.
Read guideSecret Beach
How to get there, how long it takes, what it is actually like now, and when to go to avoid the crowd.
Read guideBeaches and Reef
Hol Chan, Shark Ray Alley, the barrier reef, and why the beach in front of your hotel has sea grass.
Read guideWhat to Rent
An honest comparison of every way of getting around the island, including when not to rent anything.
Read guideWhenever you come
Book the cart before the island fills up
December to April sells out, and the six seaters go first. Send your dates and we will hold one, with free delivery wherever you arrive.