Mountain Pine Ridge Belize: A Local Guide + Helpful Map

Mountain Pine Ridge Reserve is an adventurer's paradise packed with hiking trails, caves and waterfalls. Also, nearby is Belize's largest Mayan Ruin, Caracol.

The trip to the reserve might seem a little daunting to first timers. Is the road drivable? Do you need a 4x4? Can you visit all the major attractions to do in one day?

Yes, the road is drivable and yes you can visit the top three attractions. There's one of the largest waterfall that I only recommend you visit with a 4x4, but we'll discuss that later.

Since I've lived San Ignacio, I can share detailed information and insider tips. It's my favorite area, so I visited almost every weekend when I was based here.

Let's start exploring the reserve and plan your day trip.

Visitor Essentials

Location

Cayo District

Opening Hours

8AM–5PM

Entrance Fee

Free

Essentials

Water, sunblock, non-slip shoes, snacks

Tour Guide

Not mandatory

Amenities

Camping grounds, outdoor bathroom

Mountain Pine Ridge Map

• 🟠 Orange Route – Scenic way through local villages of Cristo Rey & San Antonio
• 🟣 Purple Route – Much faster paved road that doesn't pass through scenic villages
• 🔴 Red Pins - Popular attractions with amenities that are perfect for day trips
• 🟢 Green Pins – Smaller lesser known attractions that are less developed but pristine

Why It’s Worth Visiting

How To Get To Mountain Pine Ridge

Driving by car is the best way to visit Mountain Pine Ridge. Most travelers establish San Ignacio as their home base, so that's where you're likely starting off from.

These are two routes you can take to the reserve:

1. 📸 Scenic Route - As my favorite route, this passes through the villages of Cristo Rey, San Antonio which has an extremely beautiful backdrop. I highly recommend this route.
2. 💨 Highway Route - Passing through the Georgeville junction is faster since the highway is paved. Although it's still scenic, it doesn't pass the local villages like the first route.

Both of these routes end up at the same crossroads entrance of the reserve.

Day Trip Guide

After visiting the reserve more than a dozen times, here's what the route I suggest most travelers going on their own. You can visit them in order or go to the last attraction first. I personally like spending more time swimming, so I would go to the places I don't plan to swim first keeping me dry longer.

Half-day trip

1. 🪨 Big Rock Falls (Waterfall)
2. 🌊 Rio On Pools (Swimming)
3. ⛰️ Rio Frio Cave (Sight Seeing)

Full-day trip

1. 🪨 Big Rock Falls (Waterfall)
2. 🌊 Rio On Pools (Swimming)
3. ⛰️ Rio Frio Cave (Sight Seeing)
4. 🐚 Caracol Mayan Ruins (Exploring)

Because Thousand-Foot Falls is not in the general route and strays away, I would only suggest adding it to your day trip if the weather is good, if there hasn't been any rain the day before and if you have a 4x4.

This is just my personal suggestion, but you're free to do as you wish for the sake of adventure.

Time To Reach Attractions

Getting There Without A Car

1. Tour company - tours start at $85 USD which is pricey but is a direct trip
2. Carpool - hostels often have any organized trips which is cheaper than tours
3. Mountain bike - rent a mountain bikes for a solid day of adventure to the reserve
4. Hitchhiking - on weekends, many locals visit the reserve, so it's fairly easy

Popular Tours To The Reserve

Here are some other options to visit Mountain Pine Ridge:

1. Day Trip To Mountain Pine Ridge ($95.00 USD per person): Belize Limpkin
2. Rio on Pools, Rio Frio Cave & Big Rock Falls Tour ($110.00 USD per person): Maya Walk Tours
3. Mountain Bike Rental ($17.50 USD per day): Cayo Adventure Tours

Mountain Pine Ridge Insider Tips

1. ☔️ Avoid post-rainy days: if possible, I highly suggest not traveling if it has been raining for the past few days. When this happens, the roads can get muddy and the water gets murky. If it only rains on the day you travel, it's safe to go because the sun dries the dirt road quickly.
2. 🪨 Prioritize Big Rock Falls: if you only have time to do one attraction in this reserve, I suggest choosing this site because it offers the best of all sites: a waterfall, swimming area and a hiking trail.
3. ☀️ Either visit early or late: to increase your chances of getting an attraction to yourself, try going early in the morning or late in the evening. Just know that mosquitos are out in the evening.
4. 🤫 Visit on weekdays: if you really want to get the site to yourself and avoid the crowd, go on a weekday. On weekends, locals tend to flock the sites and it can get noisy with BBQ parties and some have even taken speakers.
5. 🤨 Reconsider Thousand Foot Fall: in my opinion, the site is a bit underwhelming because the viewpoint is extremely far from the waterfall. What's more is that the road to this site is very bad regardless if it's dry or wet. But you should go if you love adventure and/or enjoy birding.
6. 🗺️ Use Offline Maps: download the offline maps to the reserve on your apps. Both Google Maps and Maps.me are very accurate for the reserve. There is no signal in most of the area.
7. 🌯 Bring food, snacks & water: there are no stores or restaurants at this reserve after passing through gated entrance which has the last food shack so stock up on supplies before getting there.
8. 🚗 Rent a good car: getting to Caracol is full day event with a long drive into the jungle, so it's best to have a reliable vehicle with high clearance. Thousand Foot Falls has even worse roads.

Things To Do In Mountain Pine Ridge

Big Rock Falls

Big Rock Falls is my all-time favorite site and the closest to San Ignacio Town. It's a 150ft (45m) tall waterfall with a pool of water that's perfect for swimming on a hot day. Aptly named Big Rock, you can launch off this giant stone and plunge into the water.

What to expect at Big Rock Falls

• a short but steep 5-minute hike downwards
• roughly 110 wooden steps with some nail grips
• a longer and possibly grueling hike upwards
• flimsy and slippery stairs if it's raining
• perfect swimming pool that you can jump into

If you're looking for an adrenaline rush, you can attempt to climb all the way up to the waterfall. There are small cliffs to jump off into the waterfall as well. My friends and I have actually climbed all the way to the top of the waterfall which makes for a spectacular picture.

• 📍 Location: Big Rock Falls
• 💰 Cost: Free

Rio On Pools

My second favorite site at this reserve is Rio on Pools which is conveniently 15 minutes after Big Rock Falls. It differs from Big Rock because it has tiny waterfalls with dozens of pools of water to choose from. On weekends, you can catch locals barbecuing by the river.

As of 2022, there is now a new lookout area with picnic tables that has spectacular views. The site also has access to bathrooms and changing rooms.

For a little more adventure, you can go jumping from boulder to boulder until you hit a dead end. My friends and I have spent hours listening to the rush of the water enjoying the fresh air with spectacular views.

What to expect at Rio On Pools

• 📍 Location: Rio On Pools
• 💰 Cost: Free

Rio Frio Cave

Rio Frio Cave has the largest entrance of any cave in Belize standing at 65ft (20m) tall. There is a small river running through the cave with a tiny beach inside. The site is only a 15 minutes drive from Rio on Pools and worth a quick stop.

• 📍 Location: Rio Frio Cave
• 💰 Cost: Free

Thousand Foot Falls

Thousand Foot Falls is actually 1600 feet tall (488 meters) and the highest waterfall in the country. While the waterfall and the site itself is beautiful, it requires long driving on a tough road. The only activity that can be done at the site is standing at the viewing point which is not up close and personal as other waterfalls.

Driving to Thousand Foot Falls

If you're planning on visiting this site, rent a 4x4 and be prepared for a steep, muddy and rutted road. Reconsider a trip to this site if it's a very rainy day unless you enjoy that type of wild adventure.

The long drive is worth it if you love off-road adventures or are into birding and want to get a look at the Orange Breasted Falcon.

What to expect at Thousand Foot Falls

Is Thousand Foot Falls worth it?

This depends on many things. If you really like adventure, have loads of extra time and enjoy nature, it's worth it for you. But if you don't like rough dirt roads or would find a mere viewpoint to be underwhelming then this site might not be for you.

Caracol might be a better use of your time in the area because it offers a lot more to see, do and learn with better roads.

• 📍 Location: Thousand Foot Falls
• 💰 Cost: Free

Caracol

Recognized as the largest Mayan ruin and the tallest building in Belize, Caracol is located deep in the Chiquibul Forest Reserve almost bordering Guatemala. This is technically not in the Mountain Pine Ridge Reserve but pairs well for a day trip.

• 📍 Location: Caracol
• ⏰ Hours: 8AM–3PM daily
• 💰 Cost: $12.50 USD per person

Driving to Caracol

With the new road at Georgeville, it only takes 2 hours to drive from San Ignacio. You can expect driving for 1 hour on paved road and 1 hour on dirt road. The last 10 miles (16km) is semi-paved with a few large potholes. The total drive is around 50 miles (80km).

Where To Stay In Mountain Pine Ridge

• Hidden Valley Inn - luxury lodge owned by a Belizean family that immigrated here
• Gaia River Lodge - luxury lodge with other sister lodges on the islands
• Pine Ridge Lodge - most budget friendly lodge in the Mountain Pine Ridge area
• Blancaneaux Lodge - owned by Francis Foord Coppola, director of The Godfather

Mountain Pine Ridge Camping

There are signs throughout the reserve saying No Camping so if you'd like to legally camp and have access to bathroom services, there are three options.

Alternatively, you can camp outside the reserve. There are two nearby villages called Cristo Rey Village and San Antonio Village. The people here are kind and can possibly offer you a small area in their yard to camp.

About Author

Everything written on this blog is based on first-hand experience or knowledge as a local living in Belize. No fluff, just honest information.