Placencia Tips

Dis 'n Dat

Geography: As shown in the map to the left, the Placencia Peninsula is an approximately 14 mile long peninsula in southern Belize.  The Caribbean Sea forms its eastern and southern boundaries and the Placencia Lagoon is its western boundary.  

Placencia Village is located at the southern tip of the Peninsula, and is an authentic Belizean Creole fishing village, although most of its fishermen are now also tour guides (snorkeling, fishing, diving, kayaking and sailing).

The southern tip of the Placencia Peninsula is the southern boundary of Placencia Village.  The northern boundary of Placencia Village is the Wild Orchid development, about 3/4's of a mile south of The Inn at Robert's Grove.  Placencia's northern boundary line is also the southern boundary line of Seine Bight Village, a traditional Belizean Garifuna village - one of four in Belize.  (The other three are Hopkins Village, Dangriga Town and Barranco Village, all in southern Belize.)  The northern boundary line of Seine Bight Village is at approximately Riversdale, a small community just north of The Placencia Hotel and Residences, and 10 miles north of the boundary line between Placencia and Seine Bight.

Although the boundaries of Seine Bight Village encompass the communities of Maya Beach, Riversdale, and The Plantation Development area, these three communities are not thought of as being a part of Seine Bight Village, either culturally or economically.  

The distance from the southern tip of Placencia Village to the intersection of the Peninsula Road with the Southern Highway is about 24 miles.

Placencia Cayes and Reef

(Information from the Belize Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute)

Approximately 75 cayes are in the Placencia/Laughing Bird Caye Coastal Planning Region (from the mouth of the South Stann Creek River to the Mouth of Monkey River, extending seaward to include the Meso-American Barrier Reef, with Norval Caye in the north, Pompion Caye in the south, and Gladden Spit in the east).

Cayes range in size from about 65 acres (Lark Caye) to only several square yards.  The great majority of cayes are subject to some form of ownership claim (either ownership or lease), either wholly or partly.

The region, occupying part of the southern reef complex, extends at its greatest width (between Placencia Caye and Gladden Spit) for about 25 miles, and taking the Barrier Reef as the eastern limit, covers an estimated 90,400 acres of sea and cayes.  The region can be viewed as having three sections:

• The "Barrier Reef Cayes" -- characterized by cayes such as Gladden, Buttonwood, Hatchet, Little Water, Pompion and the Silk Cayes
• The "Inner Reef Cayes" -- including the Pelican Cayes, Quamino, Tarpon, Bakers Rendezvous, Lark, Moho and Laughing Bird Cayes
• The "Shoreline Cayes" -- cayes such as False, Placencia, Palmetto, Rocky Point and Great Monkey

Placencia Real Estate

A lot of people visit Placencia and decide they'd like to live or retire in the area -- or at least own a vacation home on the Peninsula.

If you're a developer, you should definitely read the Peninsula 2020 Report, which details the kinds of development the communities on the Peninsula want -- and the kinds of developments they will support.  (Generally, resort rather than condominium or residential developments aimed at non-Belizeans, boutique up-scale boutique hotels rather than mass-market resorts, and no all-inclusives.)

Other real estate considerations, whether you are considering a lot, a condo, an already constructed home -- or multiple acreage:

• Placencia real estate is not cheap.   It's not expensive by most Caribbean country standards, but it's not cheap.  If someone offers you cheap real estate on the Peninsula, be VERY, VERY careful.  (You may even want to run the other way.)  You're not going to find a-cute-little-fixer-upper beachfront cottage for US$120,000.  Not even close.  You almost certainly won't even find a lot for that price in Placencia Village, and certainly not a beachfront one.  However, you may be able to find an interior lot for that price further north in the Maya Beach area.  Maybe even one fronting on the Placencia Lagoon, or at least a canal front.