Once the center of the ancient Maya empire, northern Belize now marks the intersection of laidback Caribbean culture, vibrant jungle, and placid Central American farmland. It’s the type of place where the clock slows on arrival, your retirement savings go further, and where locals are friendly and English-speaking… all just a quick flight from the United States.

Read more about northern Belize—a destination consistently ranked among the world’s best places to retire overseas—in this Overseas Haven Report.

Belize’s Cayo District has long held a certain mystique. It draws pioneer-types looking for elbow room; good, honest small-towners… and artists.

These expats have integrated into the friendly local community to organically grow an open-minded identity that celebrates healthy living, art, agriculture, environmental preservation, and diversity.

The area has not been inundated with corporate developers or daiquiri-drinking tourists… it has a feel that can’t be contrived or intentionally created.

Belize has much to offer beyond its rain forest interior, including one of the world’s best choices for a new life by the sea, la isla bonita Ambergris Caye.

This small haven in the Caribbean, is surrounded by vibrantly turquoise waters and skirted on its eastern side by the longest barrier and reef in the Western Hemisphere.

Living on Ambergris, you’d wake up to the gentle lapping of waves onto pristine white-sand beaches just outside your window and the faint crash of the ocean in the distance, breaking against the second longest coral reef in the world…

Ambergris Caye’s San Pedro Town is now also a bustling tourist destination with world-class restaurants, great night life, a broad variety of activities and pastimes.

Belize is English-speaking, uses the common law system, has a stable government, and is part of the British Commonwealth and of Caricom (Caribbean Community).

Ambergris is not only one of the best places to think about spending time, but also, right now, a top investment option.  This is a closing window to take a position in advance of all this big-deal infrastructure… which will lead to more tourists, more residents, and higher property values.

Ambergris… a true meeting place of cultures.  She stands somewhat apart from the mainland in her self-expression and lifestyle, and embodies one of those cultures that truly has it all.

On this small island, the passion and vitality of Latin American culture and music can be experienced alongside most of the comforts and business facilities of the Western world, melded all the while with the laid-back and welcoming vibe of the Caribbean.

If Belize has been on your radar, focusing on Placencia couldn’t come at a better time.

Seventeen miles of beautiful white-sand beaches… dazzling turquoise-blue water teaming with fish… cooling trade winds gently caressing the palm trees… the shore a perfect launch pad to explore this diminutive paradisiacal region of the Caribbean Sea…

You would think this thin finger of land nestled between the rain forest-draped Maya Mountains and the most spectacular barrier reef in the world would be better known… yet this haven remains somewhat of a secret…

A former fishing village turned quiet tourist destination, Placencia is little more than a sand spit that is, at most, only a quarter-mile wide.

Sailing, diving, snorkeling, fishing, and rain forest treks are all within easy reach. Adventure or leisure—whatever you choose—Placencia beckons with something for every level and taste.

Placencia isn’t overdeveloped like other parts of Belize’s coast. As this report demonstrates, while the window of opportunity is still open, the country’s inevitable path of progress is slowly but surely ushering in winds of change.