If you’re travelling along the coast in Belize, the teenytiny village of Hopkins is a great town to take a little breath in between the bigger tourist hubs of Caye Caulker and Placencia.
This town also makes for an excellent base if you like to do some jungle exploration or to get that Jacques Cousteau-feeling at the cayes and reefs in front of the coast.
I really loved Hopkins. The beach is long-stretched and barely visited, even though it’s about as nice as the one of famous southern Placencia (apart from the plastic bits you find washed up in here from time to time along the shores, sadly).
But it’s especially the vibe that makes this place to awesome. Hopkins just has a unique charm and old-school kind of feel. I’m pretty sure life hasn’t changed that much in here in the last decades. Quite something to treasure these days and the reason why I ended up staying way longer than intended.
No matter where you are, small communities just know how to slowwww you down.
During my days in Hopkins I did a bit of writing. From my seat I saw life going by and learned a little bit of how the wheels spin in this town. The people are easy going, love to chat a bit if you give them the opportunity and seem to appreciate all things simple (or at least that’s what I like to think).
But obviously even a week isn’t long enough to get to know this community really well, it would probably take a year or so before actually understanding life in this village (or any other really).
There are a shitload of mosquitos everywhere, so bring your strongest repellent with you or otherwise they’ll suck the life out of you. The cash machine has its reluctant days too, so bring along some extra dollars before hopping into Hopkins. And now my best tip of all: stay at The Funky Dodo Hostel – a really laid back place with wonderfully welcoming and resourceful owners.
If you want to know more about the biggest celebration of Belize and the upbeat culture of the Garifuna – very present in Hopkins -, then have a look at this article about the Garifuna Settlement Day!
And for now, I hope you can grasp a bit of the raw and colourful vibes I tried to capture while staying in this sleepy town.
Here’s where to find that lovely town!
