Belize Cave Tubing + Zip Line

• Tours from Belize City

Belize Cave Tubing + Zip Line!

Belize’s most popular inland adventure combines two thrilling experiences in one unforgettable day — and it all happens just one hour from Belize City. The Belize Cave Tubing + Zip Line tour at Nohoch Che’en Caves Branch Archaeological Reserve is the tour first-time visitors remember longest, and the one repeat visitors come back for!

Begin above the canopy on the zip line, soaring through Belize’s ancient broadleaf rainforest before descending to the jungle floor. Your guide leads you along a shaded jungle trail past medicinal and ceremonial plants used by the Maya for centuries, through two dry cave systems, and deep into primary rainforest to the river cave entrance. Then the real magic begins — step into the cool, crystal-clear Caves Branch River, settle into your inner tube, switch on your headlamp, and let the current carry you into the Maya underworld. Stalactites tower overhead, ancient pottery sits undisturbed in the chambers around you, and the only sound is the echo of water moving through limestone carved over hundreds of thousands of years. The float ends the way it always should — drifting back into open daylight under a cathedral canopy of rainforest, sunlight filtering through the trees as the river carries you home.

What Makes The Belize Cave Tubing + Zip Line Unforgettable

Few tours in Belize deliver two completely opposite thrills in a single day. Soar through the rainforest canopy on 8 ziplines, including two runs crossing the Caves Branch River. Trade the treetops for the underground as the river carries you through five ancient Maya cave systems. From the treetops in Belize to total darkness below the jungle floor, this is Belize adventure at its most complete.

Everything You Need to Know Before You Go – Belize Cave Tubing + Zip Line

Your Belize Cave Tubing + Zip Line Itinerary

8:30 AM — Pickup in Belize City

Your UpClose Belize guide arrives at the front door of your accommodation anywhere in Belize City. If you are arriving from San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Caye Caulker, St. George’s Caye, Shaka Caye, or any of the surrounding cayes, just let us know! No scrambling for transport, no confusion about where to go. Load into our air-conditioned vehicle for the 60-minute transfer to Nohoch Che’en Archaeological Reserve, home of Belize’s famous cave tubing experience.

9:30 AM — Arrive at Nohoch Che’en 

Arrive at the reserve and prepare for the adventure.  First, we will do like the birds and zoom along the lines through the canopy from tree to tree!  We start by going up, climbing the stairway to the first platform.  Eight platforms await, each with a thrilling view as we soar through the rainforest which include crossing the Caves Branch River below.

10:30 AM – Hike through the Jungle
Changing rooms and restrooms are available at the park.  Your tubes have been portered up, all you need is your helmet, headlamp, and life vest. Your guide delivers a safety briefing and river orientation. The name Nohoch Che’en comes from the Yucatec Maya language meaning “Big Snake Well” which is a reference to the serpentine path the Caves Branch River takes through the limestone. You are about to follow that same path on your  Belize Cave Tubing + Zip Line continues!

Follow your guide on a 30 minute walk to the Caves Branch River launch point. The trail starts with a shallow river crossing and then levels out, mostly flat and well-shaded. Your guide identifies trees, birds, and insects along the way. By the time you reach the launch point you are already deep inside one of Belize’s most intact jungle corridors.

11:00 AM — Into the Caves of Xibalba 

Step into the river and ease into your tube. The temperature drop is welcome after the jungle heat. Your headlamp illuminates an underground world that the ancient Maya regarded as the entrance to Xibalba, the sacred underworld.  Your guide leads the float and narrates the geology, the Maya cosmology, and the cave’s ancient history as you drift along stalactite formations. There are opportunities to swim in the deeper pools between cave sections.  You emerge from the final cave into open jungle, sunlight returning slowly as the river carries you toward the take-out point where you first crossed the river.

12:30 PM — Sit Down Lunch at the Cave Park

After the cave float, enjoy a proper sit-down Belizean lunch at the Nohoch Che’en cave park. Rice and beans, stewed chicken or fish, fresh salad, ripe plantain, and a cold local beverage. This is not a packaged box lunch eaten on a picnic bench but a real Belizean traditional lunch at a proper table. Take your time. Most guests say this is one of the most satisfying moments of the day, sun-warmed, cave-cooled, and well-earned!

1:30 PM — Prepare for your return to Belize City

Reboard the vehicle for the return journey to Belize City by approximately 3:00 PM. Your guide drops you at your hotel front door or at the terminal for guests returning to the islands.  Your Belize Cave Tubing + Zip line tour is now at an end, but with memories to last a lifetime!