tour to Guatemala and Belize

Have been to both of those countries twice - once with OAT ( Oversees Adventure Travel) and once with EF Go Ahead tours. Small groups and good guides with both companies. Check out both websites to see if either might work for you.

I was recently in Guatemala on my own if you decide you want to go that route. There are certainly some easy improvements I could have done to make it better. Plenty of folks seem to combine it with Belize.

Wow! It’s been years since I went to Guatemala. I strongly recommend the Lonely Planet travel guide for current recommendations. It really helped us a lot. Take a shuttle bus straight from Guatemala City airport to Antigua (not the island). About a 45 minute ride and easy to do. Also, check out the ruins at Tikal and visit Lake Atitlan.

I was traveling under special circumstances and only saw a sliver of Guatemala City and enjoyed Antigua. I know a Guatemalan if you want me to get some travel advice for you.
Be prepared to see poverty everywhere. If you can look past it and just enjoy the people and culture, you will be fine. Leave some decent cash tips. Coffee farms, historic Spanish streets and buildings, jade, weaving. You may be able to find a private driver and pay per day. (Ask at hotel. We got lucky and did this one day. Be careful to get a reputable/safe driver.).

The art museum in Guatemala City, sadly, is not a must-see and plan on only 45 minutes if you go there. Guatemala does not have the funds to adequately preserve and display art. The museum we saw had no lights, open doors, humidity. Rows of art poorly displayed. I hope the city has since built a new facility. But, this is unlikely.

Belize - think beach vacation. Great for snorkeling and scuba diving. Population = 300,000 - 400,000.
Only about half a dozen traffic lights and only about 1/2 work. Some Amish live there. Cashew farming. A few ruins. You don’t need a lot of time in Belize.
In many ways, the flatness and climate/landscape of Belize reminds me of Florida before we over developed the dickens out of it.

Though I managed my 2024 Guatemala trip independently, I won't discourage you from seeking a tour operator; that can be a worth-while option for many tourists. Start by looking into Adrenalina Tours (they have a web-site), which seems to have a very good reputation. But note that the Guatemalan “tourist route” (Antigua, Chichicastenango, Lake Atitlan, Tikal) is fairly well established, with the first three destinations well-served by tourist shuttles, and Tikal, by regular flights fromGuatemala City.

I’m not sure what to make of the above comment, about Guatemala City’s art museum. I’ll admit that I didn't see that museum myself on my 2023 visit, though I did visit other museums which were in much better shape than that art museum (as described). In fact, I’ve done a fair amount of travelling in Latin America, and have visited numerous simple, rough-hewn museums which didn’t exactly meet Louvre standards, but which I found to be eminently worth-while, even fascinating, to anyone with an interest in their respective countries and cultures.

For example, I recall being very impressed with a museum of traditional Mayan clothing in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, which though obviously “underfunded,” and resembling a sprawling if well-stocked attic, nonetheless showed genuine commitment and dedication on the part of its founders and staff — and so I wasn’t bothered at all when, after purchasing my ticket, I was handed a battery-operated lantern for the room in which the power wasn’t working!

Some assistance and advice from the U.S. State Department -
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Guatemala.html
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Belize.html

Catherine: I think what I would advise you to do at this point, if you haven't done it already, is turn to the Guatemala section of the TripAdvisor forum, which gets much more extensive commentary for that country. This forum, of course, attracts mainly Europe-bound tourists, and even though this is the "Beyond Europe" section, it's likely to get noticed mainly by people who usually travel in Europe. On TripAdvisor you're more likely to see more comments, and by more people who have been to Guatemala recently, some of whom may actually know the country well.

Not sure I would feel safe in those countries, but if I went, I would take a group tour. Group Tours have better security.