My husband and I are traveling to Ambergris Caye this March. It is our first trip to Belize and we are quite excited about it.

We will be staying for 8 days on the island, and would like to take a few day tours to see some Mayan ruins. In particular, we would like to visit Tikal & Lamanai. (I know Tikal would be better as an overnight, but that is not an option this time...) I am looking for opinions/feedback on the quality of other's experiences of day tours from Ambergris Caye, to those two places.

Is there any 'free time' to wander on our own? Is the amount of time actually at the site worth the time getting there? (although it sounds like, for Lamanai, getting there by river is half the adventure....) Any tour operators in particular better than others?

We got burnt on a recent trip to Italy, we took some day bus trips from Rome to various places, and they were so disappointing. Literally 20 minutes on our own to visit the restrooms, get lunch and explore Assisi!! & no time on Capri, just bus to boat to minivan to boat and back to bus. I realize that sacrifices are made when you give up independance for an organized tour, I just want to go into our next trip with a little more knowledge of how much we will be sacrificing...

Thank you very much.