The Perfect Caribbean Beach Bar Just Might Be in This Hidden Town in Belize
There are fish tacos and there are fish tacos. These are the latter. It’s evening in Hopkins, Belize and the sound of Garifuna drumming fills the packed bar. It’s the second time I’ve been back in two days, with both visits including these mouth-watering, out-of-this-world fish tacos with caramelized onions and a healthy heaping of locally-made Marie Sharp hot sauce.
It’s not open every day, but when it is, the Driftwood Beach Bar & Pizza Shack is the center of the action in little Hopkins, Belize, a town I fell in love with on my last visit and the sort of quirky, funky beach town that stays with you long after you drive off.
There’s always some kind of live music here, whether it’s roots reggae or loud thump of the local drumming, and after an hour or so (and a few Belikin beers) the dance floors fills up quickly.
It’s the brainchild of Denise McCreary, a chef who plied her trade in New Orleans, had her own love story with this little town, and never left.
The result was Driftwood, a narrow, thatched-roof bar and restaurant that stretches all the way from the town’s main road to the sand.
Everyone comes here. The locals, the visitors, the salt-life-devotees spending extended honeymoons in this corner of Belize. They all love it, they all swear by it.
On Tuesdays, they come for Jam Night. Saturdays are for drumming (more on that here). No matter the day, no matter the time, the rhythm is here, and it’s always right on.
The drink of choice is usually a Belikin, Belize’s signature brew, but for me it’s a glass of a local rum called Old Master “Extra Mature,” one of those rums you only ever find right on site.
As you walk through the pathway toward the sand, you pass by the bar’s “Fence of Lost Soles,” a collection of flip flops left here for posterity.
This place is just cool, it’s just perfect. If you’re a beach bar aficionado, it’s the way a beach bar is supposed to be: carefree, friendly and wonderfully casual all belying a meticulous commitment to quality behind the counter.
You could without much difficulty argue that this is the best beach bar in all of Belize; you would also have trouble finding a beach bar anywhere else in the Caribbean that rivals this one.
Such is the strange alchemy of the beach bar; there’s nothing linear, no direct route to cultivating this sort of institution, one that becomes part of the fabric of a town.
But you just know it then you see it.
And then you try the fish tacos.
And you know for sure.
You get to Hopkins by driving about two hours from the airport in Belize City. The town has two excellent hotels: the Seiri Del Mar (rooms from $243), a residential style resort on a lovely stretch beach (rooms from and the adventure-focused, rustic Hamanasi hotel.
