Dangriga Airport

Dangriga Airport (IATA: DGA, ICAO: MZDA) serves Dangriga — the largest town in southern Belize, the self-declared "Cultural Capital of the Garífuna" in Belize, and the most important center of Garífuna culture in the country. At 7 meters above sea level on the Caribbean coastal plain of Stann Creek District, DGA provides air access to a town and region that receives a fraction of Ambergris Caye's visitors despite offering experiences of comparable cultural depth.

Dangriga is the commercial and cultural hub of Belize's Garífuna community — a people descended from the union of African, Arawak, and Carib peoples who were exiled from St. Vincent by the British in 1797 and arrived on the Central American Caribbean coast (in Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, and Nicaragua) to establish communities that have maintained their distinct language (Garífuna), music (punta drumming, UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity), and food traditions for over two centuries.

The most significant Garífuna cultural event in Belize is Garifuna Settlement Day (November 19) — a national public holiday commemorating the Garífuna's arrival on Belizean shores in 1802. The celebration in Dangriga involves costumed re-enactments of the original landing by canoe, drumming and dancing in the streets, and the most concentrated expression of Garífuna cultural pride available anywhere in Belize. Hotels fill months in advance.

From Dangriga, Tobacco Caye — a tiny inhabited coral cay 12 miles offshore directly on the barrier reef — is accessible by speedboat (30 minutes) and provides the most intimate reef-and-island experience in Belize: a 2-acre island where the barrier reef is literally the beach edge, snorkeling from the dock, and a handful of small guesthouses creating the most authentic Belizean caye experience available.