“great location great service” Villa del playa offered beautiful sunsets and great location! Mark Flanagan the concierge does a wonderful job or arranging transportation, trips and overall any problems encountered. Ten minute walk to city center of West End. Quiet location but can get to bustle in short time. Visit the east end of the island to get the rural island feel and beauty. We could drink the water out of the fridge and had an ice maker and washer and dryer which were wonderful to have.

“My 2nd stay and I plan my 3rd trip again soon!!!” This was my second visit to Guanaja Caribbean Cottages and I can't wait to go back again. The cottage is adorable and having top quality towels & linens are a real plus. I also appreciate the pillow top queen size bed, most places in the islands only have a mattress on a bare board! Having a full kitchen is nice, but I didn't need it, I ate all my meals ate the resort. This time I was more adventurous. Kay, the owner, took me on a hike to an amazing waterfall close to the resort. We had it all to ourselves, well a pup followed us up & that added to the island charm. We sat by the pool of the waterfall for most of the afternoon, then stopped at Bo's place for a cool drink before heading back to the cottage. I snorkeled the reef the last time I was there, but this time Kay took me on a snorkel tour to the drop off. I saw an amazing variety of sea life, including nurse sharks. Kay said 95% of all Caribbean sea life can be found at Guanaja. I also enjoyed the snorkel tour to Red Hill, it was a coral garden, also beautiful and like swimming in an aquarium. The coral & fish at the coral garden are different than the sea life on the reef, except I did see a nurse shark both places. The octopus was also amazing & the giant green moray eel. I also had a tour of the local fishing village, Mangrove Bight. The people are very friendly and the village is like visiting the old Caribbean. I loved the variety of meals- crab, lobster, lamb, and local cuisine that I had never had before. The dinners are four course and I was stuffed after dinner. The deserts that really stood out for me was the creme brulee, pineapple flambe and flan. Even the soups & salads were special. Kay makes a green papaya salad that is so good, it had fresh mango and pineapple in it and a local cheese with a homemade pineapple vinegerette. The food was one of the highlights of the trip.

“Honeymoon in Dreamsicle” My husband and I stayed at Maya Beach Hotel in the Lower Dreamsicle House for our Honeymoon in May. Our experience with Maya Beach Hotel and the staff was outstanding. Our "house" was clean, and private, with beautiful views of the ocean and just steps away from the restaurant. It was so nice to sit on the lower porch and enjoy our coffee and breakfast each morning, and enjoy a cool beverage while sitting on the beach with our feet keeping us cool in the ocean waves. When we wanted to explore the area or take adventures, Ellen and her staff were so helpful and knowledgeable. Martin was always willing to give us our options for activities and help us coordinate our adventures. Without their help and recommendations, we wouldn't have been able to experience the local favorite hot spots or organize our adventures with ease. It was so nice that they coordinated someone to pick us up and drop us off at the airport for our arrival and departure. You can tell they really enjoy what they do, and their passion is unmatched. When we come back to Belize we will definitely stay at Maya Beach Hotel and we recommend it to anyone looking for a beach front relaxing vacation!

“Fabulous beach views, beautiful pool, good amenities, great serv” Aqua Villa is the perfect place to stay if you want to be close-but-not-too-close to busy Placencia. The house has a beautiful pool plus a fabulous ocean view, and we spent many hours lounging on the deck enjoying both. The beds were comfortable, the kitchen well-stocked (even a blender!), the wifi connected, and the a/C worked when we wanted it, but we often just left the windows open to the sea breeze. The living room is tiny but the with the tropical weather, we never stayed indoors. Maid service from the Maya Beach Hotel was excellent. We have stayed at two other resorts in the Placencia area and having "our own" house while still enjoying the services of the Maya Beach Hotel was the best of both worlds. The area is quiet and agua Villa is within walking distance of a grocery store, making it easy to do your own cooking. Cooking your own seafood and eating outside was a highlight. We also tried many wonderful restaurants, and the best restaurant of the week was just steps away, the Maya Beach Hotel Bistro. We had to force ourselves to try other restaurants because the Maya Beach Bistro was so good. We rented a car for other restaurant trips and excursions and found that we were just minutes from Placencia and only an hour or so from the Bocawina zip line experience. The ziplining was amazing and the drive to and from a great way to see a less touristy view of Belize. One day we drove to the ruins and had a terrific lunch at Coleman's Cafe on Main Street in the Toledo district; the food was tasty and the hospitality even better. Agua Villa is a perfect place to get away from it all when you need to, and get to it all when you want to.

“I really liked it” A lovely place to stay. The Flip Flop Palace is secluded and private whilst being within moments of the Maya Beach Hotel so there is always someone close at hand should you need them. I found the service excellent. Everyone from Ellen, one of the owners, to the reception staff to the wonderful housekeeping ladies were fabulous. The waiters in the restaurant also gave spot on service and were so friendly. And a special mention to the lovely Marlon who was so welcoming and friendly. The Flip Flop Palace is great and I loved staying there. Thicker curtains at the bedroom window would have been good as I was woken up early by the rising sun every morning until I thought to hang beach towels over the curtain rail to keep the light out. The location is amazing. One of my favourite places was the promenade/jetty where I loved to go and sit and read. As far as the amenities, the best thing for me was the hotel having a guest computer so you could check emails etc whenever you needed to. Equally importantly was the quality of the food, which was outstanding. I am a vegetarian and was not expecting to find it easy to get veggie food in Belize at all, but the Maya Beach restaurant not only served vegetarian food, but it was superb, and you have more than one dish to choose from! I'm not surprised the restaurant has won awards. I liked best having my own place, rather than a room in a hotel. I liked least the pitch black walk from the hotel to the Flip Flop Palace at night (take a torch!).

“Awesome and Totally amazing!” The Condo: This was our first visit to CR and at the risk of sounding very repetitive, I am going to say it anyway. This Condo is absolutely amazing! We were actually taken back by the views, the weather, and beauty of it all. The condo itself is very well maintained. The beds are very nice and excellent to sleep on. there is usually a very nice breeze that can get strong at times so you need to be careful of the bedroom doors. The condo is relatively close to the beach at say 200 to 250 yards. The local terrain is very hilly and as such it us a little bit of a walk uphill when you come back from the beach. Our Garmin and Trackit Maps didn't show Oceanica on any of the categories so you may have to use the resort right across the street to find it as addresses are not used in CR at all. We give this one 5 star rating!!! Well worth the time to visit. Daphne: Daphne was absolutely the best host you could ever ask for! She provided all the information I asked for and needed. She even graciously helped with the car rental (Economy). Daphne is indeed kind and tremendously gracious. Restaurants: We chose to eat at the local restaurants (locals call them Sodas). There are a good number of these within say 5 miles and all are wonderful. Local CR cuisine is amazing and filling. Even though we do not speak Spanish it wasn't that hard to figure out and order food. Ticas and Ticos are wonderful people. We would definitely go back in a heart beat!