Turtle Inn by Francis Ford Coppola

By far, the most well-appointed tropical vacation I have ever been on. The seafront villa was steps away from the water. The sound of the ocean crashing against the rock wall was soothing. The attention to detail began as soon as the sun rose when fresh coffee silently appeared. The never-ending cookies and before-bed snacks started and ended each day on a sweet note. There was no need to leave the resort. Full-service food and beverages were available as needed. The menu is diverse and creative. As a vegetarian, I was not left behind. The ingredients were fresh, innovative, and delicious. The property has much to offer, from the beach to pools, walks, gardens, wildlife, and even some farm animals! We learned the names of the resort dogs, the gardeners, the bartender, and the chicken caregiver. The most important person, and someone we now consider our friend, was our butler Oscar. He knew what we needed before we knew what we needed. This fantastic human tended to all our needs, wishes, concerns, and recommendations. Oscar even taught a traditional card game and a few pickleball challenges. Oscar added a level of care and trust that will be cherished for a long time. We will return!

My large family and I recently stayed at Turtle Inn. There were 22 of us! I can safely say that we all felt we had never had a customer service experience like we did there. Suzy and her crew went above and beyond to make sure we were comfortable and on schedule. It got to the point where I was concerned she wasn’t sleeping b/c she was always available! We had great snorkeling, food, and accommodations. If there was one complaint it was mosquitos, but even there, the staff did their best to protect us! Highly recommend the Turtle Inn.

Turtle Inn, part of the Coppola Family Hideaways, is very different from Blancaneaux (in the pine forest reserve part of Belize), but shares the same ethos - the guests come first. This resort is much larger than Blancaneaux, and (obviously) is on the beach rather than in the middle of a forest. My friend and I loved our huge cabana (partial sea view), beautifully decorated in Balinese style and consisting of two large and very comfortable living spaces - the bedroom "suite" and a screened in front porch. The bathroom contained two sinks (yay!!) and a Japanese bathing tub (also could use to shower) as well as a gorgeous outdoor shower in the private garden. The same delicious, hydrating toiletry products (shampoo, conditioner, lotion) as at Blancaneaux. Although there was no air conditioning, there is a powerful overhead fan (Haiku, which I have at home - these fans move A LOT of air!) and a large standing fan - in other words, a comfortable temperature at night despite not getting the cross-ventilation and air flow that the ocean front cabanas get. We ate at the Mare restaurant several times - including for the special weekly Rijstaffel dinner, which was fantastic. Our server for that meal, Omar, was so kind and sweet - he heard this was a birthday trip for me and arranged for a birthday surprise at dessert time, complete with the entire restaurant singing "Happy Birthday"! We also very much enjoyed Auntie Luba's, the very small Belizean restaurant on premises - the seafood soup was to die for!! While the Grill was closed for a private event the night we had intended to go there, it worked out for the best as it gave us an excuse to go into the town of Placencia. Our activities were phenomenal. Definitely go snorkeling or diving while you are here - the beach on which the resort is located is not a "swimming beach" and in order to see any of the fantastic marine life - the living reef (second largest in the world, after Australia's Great Barrier Reef) and its animals, you have to get in a boat. Dorin was our trusty, uber-capable, friendly guide for both our snorkeling trip out to Pompion Caye and Silk Caye (we saw a huge abundance of tropical reef fish as well as swam with loggerhead turtles, rays - both eagle ray and stingray, and a nurse shark!). We had a delicious barbecue lunch on a private island (which we snorkeled around), which was as beautiful as it sounds. One cautionary word, though - if it's a windy day, it's a bumpy ride out to the reef, so bring along your go-to motion sickness remedy; mine includes the acu-pressure wristbands, which really do work, and ginger candies. Dorin also guided us on the Monkey River trip, where, among other things, we saw a manatee swimming! We picked up a local local guide in Monkey River, Derwin, who was also a delight. Another highlight activity was a hike in Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Preserve. Although we did not see any jaguars, we saw a fresh jaguar print (meaning this is

Fabulous beach side bungalow with the cooling sea breeze. We especially loved the outside shower, the comfy beds, the chocolate cookies supplied and general spaciousness of our bungalow. (no 10) The beach space directly in front of our bungalow with chairs and sun loungers was lovely. The beach was lovely and quiet too. We enjoyed the evening turn down service with mosquito burners and candles lit. Food at Turtle Inn was excellent - (The Mare and Pizza restaurant and the beach bar) sadly we didn't get to try the grill/fish restaurant as it was closed. Staff clearly enjoy their work and it shows. Special shout out to Elvis, Anthony, the gardener (sorry cant recall his name), Kiavaneh and of course Martin the GM who took time to chat with us?? Negatives: The beach team could have been more available - several times I struggled to put the sun brolley up in the morning as the beach person was no-where to be seen! Also the snorkelling trip organised by The Dive Shop (part of the Turtle Inn). We endured a 1.5 hours exceedingly rough boat ride to Pompion island! Most uncomfortable indeed.

The most beautiful place but the service.... The hotel Turtle Inn has the most amazing rooms we had ever enjoyed (besides Mauritius and the Maldives) but unfortunately the service was unbelievably volatile and at times even unfriendly. Coming from Guatemala where people are so friendly, we had a mixed experience at this hotel: the welcome was bareöy warm-hearted, at the beach you had to fetch the chairs yourselves...no towels, just some mini towels, restaurant service at the breakfast was once even rude and no management nowhere. We spent 5 days there and no GM, nothing. Hhat explains why the service is volatile. Seems lile the GM has other priorities. Too bad.

I chose this place due to it being included on the Gold List. However, I was very disappointed in the trip and would have left to go home early were it not for me having invited and “dragged” my friend over there. The waiters were all nice to be fair. The rest made me wonder how the Turtle Inn ever made the list. All of the food was below mediocre. We stayed for 8 days and ate a lot of meals at the “lodge,” gave it a good old try. Incredibly salty, too. I had so much bloating all week. I didn’t expect “fancy” food but I did expect high quality well prepared food. Ironically, the best meals we had were the bbq lunches on the islands we snorkeled at. The location was unexpectedly un-vacation and un-lodge like, right on the only road into town. We were awoken very early every morning, usually by trucks on the road and then by workers behind our villa who were setting up in the pizzeria, banging, etc. I have never had such little sleep and rest on vacation. The spa was cute but the smelly swamp that you had to walk past to get to the spa ruined the experience. The beach was depressing looking and uninviting. Murky water every day, rough sand. You have to travel to the little islands to see those pretty Caribbean beaches. Just don't understand why anyone would choose to build a vacation place there. There were also always too few loungers on the beach and by the pool and I had to ask to bring some out. There were several issues with the room, especially my bedroom: missing handles to close the bathroom (they were gone and I saw holes for where they used to be), missing pegs to close the shutter doors for the night, shutter doors popping open on their own (I guess the wood is old and warped) leading to more noise coming in, the little yard behind the bathroom looking like a gravel prison yard, not being told about or offered a net over the bed until we mentioned in passing how many mosquito bites we have… I wouldn’t return if it were free. Not worth the travel. I have stayed in multiple lodges around the world, some very rustic. Some in Africa. Never would I include this one on the Best Lodges around the world list. It felt like a weird roadside camp with bad food.