The Best Wild-at-Heart Resorts to Book in Belize

A few minutes from the Unesco-recognized Belize Barrier Reef, in the northerly, dry-tropical forest that fringes the Mexican border, Serenity is as much a retreat as a guest house, with an emphasis on back-to-nature wellbeing. Food is vegan-only, and guests join morning meditation sessions, learn to make Mayan crafts and get up close with nature on jungle walks, river kayaking trips and reef swims. Accommodation is hiking-lodge simple – in wattle-walled wood shacks, a wafer away from wildlife.

Named after the sacred incense tree used by Maya people for millennia, Copal Tree is a lodge in Belize that sits in pristine rainforest in Belize’s indigenous heartlands – the southern province of Toledo. The main resort area and bijou pool sit right under the tree canopy, and the modish rooms (mood-lit in modern off-whites and with expansive terraces) have floor-to-ceiling rainforest views. Organic food is grown in the on-site garden, and there’s a big menu of reef and rainforest excursions.

Overlooking a narrow beach and calm sea just outside of Placencia town, Sirenian’s sprawling mock-hacienda villas feel like Florida homes. Each comes with a private swimming pool, a big workable kitchen and suites of rooms with wall-high windows decorated in off-white, with beige floor tiles. Bungalows without pools are similar but on a smaller scale. All are built for vacationers hankering for a fuss-free beach break.

The Placencia Resort has a lot going for it: a huge pool with a swim-up bar, an on-site PADI-certified dive resort, suites with dining rooms, kitchens and space for a large family… and all on Maya Beach, one of Placencia’s best swathes of sand. Plus, it’s big on included extras, such as free volleyball, kayaks, paddleboards and bikes and on-the-house welcome drinks and water bottles, making the process of exploring Belize’s jungle and sea all the more accessible.

As private-island getaways go in Belize, this lovely little family-owned resort is one of the best – set on a small caye with enough beach, lagoons and outlying islets never to feel cramped and crowded. Accommodation is in simple weatherboard shacks – all with two bedrooms, sitting rooms and terraces, affording sunset or sunrise views over the sea. It’s kind on the wallet, too, with all food, transfers and some excursions included. Kids stay for reduced rates, babies for free.

These copper-roofed, Coral Gables-style houses are good for families, with a large living area, fully equipped kitchens and one or two bedrooms. The best, the seafront luxury villas, have beautiful views. And while the beach is narrow, the resort has two palm-shaded pools and lies close enough to Placencia village – 15 minutes’ walk along the sand – for a real sense of place.

Director-turned-hotelier Francis Ford Coppola’s Balinese-style, palm-thatch cabanas lie clustered around a pool in lush woodland surrounds, next to the beach in Placencia. All the rooms at Turtle Inn are fan-cooled, making the best cabanas the sea-front cottages, which are fresher, breezier and brighter than those in the garden. C1 is the most secluded and intimate. Coppola is a gastronome, so the food and wine are first-class.

Sleepy Hopkins village is as laid-back as a snooze in a hammock and has one of Belize’s best beaches. Dreams Resort sits right on the sand, with modern rooms and villas in whitewashed shades and warm woods, a big pool and a good restaurant. The resort gives guests no reason to leave. But you should: Hopkins is a center for Garifuna Afro-Central American culture, has some excellent eateries, and the nearby atolls are the wildest in the Caribbean.

With a range of airy suites and rooms sitting in bright-blue wooden houses in the heart of Placencia village, furnished with comfy sofas, wicker and coconut chairs and tables, Brisa Oceano feels genuinely Belizean. The beach is broad and powdery, the sea warm and calm, and manatees swim offshore. Guests also get gratis use of the hotel’s kayaks, paddleboards and other non-motorized water toys, making it easy to get out and explore.