Charlies

Hi, we were thinking of traveling to Belize in Feb/March 2005 and were looking at staying at the Banyan Bay Villas. Does anyone have any advice to offer about this resort? How many stars would you rate it? Is it clean? How built up is San Pedro? Security around the resort and in town?

Are there any helpful websites out there...I already researched tripadvisor.com.

We vacationed in St. Thomas last year and I can honestly say we had the worst vacation you could ever imagine - everything from a dirty hotel room to someone breaking into our room while we slept - I was the one to wake up to face this person.

I know to use common sense when vacationing but I never expected it to happen in my resort room.

Any advice offered would be helpful.

TC

Charles, We stayed at Banyan Bay about three years ago. I thought is was wonderful. However, you may have a different opinion given your problems in St. Thomas.

BB is not "secure" -- as in, has a security fence around it. I didn't feel that was a need. We walked to town everyday - either along the road or the beach with no problems. The units are two story with nice ameneties - but they are not 5 star luxury if that's what you're looking for. We did have a couple of times when the water went off. There was some drainage work going on nearby at that time, so its probably not a regular problem. I found the entire place to be very clean. The beach is quite pretty there. Snorkeling from the beach isn't good - too much seagrass. They didn't have a restaurant at the time we were there as the hurricane had just gone through. We ate next door at a funky little place filled with seashells for breakfast. Great food - but funny things like ironing tablecloths on the front counter during breakfast. We enjoy this kind of quirky stuff, but some people don't. San Pedro is pretty rustic with dirt streets. Many of the restaurants - in fact, our favorites had dirt floors. BB is a ways out of San Pedro - a nice walk to town of about a mile. We didn't mind the walk, but taxis were hard to find and somewhat expensive. You could rent a golf cart, but that was pricey too. All in all, we would stay here again.

Happy to answer any specific questions you have.

LanSluder

Banyan Bay is excellent. While not five-star luxury, the units are attractively designed and furnished. There's now a pretty good restaurant on site, Rico's, with many others within a short walk, golf cart ride or taxi ride away.

Ambergris Caye is nothing like St. Thomas.

--Lan Sluder
www.belizefirst.com

brh

My two children (18 y.o. and 16 y.o.) and I just returned from BB. We loved it. The condos were lovely - I would recommend requesting an upstairs one vs. downstairs. The people were very nice and grounds were beautifully maintained. I did not have a big concern about security - it is not gated but there were security people on the grounds. There is a safe at the front desk for money. You have absolutely no need for jewelry of any kind. We were advised not to walk the beach at night. There is a very nice pool which seemed to be where most of the people sunned themselves and went swimming. The beach area is narrow (I was told this is because of the reef) and there is a lot of turtle grass in the water. BB rakes it daily, but there still seems to be lots of it. Also the sand is rather rocky. Swimming, diving, snorkling further out is no problem - you can go out by boat. I did not do any cooking in the room, but I did buy some things to have for a cold breakfast or snacks to keep in the condo. There is a restaurant on the grounds - Ricos. We ate there twice and were not impressed either time. We found the food to be fair and rather expensive. The view from the restaurant deck is beautiful. The woman who runs the tour shop (Eli) is great. Very informative and pulls not punches. Our favorite tour company was Tanisha with Daniel as the guide. He is absolutely wonderful and I would recommend you take any tour you can with him. The one tour we took that we did not enjoy very much was to Bachalar Chico. It was with Excalabur and the guides were Marcos and Renee. The guides were very nice - the tour was not what we expected. We took a boat trip around the island. First we went to the Bacalar Chico reserve where we thought we would be able to walk around and see things. Instead, Marcos took us into a very small, hot room where we looked at a diarama on which he pointed things out and gave us a brief history. Back into the boat to snorkel in 2 areas - few fish and those that we saw were very small. Then to Rocky Point - an area where the land meets the reef with the Pacific on one side and the Mediterranean on the other. Apparently the current is such that all the trash that the cruise ships dump at sea washes up the the point - it was like walking on a very rocky dump. We did see 2 turtle nests - which were only recognizable because they were marked by a ranger, otherwise there would have been no way of knowing they were there. Katie Valk at [email protected] was also very helpful. She arranged a fun trip to Jaguar Paw which included river tubing, ziplining through the jungle and a tour of the zoo. I don't think the zoo is a must see. The town of San Pedro was a little surprising at first. If you ended up in a place that looked like that in the states, you would lock your doors, roll up your windows and pray that your car did not break down. But after a short time we realized that it was really very special. There was a wide variety structure types and colors. The people were wonderful, the shops fun and the street vendors all very nice and not pushy. My son was approached twice and offered drugs, but he simply said no thanks and the people left him alone. Our favorite restaurant was Blue Water Grill. We also liked Calientes and Carumbas. Elvis was okay, but you should at least have a drink there because the "decor" is not to be missed. The one restaurant I would urge you NOT to eat at was Taste of Thailand. It was within walking distance of BB and we went there one night. The food was fair, the service horrible and the owner/waiter is a racist and does not hesitate to express his opinion. It was very unpleasant to say the least.

We also toured the north end of the island. We went over in a golf cart - what an experience - from the rope pulled ferry to the huge ruts in the "roads". I wanted to see the homes there and some of the resorts. There is also a restaurant there that lots of people recommended - Capricorn. We came across a resort called White Sand Cove and really liked it. It was recently taken over by new owners who moved there from N.Y. There are one and two bedroom condos. One of the owners, Michelle, can arrange tours. There is a pool on the grounds. It is smaller than BB's pool but still nice. It is very near restaurants. Town can be reached by water taxi and/or ferry. I would check on the times that these close or stop running.

All in all we had a wonderful time and really loved the entire trip. We are anxious to return and hope to be able to do so soon. I hope you enjoy it also.

Lauralis

We did not stay at Banyan Bay Villas (we stayed several doors down), however, they looked very nice with a really nice pool. Did not see the inside of a unit, however. They now have a restaurant which is both good and right over the water (nice atmosphere). Keep in mind that the words "luxury" and "San Pedro" don't exactly go hand in hand. No need for security. You could walk the streets alone at night on Ambergris Caye which is a rarity in Latin America.

KFergie

Charlies,

You can get a lot of information at www.ambergriscaye.com. There is also an excellent bulletin board on the site that is a wealth of information. Fergie