Cayo/Blancaneaux/Trip Report
 

My husband and I returned from Belize last weekend, and had the time of our lives! I promised a few of you a trip report, so here goes?

We spent four nights at the Blancaneaux in the Mountain Pine Ridge Reserve (Cayo) and four nights on Ambergris Caye at the Victoria house.

The Blancaneaux was unlike any resort I've ever visited. The grounds, river, and forest were all beautiful. It was very remote, and you sort of felt like you were staying at someone's estate. The cabanas and villas were spread out along the river, and the "lobby" was a living room with a huge fireplace and an adjacent, screened-in bar overlooking the river and the forest. The staff was honestly the best and friendliest I've ever met. Everyone introduced themselves with their name and a handshake before helping you.

The food was amazing. I REALLY recommend the spaghetti with pomodoro sauce. It's kind of odd to be in a Central American jungle eating Italian food, but it was so good, you get used to it. Each night you were served a different homemade bread, which were all great too. The rooms were nicely decorated with lots of authentic art, carvings, blankets, etc. I wouldn't describe the rooms as luxurious, but I was really happy with our room and view (#3). I checked out a villa, which seemed to be the same level of quality, décor, etc?.just much bigger.

For excursions we went to Barton Creek Caves. A guide drove us out there and canoed us through the cave while we held flashlights. The cave was amazing, and there are even leftover artifacts in there you can see. Our guide, Elmo, was so nice and knowledgeable. When our camera battery died he bought us a new one in town and dropped it off at the hotel the next day.

We did a sunrise horseback ride one morning through the reserve and into the rainforest, probably my favorite excursion. Jason was our guide, another great guy who pointed out all kinds of birds to us, and went over different medicinal uses for plants and trees we saw. We mentioned we were interested in checking out Five Sisters Lodge and so he tied up our horses and walked us down there. It's worth the visit to see the falls, but the resort didn't compare to Blancaneaux.

Lastly we went to Caracol, which is a must-see. I was surprised at how few visitors were there. Our guide Oscar, was also very knowledgeable and nice. One note: Several people from our hotel tried to drive themselves to Caracol and ALL got their cars stuck in the mud on the ride there and had to be towed out. There is no way you can drive yourself. You definitely need a 4 wheel drive vehicle and a guide that is familiar with the roads.

We also did a hike around our hotel to Big Rock Falls, which was great? a little tough trying to cross the river though, definitely bring a bathing suit and shoes you can wear in the river. On the day we just hung out at the hotel, we swam in the river (very cold though!), hung out on some of the sun deck areas and just relaxed. It's so quiet there and during the day it seems you have the place to yourself!

Overall, an AMAZING experience at Blancaneaux/Cayo. We went Dec. 5- Dec. 9 and although it got into the high 70's during the day, at night it was in the 50's, even the low 50s?we found this out ahead of time and brought appropriate clothes, but a lot of guests were complaining, especially because of the open air cabanas, so make sure to bring sweaters, etc?and warm clothes for sleeping. However, we were also told it would rain often, but it only rained for about an hour one evening around 5pm. It was overcast one day, and sunny all the rest. I guess we lucked out!

On the way to the airport, our driver stopped at Caesar's- - a large store that sells all kinds of handmade gifts and Belizean art, etc. We bought several items that we saw priced MUCH higher when we got to Ambergris. So I recommend a stop there.

If you have any questions, feel free to respond to this, as I'll check back. I'll report on Victoria House/Ambergris in a separate posting.

Liz,

Sounds wonderful. Lots of questions for you:

What were the garden rooms like? How expensive were the excursions? Did you book the excursions before your arrival? If you could pick only 2 activities, what would they be (we have only 2 1/2 days at Blancaneaux)?
Did you spend much time hanging out on the Blancaneaux grounds? Tell me more about falls, rivers, etc. Thanks!

Having Francis Ford Coppola building the place I would have been surprised had there not been good Italian food there!
It is just as you described up there. I felt like a milkshake must feel after every excusion because of the roads.
Thanks for the report glad to hear it is still as nice as I remembered.

Hi, Traveller212, Glad to help! See my answers below.

What were the garden rooms like?

I'm not sure what you mean by garden rooms. I think there was a price difference between riverfront and riverview cabanas. We took the riverfront, but honestly they all looked like they had a pretty good view to me. The only difference was between the villas and the cabanas?villas had 2 bedrooms and a living room, but all had similar locations/views.

How expensive were the excursions?

It ranged between $75 to $150 an excursion for two of us (total). I think the horseback riding was the most expensive one...more like $150 for the two of us, while the Barton Creek excursion was only about $75 or $80 because we went with another guest. If you want to keep costs down, try to go with other guests. We met another couple that also wanted to go to Caracol, and I think it dropped the price from $150 to $100...or something like that.

Did you book the excursions before your arrival?

Our travel agent tried to talk us into this, but it seems like a bad idea, since you may end up going on excursions with other people which will drop the price. Also there's no reason NOT to wait...it's not like they get booked up, they have room for every guest to do something every day.


If you could pick only 2 activities, what would they be (we have only 2 1/2 days at Blancaneaux)?

Two activities? Hmmm...that's a tough one. Well, definitely horseback riding...the sunrise 1/2 day ride was our favorite, I think. And well worth it. Ask for Jason as your guide. And then i guess Caracol, if you're not going to be seeing any ruins on other parts of your trip. But Barton Creek Cave was also so cool! And a more relaxing excursion, since your just in a canoe while the guide rows and points things out.

Did you spend much time hanging out on the Blancaneaux grounds? Tell me more about falls, rivers, etc. Thanks!

We spent two 1/2 days, just hanging out at the resort, the one day after our horseback ride it was very warm out so we took a dip in the river, hung out on some of the sun decks and played croquet. It's so quiet, you feel like you have the place to yourself!

Also, one day we did the hike around the resort to Big Rock Falls...which was great and takes a couple hours. Beware, though...the woman at the desk told us we could cross the river on "stepping stones" Well, there were none, and it's a pretty raging river, so we had to swim across and it wasn't that easy! On our horseback ride, Jason took us to Five Sisters' Resort to see those falls which are more dramatic, and definitely worth seeing.

I can't recommend Blancaneaux enough. The grounds, excursions, and staff were all amazing!

I'd love to hear your report on Ambergris Caye - my husband and I are headed there in 2 weeks. Forgive me if I am just not seeing your post.

Hi Liz,

Thanks for the report on Blancaneaux, very helpful! I do have a few questions for you as I'm planning the exact same trip, however, I'm torn between 3nights at Blan. and 5 at Victoria House, or spliting it like you did. I don't want to get bored. That's my main concern. We are in our late 30's active and want to do a cave trip, & ruins like you. We like to relax, but aren't ones to just sit and do nothing, although it didn't sound like you did that either. What do you think?? Also, do the rooms have cable tv?? (For my husband!)

I would love to hear your review about Victoria House. I'm trying to arrange my trip to be in the Rainforest suite at VH, but due to availability, I would have to do VH first and Blan last and I really wanted it the other way around.

Any info. you can give me would be greatly appreciated. We are planning on going 6/18-6/26/04.

Thanks!

Jeannine

Thanks Liz for the informative trip report. I am going to San Ignacio and Ambergris shortly. Can you tell me where Caesar's is located? Sounds like a good stop to make for souvenirs.

Thanks,
Joni

Caesar's is on the Western Highway a little east of San Ignacio, at Mile 60 1/2.

--Lan Sluder
www.belizefirst.com

Hey, Cookbound. I'd definitely try to split up the days equally. There is just SO much to do around the Cayo and beyond on the mainland. There's lots to on Ambergris too (Lan can tell you more, I'm sure), but lots of it centered around scuba/snorkelling/boating. Also, once on Ambergris, I really didn't feel like doing excursions back to the mainland.

And tell your husband that there are no TVs/cable/phones at either Blancaneaux or Victoria House. But you'll be too busy to notice!