10 Best Hotels in The Southern Coast, Belize

Chabil Mar means "beautiful sea" in Kek'chi Mayan, and the sea and almost 400 feet of beach are indeed gorgeous at this gated luxury condo-style resort. The villas, inside a walled and gated compound, are tastefully designed and luxuriously furnished. Although each one is different, they're all upscale, with features such as marble floors, original art, and four-poster king beds. There's a great attention to detail here, from topiary figures created from shrubbery to daily scrubbing of the two swimming pools to washers and dryers in every unit. You can take any or all of your meals at Chabil Mar—on your veranda, in your suite, by the pool, or (with reservations) on the romantically lighted pier. If you'd rather sample local restaurants and bars, it's a moderate walk or a short taxi, bike, or golf-cart ride into Placencia Village. You'll find a large portfolio of dive, snorkeling, fishing, and soft adventure tours.

This cozy beachfront cottage keeps the guests returning. In the heart of the village, this cottage colony features tile floors, ceilings paneled in local hardwoods, refrigerators, fans, and porches with sea views. A continental breakfast with fruit and locally baked bread is brought to your cabin each morning. Sundays offer the option of a more ample breakfast with fry jacks and burritos for an extra cost.

Francis Ford Coppola's second of three lodgings in Belize is nothing if not exotic, with the furnishings, art, and most of the construction materials bought in Bali by the film director and his wife. The entrance, on a footbridge over a small pond, leads you to a gorgeous open-air reception area, lobby, and restaurant. Splurge on a seafront cabana to catch the breezes, as there's no air-conditioning, and the units at the back can be very hot. Two-bedroom villas have not one or two but three bathrooms (two Japanese-style ones indoors and one in a walled outdoor garden). The restaurant, Mare, is great for pizza (baked in a wood-burning oven) and other Italian dishes, plus seafood and Neibaum-Coppola wines; a second restaurant, Gauguin, specializes in beach barbecue and a third in Belizean dishes. Service is warm and welcoming, as it should be for the price you're paying. You're only a short bike or taxi ride into the village to sample the restaurants there. There are two pools and a nice stretch of beach. You can add on a few nights at Coral Caye, an equally sumptuous Coppola property on a private island, eight miles and a 25-minute boat ride away.

A pair of wooden Mennonite-style bungalows are set among palm trees here on a lovely beach, with each on stilts. Both have private bath and a kitchen where you can prepare your own meals. The owners can arrange to stock your refrigerator and pantry in advance, if you like, although there are restaurants and groceries nearby. Complimentary bikes and sea kayaks are available. Pickup from the airstrip is free.

A three-story boutique hotel, two octagonal cottages, and various "tree houses" (really just cabins among trees at the back of the property that accommodate up to five people) make up this popular laid-back, family-run beach spot. The beachside restaurant, Barracuda, which specializes in seafood, pizza, ribs, and smoked meats, is one of Hopkins's best eateries. The affordable rates include complimentary use of bikes and kayaks.

At Hopkins' original upscale resort, Jaguar Reef's original whitewashed duplex garden and beachfront thatched cabanas is supplemented with newer colonial suites with local artwork, salt-tile floors, and custom-made hardwood furnishings. Although the beach here is good (for Belize), there's a nice pool with swim-up tiki bar. Meals are served in a beautiful glassed-in beachside palapa with a soaring ceiling set off by locally made basket lights.

Jaguar Reef offers frequent summer (July--August) web-only specials.

This is the kind of small, unpretentious beachfront hotel that many come to Belize to enjoy, but few actually find. Rooms are simple and small but pleasant, with polished wood floors, and the rates are highly affordable. Most are only steps from the water, and many have views of False Caye and the sea. There's a swimming pool, on the beach. In addition, the hotel rents several apartments and houses nearby. Some have minimum-stay requirements. A big plus here is the on-site restaurant, one of the country's best.

This small beachfront resort with rooms in earth tones arranged around a courtyard with a pool is an attractive option if you don't need all the amenities of the larger resorts but want an excellent restaurant. Chef Rob's Gourmet Café, with multiple dining concepts, is one of the best restaurants in the entire country. Parrot Cove also has two two-bedroom units in a beach house next door.

Variety is the spice of beach life here, with an assortment of rooms, suites, and villas, some of which can be combined into uber-suites for families. Butterflies, the full-service spa here, is located next to the hotel's coffee shop. Complimentary bikes and kayaks are available. The same management group operates several hotels in the area and around the country and can arrange combo packages that include stays at its beach and rainforest properties.

Gregorio Chun and his family, Mopan Maya people who've lived in this area for many generations, provide affordable accommodations in simple thatch cabañas. The reason to stay at Tutzil Nah is not the accommodations, which are basic at best, but the location near the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary and to meet the Chun family. The Chun family were among those who helped Dr. Alan Rabinowitz study the jaguars in southern Belize, resulting in his well-known 2000 book, Jaguar, One Man's Struggle to Establish the World's First Jaguar Preserve. The Chuns provide a range of tours to Cockscomb and Mayan sites, and simple but tasty homemade meals are available at a small restaurant.