Pine Ridge Lodge — Hotel in Cayo District

Short Version: Pine Ridge Lodge was a fantastic place to stay for visiting the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve. The room was clean and comfortable, and had a very nice bathroom with hot water shower. The restaurant was fantastic, scenery and atmosphere were beautiful, and the host was exceptional, with knowledge of the area and some great stories. I would recommend Pine Ridge Lodge to anyone who wants to spend time in the reserve and be very comfortable and well fed while doing it.

Long Version: My wife and I drove ourselves out and stayed in one of the economy twin rooms for two nights. We were in one of the two rooms in a house down by the river, and the scenery and atmosphere were wonderful. We also happened to be the only guests at the hotel at the time, so basically had the place to ourselves. The house we were in had a screened-in, shared front patio with a hammock for each of the two rooms. It was a nice place to sit out and look at the scenery. Our room was very clean and featured some cool decorations and forest wood furnishings/fixtures. The bathroom was very nice, and had a great shower with good pressure and hot water that was really refreshing after a day of exploring. We ate three meals at the restaurant, two breakfasts (included with the room) and 1 dinner. All the food was truly fantastic, the host and Chef had clearly put a lot of time into perfecting their dishes and homemade sauces, and the coffee was really good as well. The meals we scheduled were right on time, and the dining area & attached living room/lounge were very comfortable to hang out in and sip a cold beer at the end of the day. Despite being so remote, there were very few things to work around. In our case, our room didn't have high enough voltage plugs to charge devices, but it was no problem to use one of the plugs in the restaurant/common area. Filling water bottles was $1 a fill, but considering the drive out it is very reasonable, and pretty much the same as other hotels we stayed at. The host, Niel, was easily one of the best we have ever encountered. We generally like to kind of figure things out ourselves, and like to think we are low maintenance, but Niel made our stay and our excursions into the park so much more comfortable and simple. He somehow managed to give us plenty of space to enjoy our meals and time at the lodge while always being right there when we had questions or needed something. It was clear from conversation with him and from walking around the grounds that he was putting in a lot of effort to do things right, and it was great chatting with him about his history and the adventures of running the lodge in a remote location. If you get a chance, ask him about the challenges of protecting his chickens and guinea hens from the local wildlife. Niel also had really helpful info about the highlights of the area, with directions for getting around and good estimates for how long it would take. The lodge is just a few minutes past the gate for the MPRFR, and the location couldn't be better for getting to the sites. It is about a 40 minute drive from PRL to the military checkpoint on the way out to Caracol, making PRL one of the best starting points if you plan to drive yourself out there (amazing ruin/jungle view at the end of a beautiful, fun drive with lots of cool stops on the way). Overall, I would absolutely recommend Pine Ridge Lodge to anyone who wants to visit MPRFR. With an awesome location, great accommodations and exceptional hospitality at one of the best prices in the area, it is a...

Pine Ridge Lodge

I cannot say enough good stuff about the Pine Ridge Lodge family. Yes, they are a family, and they treat their guests as such. Talk about under committing and over delivering; we were expecting the minimum, going off grid, “glamping” in a don’t bother bringing your hair dryer cottage. Well, we got way more than what we expected and having an excuse not to “coif” daily was a bonus. Anything we asked for was met with a “yes, we can do that for you.”

We settled on this property because of the location and the reviews about Neil’s cooking. Neither disappointed. Our cottage was nestled at the end of the property with the creek running in front of it, which lulled me to sleep every night. It was fantastic. We were there in the rainy season, but it didn’t matter. There’s a waterfall on the property that the family dogs led us to one day and we enjoyed that for a while before driving 10 minutes to Big Creek waterfall where we swam across.

Pine River Lodge is where you want to stay if your priority is to have an adventure in the jungle while having the basic accommodation necessities with top customer service and friendliness. We had our own cottage with bedroom and bathroom and a screened in porch connecting us to our daughters’ room where they had 2 beds and their own bathroom. There’s no electricity, but there is adequate lighting, plumbing and a nice hot shower. Their water is even safe to drink which we had been told would NOT be the case!

The gathering area is a lodge with a thatched roof that withstood the gail force rain. Meals are shared here and there is strong internet and electricity for charging devices. Every morning I walked up and was greeted by José with a delicious cup of Guatemalan French press coffee. The property is beautiful with local plantings and wildlife all around.

The breakfast and dinner each day was unique and delicious. Neil would ask the evening before what we’d like for the next day and since we wanted to experience his creativity, we left it to him to tell us what he’d like to make for us. We experienced quite a variety of food from local Belizean breakfast cuisine, British Yorkshire pudding and shepherd’s pie, homemade pizza, and full turkey dinner in the week that we stayed with them.

The one comment I will make is to bring your own cocktails if you are specific about what you like to drink. They have delicious local beer, but we brought our own bourbon.

José recommended an itinerary for us for each day of our week. He arranged a guide when necessary and each guide was very responsible, knowledgeable, and trustworthy. The excursions he put together were each unique and phenomenal. Never once did we encounter crowds because he took care, for example to make sure he didn’t book us to go somewhere on a cruise ship day. He is very knowledgeable about where and how to navigate the adventures.

This trip far exceeded my expectations all thanks to the Pine Ridge...

Pine Ridge Lodge is a spectacular property and Neil, his family, and the Lodge’s small, highly attentive staff went above and beyond to provide our family with the very best experience. My family will always cherish the time we spent there.||We stayed three nights in the gorgeous VIP Family Cabana. It's the most remarkable 'hotel room' we've experienced. The unit is extremely spacious, clean, comfortable, and full of amazing Guatemalan art. Like other properties in the Belize mountains, the units don’t have air conditioning because the temperatures and humidity drop at night. We were there during one of the hottest spells, but there were plenty of fans in the rooms, while the screened windows allowed great air movement and the amazing sounds of the surrounding forest. The Lodge grounds are fantastic--there are many flowering plants, trees (mangos and cashews) and a very nice bubbling brook.||The breakfasts (included) and dinners were superb. Neil and Marcia provided potential options for meals but were happy to improvise. For breakfast, Marcia’s fry jacks are the best we had in Belize and the egg and salsa tortillas were scrumptious. For dinner, a family style meal was served, including appetizer, entree, and dessert. We had fantastic foods and flavors from around the world. The Yorkshire pudding and shrimp pesto were killer. You’ll walk away from the table full but looking forward to your next gourmet meal at the Lodge!||Pine Ridge Lodge is convenient to ATM cave, Caracol, cave tubing, and the Rio on Pools. Rather than rent a car and try to navigate all the sites, we had Neil provide transportation to/from the airport and coordinate the tours to all the sites we wanted to visit. This maximized the amount of Western Belize that our family got to experience, dramatically reduced the stress of travel (especially when cellular is spotty), and provided extremely insightful, well guided tours for the entire family.||What made Pine Ridge Lodge truly special was spending time with Neil, his family, and Marcia. They’re extremely warm, caring, and fun and made the mornings and evenings we spent together a treasure of our...