Vanilla Hills Resort — Hotel in San Ignacio & Santa Elena

We visited Belize for our Honeymoon last month and decided to spend half our time near San Ignacio and the other half in San Pedro. Despite being very big beach vacationers, our time near San Ignacio at Vanilla Hills ended up being the best part of our trip! This is definitely accredited to Claudia and Franklin. From before we checked in to the time we left, they were very attentive to our needs and helped us schedule every aspect of our 5 days and nights with them. We stayed in the Hibiscus cabin (since the Treehouse was already booked) and it was perfect! We felt very secluded in the jungle with beautiful views off our deck while somehow still being close to the main house to get water and breakfast each morning (which was delicious by the way!). Below are the details of our stay at Vanilla Hills for anyone who is interested in our trip. 😊

Before we arrived, Claudia arranged private transportation from the airport in Belize City to Vanilla Hills. Claudia suggested stopping at the Belize Zoo or Baboon Sanctuary (actually Howler Monkeys) on our way and we decided to go with the latter. The Sanctuary was a great stop on our 2ish hour trip. While it only took 30 minutes and cost $14 BZE / person, it was worth it for the up close encounter with the howler monkeys. We were even able to feed mommy and baby monkeys! Claudia even called our driver on the way to check in if we were hungry or needed anything. Once arriving at Vanilla Hills, Franklin helped bring our bags to our cabin and give us details of the property and some tours they could arrange for us. We decided on the ATM Cave tour for the following day after hearing both Franklin and Claudia rave about the experience. They even set up having our driver pick us up early to stop at the Saturday market in San Ignacio before heading to the ATM cave. After this great experience we trusted Claudia and Franklin to help us plan the rest of our activities. The next day, Claudia recommended we visit Xunantunich Mayan ruins and after canoe back down the Macal River into town. She organized transportation for us and had the driver wait at the Mayan ruins until we were done to bring us to rent a canoe. We also book a Caracol tour with Claudia for our third day which ended up being a private tour with a stop on the way back at Big Rock Falls. Claudia also helped us book taxis each night, gave suggestions for restaurants, and other activities in San Ignacio. Our last full day was spent in San Ignacio visiting the Iguana Conservation Project, attending a Mayan Chocolate demonstration, touring Cahal Pech Mayan ruins, and watching the sunset over town. We were sad to leave on our last day, but happy for Claudia to have the same driver that brought us to Vanilla Hills, pick us up and bring us to the Ferry Terminal. We were even able to split the ride with another couple staying at Vanilla Hills.

Our experience in Belize was “unbelizable” and we especially enjoyed our time at Vanilla Hills. We cannot thank Claudia and Franklin enough for their help organizing our trip and their hospitality to us for our entire stay. We will definitely recommend Vanilla Hills to any of our friends visiting the area and would love to make a trip back...

What can we say about Vanilla Hills Lodge that hasn’t already been posted? It is EXCEPTIONAL in all respects: lodging, pool, grounds, food, and most of all – Claudia, Franklin, and the entire Vanilla Hills team. Everyone was incredibly gracious and ensured we wanted for nothing. No detail was overlooked. We travel frequently, and have stayed at many, many lovely places around the world – but the lodging and hospitality at Vanilla Hills was on a completely different level. We were treated as treasured friends from the very first moment and it only got better from there.

We stayed in one of the two gorgeous “treehouses” nestled in the jungle. What a romantic place! Our treehouse had floor-to-ceiling glass on 3 sides (with adjustable louvers & drapes), a comfortable king bed, glowing hardwood floors, air conditioning, ceiling fan, microwave, refrigerator, stoneware, coffee station, ample electrical outlets, room-sized safe, hammock, fresh flowers…and a very private luxurious open-air shower. Birds and butterflies were constant companions. There are additional delights, but I’ll let you be happily surprised.

The stunning infinity edge pool and grounds were pristine. So was our treehouse and the beautiful open-air Vanilla Hills café. Daily housekeeping allowed us to return to an immaculate suite after long hot days of travel, hiking, and caving.

The food is incredible – and incredibly healthy. Everything is made fresh, including the bread. There is no need to eat anywhere else – and you will not want to. Everything was perfectly prepared and exquisitely presented. On our last night I wasn’t feeling well after a too-hot trip to Guatemala’s Tikal. Our server, always kind, thoughtfully had a bland dish specially prepared that I was able to enjoy.

A few hints: Don’t trust Google Maps! At the time of this writing, routes the unwary traveler is routed down what can most diplomatically be described as a cow path. The “magenta line” will eventually take you to Vanilla Hills – but call or write ahead for the best directions (they are easy). Don’t trust Google in San Ignacio, either – it will send you the wrong direction down one-way streets and bridges!

Book directly with Vanilla Hills via their website or another channel and not via a third-party site such as Expedia. Expedia works – we did it -- but booking directly with Claudia is superior.

Allow an extra day during your adventures to simply relax at Vanilla Hills, including around the pool. We made the mistake of not doing this and remain regretful. However, we did make some fun friends during our limited pool time and remain in touch with them.

In summary, I selected Vanilla Hills based on the stellar reviews. Those reviews were not exaggerating. Now, because of our experience, we are already planning to return as soon as possible and to stay longer. Vanilla Hills has our very highest recommendation – stay there, and you’ll see for yourself what everyone is...

Wonderful, Beautiful, Relaxing, Safe…Now is a great time to go!

My wife and I highly recommend Vanilla Hills Lodge. First off, Belize is doing a much better job with keeping COVID cases down than much of the world (especially the USA where we are from). It took us less than two hours to get through customs, and that included a COVID test for me (my wife had a PCR test before coming and was 30 minutes faster). They have sanitizer and handwashing everywhere and are serious about mask wearing. My wife is actually a virologist who is studying COVID and she feels very good about the precautions taken in Belize in general and at Vanilla Hills Lodge (Vanilla Hills is Gold Star approved by the government for hosting people during Covid).

The lodge and cabins are very elegant, have beautiful woodwork, and everything we needed. There is a microwave and fridge and plates and silverware… The cabins are down a short, lovely, path from the lodge, separated from each other by jungle, and have large bright windows. We stayed in one of the Treehouses and it was great. The pool is wonderful. Everything is well thought out and extremely well maintained. Claudia is a great host, arraigning tours for us and shuffling them around because of rain. She and the rest of the staff went above and beyond to make sure we had a great stay. She arraigned a shuttle to pick us up at the airport which had a sign with our names on it waiting as we exited the airport. We ate many of our meals at the Caffe. The food is EXCELLENT and beautifully presented. We always went back very full. Other times we took a short taxi ride into San Ignacio which is a fun little town and ate at one of the restaurants there which were also very good. There are plenty of things to do (if you need something besides just relaxing at the pool). There is a Mayan ruin site, Cahal Pech, right on the edge of town that is great. We also took a day tour to the Caracol Mayan site, which is larger and even more spectacular. Both were amazing and also very empty because of Covid. There are several great caves to visit here also. Because of Covid many places had much fewer people than usual. We were in desperate need of a break from everything back home and this was perfect. We would encourage everyone to stay at Vanilla Hills Lodge. Thank you Claudia for the wonderful...