#HilaryRowland

Beauty in Belize, at Turtle Inn

Escape to Francis Ford Coppola’s resort and discover pure bliss in Belize.

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Where to stay…

Beauty in Belize, at Turtle Inn

Map of Turtle Inn, Belize

Turtle Inn is 25 villas full of luxury and Balinese inspired tranquility, while still being family friendly for all of you fancy mommas out there. I have so much to say to about its friendly staff, three restaurants, and oh yeah, it has a spa! Don’t get me started on the activities offered here (that comes later). Between inland hikes, magnificent boat trips and quick shopping trips in the close by Belizean town, you will never want to leave.

Beauty in Belize, at Turtle Inn

Every villa at Turtle Inn has a birdbath with flowers outside, and lights are in rustic structures, like overturned clay planters

Beauty in Belize, at Turtle Inn

Seafront Villas at Turtle Inn, Belize

Where should we start? The staff? All right, besides being wonderfully welcoming and, well, dashingly good-looking, the staff at this resort were nothing but helpful. Carrying my bags to my seafront villa, after a few hours of being in the room, I got a surprising “check-up” call, asking if I was settled and comfortable. Now, I’ve stayed at many luxury resorts, and this is a rare occurrence. Needless to say, they know how to make a girl feel special. I decided to get a little naggy in the late evening and call down for a few extra towels, to gauge and interact with the late night staff. Not only did I get my extra towels, but I was constantly met with smiles, and attention. For all I knew, I could’ve been the only one there. I wasn’t, but I sure felt like I was.

Beauty in Belize, at Turtle Inn

All villas at Turtle Inn have screened-in porches

Beauty in Belize, at Turtle Inn

Seafront Villas at Turtle Inn, Belize

Beauty in Belize, at Turtle Inn

Our villa was right on the beach, facing the ocean (dress by ASOS)

So by now you’re probably wondering about where we stayed; the Seafront Villa. They offer a few different types of dwellings at a variety of pretty affordable price ranges. The Seafront Villa is the accommodations that sit closest to the Caribbean Sea beachfront. Ours had a large lounge area and a ginormous screened porch with a private garden. There was a small bar area, that was stocked with delicious and tempting Coppola wines.

Beauty in Belize, at Turtle Inn

Our seafront room at Turtle Inn, Belize

The décor is all Balinese-themed and hand carved, with large vaulted thatched ceilings and the sofa in our room was donned with locally-made patchwork pillows. Not that I spent a ton of time looking at the room, as my eyes were glued to the scene outside my private balcony; we were front-and-centre to the ultra-white sand that seemed to melt into the surrounding ocean. I love that natural plant life is so abundant in and out of the rooms. With a continuation of the hand-carved décor, my bathroom was a piece of art and just as relaxing as the rest of the villa. The best part? The outdoor shower and private backyard. There’s nothing quite as sexy as showering outside. Trust me on this one.

Beauty in Belize, at Turtle Inn

The yummy-scented shampoo and conditioner in our outdoor shower

Beauty in Belize, at Turtle Inn

The lounge area of our bedroom seafront villa

Important tip: If you’re the type with sweet blood that mosquitoes love, you’ll get eaten alive during certain seasons. Turtle Inn has a lagoon full of still mosquito-breeding water on the property, so expect a lot of the little buggers. I got about twenty bites within an hour eating outside, so make sure to bring some strong deet bug repellant (the natural stuff doesn’t work on these mosquitos!), ask for a mosquito net over your bed, bring long pants and longsleeve tops, and try to avoid the months when mosquitoes are at their worst.

Beauty in Belize, at Turtle Inn

A circular pool at Turtle Inn, Belize

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A writer, artist, and designer since she was young enough to put pencil to paper, Hilary taught herself code and created Urbanette when she was a teenager. Currently, she lives in Monte Carlo, but spent the past decade living in NYC, still considers herself a New Yorker, and visits regularly. She's always traveling, looking for hot new topics, destinations, and life hacks to bring to Urbanette readers.

Reader Discussion: 44 Comments

  1. May Baker

    Well, this is new to me. Will chart this on my checklist of places to visit someday. Thanks for the heads up 🙂

  2. Kim Hartford

    One of the reasons why I love the Urbanette Magazine is that this magazine completely away from cliche. You don’t go promoting places you actually don’t like. And you don’t go chasing the trendy places unlike every other magazine. You only write about the places you’ve been to and was satisfied with. For example Turtle Inn. I never heard about the place until I saw this article. I’m glad I did. It’s far from the cliche so called popular places other magazines rave about! The Turtle Inn definitely looks like a place I could have a great time. Thanks for being unigue and geniune. I really appreciate that.

    • Amelia Beckons

      They’re not lying when they say 100% unique content. 😉

      Just like you, I love finding out via Urbanette about all these gorgeous places I’ve never been to. Because I trust their reviews, and I know they won’t try to make us believe in something they don’t stand behind.

      Honestly, Turtle Innn is ONLY one of the MANY places I found out through Urbanette, and I’m already planing to make a trip as soon as possible. 🙂

  3. Sasha Rosswell

    I came across this article while I was looking for information about the Turtle Inn. My fiance booked us a reservation and surprised me with it. Being the control freak I am, I had to see what it’s like and read some reviews. I did come acress some informative reviews on some certain websites, but my god, nobody described it in so much detail like you did! THANK YOU! All thanks to this article I am relieved because I know it won’t be disasterous getaway. I expect it to be rather romantic. 🙂

  4. Jennifer McSween

    I took my time, read the whole article and then read all the comments, and all I can say is WOW!! I agree with each commenter. This place is a great get away from the stressful big city life.

  5. Sabrina Grattidge

    This is generally not my kind of place. But the way you described it, and the photosyou shared, really made me want to book a vacation there! Well done on another AWESOME article Hilary! You’re so good at this. 🙂

    • Jennifer McSween

      Her writing technique is so unique and creative. You can picture everything in your head as you read it. I think she should write a book! I know I would buy it. 🙂

  6. Diana Hewitt

    That’s a very cute resort. Lovely review, very detailed and informative. Thanks for telling us about it. If my road crosses Belize, I will consider staying at the Turtle inn. 🙂

  7. Lynn Hayes

    My god… How gorgeous is this place!? Honestly I get a little jealous when you post these travel reviews, but I keep coming back for more, cause on the other hand I really enjoy it. I’m so living vicariously through you! 🙂

  8. Roberta Bennett

    Fascinating! Exoticism and luxury met in one place. You’re quite a lucky girl that you get to travel to all these amazing places. Thank you for sharing your travel experiences with us!

  9. Frances Seifert

    It has a bit The Sims Castaway Stories vibe to it. Totally my kind of place. I would definitely love to visit if I had the chance one day.

  10. Amanda Roberts

    Oh my god! My sister is getting married this summer, and she wants a beach wedding, but she’s so picky that she hasn’t booked a location yet. I’m going to share this article with her. I know she will love it. That’s exactly what she’s looking for.

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