Wait till you see the bathroom!

We stayed here for 2 nights on the front end of a sailing charter out of Placencia. The cabanas are FANTASTIC. Except for the odd fact that they give you a queen size bed (there is plenty of room for a King) they could not be nicer. That being said, we found the staff to be a little off-putting. When we arrived my husband was not feeling well, and they put us in a cabana right next to the pool full of noisy kids and the palapa bar, which was blasting reggae music in the middle of the afternoon. We wanted something a bit more quiet, but they said it would be two hours until they could clean a different cabana and we would have to change rooms for the next night - and they weren't very nice about it. We were a little disappointed with that, but ultimately it turned out to be ok. There were a lot of little kids - at 8 AM we were woken up by kids in the pool yelling "I am David Hasselhoff" - took me a while to figure out how any small child would even know who he is - but apparently they had seen the Spongebob movie. Go figure. We think there may have been more kids than usual because we were there the week after Easter - spring break time for some people. The bathrooms at this place are out of this world. A screened in japanese tub and shower, double sink and toilet - and outside a private garden with hanging lanterns and a bamboo waterfall shower. Heaven. The grounds are beautiful - the lighting alone is remarkable - lots of lanterns in the trees, candle lanterns on the ground, etc. We did get eaten alive by mosquitos here though, and I hated having to spray myself down with Deet every time I walked out of the room. The dining room is not screened in, which it really needs to be in that location. The food is ok - it leans toward pizzas and pastas. All that being said - if you can get a quiet beachfront cabana or villa and hideaway in it for a few days you will be very happy!

We LOVED the Turtle Inn

My husband and I chartered a sailboat and sailed for a week off the coast of Placencia. The captain of our ship recomended we stay a night before the sailing trip and two nights after at the Turtle Inn. It was perfect!! Beautiful grounds, great food, and SUPERB service! We checked out other resorts during our stay (Robert's Grove and Kitties Place) and found that the Turtle Inn was by FAR the best resort on the island. My hat's off to Francis Ford Coppola for creating such a incredible resort.

Loved Turtle Inn!

Me and my husband ended our recent two-week trip in Belize with one week at the Turtle Inn. We had such a great stay there! The staff is great (with a few exceptions, but that is normal) so warm and friendly and professional. Barto, our bartender, made the best margaritas! And the concierges were always on top of everything, you could really kick-back and relax and they would take care of the rest! The hotel itself is gorgeous, with its balinese style cabanas and villas. It is so nice to sit on your own private patio and have a cold beer or glass of wine before dinner. We chose the Turtle Inn because it is close to a village (as opposed to staying at one of the smaller keyes, where you could on the other hand snorkel right off the beach, whereas from Placencia it is a 30-45 min boat ride to the reef), so that we would have the option to go out to dine in the evenings in different restaurants and not be "stuck with" resort food the whole time, but once at Turtle Inn we hardly wanted to leave the place! The last two nights I finally managed to get my husband to go with me to the village to eat (The Galley and Purple Space Monkey), awhich was good, because the food was delicious. That said, we were a bit disappointed though with the food at Turtle Inn - what my husband loved, as well as I, with eating at the Inn was especially the atmosphere there. I am not saying however that the food was not good, but it seemed to cater for American taste buds (as it should I guess, since most of the guests are American), so being Europeans, we at times thought the food was a bit "overdone". It was hard to get just a plain nicely grilled fish without it beeing all covered with creamy sauce for example (they did not have a lot of fish at all actually, which suprised us). In our opinion the best on the menu was the daily Belizean special. We would have preferred more food of that kind, but then again, you could get that if you went to the village restaurants, and maybe that is why Turtle Inn has chosen to focus on Italian cuisine. But all in all, the Turtle Inn is a great choice in Placencia, one of the best hotels we ever staid at in the world!

Placencia Dive trip, Turtle Inn

Just returned from a very fun trip to Placencia that was highlighted by our stay at Turtle Inn. Great staff, and service with wonderful accomodations, and delicious food! In our group were four Dads, three daughters ages 13 -16, and one 12 year old son. The primary purpose of our trip was Scuba Diving, which I would rate as only fair. The main problem was the 25 -35 mile daily trip EACH WAY, we had to make in the Turtle Inn's 27ft Fishing /"dive" boat to get to the reef for diving. It was a long rough ride to and from our dive sites every day. It was usually very windy so the vis was not very good even down 70ft or more. The Divemaster Quinton was very nice, and the rental equipment was decent, but the diving off Placencia in January was just so so. After six dives, I saw the largest barracuda when I was snorkling off the beach in front of our villa. On the otherhand, the Turtle Inn was fabulous!!! I cannot imagine better accomodations or a more pleasant and helpful staff anywhere in Belize.This place alone made our trip totally worthwhile. I will definitely go back to Placencia, just to stay at Turtle Inn. It is that good and incredibly romantic; only this time, I will take my wife, and I will probably pass on the diving.

As resorts go...

Turtle Inn was beautiful and definitely the nicest place in Placencia. Cabanas were beautifully appointed, and there were many thoughtful touches. That said, the service was not the genuine friendliness we've found elsewhere in Belize. It was somewhat forced and condescending, and we felt as if the staff only wanted to help us do things that cost additional money. We stayed during the same trip at the Lodge at Chaa Creek, at similar rates, and felt the opposite, so this was a disappointment.

Our garden view cabana (#11) was certainly luxurious enough, but backed up to the airport road and gardeners' station. Given the open-air construction, this made for noisy mornings. Not all of the garden view cabanas would have that problem, however.

Food was of inconsistent quality and value, sometimes great, other times very disappointing.

Outstanding service!

My husband and I stayed here at Christmas, 2004. The beach is beautiful, as are the accomodations. The Beach Captains shower you with attention and even play with the kids. There is an on-site concierge that helps with planning the next day's activities each evening at dinner. (The thai massage is not to be missed!)

The service was absolutely amazing - not only efficient and polite, but the smiles from the staff seem so genuine. The food is good, but after a few days of the same, you might try Habeneros (mexican) or The Galley (mix of cusines, including great curry) in the town of Placencia nearby to mix it up. The on-property gelato bar is a nice way to end an evening.

Overall, we really enjoyed our stay and loved Turtle Inn. My only complaints would be that the rooms are quite dark, and the beach is not great for activities because the water is not so clean. However, just across the street from Turtle Inn is the resort's dive shop which offers scuba diving, river trips, snorkeling etc. Warren and Julie run the show there and are fantastic.

Fantastic!

Just returned from a week at Turtle Inn. It was absolutely wonderful! Amazing service. Beautiful rooms. Stayed in a garden view cottage, and I was actually a bit chilly at night! Gorgeous resort. The beach captains could not have been more helpful. They constantly were offering to get us drinks, move the beach chairs, etc. The restaurant was very good. Excellent specials every evening with freshly caught fish, just picked vegetables. Just amazing. My husband and I can't wait to return!

An Un-"Belize"able Experience

My husband and I just returned from a week's vacation at the Turtle Inn and were absolutely overwhelmed at the high quality of every aspect of our vacation. Placencia itself is a great location to begin to explore Belize, offering access to both the peninsula's beautiful beaches and the land-based adventures available further inland and it remains (happily) free of too many tourists. The Turtle Inn, though, is what truly made our vacation. The service at the Turtle Inn is particularly notable; the staff members are friendly, professional, and welcoming--we exchanged hugs and email addresses with many of them upon our departure. Thanks to the staff members like Arnold, Emil, Bort, and Eddie, we felt like family by the end of the week. The East Asian-inspired decor and design of the hotel is a study in comfortable elegance, complete with batik designs, an outdoor shower in each cottage, and hammocks in the palm trees. The food was another highlight--the award-winning chef uses food from the hotel's organic garden to create an Italian-inspired menu with a Carribean influence (Conch Parmesean, for example). We ate every meal at the resort--it just didn't get any better. Though simply relaxing on the beach by the bar kept us quite busy, there are many opportunities for day trips through the hotel, including a Monkey River tour, snorkeling and diving, Mayan ruins trips combined with spelunking in a cave with a hidden waterfall. The other guests, too, were quite a delight and we actually made great friends with many of them. We also truly enjoyed the eco-friendly feel of the resort, and the break from technology was quite welcome--note that there is no tv on the property, no computer access, no air conditioning (except the quite wonderful and adequate ocean breeze), and no phone except the "shell phone" that connects you to the front desk. The only downside was that the ocean was not a particularly good swimming ocean as it had quite a bit of thick seaweed and a rocky bottom, but with the beautiful Infinity pool right on the beach, I barely noticed. I would recommend the Turtle Inn to anyone seeking an experience in laid-back luxury--we're already talking about when we'll return!

Great Getaway

My wife and I visited last October and had a good time, loved the cabana rooms, great, friendly, outstanding service. Good snorkeling trip arranged thru the Inn, but fishing trip was a bust--trolled and had only two bites, would have preferred bottom fishing but guide had limited tackle, scenery was super. Monkey River trip was good for sightseeing. Best times were lounging on the beach with rum punch, reading, snorkeling, kayaking at the Inn. No AC which is fine, but need more powerful ceiling fans. Massages on porch were fine! Overall, very well managed, but evening dining was good, not outstanding. Would go again.

Amazing Experience

Myself and my girlfriend had never been to Belize, and stayed at the Turtle Inn last September. The accomadations are truely unique and spectacular. You have you own private Indonesian inspired cabana that is only steps form the beach. You truely feel like royalty staying here. The private outdoor shower in each cabana was icing on the cake.

I have stayed in many luxurious hotels thorughout the world, but the accomadations here are simply wonderful. I would reccomend this to anyone. Many day trips activities are provided also.