Just got back from 3 perfect days at Banana Beach before heading off to the Cayo district. We read the great reviews and hoped for the same- and got it! The little "extras" like free breakfast (and its really good, too!), free transfers when we arrived, the extra friendly staff, great help in planning excursions, and a big, lovely room (we had a courtyard suite) made Banana Beach perfect. Great location, just far enough from town to feel secluded but a short 20 minute walk gets you into cute little San Pedro. We wished we could have stayed longer! Only negative was not enough hot water in the showers...go snorkeling with Alfonse from Lil Alfonse- Banana Beach can arrange it for you- he was AWESOME, one of our very best snorkling experiences ever as he guided us and named each fish...and we ate great meals at Mambo, Caliente (the best Mexican food we've had in a long time), Wild Mango and Palmilla.

Great location, about a 15 minute walk from town. Very friendly and service oriented staff. Nice size, comfortable rooms. We stayed in the ocean view suite- the views were incredible and the hotel photos were very accurate (www.bananabeach.com). The thing is, that there was very little water pressure and the water never got very hot. Also, bring all your own bathroom amenities, since they only provide a bar of soap!! But the breakfast in the morning was a very nice touch- make sure to allow about 45 min for breakfast because it's not buffet, and they make everything from scratch. Lastly, if you're thinking of using the pull out couch, know that it's VERY uncomfortable.

Banana Beach was a great place to stay. It's a short ( 15 minute) walk on the beach to San Pedro.

Monkey Business is the excursion planning part of Banana Beach. They can plan all of your trips and excursions in and around Belize. They can even schedule SCUBA diving trips. Hol Chan is a great place for a night dive or snorkel. If you are fortunate, Elvis still works at Banana Beach, he can direct you to all of the best places.

But, if you are not a diver. There is not much to do in Ambergris Caye. If you are a diver, there is more places to dive than time to do them all.

The only problem with this place is that it's too far from downtown to walk. Renting a cart will cost another $30 - $120 US per day. Cab is around $5 each way.
Also, because of it's location, it's more difficult to shop around for other services and restaurants etc. However, the attached gift and travel shop will set you up with whatever you need and the prices are not that much more then outside.
We had three problems, no hot water, tub stopped up, and the key to the safe didn't work. However, to their credit, all the problems were fixed within 20 minutes of calling the front desk.
Snorkeling was great, ask for Alfonse.
If I were going back to San Pedro, I'd probably look for something closer to the main street.