We went to Costa Rica two years ago, staying in a very similar lodge and thought we would never top that experience. We were wrong! We are a family of four with two girls ages 13 and 15 and they were estatic about the trip. We stayed in a treehouse which is essentially four star jungle accomodations that made you feel as though you were literally sleeping in the jungle. We were woke up each of the four nights we by the sounds of troops of howler monkeys moving thru the lodge area. The trips we did were the black hole drop, the waterfall trip, the mayan ruins excursion, and the zoo on our way back to the airport. The black hole and waterfall adventures are not to miss if you can handle the adventure. In other words if you have trouble walking down the sidewalk on a cool day do not sign up for these trips. The guides were the best. Very attentive, informative and safety conscious. They really work hard to make sure you are having a great time and experience. We found the Belizean people to be very warm and friendly as a whole. The food was good simple fare with plenty of fruits and vegetables. The menue varried each night. We choose an all inclusive plan that covered it all except premium drinks and wine. Some of the other tours were an additional surcharge. Ask before signing up. Ian is a friendly sole with a charming wife and a son who would be a shoe-in to take over the place when the time comes. We just can't say enough about the great time we had. A trip that will be hard to beat. Thanks Ian!

We went for our honeymoon. Everyday was a great new experience. It was not as physically challenging as I'd anticipated. Guides were phenomenal. They are in the midst of renovating the rooms--the older are not so wonderful, but the new ones are quite nice. There's also hearsay about adding a pool, which would be great for afternoons when returning from day trips as we usually returned by 2 or 3.
I thought transfer from the airport was quite pricey, $130--with no effort to car pool. We did find Jason's Taxi and Tour Service equally as good with a cost of $100. The email for Jason's is [--]

We just returned from a four night stay at Caves Branch. I can't begin to express in words how wonderful the experience was. Upon arrival, we were welcomed and shown to our room. Because we booked late, we spent two nights in a treehouse and two nights in a bungalow. All of the accommodations are gorgeous.

There were lots of families with/without children. We participated in the Waterfall Expedition, Cave Tubing, Ziplining, and the Black Hole Drop. The waterfall and black hole were the biggest adrenaline rushes! There were excursions for all levels of fitness/adventure seekers and the guides are incredible. They are fun-loving, but serious about safety of the guests. Unlike cruises, we weren't pressured into tipping but did tip each of the guides at check-out because we REALLY appreciated their willingness to ensure that we all had a great time.

The food was delicious and plentiful. We LOVED the homemade tortillas every morning with breakfast. We are looking forward to our next trip!

We stayed here 2 nites in November 2007. (Also stayed 1 week at Inn at Robert's Grove and 1 week at Belizean Shores -- see those reviews.) We stayed in the Jungle Treehouse

Suite (their most luxurious option) as the mid-priced ones were closed for rennovations and we still wanted a room with private bathrooom. The suite was AMAZING, large split

level with a king bed on upper level and a futon & bunk beds on the lower split level. There wasa huge marble bathroom with an open shower. They also had a really neat outdoor

shower off our suite so you could see the jungle & hear the birds while you showered (water came out of a bucket for a rustic look). So no complaints about the room itself other

than the price tag seemed steep (~$200 US for offseason, where most other resorts offered 30-50% off in off-season Belize).

The one word that comes to mind to describe our overall Caves Branch experience is OVERRATED. We found everything (room, food, trips to be overly pricy), the buffet food was

the only option and not very good (tried to be american/canadian home cooking but nothing tasted great), and there wasn't much to do here day or nite if you weren't on day

trips. There were only about 6 other tourists at the resort when we were here so it was very quiet and not quite what we were expecting. It was also a bit of a pain (and

expense) to get here. It is about a 1-1.5 hour drive by taxi/private ride to the lodge from Belize City. Some people we met took public transit to Belmopan then a taxi the last

20min or so, which saved them tons, so if you're adventurous I might recommend that. We ended up taking public transit FROM the resort to Placencia which again saved us

hundreds and was an interesting experience to ride with the locals and find out a bit about their way of life.

The main reason we went to Cave's Branch was to do the cave tubing cave trip that we read so many reviews on (and apparently this place invented the activity). We also thought

it would be neat to experience a Jungle, but we didn't see ANY wildlife other than a lizard and a few birds. As for the cave tubing that we want all that way for, it turns out

they needed 4 people minimum (there was just 2 of us) and the resort was DEAD so no way we'd find 2 other tourists to come along. Also the water level was too low so they

weren't recommending that tour to the other tourists! We were BEYOND disappointed as they should have warned us of these two issues when we booked... all their rules and lack

of advertising the potentials of tours not going really didn't sit well with us. Anyway since we came all that way we picked another trip, a cave exploration tour that had a

very small component of cave tubing. We had a great guide who made the experience worth it -- spent 4 hours inside the cave including had a picnic lunch.

Overall I wouldn't go back to Cave's Branch but for a one time thing it may be worth trying if you're looking for an adventure. But I wouldn't recommend more than 2-3 nites as

there is NOTHING to do there when you're not on [expensive] day tours and you'll get tired of the food fast. Personally I wished we'd just stayed longer on Ambergris Caye.