We stayed at the jungle dome for 5 days in early August. I relied heavily on reviews from Tripadvisor when looking for places to stay in Belize for my honeymoon. We were not disappointed! The jungle dome, albeit a little way off the main road (as all things seem to be in Belize) was well worth it. The second we stepped out of the airport with Luis meeting us as our personal chauffeur and giving us the abbreviated (yet lengthly) history of Belize, to the care and attentiveness shown by all the employees, this was truly an unforgettable experience!
The rooms are great, quite large, and full of local touches. We stayed in the back 2nd floor room with a private patio. It was around the back from the pool so made it more private. The pool was great (and apparently one of the few at the jungle lodges). It was so welcoming after a long day of excursions to relax in the pool while drinking a Belikin.
The food was also great. I am a very picky eater (vegetarian also), and I always got enough to eat. Even the one day that I didn't like the dinner prepared for me, Simone (one of the owners) noticed and I was made something else to eat. They were always so accommodating, from the meals, to the excursions. We decided to add on horseback riding while we were there which was no problem, Andy (the owner) made it happen.
Another plus is the personal nature of the jungle dome. Because of the small size you never feel overwhelmed with people, there is always enough room at the pool, and you eat dinner with the other guests and have some time to socialize (since there isn't anywhere else to go at night), and there is always the feel of personal service from the staff. I would also say that although they say August is the rainy season we had beautiful weather every day. It rained once or twice at night, and one day there were some short rain showers, but otherwise it seems like the ideal time to go because its the low season for tourists.
I highly recommend the jungle dome, overall it was an exceptional experience. And although I don't usually like to go back to places I have already been I will definitely make a return trip here in the future.

I travel for a living and have been to over 20 countries around the world. As a result, I have stayed in all different kinds of resorts, hotels and bed and breakfasts.

Belize Jungle Dome was by far one of the best places I have ever stayed. The food was excellent and the property is gorgeous and well maintained.

What made the stay was the level of service and flexibility. The service was extremely attentive, but not intrusive. Further, a few times at the last minute I changed the day trips that I wanted to take - there was no problem, they changed the trips and refunded the money for the one I canceled.

Every trip that was set up was tailored to what I wanted to do. The guides were friendly and extremely knowledgeable.

All the staff at the Dome were very welcoming. The visit was made all the more enjoyable because everyone staying at the Dome got a long. By the end of the week, we felt we were staying with friends. I am the last one to break out in camp songs, but it was truly a special week.

I never go back to the same place twice - but I am certain that one of my next vacations will be a return to the Jungle Dome.

My husband and I stayed at the Jungle dome for six nights in June 2008. We honestly enjoyed everything about our stay. Our room was spacious, the food delicous (both the vegetarian and non-vegetarian), and the activities fabulous. One thing we really appreciated was the flexibility of being able to customize our itinerary instead of having to do one of the pre-packaged tours. The price for customizing was also not any higher than the regular packages offered by the Dome. When one of our selected activities was impossible due to weather, Andy gave us (without surcharge) numerous other choices to consider.

Overall, one always got the impression that the goal of owner Andy and staff alike was to create a wonderful vacation for the visitors.

Tours I would recommend highly are ATM caving (bring some old shoes or, better, waterproof sandals with toe protectors), Che Chem Ha Cave (totally different from ATM and so worth it-the man who discovered it is doing the tour of the cave and it is a fabulous experience), and Tikal. We also went to the Community Baboon Sanctuary and were able to see Howler Monkeys up close! Very neat if you love animals like we do. By the way, if you are claustrophobic like me, don't worry about either of the caves-they are fine-high ceilings and lots of light from the headlamps. No tight squeezes either.

All in all, both my husband and I agree that the Jungle Dome vacation has been one of our best ever. Many thanks to Andy, David, Luis, Nora and everybody else for making our vacation a truely memorable one!

When we first arrived at the Dome we weren't sure what to expect. It was somewhat out of the way and this made us worry about what we would during down time (like we had any). But after being there about 2 minutes any worry or concern we had quickly melted away.

And that's not because it was incredible hot and humid.

First off, we were met at the gate by Max and Phoebe, Jungle Dome's resident dogs. These incredible friendly dogs were always there to say hello after our day trips and each morning we were greeted by Max who would sleep next to our door.

Second, the staff is nothing less than amazing. From Karen, and her well hidden Canadian accent, to David and his Fer-de-lance skills (more on that later), to Nora and her sister's insane ability to make great Italian food in the middle of the jungle, we were never in need of anything.

Third, the Dome itself is very comfortable and our room, which was off of the main steps to the pool, was large (living room, kitchen and bedroom), clean and had all the amenities I would expect anywhere else. We were also the only people there for our first two nights and it made it that much more amazing to have the whole place to ourselves.

The grounds were also beautiful and David, on several occasions, let us sample the local bounty of goodies such as pineapple, coconut and green bananas (it was for an upset stomach and it works incredibly well).

Finally, the day trips that were arranged were all PERFECT and in all but one case we opted for private tours which in our case made all the difference world. I decided to do this because I tend to ask a bazillion questions and I sometimes fell like I'm taking too much of the guide's time away from the group. And as far as guides go, we could not have been happier with Luis.

He was our guide for Xunatunich and Caracol and also took us to Chechem Ha but William was our guide since he discovered the cave and always does the tour.

Side bar, William was awesome and I had seen a show right before we left on the trip about him and the cave and he was excited that I had seen the show and I was now going to experience the cave. It was amazing. And as luck would have it, we were the only people there that day so we had a private tour.

We also visited ATM (Actun Tunichil Muknal) but since we changed our plans last minute to go there (kudos to Karen for not skipping a beat and getting us squared away even though we only told her the night before that we wanted to go) we didn't have Luis as our guide. In this case we had Amil and he was wonderful. And ATM was truly amazing and an experience to go through.

I think my clothes are still wet from that adventure.

All-in-all the places we visited were amazing and by far provided most of the fond memories we have about the people, places and history or Belize. And we have Andy and the Jungle Dome to thank for that.

Bottom line, you cant go wrong with these guys.

Oh yea, the Fer-de-lance. We were eating dinner one night (the dining room is just a table under the 2nd floor deck and it right outside our door) and talking to Karen about our next day's adventure. During the conversation my wife mentioned that she wanted to see a snake while we were in Belize and given our planned trips it was possibility.

After out chat Karen was leaving to go to her office when she noticed about ten feet from the table was a small snake. She called David over and he quickly realized it was a Fer-de-lance. She said in her four years in Belize she never saw this snake and now it was heading towards us. I quickly snapped a few shots and then David took care of it. Simply amazing!

Not only did my wife get her wish but we also got to see up close the most poisonous snake in Central and South America.