Accommodations clean and well-lit, bed firm, . Breeze off the ocean. We had second floor suite with balcony view or ocean, hot plate (which we didn’t use), fridge, microwave, coffee maker, and daily maid service. Excellent, memorable and reasonably priced food in restaurant. Hotel will arrange for any tours you might need (and gets the best prices for you—we checked); you'll be picked up and dropped off at the hotel. Pick up and drop off at airport is also included in price of room. Wi-Fi available.

Some tips: 1) orange or pineapple juice is included with breakfast, but you have to ask for it. 2) Don’t miss Happy Hour 2-5 Tu through Su with bargains on such gourmet dishes as conch cerviche and pumpkin soup laced with chili. 3) Bring snorkel gear with you but not scuba. The reasons: MBH will loan you a kayak to paddle out to a nearby Cay with excellent snorkeling. While all necessary scuba gear is included in price of dive with the SeaHorse Dive Shop. 4) sand flees bite--use bug repellent at all times.

We didn't stay here, but wish we had. After a terrible mishap where we were staying I was left on my 30th birthday with no Birthday cake or dessert and no special meal. The food where we were was utterly gross and I was NOT going to eat there for one more night. My boyfriend and I had walked the beach and ran into the Maya Beach Hotel and saw they had a bistro.
Once we ate here we were hooked and came back for our remaining meals. My birthday dinner consisted of delicious blended drinks, warm bread and the Sassy Shrimp pot which is shrimp, rice and friend bananas. For dessert our waiter and the owner came out with a little candle and a warm chocolate souffle! They turned that evening around for us- what was going to be a disastrous birthday dinner became deliciously enjoyable. We enjoyed the food so much we came back for breakfast the next day: Coconut French Toast and Eggs Benedict- and still another dinner was in the cards for us. They were packed that night and we hadn't made reservations but they served us and did not disappoint; The Shrimp Banana Boat was a delicious open faced sandwich with shrimp, bananas and cheddar cheese and the KEY LIME PIE- to die for!!!! We didn't have one bad meal once we found this place and wish we would've known about it before!!

The Maya Beach Hotel is truly the place the stay if you are looking for a quiet, cozy getaway, my partner and I flew in from Belize City International Airport via Tropic Air to Placencia, Belize and was greeted by 'Oscar' at the airport who transported us a quick 10 minute ride down the road to the Maya Beach Hotel. Upon check in, we were assisted by the very friendly room reservations agent 'Tracey.' (We have been in contact with Tracey from the very beginning, and she is extremely efficient, I emailed her from the airport because our connecting flight was delayed for more than 4 hours and we were going to miss our Tropic Air connecting flight that took us down to Placencia that day - we had the last flight of the day, and she quickly rearranged everything and had a new email confirmation for me within minutes - what service!) We stayed in the Dreamsicle Lower Apartment which turned out to be a truly dreamy, spacious two bedroom apartment with air conditioning in both rooms and fans. (I run a little hot, so this was very helpful in keeping me cool) The kitchenette was an added bonus to slice up some fresh papaya from the local village and the refrigerator kept our cashew wine nice and chilled. (be sure you have a taste of the belizean cashew wine - sort of a smokey prune juice, sweet, fruity taste - delicious chilled!) Just five steps from the front door outside we had access to our own open air swimming pool which was so refreshing to jump in because of the sometimes very humid climate of Belize. We sat in the swimming pool and looked out at the ocean which was just another 20 steps from the front door. You really couldn't ask for a better location, or a better view. All of the rooms have a view of the ocean, since they are so close. On to the service - Ellen and John the owners of the Maya Beach were very interactive with all the guests and were attentive to ensure that everyone was enjoying their stay from arranging tours (cave tubing, snorkeling, monkey river tour, diving, jaguar reserve, and more) to simply cooking up a special steak and lobster birthday dinner (which wasnt even on the menu!) The food at the hotel bistro is also very notable. We didn't hear even one complaint from anyone about the food, we all only spoke of how tasty it is! Be sure to try the Breakfast Burrito with pork chili sauce, the Cocoa Pork, or the Sassy Shrimp Pot! Delicioso! Lastly, just to prove how special this place really is, the Maya Beach has been open just three years now and look at all of the great comments people have to say about it! If you are someone who can appreciate adventure this is the place for you. The reason we chose this place was because we were tired of all the uber luxury comforts and hords of people. We just wanted a fun, quiet place to stay, and this was it. By the end of our 5 day stay, we knew just about everyone on the property, including the guests, at the end of the day you can find everyone gathering in the bistro sharing stories of their travels and experiences of that day. This is one place you don't want to miss!

I'm sure I'll be reitterating a lot of what has already been said but here it goes:

My girlfriend and I just got back from an 8-day vacation to Belize, of which the last 4 nights we spent at the MBH. We flew from Caye Caulker to Placencia (via Belize City Municipal) and were picked up from the airport by Ellen, even though we gave her very short notice about our arrival time.

We stayed in the Coconut Room (above the restauarant) and couldn't have been more pleased. The balcony had spectacular ocean views and we woke up early twice (which is unheard of for us) to watch the Caribbean sunrise. The room was very spacious with all the creature comforts (air, hot water, fan, plenty of windows). It was hot and humid so we did use the air a lot but during the day the breeze was usually plenty cool.

And now for the food. Everything was absolutely spectacular. One night John cooked up a special seafood platter that was to die for. Crab legs, 3 kinds of shrimp, 3 kinds of fish, etc. I don't think it's a very common option but it was the best meal I've had in a LONG time. The home made cinnamon raisin bagels in the morning are also delicious. For lunch I recommend the spicy chicken sandwich or the pork, pork, pork burger.

Ellen was deifnitely great at booking the tours we wanted to do. When we first arrived I told her I was a diver and she immediately made sure I got on the following day's whale shark dive as the season was coming to an end. And we saw one! Definitely worth it. But a lot of our time was spent lounging on the deck or in the hammock on the dock. One thing we would have liked to do but never got around to is kayaking out to False Caye (about 45 minute row from the beach).

One thing to note is that the hotel is about a 20 minute drive from the town of Placencia. This absolutely did not bother us because we caught a ride with John into town one morning and took a cab (about $20 USD) back and one day was enough to see everything in Placencia (we recommend Wendy's for lunch and the Barefoot Bar for afternoon drinks on the water).

Overall, John and Ellen made our stay amazing. We could not have asked for a better vacation. We will definitely be visiting MBH again in the not-too-distant future.