A very enjoyable and restful
Vacation. Thanks to Corrina Sawers
Other Managers and Staff for making our stay so comfortable.Great activities during the day, fabulus buffet dinners at night. We also enjoyed the champyne and Fireworks on New Years Eve.

Almond Beach resort is part of the larger resort Jaguar Reef. Both hotels are part of the exact same check in, reception, and share restaurants, pools and amenities. Almond beach is located at the southern end of the Hopkins hotel beach area where it is near a few other standard and dive specialty resorts and restaurants. Hopkins itself is a small village on the ocean in Belize that is accessible by one of several dirt roads that are roughly 3-5 miles from paved roads. Hopkins village itself is about 1 mile north of Almond beach and is accessible by walking, bikes (from the resort) or by golf cart rental directly across the street ($10/hr).

Check In:
The check in process at Almond beach is pretty painless. On arrival you will be given some information papers to fill out, liability waivers to fill out and some information on the resort. No credit card was required on check in. Once that paperwork is filled out they retrieve a welcome beverage from the bar for you and explain the resort layout, tour info, dining options and pool information. After this is explained they take you to your rooms where your bags are already waiting.

One odd item: They offered us a drink package at check in for $180 USD. We jumped on this but did not fully understand what it covered (our fault). At the end of the trip it appears they just deducted the $180 from our drink bill (odd). If you are thinking of doing the drink package have them explain exactly what you are getting.

Rooms:
I can only speak for our specific room (beach from casitas) which were awesome! They were right on the beach with porches right out to the sand and water (see my pictures). The rooms were well appointed with TV, air conditioning, indoor and outdoor showers, small fridge, and a coffee maker. These rooms were above what I would consider for a 3 star resort, more like 4. My only personal complain on these rooms is that our had a warped entrance door that was very difficult to close all the way. Some people may want to ask for one of these units away from the pool as two of them border the pool area. WiFi is not available in any of the rooms best we could tell with WiFi in the lobby and the main pool area only.. All in all the beach front casitas are excellent and very much recommended.

Pool:
There are 2 pools, 1 small shallow pool for kids and one infinity adult pool with a sunken swim up bar. We only utilized the infinity pool which was always clean with free sun loungers, music at a reasonable volume and plenty of alcohol and booze served up by a great bar staff. Pool bar opens at 11am and closes at 6pm.

Excursions:
Almond beach can provide a number of close tours (zip lining, fishing, Belize Zoo) and far tools (Jungle adventure tours, repelling, cave tubing, etc. We chose to use them for the zip-lining tour which was well organized and a blast (also reasonably priced). They run tours on a daily basis with 1-4 tours being offered daily so figure out what you want to do when you get there.

Food:
We only chose to eat at the main restaurant on resort (as most people). The food was always very good although there was a bit of inconsistency in certain meals from day to day. All in all the food was good/above average. Their main lunch menu consists of grilled fish, burgers, sandwiches, and other lunch fair. Prices were reasonable at $10-14 USD/entrée. Dinner menu changed nightly and everything we had was very good. Some items off the lunch menu also appeared available on the dinner menu.

Town:
The town of Hopkins is small, quaint and authentic. It has multiple beach bars and restaurants in the town which is rustic but has a really nice charm. All of the locals we met were very nice and accommodating. Everyone appeared 100% genuine wherever we went. Rent a golf cart or take the bikes in during the day for lunch and a few drinks.

Misc:
There are 2 very close beach restaurants (Chef Rob’s and Barracuda’s) we ate at both and they were both very good (especially chef Rob’s).

Depending on season there can be mosquitos so bring good spray. See my comment above

regarding Almond Beach drink packages; they don’t appear to be worth it.

Rent golf carts across the street to go into town. Check out the Pizza shack on the other end of town, but only do this by bike or cart.

The main pool bar has a potent coconut rum drink that comes in a coconut, check it out.

The beach front Casitas are the room to choose (see photos)

My wife and I spent a week at the Almond Beach Resort over Christmas. We had a general idea of what the property and area was like but were very surprised on our arrival. We really had no expectations of the place as it is in an area that is a bit off the beaten path. The Ocean view luxury room we booked was extremely spacious and very well appointed. Likely the biggest shower we have ever had in a room! The place was at full capacity but there was never a feeling of being overcrowded. At any time we needed anything there was a member of the staff that was willing to happily help. Can't get that service at any mega AI resort! Being active people, tours were a must for us and the front desk had all the answers and made things very easy to book. For us touring Mayan ruin sites, jungle walks and cave tubing were a must and all were very enjoyable. The main thing on all of the tours that are exceptional is that the guides were not only knowledgeable but really cared about what they do. In particular a great deal of care was given on connecting Belize's Mayan past with the Mayans of the present.

The other part of the area that is terrific is simply getting out and walking. Hopkins is a wonderful village with friendly people. The restaurants around the village are first rate. Simply going into the village and having a snack and visiting with the locals was excellent. No matter where we found ourselves we were at ease. For anyone who wants to see the Caribbean in a laid back way this is the area and resort for you! There are too many staff members to thank. So thanks to all for a truly perfect week.

We brought our entire family to Almond Beach to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary over Christmas. It was 7 beautiful days and the wonderful thing was that we felt safe that our four grand-children, ages 7 thru 12, could wander the area safely and we didn't need to worry about them. The bartender at the Tiki Bar even knew them on a first name basis -- that's how friendly this place is.
And the maids created floral decorations on our bedspread and created sculptures with the towels for our anniversary. Truly a special touch that was amazing!
I'm now back on a diet -- the food was amazing! Different food selections each meal so I usually had different choices every meal. Naturally the children had more fussy food desires and the staff created items that met their particular wants. Sometimes the food service wasn't as prompt as you would find in a fancy resort but it never really bothered us and it did get better as the week progressed. The food was always great, it just occassionally took a bit longer than we expected -- but we were on vacation and weren't really is a hurry. I think it was nice to linger at the table and have time for conversation -- and the kids simply went outside and played while the adults waited for the food to appear.
We did discover that the sand fleas (?) were agressive if you lounged on the beach but learned that they sell baby oil in the little gift shop and that helps deter these little beasts.