Where to start? Do you love adventure, romance, luxury, natural beauty, food, craftsmanship, and just life in general? Caves Branch Jungle lodge is the place! We spent our 10year anniversary here and were stunned by the attention to detail and the incredible friendly staff. Everything was curated to a T. Gio helped us book tours for ATM caves(a must do archeology site in Belize) and their signature waterfall cave tour. Our guides Ishmael and Arnold were knowledgeable, well trained in safety precautions and just generally really fun guys. The cheese is made in house by master cheesemaker Clarabell and honestly the best we have ever tasted. We stayed in the Canopy treehouse suite and it was so beautiful… all the wood furniture and accents made by their carpenters from local fallen trees on the property, sustainability at its finest. We did the romance package and our room was filled with flowers from their extensive and gorgeous botanical garden. Ian and Ella have managed to make a fairy tale come to life in the Belizean jungle. We want to bring back friends and family because words won't do it justice. You have to see it to Belize it!…
Wanted some alone time as a couple, we were amazed at the great service from the staff! Especially Geo who was very tentative. The place Has a unique feeling being away from the busy rush, it is very peaceful, calm and connected to nature, over all a very pleasant stay. Looking forward in going back. (Didn’t go for tours since wife is pregnant)
We had the best time at Caves Branch. My family of 4 spent 4 nights in a canopy view tree house. The accommodations were beautiful, peaceful, and so very clean. We slept so good. We did 3 days of adventure and did the most challenging ones (Waterfalls, The Lost World, and The Black Hole Drop). My breath was taken away so many moments during those adventures, not just from the challenge, but by the beauty of what I was witnessing. I felt so lucky to get to experience this beautiful place and see what history has left behind in the caves. Our guides were fantastic. Hector was funny and knowledgeable. He connected with my 17 year old son! Ivan did a wonderful job guiding us through the waterfalls. I never thought I could climb them like I did but he was encouraging and patient. Pablo taught us so much about the Mayan's and showed us some of the most breathtaking places, making it worth the strenuous hike to get there. Wilmer and Julio were also amazing guides! They all were fun, knowledgeable and extremely good at what they do! Back at the resort, the wait staff went above and beyond to deliver the best service. Marco, Leo, and especially Raphael amazed us with their commitment to deliver the most outstanding service. The food and drinks were delicious! My favorite part about my stay here was at the end of the day. My teenagers would join us on the top deck of our treehouse under the stars. No phone, no electronics, we would just sit together and talk about our daily adventures. We talked about our "highs and lows" for the day...and let me tell you there were some amazing highs and not very many lows! If you are looking for an adventure with a bit of luxury...take this trip!…
Ian’s Cave Branch is an absolutely stunning hotel, the bartenders and tour guides are wonderful! Things I loved about the resort... the outdoor jungle shower is super cool! The treehouses are beautiful and comfortable to sleep in! The pool area is gorgeous and surrounded by flowers and orchids. The botanical gardens and cheese tour are also a must see! Ask for fresh chips and salsa from the chef for a little late night snack! The cave tours are so much fun! If you plan on doing the cave tubing make sure you specify whether it is the river cave tour or the 7mile cave tour because we wanted the 7 mile cave tour and it doesn’t run during all parts of the year so we went on the river cave tour expecting to do a 7 mile float trip. However, even though it wasn’t the tour we expected, we had an absolute blast with Pedro our tour guide, and requested him back for the waterfall tour the next day! Pedro is a true gem! He is so knowledgeable about the jungle and the caves and truly truly loves his job so much! The waterfall tour is highly recommended for a great thrill seeking adventure, it was one of the coolest things our group has ever done! The reason the hotel doesn’t get 5 stars is because I think the experience of being a 5 star jungle lodge is a bit oversold. We wish the expectations of “you are staying in the jungle so you might have scorpions or huge spiders or lizards in your room, but that’s okay just call us and we will remove it, but nothing will harm you” were set ahead of time. Also, there is only WiFi at the restaurant and pool area and it actually went down for over 24 hours during our stay because it’s the jungle. The food was delicious but it was a preset pre-priced 4 course menu for dinner every night so I wish there were a few more options for lighter meals. Breakfast is the same, 5 preset options every day. Some of the waitstaff didn’t have the most customer service oriented attitudes. This is also the only restaurant anywhere near the resort so plan on eating there for pretty much every meal. Due to Covid, they spray you down with alcohol every time you enter the lodge which seems a little excessive. The massage center is also not open due to Covid no fault of their own, just something we didn’t know ahead of time. Friendly suggestions to the resort, give Pedro a promotion! Have a few lighter options for breakfast like smoothie bowls, and maybe in a post Covid time add a yoga class because it would the a perfectly beautiful setting for it!…
Double and triple check your reservation and get your flight confirmation #'s. I booked my package 3/20 to stay 1/21 and spoke with 4 different people before I arrived. A week before I arrived I got a call confirming our excursions and transfers to the island portion of the package. At that point I was told we would officially book our excursions the night before at dinner. Arrival and check in was fast and easy. Once dinner came to confirm our excursions we found out the wrong cave tour was booked and while they worked and got it fixed they seemed off put and inconvenienced. Flash forward to the night before we leave for the island portion and we are asked where we are transferring to. Which was clearly alarming as they were responsible for booking our flights to and from as well as flight tour on the island. The customer service desk is in the dining room so we could hear him calling to make our flight arrangements at that point. The flight sent on our confirmation was at 1:30 and no longer available we now had to fly on the 4:30 flight meaning we lost an afternoon at the beach. We asked if lunch would be included since they couldn't get on the earlier flight and they said no it would be extra. There was also an additional charge of $67 for booking the tour when they did which they passed on to us (we spent over 5k on our package). The entire time from when they found the flight error to check out the front desk became very dismissive and treated it as though we did something wrong. I had emailed several time between my booking trying to confirm things and was often not responded too. The wait staff and tour guides on the other hand were 5 stars and I wish I could rate them on their own. Leo went above and beyond decorating our table extra special for my birthday. The location is very remote and relaxing and the tree houses were very spacious and comfortable even in the heat.…
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