At Hopkins Bay Resort in Belize, you get your beautiful stretch of beach with lounge chairs and two swimming pools, but you also get to be in a real town instead of a place filled with other tourists.
The town of Hopkins is a Garifuna settlement with a few hotels, rather than a hotel settlement with some worker housing. It’s a place where you can hear Garifuna music and see their handicrafts, where if you really want you can go eat at a true local restaurant. Take a spin on one of the resort bikes and you have to ride quite a ways before you get to other resorts at the opposite end of town.
This is a supremely comfortable place to stay though, with individual bungalows spaced out around the two pools. From our review:
The entire resort feels spacious, from the individual accommodations to the layout of the buildings. This follows a design of an ample horseshoe cluster of tropical style buildings, with lots of landscaping between them, providing both beauty and privacy. Sitting in the living room with the large sliding doors thrown open or on the terrace next to the water and meditating on the ebb and flow of the multi-hued Caribbean just a few feet away, it’s hard to think of being any other place.
Some are three-bedroom set-ups where you get the whole house, others are split into several units of one or two bedrooms. They’re all spacious and gorgeous, with hardwood floors, ample furniture, and big balconies with a view. Let’s take a tour, shall we?
The open-air Drum Bar by the one pool is whimsical and fun, another great place to take a shade break after lounging by the pool or on the beach.
This is a well-run resort with a friendly staff. Hopkins Bay runs several Belize vacation package programs for families or couples and you can combine a stay here with an island escape to Thatch Caye Resort.
See our full review of Hopkins Bay Resort in Belize or head to their webpage for more information.
