Review of Vanilla Hills Lodge 4*

We visited Belize for our Honeymoon last month and decided to spend half our time near San Ignacio and the other half in San Pedro. Despite being very big beach vacationers, our time near San Ignacio at Vanilla Hills ended up being the best part of our trip! This is definitely accredited to Claudia and Franklin. From before we checked in to the time we left, they were very attentive to our needs and helped us schedule every aspect of our 5 days and nights with them. We stayed in the Hibiscus cabin (since the Treehouse was already booked) and it was perfect! We felt very secluded in the jungle with beautiful views off our deck while somehow still being close to the main house to get water and breakfast each morning (which was delicious by the way! ). Below are the details of our stay at Vanilla Hills for anyone who is interested in our trip. Before we arrived, Claudia arranged private transportation from the airport in Belize City to Vanilla Hills. Claudia suggested stopping at the Belize Zoo or Baboon Sanctuary (actually Howler Monkeys) on our way and we decided to go with the latter. The Sanctuary was a great stop on our 2ish hour trip. While it only took 30 minutes and cost $14 BZE / person, it was worth it for the up close encounter with the howler monkeys. We were even able to feed mommy and baby monkeys! Claudia even called our driver on the way to check in if we were hungry or needed anything. Once arriving at Vanilla Hills, Franklin helped bring our bags to our cabin and give us details of the property and some tours they could arrange for us. We decided on the ATM Cave tour for the following day after hearing both Franklin and Claudia rave about the experience. They even set up having our driver pick us up early to stop at the Saturday market in San Ignacio before heading to the ATM cave. After this great experience we trusted Claudia and Franklin to help us plan the rest of our activities. The next day, Claudia recommended we visit Xunantunich Mayan ruins and after canoe back down the Macal River into town. She organized transportation for us and had the driver wait at the Mayan ruins until we were done to bring us to rent a canoe. We also book a Caracol tour with Claudia for our third day which ended up being a private tour with a stop on the way back at Big Rock Falls. Claudia also helped us book taxis each night, gave suggestions for restaurants, and other activities in San Ignacio. Our last full day was spent in San Ignacio visiting the Iguana Conservation Project, attending a Mayan Chocolate demonstration, touring Cahal Pech Mayan ruins, and watching the sunset over town. We were sad to leave on our last day, but happy for Claudia to have the same driver that brought us to Vanilla Hills, pick us up and bring us to the Ferry Terminal. We were even able to split the ride with another couple staying at Vanilla Hills. Our experience in Belize was “unbelizable” and we especially enjoyed our time at Vanilla Hills. We cannot thank Claudia and Franklin enough for their help organizing our trip and their hospitality to us for our entire stay. We will definitely recommend Vanilla Hills to any of our friends visiting the area and would love to make a trip back in the future!