Orchid Bay Resort

Choose Orchid Bay Resort! If you are like me, you have researched other resorts before choosing one. Let me please prompt you to stay at Orchid Bay! My experience here was like no other, everyone here made me feel welcome and special. David and Damaris were excellent hosts, they run a tight ship and made sure I had everything I needed to enjoy my stay there. Darwin, Laura, and all the staff at Tradewinds were so attentive and kind. The food was beyond what I expected, so fresh and delicious. Ricky and Victor took us to Bacalar Chico and to Shipstern refuge, a great team, very knowledgeable about the area, the wildlife, and so fun to be with. We laughed and learned. The lodgings were special, I loved the thatch roofs. If you are expecting a pristine single room that smells like cleaning products, look elsewhere. Part of the charm of this place is the adorable thatch roofs cabanas. Clean, air conditioned, spacious, with a kitchen too. Wake up early and walk around the resort to see birds, or go swimming in the beautiful pool, or soak up the sun by the beach. Orchid Bay Resort is a magical place!

Orchid Bay is such a Gem! I’ve been going there 2 times a year for the last few years! When there, you can choose to relax in comfort or you can be as active as your heart desires. You can book almost any tour you want through the staff. You can choose to eat all meals in Tradewinds Restaurant on site or you can have them delivered to you wherever you are in Orchid Bay. Additionally, if you bring your own groceries, you can cook your own meals.

First, the pros of this resort. The casita I was in was clean and large, the bed was comfortable, the A/C ran cold and there was plenty of hot water. The restaurant/bar was nice, nothing fancy, but it was clean, the food was good and the service was super friendly and helpful. The bar is almost comical in that you'll see the same locals sitting in pretty much the same spot every night. The staff was top-notch. Everyone was patient, helpful, and accommodating. If there was anything you needed or a trip you were interested in, they would do their best to make you happy. The pool is small but clean and nice. The beach is also small, but the water is warm and you can walk out pretty far. Now the cons. It's remote and I can't stress this enough...it is REMOTE. This place is about 20 minutes from Mexico, which means you are in north Belize. Now on the face of it, this doesn't sound like a big deal, but it affects the entire experience, at least for us it did. No matter where you want to go, either by car or boat, you are looking at easily 2 hours of travel time each way...sometimes more. This means that you are sort of limited in the places you can get to. We did a Mayan ruin trip and a snorkel trip, both were fun, but the travel time was a killer. If we had stayed more central in the country I think there would've been more day trips available to us, without the full-day time commitment. While the bar and restaurant are nice, and the food is "good", there isn't anywhere else you can go, so by day 5 you've eaten pretty much everything you want to eat on the menu, but there aren't any other restaurants or bar options. We ventured to Corrozale (sp?) and found a decent restaurant, but there wasn't anything there that made the trip into town worth it. No stores, no shops, no nothing. Now I realize for some people being remote is exactly what they want. If so, this place is for you. But, if you want to walk around, check out the local vibe, and try some different food, this place probably isn't for you. Finally, the beach isn't the type of beach I was expecting and this may be a Belize thing, I don't know. A good chunk of the beach is pebbles and crushed shells. Yes, there is a sandy area of the beach, but it's not the floury sand you find in Costa Rica. Also, the beach chairs and chaises are looking pretty tired, they could use a refresh (on a positive note you do get bar service down on the beach.) The people, the rooms, and the food are all really good, but I don't know if they are good enough for me to return.