We spent the first half of our trip to Belize enjoying the hospitality of Caves Branch Jungle Lodge, which is exactly what it sounds like. We tubed through caves, hiked amazing Mayan ruins, bird-watched, and saw more jungle wildlife than we knew what to do with. But because I took on planning this trip for Luke as a warm, tropical way to thank him for putting up with our FREEZING cold trip to France earlier in the year, we had to end up on a lovely beach somewhere. Duh. So I started researching Placencia resorts in Belize. In the course of my Placencia resort search, I stumbled upon recommendation after recommendation for Chabil Mar, Belize.
Boyfriend Perspective: Hooray Beach!!!
This collection of affordable luxury villas directly on the water and with access to a number of different local adventures caught my eye because of its beauty, its location away from the most touristy areas, and the fact that it partners with many other resorts in other parts of the country. In fact, Chabil Mar led us to Caves Branch Jungle Lodge in the first place, because they partner together so closely. After the smoothest (and most patient – I ask a LOT of questions!) booking process I could imagine, we both felt very confident that we’d love Chabil Mar. And we were right!
Getting to our Placencia resort, Chabil Mar
After spending several days in the jungle, we found ourselves a little sad to leave and wishing we didn’t have to go to the beach (feelings we NEVER thought we’d have, I swear). We got up early for our Caves Branch bird watching tour and ate some breakfast. And then our driver met us at the welcome center to shuttle us the two hours to Chabil Mar in Placencia.
The scenery as you drive through Belize will have your jaw on the ground the whole way, for one reason or another. While Belize may be one of the more “expensive” and even prosperous countries in Central America, the level of poverty that many Belizeans live in will likely feel very foreign to some visitors. For example, our driver explained that many of the houses we saw with horses tied outside represented families without the means to buy a car. Lines of laundry decorate many of the roadsides like banners, and stray dogs consistently pop out into the road. (Thankfully, we saw driver after driver either stop or avoid these canine roadblocks like pros.)
The landscapes themselves will absolutely stun you, especially if you had come from a less tropical environment. Once you’ve seen lush green mountains coated with mist, you’ll never want to go back.
As we got closer to the coast and our Placencia resort, storm clouds started to roll in and, before we knew it, the bottom dropped and the true meaning of the Belize rainy season drenched us. Driving down the narrow peninsula towards Placencia, our driver could barely see the road. Then, after pulling up and running inside to check in, the rain quickly tapered off. So much so, in fact, that we were able to take a tour of the grounds.
Chabil Mar resort accommodations
On Chabil Mar’s grounds you’ll find an outdoor bar, outdoor dining areas, seafront beach recliners and umbrellas, two mosaicked soaking pools with ocean views, and stunning villas.
After staying for the first part of a week in the jungle with lovely but comparatively modest accommodations, you can imagine our shock at being shown into a true villa with climate control, a full kitchen, living area, two bathrooms, and a stunning, huge bedroom with French doors leading to a patio (complete with hammock). Room service even met us there, as our guide described all the procedures we should know, with two complimentary welcome cocktails. And then, we were on our own, and we literally just sort of sat down for a minute to contemplate how luxurious our new accommodations were.
Much of our Chabil Mar experience, since the rainy season hits us pretty quickly, happened within our villa. Room service was an easy call away, and most packages come with resort-prepared meals. Our room never appeared anything other than spotlessly clean and came complete with beautiful fresh flowers daily.
Fun fact: the sign outside the main office as well as the daily newsletter are updated every 24 hours with each new arrival to the resort, so you’ll definitely get to see your name in print a few times!
Boyfriend Perspective: Jungle and beach combination vacation is a fantastic choice for anyone’s trip to Belize. You get the best of what the country has to offer very easily.
Placencia resort meals at Chabil Mar and local Placencia restaurants
If you’ve visited the Caribbean before, you don’t need an education on the tastebud ecstasy of Caribbean cuisine.
Chabil Mar serves high quality meals in a style that’s almost American-Belizean fusion. That is, offering meals that folks from the States will easily feel comfortable with, but each with their own local Belizean twist. During our stay, we enjoyed breakfasts of croissant sandwiches or French toast, lunches of nachos or fish tacos, and dinners that included fresh snapper and other seafood.
Perhaps the best part was that we had options. We could order room service directly to our villa at no additional cost, or we could ask for our meal to be served outdoors on one of the resort’s beautiful patios. Or, we could head over to Cafe Mar, a fun outdoor bar and restaurant, to grab a bite when the mood moved us. We, personally, spent a fair amount of time in our villa – sunburn and drizzly weather will do that. But we never felt like we missed a part of our experience because of it.
Boyfriend Perspective: Between the delicious meals, room service, and always coming back to a pristine villa, we hated to leave such a wonderfully easy experience.
The other culinary option while staying at a Placencia resort is to enjoy meals in Placencia village. While we loved the convenience and luxury of every meal from Chabil Mar, the village meals included in our package served as one of the highlights of our stay. We enjoyed amazing gelato from Tutti Frutti, pizza from PLACE, and a romantic, al fresco Belizean dinner at Rumfish y Vino. But there’s so much more that we didn’t get to experience! Guess we’ll just HAVE to go back 🙂
Boyfriend Perspective: The local cuisine gave the resort a run for its money, man. We almost didn’t want to leave just for the food!
Chabil Mar, Placencia resort adventures and excursions
Chabil Mar offers a range of adventure and excursions the range across Belize and into Guatemala, from beaches to oceans to jungles. However, since we had already stayed in the Belizean jungle and enjoyed bird watching and exploring Mayan ruins like Tikal, we decided to make our beachfront time as water-centric as possible. Each night, we’d walk over to the adventure manager’s desk and ask him what the weather and availability would allow for the following day. Then, he’d make a call and get us booked for whichever excursion had the best odds.
On our first full day at Chabil Mar, we awoke early to get out on a dive boat to try to swim with the whale sharks. While we had no sightings that day, the experience was certainly one we’ll never forget. We took one day off to recover and explore the village. And then headed back out on the water on our third day to snorkel off the Silk Cayes, near the Gladden Spit marine reserve. We had a wonderful time getting up close and personal with nurse sharks and tropical fish, and even a curious little squid too transparent to show up on our GoPro!
The dive shops all sit within just a few minutes walk or drive from the resort, so taking excursions was a new level of easy.
Basically – you can’t feel bored or inconvenienced here. Rare, right?
Boyfriend Perspective: Snorkeling is a must in Belize. We tried two different shops and had excellent experiences at both. I don’t think you could go wrong with any recognized dive shop for your water adventures.
Essential things to pack for your Placencia resort stay
- athletic shorts
- flip flops
- athletic shoes and socks
- Boyfriend Perspective: I would recommend a shoe that you can get wet and doesn’t stay wet, it took the following two days in front of a floor fan for our shoes to dry after tubing. Something like the Teva Omnium would be your best option if you can.
- versatile athletic sunglasses, just in case
- a rash guard
- at least one athletic bathing suit (i.e. one you can be sure will never accidentally have a wardrobe malfunction)
- cute/fun bathing suits
- t-shirts that cover your shoulders, in case you get sunburned or don’t want to bug spray yourself to death
- packable backpack or tote
- dry bag, especially if you intend to go caving or out on the water
- environmentally-friendly bug repellent
- environmentally-friendly sunscreen
Also, if you’re as anti-bug as we are, make sure you pick up a bottle of Jungle Oil. It’s available just about anywhere you can shop in Belize. This local blend of essential oils does an amazing job of stopping the itch in existing bites and helping to ward off additional 6-legged nibblers.
You can also find more sun remedies in stores in the village, but may end up needing to pay a bit more for them. We personally found that we loved a new (to us) brand of aloe that also had a hefty dose of lidocaine in it!
Should you book a stay at a Placencia resort?
Abso-frickin’-lutely.
Boyfriend Perspective: ^ What she said, just add some explitives.
This gorgeous resort can serve just about any purpose you need. Want to relax and smell the ocean? Perfect. Want to dive and have ocean adventures? Covered! Want to head inland to explore? That’s cool, too. We can’t wait to go back!
Love it as much as we did? Then save it for later?
This Seat’s Taken interview series: Jessica & Laurence of Independent Travel Cats and Finding the Universe
