Good For You

Forget luxury – this is bordering on decadence. Your beautifully decorated, airy villa is set just steps away from the Caribbean, feature spacious living rooms and private rock gardens with their own outdoor showers. One of Belize’s best hotels, Turtle Inn offers all you could wish for in a resort – peace and quiet, extreme comfort, a magnificent setting, excellent service, and delicious food.

There’s plenty to do in the area, with a river and a natural reserve to explore, an on-site dive shop that helps beginners through to experts enjoy one of Belize’s favourite adventure activities, and kayaks and sailboats available for guests’ use. There’s also plenty of relaxing to be had, with an on-site spa and a pool a bar serving cocktails and fresh drinks all day.

You’ll be treated to impeccable service by the staff – all locals – and a variety of tours are offered to help you experience all this area offers, from the natural beauty at your doorstep to the Mayan archeological sites dotted throughout Belize.

Good For Belize

Built after a hurricane devastated the region, Turtle Inn was created under the close supervision of its proud owner, film director Francis Ford Coppola. All three of Coppola’s Central American lodges – Blancaneaux, Turtle Inn and La Lancha – are all excellent examples of sustainable luxury. From the organic gardens that supply the restaurant, to the local employment policies, to the careful recycling and landscaping and the self-ventilating cabanas and villas, genuine efforts are being made to invest in Belize and Guatemala while leaving a relatively light footprint.

There’s no air conditioning or TVs in the rooms, offering you both a peaceful escape and a greener holiday, and plans are afoot to regenerate damaged pine forest at Blancaneaux Lodge as part of a carbon offsetting program for all three lodges.

Rooms

Food

Features & Facilities

• Swimming pool
• Full service restaurant and two bars, one right on the beach
• Kayaks and beach bicycles available for guests’ use
• Gift store that sells both souvenirs and essentials that you may have forgotten to pack
• Turtle Inn Dive Shop, offering full scuba diving services, including gear, guides and PADI certification courses.
• Organic garden filled with fruit, vegetables, herbs and nuts that are served in the restaurant. The garden provides up to 80% of the restaurant’s fruit and vegetable needs, while the chicken coop supplies fresh organic eggs daily

Local Info & Activities

Monkey River

Take a boat trip to Monkey River to see howler monkeys, tropical birds, iguanas, crocodiles, manatees and many other wild species. On the return trip downriver, you stop by the Monkey River village for some local Creole cuisine.

Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary

The world’s only jaguar reserve, this park offers excellent bird watching, hiking and wildlife viewing. The lodge can pack you a picnic lunch to enjoy by the cooling waterfalls.

Lubaantun and Nim Li Punit Mayan Sites

Located in the rainforest in the nearby Toledo district of southern Belize, a visit to these ancient ruins and the nearby caves makes a fascinating excursion. You can enjoy lunch with a local Mayan family as part of this tour.

Sport Fishing

Troll, spin, cast or fly fish is some of the most fish-filled waters in the Caribbean. Barracuda, king mackerel, snapper, grouper, tarpon, snook, bonerfish and permit are among the many species you can catch here.

Kayaking

Turtle Inn offers a guided tour through the beautiful mangrove estuaries in the Placencia lagoon, where you can spot manatees, dolphins and a variety of birds.

Sailing

You can learn to sail a trimaran and head out into the Caribbean for your own adventures.

Scuba diving

Belize is considered one of the world’s best diving destinations, and Tutle Inn has its own in-house dive shop to help you get the most out of what these waters offer. The shop offers PADI certification for all levels, as well as guided dives and all the necessary equipment. Dives are attentive, professional and safe, and are tailored to guests’ experience and interests.

Sustainability

All three Blancaneaux Resorts – Blancaneaux Lodge, Turtle Inn and La Lancha – are committed to making a difference through environmentally and socially sound management practices and stewardship. Conserving local resources, employing and purchasing locally and supporting local conservation and social projects are all part of the lodges’ policies.

With only 25 rooms, Turtle Inn is a relatively low-impact resort. Its open-plan design encouraged interaction with the environment and careful site-planning aims to minimise the lodge’s footprint. Buildings blend into the environment and are built mostly from sustainable local materials. The gardens are landscaped with local and regional plants that do not rely on intensive irrigation.

The guest rooms have no TVs, air conditioning or sound systems, guaranteeing peace and quiet and reducing energy use. Energy-efficient design means that louvred windows, screened doors, ceiling fans and high thatched ceilings allow for excellent circulation.

Use of natural light is maximized, which also cuts down on power usage, while all lights are fitted with energy efficient bulbs. Solar energy is planned for future developments.

A three-acre organic garden that produces vegetables, herbs and fruits supplies the kitchens of both Francis Ford Coppola lodges in Belize – Turtle Inn and Blancaneaux - with up to 80% of their needs. The live-in chickens supply organic eggs to these two properties, while local fishermen provide fresh fish and seafood, and local farmers provide fresh meats. Organic wine comes from Coppola’s Papa Rubicon Estate.

Waste water recycling in the six newer units and the Gauguin Grill process all waste water, enabling the lodge to use the treated water to irrigate the garden. The system uses an aerobic biological treatment unit. All future construction at the property will incorporate this sustainable technology. In all existing buildings the directives of Belize’s Department of the Environment have been followed to create 3-chamber septic tanks and soak aways.

Flow control shower heads are used in all rooms. Water is also saved by reducing the garden’s irrigation needs – mulching reduces transpiration from the flower beds and landscaped areas, as well as the organic garden.

All swimming and plunge pools are sanitized with non-chlorine based treatments.

The vast majority of construction materials used are locally or regionally sourced with sustainable hardwoods, Caribbean pine, bamboo, bay leaf thatch, regional ceramic and saltilla tiles being the main materials.

Waste is carefully separated with organic waste and grass clippings used for composting while non-organic waste is transported a short distance to a local government landfill. Solid waste is compacted prior to disposal.

Biodegradable detergents are used throughout the lodge, while the rooms all have locally produced organic soaps, shampoos and conditioners. These are ought in bulk and transferred to non-disposable wood and ceramic containers for guests’ use. All bed linens are 100% cotton.

The lodge has plans to start a pine-planting program to offset guests’ carbon emissions. Pine bark beetle has severely impacted the number of pines in the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve, and the bug has speared to the pine forest on Blancaneaux Lodge’s neighbouring property, so this effort will help restore the balance of the ecosystem on the property.

Blancaneaux Resorts supports Dr Marcella Kelly’s Jaguar Density Project, which is a long-term effort on the part of Virginia Tech to monitor and evaluate the jaguar, puma and ocelot populations in the Chiquibul Forest Reserve and the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve.

The resorts have a local hiring policy – 98% of all staff at the three lodges is made of locals, with a total of more than 250 people. All service charges are split between employees, and there is an ‘Emergency Benefit Savings’ system that offers staff members the opportunity to apply for emergency loans and housing loans.

The lodges financially support the Placencia Health Centre, sponsor a local boys’ football team and cover the cost of educating three local girls through school and college.

The offices at the lodges use recycled paper where possible and LED light bulbs. The offices recycle all paper and tries to use electronic communication whenever possible, in order to save paper waste.

Getting There

Turtle Inn is near Placencia, on the southern coast of Belize.

There are flights between Belize City and Placencia, or the more adventurous can make the trip by car.

Belize City is a two hour flight from Dallas, Houston and Miami.

Visit our Transport section for flights, hybrid car rentals and train bookings.

Rates & Bookings

Included in rates:

Continental breakfast featuring organic local produce.

Not included: 9% government tax and 10% service charge.

One child under twelve per adult is free of charge using existing bedding in unit. With extra bedding, a charge of US$50.00 plus tax applies. For a child over twelve, or an extra adult, a $50 charge applies.

Peak Season:

Christmas - December 20, 2007 - January 05, 2008

Easter - April 02 - 09, 2008 (4 Night Minimum Stay)

Winter Season:

January 06 - April 01, 2008 April 10 - May 31, 2008 December 01 - December 19, 2008 (Two Night Minimum Stay)

Summer Season:

June 01 - November 30, 2008 (No Minimum Stay)

Gardenview Cottages

Peak

$305.00 Single, $355.00 Double, $405.00 Triple

Winter

$250.00 Single, $335.00 Double, $385.00 Triple

Summer

$200.00 Single, $275.00 Double, $325.00 Triple

Pool-side Seaview Cottages

Peak

$315.00 Single, $360.00 Double, $410.00 Triple

Winter

$265.00 Single, $345.00 Double, $395.00 Triple

Summer

$215.00 Single, $285.00 Double, $335.00 Triple

Seaview Cottages

Peak

$325.00 Single, $375.00 Double, $425.00 Triple

Winter

$285.00 Single, $355.00 Double, $405.00 Triple

Summer

$225.00 Single, $300.00 Double, $350.00 Triple

Seafront Cottages

Peak

$355.00 Single, $405.00 Double, $455.00 Triple

Winter

$310.00 Single, $385.00 Double, $435.00 Triple

Summer

$260.00 Single, $350.00 Double, $400.00 Triple

Chinese matrimonal Suite

Peak

$465.00 Dble

Winter

$450.00 Dble

Summer

$395.00 Dble

Honeymoon Cottage

Peak

$435.00 Dble

Winter

$410.00 Dble

Summer

$375.00 Dble

Garden Villas (2 bedroom / 2 bathroom)

Peak

Single / Dble $525, Triple $575, Quad $625

Winter

Single / Dble $450, Triple $500, Quad $550

Summer

Single/ Dble $425, Triple $475, Quad $525

Seaview Villas (2 bedroom / 2 bathroom)

Peak

Single / Dble $600, Triple $650, Quad $700

Winter

Single / Dble $525, Triple $600, Quad $650

Summer

Single/ Dble $500, Triple $550, Quad $600

Seafront Villas (2 bedroom / 2 bathroom)

Peak

Single / Dble $635, Triple $685, Quad $735

Winter

Single / Dble $600, Triple $650, Quad $700

Summer

Single/ Dble $525, Triple $575, Quad $625

Francis Ford Coppola Family Pavilion

Peak

$2000 dble / triple/ quad

Winter

$1750 dble / triple/ quad

Summer

$1550 dble / triple/ quad

booking & cancellation policy

At least 45 days prior to guest’s arrival date, all reservations must be prepaid in full. A minimum of four nights is required for reservations within the peak season dates at Turtle Inn, while a minimum of two nights is required for reservations within the winter season.

In the Winter and Summer seasons all payments will be refunded in full, less a $100.00 plus tax per room cancellation fee, if we receive notice in writing 45 days or more prior to guest arrival. For notices received less than 45 days, no refund will be issued. Note that a 2-Bedroom Villa is considered two rooms therefore a fee of $200.00 plus tax applies for the cancellation of a Villa.

For Turtle Inn’s Peak Season the cancellation fee is US$200.00 per room, US$400.00 per 2-Bedroom Villa, if we receive written cancellation notice 60 days or more prior to guest arrival. For notices received less than 60 days, no refund will be issued.

Want to avoid cancellation fees? Visit our Insurance section for information on travel insurance.