My husband and I recently stayed in the Hilton Mahogany Bay Resort & Beach Club in San Pedro, Belize. The resort is amazing and, in our opinion, is probably the best place to stay in San Pedro. To get there, you need to fly into Belize City and then take either a 15-minute puddle jumper or 1.5 hour water taxi to get to the island of Ambergris Caye. Once on the island, you can rent a golf cart or have a resort driver pick you up at the airport. For more information about your trip to San Pedro, take a look at the Travel Guide.
Rooms
The Mahogany Bay, part of Hilton’s Curio Collection, is a unique resort community that is unlike any hotel that I have stayed in. The resort is spread out and is comprised of different villa-style properties. While all the units are managed by Hilton, they are actually privately owned. We had the opportunity to tour the majority of the different property styles onsite and let me tell you, they are exquisite!
We stayed in an Upper-keeping Suite, which is a spacious one-bedroom villa with a sun porch. Watch the YouTube video below for a tour of the Upper-keeping Suite and to see more of the resort and San Pedro!
The rooms are kept very clean, which to me is of upmost importance when traveling. As with many hotels since the pandemic, room service is by request only. We had them come every few days just to make the bed nice and replace our towels.
One thing to note is that the tin roofs make for a loud experience during any rainfall. However, fear not, because the island is hardly ever susceptible to tropical storms!
Resort Amenities
The resort is centered around the Great Room, which is where you check in and is also the location of the pool, gym, and the resort’s main restaurant and bar. When we visited, there weren’t any resort-style activities or workout classes; however, we were there during a more slow season. The gym is nice and includes two Peloton bikes, but it definitely wasn’t super cool in there.
Private Beach
The private beach is INCREDIBLE – probably the biggest selling point of the resort. There are five over-the-water beds that are picturesque and well worth the experience. These are rented by the half day for around $25. Since there are so few, it’s important to reserve them with the concierge ASAP in order to get one.
There is a restaurant and bar on the private beach where you can order straight from your chair or bed. I really enjoyed the rice and french fries.
If you don’t get an over-the-water bed, fear not! There are plenty of tanning chairs as well as free paddle boards and in-water hammocks! The water is extremely calm and beautifully expansive so paddle boarding is a must-do activity! The only downfall of the beach is the little bugs, pictured below, that are in the water and do bite. It doesn’t really hurt, but is more of a creepy feeling and can be pervasive to an otherwise heavenly situation.
Right off of the Great Room, is the boat that takes you to the Private Beach Club. When we were there, the boat departed every hour on the hour from 10 AM – 4 PM and returned on the half hour until 5:30 PM. The ride to the private beach is enjoyable, free, and a great way to meet other guests staying at the resort.
Balance Spa & Yoga Loft
The Balance Spa & Yoga Loft is a wonderfully serene little place where you can get spa treatments. My husband and I were booked in for couples massages; however, we ended up cancelling because we were so sunburnt from snorkeling with sharks (lol). You are also supposed to be able to attend yoga classes here but at the time of our stay there wasn’t a yoga instructor.
Golf Carts/Excursions
There is a place onsite where you can book golf carts and excursions. However, I recommend booking offsite to get a better deal and experience. For more information on who we used, check out my Belize Travel Guide.
Food
The resort is not all-inclusive, which means you have to pay for any food purchased on the resort. Although there are plenty of food options on the resort, this is actually perfect because you will find the best food by taking a golf cart into town. For off-the-resort recommendations, check out this post. The onsite restaurants are as follows:
The Great House
The Great House includes the Verandah restaurant, Stirred lobby bar, and Shaken cocktail bar and grill. When we visited, I never saw the Stirred lobby bar open, but we frequented the other two quite often.
The Verandah
The resort’s main restaurant, the Verandah, serves Caribbean and Central American-inspired breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Diamond members get complimentary breakfast here, but it should be noted that it’s a simple fruit, yogurt, and bread platter (pictured in the middle plate on the right). For breakfast, we recommend the fried jacks (Belizean specialty) and piña colada pancakes. For dinner, my husband loved the ribs. Definitely skip the nachos!
Shaken
Shaken is a cocktail bar and grill located right near the pool. You can sit at the bar or order food and drinks straight from the pool! Make sure to check out Shaken upon arrival for your complimentary welcome drink. Additionally, make sure to get your free “croc-tail” for getting a selfie with the resort crocodile, Bob!
The Village
The Village is a collection of other restaurants on the property that function as their own standalone restaurants. Part of this is a collection of tiny restaurant shacks. These consist of the Taco Shack, The Chicken Coop, Top Dog Hot Dogs, and 501 Fresh. Most of them were closed while we were there, but we loved the Taco Shack!
Taco Shack
The Taco Shack is run by the sweetest and most friendly man! The food is very authentic and, let me tell you, it is delicious! The tacos (pictured above) quite literally melt in your mouth. We visited a few times during our trip because it was so good.
Rum & Bean
Rum & Bean is the resort’s cute, little coffee bar. My husband and I love lattes so we were super excited to visit. Although it’s definitely nice to have right on the resort, neither of us were crazy about the coffee.
Jyoto
Jyoto is a Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar; however, it also has a cute upstairs tea lounge! My husband and I went for dinner and opted for the ramen as we saw it was from Ramen 501 (a restaurant we saw in town). The ramen was just okay, but the atmosphere was very nice and there is a huge menu of other foods to try!
Dirty Martini
Dirty martini is a tapas and cocktail bar. We aren’t huge drinkers so we didn’t fit it into our plans, but if you enjoy cocktails it’s definitely worth checking out!
The Mahogany Bay Resort is a wonderful place and hopefully this review is helpful for your stay! Is there anything I missed or anything else you want to know? Let me know in the comments below!
